History of Saline Township, Madison County, Illinois
Madison County ILGenWeb Coordinator - Beverly Bauser
Saline Township (Township 4, Range 5) is
bounded on the north by Leef, on the east by Bond County, on the
south by Helvetia, and on the west by Marine Townships. When the
township was settled, it was divided between timber and prairie
lands, but today, little timber remains standing. The Silver and
Sugar Creeks flow through the township.
At the edge of
the Silver Creek timber, on the east side of section 31, the
first cabin was erected in 1809. It was built by the widow
Howard, who immigrated from Tennessee with her family,
consisting of several sons and daughters. Abraham and Joseph
were the eldest of the sons. They selected for their home a
beautiful location on a ridge in the edge of Looking Glass
Prairie. According to the Hon. Solomon Koepfli, the cabin, in
1831, had been moved to another place, but Joseph Howard, one of
the sons of Mrs. Howard, pointed out the place where in 1809
they had built their first home. A spring on the north side of
the ridge furnished plentiful water. Their first meal at the
cabin was made by beating corn with a club on a large oak stump.
Joseph was 12 years of age when he arrived in the township with
his mother. He later served as a Ranger in the war from 1812 to
1815. He killed several bears and panthers in the neighborhood.
In 1820, Joseph married Jennie, the daughter of Samuel McAlilly,
and built a cabin on a hill now called Sonnenberg. Joseph was a
kind-hearted man, and if he heard of a neighbor’s sickness, he
would be seen the next day in the neighbor’s field plowing his
corn or attending to his harvest. When the earthquake occurred
in 1811, which caused so much terror among the pioneers, the
Howards thought that Indians were on the cabin roof with
murderous intentions. Abraham and Joseph took up their rifles
and opened the cabin door, and after peering around and seeing
no Indians (while the shaking yet continued), they concluded
that the Indians were on the house top, where they had no
business. They walked backward cautiously out of the cabin with
uplifted rifles ready to shoot. One of them went to the right,
and the other the left, until they came in sight of one another
in the rear of the cabin. No Indians were to be found. They then
believed they had been made the victims of a practical joke by
some lonely hunter that had passed by. Mrs. Howard was an
elderly lady when the family moved to the township, and she only
lived a few years after. Her death was the first in the
settlement. Joseph and Abraham received 80 acres of land from
the government, for services rendered in the War of 1812. Joseph
reared a large family of children, and later went to Iowa, where
he died. Captain Abraham Howard went to Fayette County in 1830,
and settled east of Vandalia, now known as Howard’s Point.
In 1810, Abraham Huser, a German, married a Howard girl and
settled a mile north of the Howard place, near some springs not
far from the center of section 29. In about 1815, Huser and his
wife moved south of Troy, and laid the foundation of the Huser
settlement.
Archibald Coulter was the first settler in
the north part of the township. He immigrated from Kentucky in
1816, and located where the widow Mudge later lived. About ten
years later, he moved farther south in the state. On July 29,
1817, Robert Coulter entered land in section 4. Rebecca
Brotherton entered 160 acres in section 8 on July 3, 1817. This
was the first entry.
James East, a native of Kentucky,
arrived in the township in 1816, having left his wife at home.
He erected a pole cabin, and planted two acres of corn. He
returned to Kentucky for his wife. He later built a good hewed
log house. He was an industrious man, and accumulated a good
deal of property. They had a family of eight sons and three
daughters, and died in the township.
Samuel McAlilly was
a native of South Carolina, and was of Scotch descent. He and
his wife immigrated to Illinois with his family of four boys and
three girls. At the time, his sons – John and Samuel – were
married. The others were William, James, Jennie, Elizabeth, and
Mary. Samuel arrived at the cabin of Archibald Coulter in the
Fall of 1818, where his family remained until a cabin could be
built. The cabin, when finished, stood in the southeast part of
section 30, on the present site of the Highland Cemetery. Mr.
McAlilly dug two wells, 60 feet deep, but could obtain no water.
