Town 1, range 4 east, is known by the name of Romine. It lies as its numbers
indicate, in the southeast corner of the county. A portion of this township is
rough, broken land, and nearly all was originally heavily timbered. A small
section of Donoho Prairie lies within this township. Skillet Fork is the
principal stream. It takes a meandering course across the township from near the
middle on the north to near the east line on the south. A small branch on the
west is known as Paint Rock. The soil in the lowlands is very good, that of the
hills not so productive. Most of the timber of value has been cut off and now
nothing remains of the once magnificent forest but "tie" timber, and coal props.
The township was named after Abram Romine, one of the early settlers. It is said
that a man named Adams was the first white man to live in Romine, but no trace
of him remains. Joseph Helms and John Dillon came to the township in 1826. Helms
located on section 28; Dillon did not enter any land and left the township.
William Brewer, of Kentucky, brought his family in 1827 and settled on section
29. W. P. Byers, born in Virginia, moved to Kentucky and then to Tennessee,
where he married Nancy Sutton and in 1827 moved with his family to Marion county
and settled in Romine. He left eleven children at his death in 1873, a few of
whom are still living. William Donaho settled on the strip of prairie extending
into this township from Haines and his memory is kept alive by the name of the
prairie where he first settled. Ellis Branson came from Tennessee and settled on
section 30 in 1838, in Haines, but moved into Romine in 1881. Ephraim Meadows
moved by ox teams from Tennessee in 1829, bringing his wife and six children to
Romine. He was the first County Surveyor and a man of character.
Joseph
Stonecipher, the founder of the numerous family of Stoneciphers of this county,
came with his mother and sister from Tennessee in 1840. They traveled by ox team
and settled on section 31.
The first school was taught at the home of
Benjamin Litteral, with Henry Darnell as teacher. Another very early school was
taught in a miserable log hut by Thomas Cohorn. He "boarded round" and received
ten dollars per month. The first schoolhouse was a log house with a sawed plank
floor. It was near the Stonecipher home. The first church was on Donaho Prairie
and was built of logs. There are two Baptist, one Methodist Episcopal and one
Christian church in the township.
This township, on account of the
rough, hilly character of a portion of its territory, was a favorite hiding
place for criminals in past days, but it is fast becoming settled so thickly
that the hiding places are disappearing and the law-abiding element is largely
in the ascendant and crime is not as frequent as in the more populous centers.
The people are a virtuous, industrious class of farmers, who are content to live
at peace with each other and the world. There were two post-offices in the
township until the establishment of the rural free delivery, which now supplies
the best mail facilities to the people. There are no towns in the township and
the only industry is agriculture and the day is not far distant when this
township will lead in farm products.
Extracted 27 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass from 1909 Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois, pages 212-213.