Winter Issue 2015 - Marshall County Historical Society

Fall Issue 2015
Jolliff Brothers Implements
The successful implement company, R.W. Jolliff & Sons Allis Chalmers, was started in 1948 by brothers
Donald and Merle and their father, Roscoe Jolliff. They purchased the Belsley John Deere dealership in 1952
which became R.W. Jolliff & Sons John Deere until selling to Rupiper Equipment in 1999.
Don began traveling across the United States in 1954 where he purchased good used farm equipment. In an interview in 1988, he stated 34 years ago he was buying used merchandise for trade or sale. Then in 1954 he was
collecting antiques and totaling over 100,000 miles on his pickup.
In September of 1988, a huge auction containing thousands of pieces of “junk” were lined up on the river bank
property for display. The headlines in The Lacon Home Journal stated it was the world’s largest antique auction.
The local paper also stated, “Not only will it be a sale, but a time to remember when life was certainly more difficult but often a whole lot more pleasant. “ The gathering would bring about millions of stories from the older
generation of rural people recalling their own experiences with the familiar items.
The three day auction attracted bidders from 35 states and Canada in hopes of adding an item to their own
collections. Amish farmers from several states attended to purchase the horse-drawn machinery. More than 150
John Deere tractors and 100 other makes of antique tractors were sold, not to mention the 300 tons of tractor
parts and iron. Also thousands of other collectibles and horse-drawn machinery were auctioned off. Many unusual items were sold as well. Much of the collection was stored in the old Lacon Woolen Mill for many years. A
leaky roof encouraged the auction sale.
Roscoe passed away in 1985, Don in December 1999. Merle lives in Peoria.
Don Jolliff
Merle Jolliff
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Marshall County
Historical Society
314 Fifth Street P.O. Box 123
Lacon, IL 61540-0123
Phone: 309-246-2349
E-mail: marshallcountyhistory@
gmail.com
Web: www.marshallcountyhistory.
org
President – Rick Keating
Vice President – Ed Glaser
Treasurer—Bob Weber
Rec. Sec. – Theresa Thimm
Managing Director – John Wabel
Editor—Connie Swanson
MEMBERSHIP
ANNUALINDIVIDUAL – $15
ANNUAL FAMILY—$25
LIFE – $200
LIFE HUSB/WIFE—$300
AFFILIATE – $25–$100
Renewals are due in December
MCHS 2015 BOARD MEETINGS
All meetings are on Saturday at
the museum at 10 am
February 7
April 4
June 6
August 1
October 3
December 5 (Annual
Board Meeting)
Closed Dec 14 thru Jan 11
The first Marshall-Putnam County Atlas
It’s 142 years old now and quite a collector’s item. Printed in 1873,
copies are pretty
scarce and would
command a good
price in the right
setting.
Warner
and
Beers of Chicago
were the publishers and delivered
the atlas to subscribers.
It included the
Illinois state map
by county, national and world
maps as well as
individual pages
for each of the 12 townships of Marshall County. The maps were prepared by Major George F. Wightman of Lacon who served as county
surveyor. He tucked a lot of information in these maps including every
parcel of property, its acreage and owner. Each was designated on maps
scaled to two inches per mile. Natural topography includes streams,
lakes, springs, trees and many farm residences. School districts, cemeteries, orchards and timber were shown in each section with property lines
indicated. Roads, creeks and railways are depicted as well. Subscribers
are listed by township, which section they own and their occupation.
Several springs were noted as well, those being in LaPrairie 9;
Hopewell 7; Bell Plain 11; Whitefield 5; Richland 15. Orchards were
also numerous— Richland 9; Whitefield 20; LaPrairie 20; and Hopewell
2. Steuben had a multitude of coal mines indicated.
The map was two years in the making. The atlas contains a few biographies of county residents which was said to have cost the individual
$100. There is a full page on Robert Barnes, a half page of the late Benjamin Babb; about a third page for the late Christopher Broaddus, and
lesser space to Timothy Owen, Kendall Rich and John McCall.
Interspersed among the 12 township maps are a number of pages of line
drawings of farms, business and industrial sites as shown above.
The Atlas cost $20 each and the company was said to have realized
about $7000.