The place was abandoned after a few years, and he built a second
cabin, where he lived until 1832, when he died of cholera. In
1818, Samuel, shortly after he arrived in the township, went to
Coulter’s place one afternoon, and returning just after
nightfall, discovered some dark object in a tree, where his dogs
were barking. Having his rifle with him, he walked around the
tree, but as it was quite dark, couldn’t see what it was. He
drew up his rifle and fired, and whatever it was fell to the
ground. After satisfying himself that the animal was dead, he
tried to put it on his horse, but failed. He rode down to the
Howard cabin and told of his adventure. Joseph and Abraham
accompanied him back to the spot, and told him he had just
killed one of the largest panthers ever slain in that
settlement, measuring nine feet from tip to tip. The Howards
assisted him in getting the panther on the horse, and gave him
advice in regard to shooting panthers in the night when alone.
John McAlilly built a hewed log house near that of his
father’s, where he lived a few years and then moved to Alabama.
In 1826, he returned to the settlement, and located next in
Fayette County, where he died in 1872, leaving two sons and four
daughters.
Samuel McAlilly Jr. also built a cabin near
his father’s, where he lived some years. He then returned to
Kentucky, where William C, Elizabeth, and Matilda McAlilly were
born. After three years, he came back to the settlement and
rented a farm, to which he moved his cabin. Melinda and Mary
McAlilly were born on this place. In 1835, he bought out the
heirs of his father, and moved to the old homestead, where he
lived many years. William C., the only son, moved to St. Jacob’s
Township.
William McAlilly also lived near his father’s.
His wife died after being married about two years, leaving one
child – James J. – who later lived in Clinton County, Illinois.
Mr. McAlilly later married the widow of Adam Kyle Jr., and lived
east of Highland until his death, leaving three daughters.
James McAlilly married in Saline Township and moved to
Indiana, where he operated a mercantile business until his
death. Jennie McAlilly married Joseph Howard, and Elizabeth
married Alfred Walker. Mary married John Journey.
Cyrus
Chilton settled on the east side of Silver Creek in about 1822,
in section 17. He lived there until the first State Assembly met
at Vandalia, where he went to board the members of that body. He
continued to live in Vandalia until his death. His widow later
married Mr. McCullom, and returned to the farm where they
resided for some time, then moved to Fayette County.
James Reynolds, who immigrated from Kentucky to Illinois in
1818, settled near the old Chilton fort. In 1830, he bought the
land Abraham Houser had settled in 1810. He was an energetic and
enterprising man, and began farming on large scale. He became a
model for agriculturalists, and introduced new inventions as
soon as they were available. Before his arrival, the only plows
used were those with mouldboards of wood, and in some cases, of
half wood and half iron. Mr. Reynolds was elected to the Twelfth
Assembly of the State Legislature in 1840, and served the people
as Justice of the Peace. After his death, he left four children:
Reuben, William, Nancy, and Sarah. Nancy married Samuel Thorp,
and later married his brother, David. Sarah married Curtis
Blakeman Jr.
Thomas Johnson Jr. entered land in 1817 in
section 4. His cabin stood a short distance southeast of Martin
Buch’s store in Saline. He had a small farm, where he resided
until his death. He planted an orchard, which was known as the
best on Silver Creek. His son, Jackson Johnson, located about
three quarters of a mile west. He resided on his farm until his
death.
H. Carson, an older man, settled a place in 1829,
a short distance southwest of Jackson Johnson’s. He lived there
a short time, and then west to Arkansas.
Benjamin May
was an early settled on the west side of Silver Creek. Benjamin
Reimmer came in 1818, and located in the southern part of the
township, where he resided until about 1830. He then moved into
the west part, where he improved a good farm, which was part in
Saline and part in Leef Townships. After the Civil War, he moved
to Missouri.
McCullom was an early settler on the east
side of Sugar Creek. In 1822 he moved to a place later called
the Nancy Gillett place. William Pearce purchased the farm, and
lived on it until an accident caused his death. He was reaping
grain, when the horses became frightened and ran away, throwing
him before the sickle, which cut off an arm and inflicting other
injuries from which he died in about a week. Mr. Pearce was
twice married and had a large family by his first wife. His
second wife was the widow of Samuel McAlilly. Her first husband,
Seth Gillett, died in 1811.
