Haines township, the southern township of the third tier from the west and
numbered town 1, range 3 east of the third principal meridian, was named for
Edmond Haines, who was one of its earliest settlers. Originally it was mostly
timber, but much of it has been cleared up and is cultivated farm land. The
extreme western part is the watershed between the Wabash and Kaskaskia rivers.
It is a high prairie ridge extending in the general directions north and south.
This prairie is called Romine Prairie, after the first settler, Abram Romine.
This township was a favorite game country. John Boucher settled in the township
as early as 1815, and built a mill. This is the same Boucher who creased the
horse as told in the county section. James McDaniel and Jeptha Mount settled in
the south part of the township and Green De Priest in the north part from 1818
to 1820. In 1824 David Fulton came from Tennessee and settled on section 2. He
was ninety-four years old when he died in 1877. William Hill, with a company of
about thirty, moved from South Carolina in 1808 and settled in Randolph county,
and in 1825 came to Marion county and settled in Haines township. He was a
soldier in the War of 1812 and in the Black Hawk war. He was married to Jane
Hill, his second cousin, in 1819, and they lived together over sixty years. His
children, James, Samuel, William and Robert, all now dead, were all honored
citizens of this township. His son, James McD. Hill, was born on section 2 in
1827, and lived and died within a half mile of the same spot. He died about ten
or twelve years ago and his son, W. D. "Pete" Hill, lives on the same farm.
Mary Wilkins and her husband settled in this township in 1829. She lived to
be about one hundred and two years old, and died never having seen a railroad or
a train of cars. She left numerous descendants, many of whom still live in this
township. She died in 1882 or 1883.
Ruber Chance was an early settler,
but the exact date of his locating here is not known, but it was in the
twenties. Jeremiah Fields came about 1830 and Millington Easley and Thomas
Williams settled in 1827, and about the same year Durham Tracy came to the
township. He was a very prominent man in the affairs of the county, and was
County Judge several terms. He was a very intelligent man, fairly educated and
well-liked by his neighbors. In 1829 Isaac Charlton came by wagon and settled in
the north side of the township. He died in 1875. Joseph Stonecipher and wife
with ten children came from Tennessee in 1834. He settled on section 22 and was
the founder of the numerous Stonecipher family in this county.
The next
year Joseph Wham came from Tennessee in a wagon he himself had made, and drawn
by a couple of yoke of oxen, and settled in section 5. He and three of his sons
served in the Mexican war and all lived to return. Robert McM. Wham was the last
surviving son. He died about four years ago. Benjamin died soon after his return
from Mexico from disease contracted in the service. John Blackburn came to
Marion county in 1833. He had a family of eleven children and his descendants
are about two hundred in this and neighboring counties. John Storment came in
1836 and Jarett Purdue in 1838. He was born in Tennessee in 1799 and died in
1874, and his family consisted of himself, wife and eight children. They came in
two ox-carts. The family is now numerous and stand high in their township. James
Telford settled in 1836 on section 19 and William Beasley on section 23 in 1839.
The first sermon preached in the township was by John Benson. The early
preachers were David R. Chance and William Chaffin, Christian; Reverend
Pritchet, Baptist; W. F. Boyakin, Missionary Baptist. There are now several
churches in the township.
Doctor Middleton was the first practicing
physician. David Fulton, the first wheelright, Thomas Cahorn the first school
teacher. He was from Philadelphia and taught in log school-houses in 1827. The
first grave yard was in section 2 and is known as the Fulton graveyard. The Wham
graveyard was laid out in 1841 by Joseph Wham and Mrs. Wham was the first buried
there.
Old Foxville was for many years the only "town" in Haines. Fox
(S. M.) Haines laid it out and hence called it Foxtown. The first house was
built in 1867 and the first store was opened in 1868 by John Palmer. It was a
post-office and it is said the name selected was Romine City. James Martin was
in Congress and when the name was to be given Martin had forgotten, but he knew
"Fox" Haines well and called the office after him, Foxville. Since building the
C. & E. I. Railroad a dozen years ago, Cartter, near the north side of the
township, and Kell, near the south line, have grown on the line of the road and
Foxville is a memory only. Cartter is but a small village of two stores and a
shop or two and a dozen houses. Kell is a thriving little town of three or four
hundred people and is a good business point. It has several stores, a bank,
shops and three churches, and is growing steadily.
Extracted 27 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass from 1909 Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois, pages 154-156.