Coles County Illinois Genealogical Society

Ashmore

Charleton

Humboldt

Hutton

Lafayette

Mattoon

Morgan

North Okaw

East Oakland

Paradise

Pleasant Grove

Seven Hickory

The present territory of the county was formerly a part of the State of Virginia, and ceded by her to the United States in 1784 and was called the Northwest Territory. In 1778, Virginia organized what is now Illinois into one county, which, some years later received the name of St. Clair, from the then Governor of the Northwest Territory. In 1809, Illinois was organized into a separate Territory, and was composed at the time of two counties--St. Clair and Randolph. After this Madison was set off from St. Clair, and Crawford was afterward set off from Madison. When Illinois, in 1818, became a state there were fifteen counties, of which Crawford was one. During the year 1819, Clark County was set off from Crawford. Coles County was set off from Clark in 1830. it then embraced in it's territory what is now Cumberland and Douglas Counties. Coles County was named in honor of Edward Coles, the second Governor of the State.

Early Communities and settlements:

The first white men who made claims in the territory now embraced in Ashmore were the Dudleys. James Dudley entered land here in 1826. When he entered land here he put his brother, Guilford Dudley, on it, and Laban Burr, a son of Laban Burr, one of the early settlers of Edgar Co.

Ashmore: It was Surveyed and laid laid out February 14, 1855 by H. J. Ashmore and James D. Austin and named after the former. The first store was opened by John Hogue. the first blacksmith-shop was kept by William English. The Waters boys started a wagon-shop and the first mill was built by J. A. Brown in 1856.

Hitesville: An old village, that was gone by 1879, was laid out April 15, 1835 by James Hite, for whom it was names.

St. Omer: was never laid out as a village, but at one time was a collection of perhaps half a dozen houses, a store, post office, blacksmith-shop, etc.

Top

The first permanent settlement was made in Charleston Township in 1825. In that year, Seth H. Bates settled here, having remove from Crawford County. Jesse Veach, than a young man of eighteen, "moved" him to this neighborhood. Bates was originally from Ohio, but had been living some ten years in Crawford County. In the fall Enoch Glassco and his sons, Kimball, Madison and Enock Clasco, Jr., came from Kentucky and settled just north of the present city of Charleston. In 1827 the Parkers came to this neighborhood and settled on what in now Anderson's Addition to the city of Charleston. They were of the family of Parkers mentioned in the general county history as settling, originally, Parker's Prairie.

Charleston: Charleston was originally surveyed by Thomas Sconce, the first Surveyor of Coles County, and laid out by Commissioners (William Bowen, of Vermilion County; Jesse Essarey, of Clark, and Joshua Barber, of Crawford) appointed by the Legislature for the purpose of establishing the seat of justice of the county. It was resurveyed in Jun 1839, by Joseph Fowler, County Surveyor. It was named by the Commissioners who located the county seat, in honor of Charles Morton, one of the proprietors of the land on which it is situated, and who donated 20 acres of land for county purposes
The first house was built in Charleston by William Collom, who is termed the first actual settler in its corporate limits. it was a small log house of one room, and in this spacious building he kept the first tavern in the future city of Charleston, then an incipient village.

The first post office was kept by Charles Morton and was established about 1830-31. It was called "Coles Court House"

Top

The first white settler in this vicinity, is supposed to have been Samuel Ashmore. He came to this immediate neighborhood in 1829.

Oakland: was surveyed and laid out by Reubin Canterbury, for Madison Ashmore, on the 12th of May, 1835. James Ashmore built the first residence in the village.

Top

When John Poorman arrived, in the fall of 1836, and settled, in the northwest corner of the township, he found just north of him, Julius Dugger, who Mr. Poorman thinks settled as early as 1833 or 1834. John Pemberton came in the fall of 1834 or 1835.

Humboldt: In 1853, A. A. Sutherland purchased a tract of land in Humboldt and erected a shanty, the same fall he engaged in boarding hands employed in construction of the I.C. Railroad. He donated 10 acres of land to the RR in 1859. Immediately after the acceptance of the donation He and Thomas K. Fleming laid out and platted twenty acres. This appears to be the original town plat.

On the 20th of February, 1866, an election was held at which twenty-five votes were cast for, and five against, incorporation. When the village was first laid out it was named Milton. A petition was forwarded to the Capitol, asking for the post office be named the same. This could not be granted, as an office of that same name was already existed in Pike Co. The word Station was added and the name was Milton Station. Not only mail, but express and freight intended for this point often found its way into Pike County, and vice versa. The name of the post office and village was changed to Humboldt about May 28 1875.

Top

The first settlement in Coles County was made here. John Parker and his sons, Benjamin, Daniel, Silas and James Parker, and Samuel Kellogg and his wife, made a settlement here, and composed this first colony of pioneer in Hutton Township.

Salisbury or Hutton: was laid out as a village December 28, 1837, by George K. Harris and John Hulin. The place was first called Stewart, a post office already of that name was found, and this then was called Ashby. But this name being so similar to Ashley, “the wrong mail frequently went to the wrong place.” The post office was then called Hutton and the town Salisbury, for Salisbury, N. C. A man named Gilbert build the first house in Salisbury

Diona: is located about equally in Coles and Cumberland County. It contained a store or two, a post office, shops, etc. Nicolas McMorris was Postmaster.

String Town: a nickname given to a rather thickly-settled neighborhood, on account of several mechanic-shops, a sawmill, a church, and a little store formerly kept here.

Top

During the summer of 1825, several persons were in this part of Illinois prospecting, hunting and seeking homes. among them were Samuel Henry and John Robinson, of Crawford County.