H. Lisenbee settled on the
east side of Sugar Creek, on section 26. He died in about 1832.
James Pearce settled on section 7 as early as 1817. His
cabin stood near a spring. He was called “Salty Pearce” by his
neighbors, to distinguish him from another James Pearce who
lived in the settlement. The name “Salty” was an allusion to the
face that he was a laborer in the Biggs’ salt works. In about
1826, he sold out and moved to the southern part of the state,
on the Big Muddy, where he lived for some time. The family were
all murdered by Indians, with the exception of three – a married
daughter and two sons. The daughter had moved south, and a son
had gone to Texas to put in a crop and build a cabin for the
family who were to follow. As the family was making the trip,
the Indians surprised them and murdered the entire party except
a young son. He slipped away during the massacre, but was
captured again by the Indians. After many years of diligent
search by his brother, he was found among the northwest Indians.
He had lost his knowledge of the English language, and declined
to return to civilization with his brother, who had paid a
ransom of $1,000. He had to be taken away by force.
John
Charter arrived in the township in about 1835. He bought the
Archibald Coulter place from Robert Plant.
In 1823,
William Biggs, a native of Kentucky, sunk a salt well near the
banks of Silver Creek, in section 19. He then bored to the depth
of 450 feet, when salt water began to flow. The creek has since
changed its course, that now the old salt well is in the bed of
the stream. Biggs invested a considerable amount of money in the
works. He had 40 large kettles for evaporating purposes. Fifteen
cords of wood per day were used in making six bushels of salt.
About twenty men were employed in the works. Mr. Biggs was in
the first General Assembly of the Territory, convened west of
the Ohio after the Revolution. On November 25, 1812, the first
legislative body elected by the people of the Territory
assembled. Biggs was a member for two years. He was one of the
gallant soldiers of General Clark, and acted as a subordinate
officer in the conquest of Illinois in the years 1778 and 1779.
Governor St. Clair, in 1790, appointed him Sheriff of St. Clair
County. In 1826, Congress granted him three section of land for
services rendered to the colonies in the Revolution. He was at
one time take into captivity by the Kickapoo Indians, and
severely mistreated. He paid a ransom of nearly $300, and
obtained his freedom. In 1826, he published a narrative of his
captivity. He died the following year at the residence of
Colonel Judy, his brother-in-law.
Solomon H. Mudge, a
prominent early citizen, came to St. Louis in 1835 from
Portland, Maine, where he had been engaged in the commission and
shipping business. He engaged in banking in St. Louis, and in
the Spring of 1836, made a trip through Madison County,
prospecting for a country home. He bought and entered 1,080
acres in Saline Township. In section 3, he built a comfortable
summer residence and beautiful home. Two years later, he changed
his business from banking in St. Louis to that of hotel keeping
in New Orleans, where he made a reputation which extended
through the Mississippi Valley, as “mine host of the St. Charles
Hotel.” He died in the Spring of 1860, and his remains are
buried at his country home. He left behind a wife, six
daughters, and two sons.
Anton Suppiger was a native of
Switzerland. He came to Madison County in 1831, and became a
prominent farmer of the township, section 32. His wife, Monika,
was a native of Baden.
Other early settlers include
Bern’h Trautner and his son, Nicholas, John Spengel, and Charles
A. Voegel.
The First Schools
The first school in the
township was taught by John Barber in the camp of Captain
Abraham Howard.
The First Churches
The first
preaching in the township was at the cabin of Mother Howard, by
the Barbers and Knights. As early as 1825, the Cumberland
Presbyterians established a campground in the northeast quarter
of section 31, where camp meetings were conducted for several
years in succession. Some of the camps were substantial, and
afforded good shelter during hard rains. The early preachers
were John Barber, his son Joel, and John Knight.
The
Village of Pierron
The village of Pierron was laid out by
Jacques Pierron on September 1871. The village lies partly in
Bond County. The post office was established in February 1870,
with August Pierron as postmaster.
To read more on
the history of Pierron, please click here.