[Page 79]
Thomas and Hannah Smalley Doyle came to Macon County, Illinois from
Hunnington County, Pennsylvania in 1836. They moved to Peoria County in 1852
where Mr. Doyle died in 1877.
Owen Doyle, Thomas' son, was born in 1850. In 1871 at the age of twenty-one,
he purchased the "home place" for $56.25 an acre. This land is located in
the W1/2 of the SE1/4 of Section 27, Saratoga Township. In 1890 he purchased
the remaining half of the section.
Owen Doyle was a thrifty, hard-working farmer and he prospered.
In 1881 when Owen Doyle and Miranda Webber, daughter of pioneer A. P.
Webber, were married the little Saratoga Church was crowded for the first
recorded wedding which took place after the evening services. Guests
attended from as far away as New York.
The happy bride and groom moved into the lovely new home which had just been
built. Material had come from surrounding areas; the foundation stone from
Joliet, and lumber from the plentiful supply.
To this couple, Owen and Miranda were born four children; Karl, Herbert,
Bell and Marion. Marion Doyle Cronkrite, now residing at 910 Third Street,
Henry, Illinois recalls the Sundays the family attended the Saratoga
Methodist Church, one mile south of their hone. Father, mother and four
Doyle children made the journey to church in their fringe-topped surrey. The
children walked to the Doyle School, one and one-half mile from home. This
school, like all our colorful country schools, long ago succumbed to modern
consolidation. The building was purchased and moved to the Howard Salisbury
farm where it is presently used as a machine shed.
The original farm home constructed in l88l is still standing today. A few
minor changes have been made; it is not too different from the way it was
when the newlyweds moved into it in 1881. Presently the Charles Rowe family
live there and farm the land.
[Page 80]
The Thomas Doyle Farm
One-half mile south of the Saratoga United Methodist Church in the Sw1/4 of
Section 27, Saratoga Township is located the farm owned by Mrs. Walter L.
Bayne of 810 Green Street, Henry.
Mrs. Bayne 's grandfather, Thomas Doyle, acquired the farm in 1864. His
daughter, Matilda and husband, Joseph Clark, moved onto the farm in 1881.
The home into which they moved was standing then and remains today quite
different from its appearance in 1881.
Even though no record of the exact building date exists, it is believed to
have been in the 1850's or l860's.
Presently Mr. and Mrs, John Ryan reside in the home and farm the land.
*****
The Saratoga Township land, NE1/2 of NW1/4 of Section 31, owned by John W.
Hickey of Camp Grove, was originally the property of one Peter Bagley, who
was granted this land by the U. S. Government in 1852.
He subsequently sold the land to William Gass, who sold it to Walter Cowan.
David Hickey purchased the land from Walter Cowan in 1867, and it has been
in the possession of the Hickey family since that time, having been willed
by David Hickey to his son, James P. Hickey.
John W. Hickey, the present owner and a son of James P., got possession in
1956 following the death of his mother.
The house that appears in the 1873 plat book was enlarged and remodeled by
James P. Hickey in 1916. It is presently owned by Dorothea Hickey Hartley
and her husband. Jack Hartley who purchased the house and one acre of land
in 1956. John W. Hickey, who still owns the farm acreage, lived in the house
from 1916 until his marriage in 1939. Dorothea Hartley is the youngest of
the nine children of James P. Hickey, and was born and raised in this house
and continues to live here.
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Hickey
[Page 81]
NW1/4 of Section 8, Township 13N, Range 8E has been ovmed and operated by
the Merrill, Wilson and Holmes family for 126 years. The present
owner-operator bears all three of these names, Merrill Wilson Holmes.
The 160 acres situated in the tract appropriated by the United States
Government, in the State of Illinois, for Military Bounty for the War of
1812, was patented March 5, 1818, No. 12921, to William Butlery, born in
Wilton, Connecticut, shoemaker by trade, who was a Private in Captain
Beachs' Company Regiment of Infantry, War of 1812. He died in Wilton,
Connecticut, 1840, and his heirs also failed to pay the taxes.