Stockton: In the fall of 1863, Capt. Jones, who owned the land on which the village is now situated, concluded to lay out a town, and for that purpose had J. J. Peterson, a surveyor, plat the original village. Mr. Thomas E. Woods suggested Stockton as the village name. When the village was established there, another village in Illinois was found of that name. The name of Loxa for the post office was suggested and accepted.

Top

The township was named for the city of Mattoon. The earliest settlement was made near the timber on the Little Wabash, in the south part of the township. In the summer of 1826, Mr. Charles Sawyer, a resident of Kentucky came to this part of Illinois looking for a home. He remained a short time with the Trues, in what is now La Fayette Township, and examined the country to the south and west of them. Selecting a location at the north side of the timber, on the Little Wabash, he returned to the True settlement, and hired a man named Bates, for $10, to build a cabin, while he should return to Kentucky for his family. One family made this a temporary home until they could build their own cabins. The family was that of James Nash.

Wabash Point: The first post office was established at George M. Hanson's, who drew up a petition for one, obtained the necessary signatures and sent it on the Washington. the office was named Paradise, in memory of the Paradise Post Office in Virginia, in the county where Mr. Hanson was born.

Mattoon: The town is the outgrowth of the crossing of the two railroads, and dates its beginning from that occurrence. In 1852 a company of persons, prominent among who were Elisha Linder, Ebenezer Noyes, James T. Cunningham, Stephen D. Dole, John L. Allison and John Cunningham purchased Section 13, in Township and concluded to plat thereon a town. Two years elapsed before this was done, during which interval, David Carpenter, Usher F. Linder, H. W. Sanderson, Harrison Messer, Samuel B. Richardson, W. B. Puell, Josiah Hunt and Charles Nabb obtained an interest. The town was laid out on December 12, 1854, by John Meadows, then County Surveyor.

Top

The first white sellers in Morgan township are supposed to have been John Caldwell and his son, who bore the same name, and John Kennedy. Adam Collins is another of the early settlers of Morgan Township, and is supposed by some to have settled here previous to the Caldwells and Kennedy.

Curtisville: Shown on some of the old maps a little place in Morgan Township.

Rardin Post Office: is much the same kind of place that Curtisville once was. Samuel Rardin keeps both the post office and the store.

Top

The first settlements made in the township were confined to the timber along the east and west banks of the Okaw. The fact that a settlement was in the township as early as 1833, seems to be pretty fully established, and John Whitley and his sons John, Elisha, William and Randall,are recorded as among the first, if not the first, to settle and make improvements in its limits. About the same time, but higher up the stream, we find Baily Riddle, from North Carolina. Jesse Fuller came from Virginia in the summer of 1833.

Cooksmill: A saw-mill was built at the present site of Cooks's Mill, in 1864, by Robert Gillan, who, soon after, opened out a general country store. This he sold, together with the saw-mill to Elam Cook, about the year 1868. Cook, soon after built a steam flouring-mill, the only grist-mill in the township.

The first marriage was that of John Turner to Matilda Simms as early as the fall of 1836.Bluff Lodge, No. 605, I. O. O. F. was organized at Cook's Mill in 1875.

Top

In the fall of 1826, the Hart families came from Hardin Co., KY to Wayne Co., IL, with a view to settling there. In the winter of 1826-27, Miles H., Moses and Thomas Hart, Jr., left Wayne Co. and came north. On reaching that portion of the Little Wabash timber now included in Paradise Township, they determined to locate. Moses and Thomas, both single me, remained, and, during the winter, constructed a cabin. Daniel Drake, from Tennessee, was found to be living about four miles west on the bank of the Little Wabash.

Paradise Village: The village was surveyed and platted by Joseph Fowler for Miles W. Hart and Clemme Goar, in the spring of 1837. In order to procure the erection of a steam-mill at this point on the Little Wabash, Thomas Brinegar and David Moore had made to Hart and Goar a donation of forty acres of land, and on a portion of this, adjacent to the mill-site, the town plot was laid. James T. Cunningham was at that time a member of the Legislature at Vandalia and he named the village Paradise.

Etna: Located seven miles southwest of Mattoon, the village was surveyed and platted by James Richards, County Surveyor, on land belonging to Daniel R. Bland and Richard Sayer, in March 1860.

Top

Just who the first settler in Pleasant Grove--often called Pleasant Prairie--is now hard to determine. John Gordon, came to the Kickapoo Settlement in 1826, an the next year, it is thought he moved to Pleasant Grove. Some assert the first settlement was made in 1827, by Isaac Fancher and Buck Houchin, near the head of Muddy Point Creek. Others think Jack Price came prior to Fancher or Houchin.

Goose-Nest Prairie:

Farmington: is situated in Section 16. it was laid out April 25, 1852, by Thomas Lytle, a surveyor, for John J. Adams, owner of the land on which it is situated. A post office had existed for some time before this in this community, known as Campbell Post Office. The village received it's name from Mrs. Adams, who named it for Farmington, Tenn.

Janesville: was established after the Grayville and Mattoon Railroad, later known as the Illinois Central, came through the county. The land for the town was donated by Peter Furry and it was named for his wife, Jane Price Furry. The town was laid out, one half being on the Cumberland County side of the line and the other on the Coles County side.
The Prairie Sleeps, Vol. 1

Lerna: a post office kept by Mr. George B. Balch

Muddy Point:

Top

Samuel and John Rosebraugh settled in the southwest part of this township in 1850 or 1851, and with William and Jack Coons, Abner Brown, Benjamin McNeal and Milo Mitchell, may be considered the pioneers of this part of the county.

No towns: in this township when this history was published.

Top