Another atlas was printed in 1890 but did not include pictures. Both
can be seen at the Museum.
Read the newsletter online:
www.marshallcountyhistory.org
MUSEUM HOURS:
TUES. & WED. 9 AM – 12 PM
SATURDAYS 10 AM – 12 PM
Or call the Museum for appointment
309-246-2349
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The Quinn School
By Alba McDonald
In 1873 the Quinn one room
school was on the O.A. Green
farm in Section 6 in Henry Township. It sat on the west side of the
north/south road and a mile south
of the Putnam County line.
Early students came from the
Green, Rollins, Robinson and
Gregory families. By 1890 the
James Quinn family had moved
into the area. No land marks, such
as a creek or cemetery marks the
site where the school once stood.
The Quinn school is a good example of the struggles the rural
schools endured to remain open.
During the 1930's and early
1940's the Illinois Health Department required a number of new
rules. Because of this the Quinn
school built new outdoor toilets
and the building was freshly
painted inside and out. A drinking
fountain was installed to replace
water from a neighbor’s well.
More land was purchased to
enlarge the playground at the
school. Money was scarce due to
the Great Depression and in 1933
many teachers' salaries were cut
and the school year was shortened
from nine months to eight. However, despite the difficulties the
Quinn school was one of the last
rural schools to close in Marshall
County. The last entry of the proceedings of the Quinn school directors is dated April 12, 1947.
A list of teachers from 1918
through May 1947 has been compiled and is available for viewing at
the Marshall County Historical Museum in Lacon II.
Look out for cold weather when
geese walk sideways and cows
tails are full of burrs. Nov 1872
Marshall County Assets
Phelps Chapel
Phelps Chapel in Richland
Township was name after a circuit
rider and was one of the early
houses of worship in Marshall
County.
Built in 1852-53, it was name
for Rev. Asahel E. Phelps, one of
the brilliant men in western Methodism. He never served the chapel
as pastor but was one of those who
preached in the community when
services were held in the homes of
members in earlier days.
He spent part of the year 1835
preaching at the Cherry Point
church in Evans Township. He
became an elder of the Evans
Township church and the following year found him in Richland
Township.
A subscription paper was circulated in 1851 and the building was
started the following year and was
completed in 1853. It was built on
2 acres of ground donated by Mr.
James Thompson. A parsonage
was built in 1856.
The membership included the
families of Dever, Bland, Jarnes,
Gallaher, Keedy, Thompson, Owen, Hoover and Wilson.
By 1880 Phelps Chapel was
nearing the end of its greatest usefulness. The Lacon Methodist put
up a new modern church several
years later. The rural church had
difficulty keeping up its membership and later merged with the
Methodist Episcopal Church in
Lacon.
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In 1867 Marshall County had no
automobiles, no radios or TV sets,
no electrical appliances. But
according to the tax assessor’s report it did have 9101 horses and
2750 wagons and carriages. The
people of Marshall County being
known for musical ability had 115
pianos.
There were 1331 dogs roaming
the streets. And probably cats
twice or three times that amount.
The large acreage supported
11,452 cattle, 9,818 sheep and
over 9,000 horses.
The valuation of real and personal property was $3,045,645.
“Feathers on the “jaunty” hats of
ladies have now been in fashion
10 years by 1872. First used as
hat adornment were pheasant
feathers, followed by ptarmigan,
peacock and argus pheasants.
Ibis, heron, sea gull, black cock
and owl followed. Now almost
any kind of plumage—bird of
paradise, or ostrich, are used on
women’s and children’s hats.
1873. What untold millions of
birds died to make women’s
hats “jaunty?”
Heritage Sampler #3
Definition: having or expressing
a lively, cheerful, and selfconfident manner
Obituary
It’s that time again. Dues will
be coming due soon. Please forward your dues now so we can
start off the new year with a full
bank account. Just $15 for individual membership. Check page
2 for complete details.
We are looking for vintage photos, programs, posters, uniforms, trophies etc., for
sporting events, especially school
related things. Also want photos
of non-school sports like bowling
teams, baseball teams, etc. We can
copy photos that someone wishes
to keep.
Justin W,. Edge, 94,
passed away, October
4 in Davenport, Iowa.
