Raccoon township is the southernmost of the second tier of townships, east of
the third principal meridian. Its survey numbers are town 1 north, range 2 east.
The name is taken from one of the denizens of the forest with which one-half of
this township was once covered. Its principal stream also bears the same name.
Small glades of prairie land project into this township among which Walnut Hill,
Romine and Tennessee prairies form most of the open land. Little prairie is
wholly in this township and was little more than an open glade amid the forest.
Much of the timber land has been cleared and nothing remains in many places to
show that a forest ever occupied the soil, but instead of the forest, orchards
of apple, peach and pear trees greet the traveler's eye. Tennessee prairie, so
called because settled by Tennesseans, is in the northwest and extends to Little
prairie, to which it is connected by a narrow strip. Like all settlements of
Illinois, the first settlers chose the timber land; first, because they found it
more convenient to build and for fuel; second, because they were used to timber
and loved its protection from the summer sun and the blasts of winter; third,
the flies with which the prairie was infested, especially the green-heads,
rendered it almost impossible for horses to work during the heat of the day.
The first man to settle on Tennessee prairie was Alfred Ray. He was a good
citizen and left several representatives, who are good citizens of the county.
Two families of North Carolina settled in this township near Walnut Hill. Their
names were Sherwood and McKinney. John Adams came from Kentucky in 1828 and
settled in Raccoon township. He, his wife and six children came in one wagon.
The children all are dead, but several grandchildren still live in various parts
of the county. John Wilson settled on section 32 in 1819. He also had six
children; all are dead, but a few grandchildren represent the family. He was
from North Carolina. Josiah Fyke, a veteran of the War of 1812, one of General
Jackson's Tennesseans, at the battle of New Orleans, settled in section 17, in
1830. He was the first Justice of the Peace in the township and served in the
Black Hawk war. Several of his descendants still reside in this township and a
few in other townships of the county.
Samuel Hays was the founder of the
large and influential Hays family, and in 1828 he settled on section 32, near
what is now the Bundyville school. He was from Alabama and had a large family of
seven boys and two girls, all of whom are now dead. Elijah, the fifth son, was a
man of an exceptionally large mind and lived until a few years ago. His widow,
of whom mention is made in the sketch of Odin township and the Deadmond family,
still lives on the old home farm at the age of ninety-one. Elijah Hays was an
original Free Soil man and was one of the two men living south of Springfield,
who voted for John G. Birney for President in 1852. The descendants of Samuel
Hays are numerous in the southern part of the county and rank with our best
people.
John Bundy, from North Carolina, settled in Jefferson county in
1819, but moved to Raccoon township soon after and made a home in section 6. He
had eight children. Three of the boys were in the Mexican war and one, Rev.
Isaac Bundy, was a well known Methodist preacher for many years. The children
are all dead but one, William Bundy, who still lives, a sturdy representative of
a stock that made the wilderness blossom as a rose.
In 1822 Samuel Huff
settled on section 31. He came from Tennessee and was a noted character in the
early days. He was one of the celebrated Illinois Rangers, who did so much to
protect the frontier settlements from cutthroats, who flocked to the new
settlements to hide from justice, as well as from the Indian depredations. His
home was always the home of the traveling preacher, who at that time was to be
found ever on the road doing his Master's work and preaching the Word as
opportunity offered. One of these itinerant preachers who stopped at the Huffs
was the celebrated Lorenzo Dow, who preached from a wagon on the text "The End
of All Things Is at Hand; be ye, therefore, sober and watchful unto prayer."
This trait of keeping the preacher seems to run in the family and was kept up by
the sons and daughters, more especially by his daughter, Cynthia, and her
husband, Mr. Mercer, whose home was the preachers' home, where an old-fashioned
welcome awaited every one who came in the name of the Lord.
The Copple
family came from Indiana in 1835, and the founder, Andrew Copple, has numerous
representatives in this and other townships. The Telford family came in 1831.
The father, Joseph Telford, brought his family from South Carolina in a
four-horse wagon. He made his home in section 33, where he cleared a farm. This
family is also represented by numerous descendants who are active citizens and
public-spirited men.
The Radcliffs, Boggs and Morrison families next
came and settled in this township. The settlers of this township were from the
first a church-loving and a church-going people and the first thought after the
home was built was a meeting-house. The first meeting place was either at Mt.
Moriah or Antioch, but both places claim the distinction. Certain it is they are
the oldest churches in the county and were built at the same or about the same
time: Antioch by the Methodists and Mt. Moriah by the Baptists. The Moriah site
was a camp-meeting ground, and was used before the church was built, and is
beyond doubt the first land set apart for religious purposes in the county. It
was first a Baptist congregation, but at an early day decided to call themselves
Christians, by which name it is now known. The first church built here was a
small log cabin, eighteen by twenty-two feet, unchinked. Other and larger houses
were built from time to time until now this historic ground is occupied by a
neat frame chapel, about thirty by forty-five feet. It stands on the original
site and is surrounded by ten acres of church land, a part of which is used as a
burial ground. This is the oldest graveyard in the township and perhaps the
second in the county. The first grave dug was for an Indian child who was
drowned, and was buried by the white settlers. This spot had been used for
burial purposes by the Indians and a few graves were scattered about when the
whites came. Both of these churches still flourish and are regarded with
veneration in their neighborhoods.
A coal shaft was opened in 1846, in
section 4. It did not amount to much and was abandoned. A stone quarry was
opened on section 21 in 1834 by B. J. Crane. The stone is a soft sandstone,
which hardens by exposure to air, but is of inferior quality, and was only used
for neighborhood purposes. It has not so far developed any commercial value. The
old Vincennes trail passes through this township. And across its glades and
through its forests, Clark and his men marched on their famous expedition to
conquer Vincennes. The first school was taught by one Jeff Dow, near the present
site of the Bundy school. It was taught in an old log cabin. The first
school-house was erected in section 18, in 1832. It had a chimney and fire place
and no floor, but mother earth. The first teacher in this primitive school-house
was Robert Mayberry.
Samuel R. Martin built the first mill. It was a
horse mill and answered the needs of the settlers for a time. This was very
early, but the date cannot now be ascertained. It was in section 15. Later, in
1832, John Myers built a horse mill on the same section. It was a twenty-bushel
mill. Next Joseph Baldriclge built a tread mill, run by oxen, with a capacity of
forty bushels per day. This mill was on section 20. In 1848 a post-office was
established at Raccoon, at the home of John Parkinson. It was afterward moved a
short distance southwest, where it continued with a short intermission until it
was superseded by the Rural Free Delivery system.
Raccoon township has
always been a township of religious people. The Covenanters were at one time
strong, while Christian, Baptist, Methodist, each has several strong
organizations, and perhaps no township in the county has so many places of
public worship nor so many appointed preachers.
Extracted 27 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass from 1909 Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois, pages 171-173.