In 1850, Merrill Wilson Holmes' great-great-uncle, John U. Merrill, born in
Penobscot County, Maine, then of Marshall County, obtained the land by
warranty deed from John Carpenter and wife of Bureau County for the sum of
$250. It was filed in Bureau County in 1850 and in Marshall County in 1852,
John U. Merrill moved to the farm with a son, John, built a house, and
improved the land. It took until October, 1854 for John Merrill to obtain an
Abstract of Title through an Attorney in Fact, James Lombard of Suffolk
County, State of Massachusetts, with Ben Lombard, Jr. as subscribing witness
of Wilton, Connecticut. James Lombard paid the six Butlery heirs $1.00 for
this NW1/4 of Section 8, Township 13N, Range 8E, and testified that this
land had never been sold before. In June, 1855 John U. Merrill received a
bill for $600 to be paid before 1858 at 6% interest to the office of Ben
Lombard, Henry, Illinois in consideration for such service.
A strip of land, six and one-half feet, was sold from the east side of the
farm to a neighbor, Robert Schoffield, rather than remove the hedge precious
for fencing purposes, set before the land was surveyed in 1853 by Thomas
Patterson, County Surveyor, Marshall County.
John U. Merrill and his son, John, left Marshall County in 1872 when he sold
the place to his niece, Mary Elizabeth Merrill Wilson, and husband, John
Bruce Wilson for the sum of $3,000. She came to Illinois with her parents
from Boston, Massachusetts in 1857, married John Bruce Wilson in 1869 in
Livingston County, and they lived in Whitefield Township, NE1/4 of Section
9, on his father's farm until they moved to their newly purchased Saratoga
Township Section 8 farm in 1872.
They replaced the small original one and one-half story dwelling in 1894
with the large frame house presently standing. His father, James Wilson, a
carpenter helped build the house and lived with his son and wife until his
death in 1907. He came from Rising Sun, Indiana in l85l to Crow Meadow,
Henry Township, with his wife, Elizabeth Steward, who died in l85l, and
their young son, John Bruce. Credit is given to him for building many of the
bridges in Whitefield Township and some of the country schoolhouses.
The John Bruce Wilsons reared four sons and a daughter; Herbert, Oscar,
Arthur, Clarence, and Jennie, all deceased except Clarence living in Mason
City, Iowa. Jennie taught the Saratoga Center country school before her
marriage in 1901 to Alfred W. Holmes, son of Milan and Mary Ann Marshall
Holmes, and grandson of the pioneers, Levi and Lucinda Hansell Holmes of
LaPrairie Township and the William Marshalls of Saratoga Township.
In 1910, the John B. Wilsons retired, and their daughter and husband moved
with their two small daughters from the William Marshall farm, Saratoga
Township, to her father's farm. They reared four children; Gertrude (Mrs.
Hugh Beggs, Jacksonville, Illinois), Florence (Mrs. Herbert Nottage, Encino,
California), Merrill Wilson, and Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. Alvin Foster, R. R. 1,
Henry, Illinois, Saratoga Township). Florence taught the Wilson rural school
on this farm. In January, 1917, Alfred and Jennie Holmes agreed on a sum for
the purchase of the farm from her father, John B. Wilson, and continued to
reside on it until 1948 when they sold it to their son and wife, Merrill W.
and Henrietta. Merrill was born on this farm and here has spent his entire
life.
Merrill and his wife, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Downey Wherry,
(whose grandparents were each pioneers in Senachwine Township, Putnam
County), were married in 1937. They reared three children; Elizabeth (Mrs.
Warren T. Townsend, Belton, Texas), Carole (Mrs. Josh Franks, Toledo, Ohio),
and James Merrill (Vidor, Texas).
As Merrill watched "the lengthening streaks of yellow earth and silty
deposits in the drainage ditches portray the insidious work of the farmer's
greatest menace, erosion," in 1938 he began to contour farm. He worked in
cooperation with L. J. Hager, Farm Adviser, and the Soil Conservation
Department and the University of Illinois Extension Service, and also
replaced the hedge, set by great-uncle John U. Merrill along the east edge
of the farm, with a concrete dam. Merrill has continued the practice of soil
conservation through the years.