He and his wife,
Evelyn, recently celebrated their 74th wedding anniversary. Justin was a
well-known baseball pitcher in the
southwest Wisconsin area and
played on the Chicago Cubs farm
team in the in 40’s.
They had moved to Iowa several
months ago to be near their
family.
Evelyn volunteered at the museum and was a board member for
many years.
Annual Board Meeting
December 5
Election of Officers
William
Starling,
LaPrairie
farmer and manufacturer of agricultural implements, invented a
four-horse riding gang plow in
1873. Also an ingenious harrow
for harrowing young corn, pulled
by two horses, it “struct’ three
rows at a stroke.
Heritage Sampler #3
Items for Sale at the Museum
Several interesting items are
available for sale at the Museum.
 Bicentennial plates
 Commemorative tiles of Marshall County locations
 St. Mary’s Church history
 Varna Centennial cook book
 Sparland Sesquicentennial book
 Toluca History Series
 Tesmer House Plates
 Ehringer Centennial Plates
 Lenz Furniture Plate
 Marshall County Census 18601870-1880
 Varna 5th Grade “3 Barns Full”
 Books of fiction, travel, cooking, biographies
The sale of these and other items
helps to continue the work of the
Historical Society and Museum.
Fall window
Henry Women’s basketball
circa 1904
The Museum will be closed
Dec 14 thru Jan 11.
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Window Displays
Local Falcons Football Team encourage your community support for the next school year.
Marshall-Putnam 4-H celebrating National 4-H week and
years of service in Marshall County. 4-H is the nation’s
largest youth development organization, empowering six
million young people throughout the United States.
Cooperative Extension of 1862 and 1890
land-grant universities provide the leadership to engage young people in 4-H in all
3,007 counties of the United States
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If you would like to receive the
colorful newsletter by email,
please send us your email address.
This will also help reduce our cost
of postage.
Check out the full website at
marshallcountyhistory.org. See
the items available for sale, some
of the displays, and other interesting community websites, pictures,
and previous newsletters with lots
of historical facts.
Book Sale still available
There are still lots of books for
sale at reasonable prices. ..for a
donation. A variety of cook
books, garden books, fiction,
biographies, and children’s
books are still available.
Displays
There are hundreds of displays at
the Museum depicting a large era
of time and themes. One huge
case has memorabilia from about
every town in Marshall County.
Come see what we have about
your town or add something to
the collection to tell its story.
Items in farm display.
Gold Affiliate
Allen Family Limited Partnership
Silver Affiliate
JD Belcher Electric LLC
Bronze Affiliate
Grasser's Plumbing & Heating, Inc
Calvert & Johnson Memorial Home
R Dale & Beverly Bunch
Heartland Bank
City of Lacon
City of Henry
Jim's IGA
City of Sparland
Classic Floor Covering
Julie's Corner Store
City of Toluca
Country Financial - Edward Glaser
Kroeschen Plumbing & Heating
First National Bank of Lacon
Edward Jones Investments - Ken Arndt
Lynn & Penny Kunkle
Haworth & Company
LaPrairie Mutual Insurance Co
Marshall County Publishing Co
Henry State Bank
LaPrairie United Presbyterian Women
Marshall County Title Company
Kelly Sauder Rupiper Equipment Co
Patrick Murphy, Attorney at Law
McCully Properties
Lenz Memorial Home
Kenny Poignant Bulldozing & Excavating
Riddell Polled Herefords
Mona's Italian Restaurant
Marshall County
Marshall County Veterinary Clinic
Pontiac Granite Co, Inc
Rice Farms Trust
Meta Tec Inc
Bronze Affiliate
State Farm Agency - Jackie Padesky
Animal Jim Racing & Classic Cars
Tanner's Orchard, LTD
Elizabeth A Beck, Attorney at Law
Wilson Insurance Agency
Burnell's Neat Wheat N'Wood
Ajinomoto Windsor
The Coffee Hub
Wyoming Monument Co
Energy Specialists Co
Charles Perdew Museum Association
Platinum Affiliate
Club LaCon
Lacon American Legion Post 593
Wenona Bond Public Library
Help Support the Marshall County Historical Society & Museum
By becoming an Affiliate Member. Contact John Wabel, Managing Director, or
a Museum Volunteer to set up your Affiliate Membership.
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