None of the original buildings still stand except the main structure of the
large machine shed which was the original barn. In the front yard is an
ancient pine tree which was standing in 1872 when the John Bruce Wilsons
moved to the farm. It was not damaged when a tornado hit the farm in 1965
that demolished the silo and damaged all of the farm buildings including the
house. The same year lightning ripped bark from the top to the base of the
tree, but it's strength survived.
The Wilson log country schoolhouse on the southwest corner of this farm was
replaced in 1872 and remained open until 1952. The schoolhouse was sold and
is used for a machine shed on the farm one mile north, tenanted by James
Eble and family.
This farm proudly displays a Centennial Award received in 1972.
Mr. and Mrs. Merrill W. Holmes
Saratoga Township
Bradford, Illinois
[Page 83]
The Quinn Farm
James Quinn purchased this land, SW1/4 of Section 6, Saratoga Township from
Samuel Mooberry and Louisa in 1866, and lived there for a period before
moving with his family to Henry Township. A son, Edmund the eldest, helped
plant all of the maple trees around the house, north and west including the
grove at the end of the lane. The trees were continuous from the house to
the road, but some years later some were cut in the pasture area between the
house and the grove at the end of the lane. Some of these grove trees are
still standing.
In 1904 another son, Francis Quinn, acquired this farm and moved there in
1912 on March 14th when he married Minnie E. Downey, daughter of Henry and
Henrietta Giltner Downey, and lived there until his death in 1939. Minnie
and Annis, an adopted daughter, and Juanita W. Quinn whom the Quinns reared
continued to reside there a few more years.
The present house was built prior to 1912, but was remodeled some since that
time. Annis recalls helping Mrs. Quinn cook and serve noon meals to the
workers who labored on the ditch which drained the Saratoga "Goose Lake” in
1931. The tile drains into the creek on the Quinn farm.
Annis inherited the land after the death of Minnie E. Quinn in 1948, Willard
and Elsie Piper are the present tenants on the farm. The present owner, Mrs.
Carl Bassler (Edna Annis Wherry Quinn Bassler) now lives in West Plains,
Missouri.
Mrs. Henrietta Holmes
[Page 84]
William Kelley Estate
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Kelley, both natives of Ireland, moved from a log cabin
on a farm in Peoria County, Illinois, into a house on their newly purchased
farm one-half mile north of the Saratoga Church in Section 22 of Saratoga
Township, Marshall County, Illinois in 1868.
At that time the family consisted of five children: Anna J., John T.,
Richard, Robert A., and Andrew C. Soon Margaret E. and twin boys, Charles N.
and William W. joined them.
The father of this young family was accidentally killed August 8, 1875 at
the age of 43 years. On December 17, 1875, Charles, one of the twins, passed
away at the age of three and one-half years. Anna passed away September 29,
1876, age 18 years and John passed away March 11, 1880, age 20 years. Mrs.
Kelley' s mother, Mrs. Jane Knilans, also a native of Ireland, passed away
at the home of her daughter November 27, 1887, age 81 years.
With the help of Richard and Robert, Mrs. Kelley and her family continued to
operate the farm.
Following the untimely death of Orie Webber Kelley, Robert's wife, January
11, 1898, Mrs. Kelley, Margaret and William moved into Robert's home one and
one-half miles south of their home. By that time Richard had married Harriet
B. Cain and Andrew had married Ethel Tanquary and were established in their
own homes.
After Mrs. Kelley' s death from serious burns in 1904, the home place was
owned by Margaret and William until Margaret's death November 5, 1935, when
William became sole owner. He passed away in 1957.
In the early 1900's the land was rented out until 1912 when Reverend Andrew
Kelley retired from the ministry and he and his wife returned to the farm
where they lived until moving to Henry in 1920.
Since that time William, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Kelley; Ransom Kelley, a
grandson; Ronald Kelley, a great-grandson; and Clarence Kelley, also a
great-grandson and present operator of the farm have tilled the land.
Miss Mildred Kelley
[Page 85]
Lester Lewis Farm
One hundred sixty acres, the NW1/4 of Section 27, Saratoga Township, was
granted to Charles Fisher, Soldier of the War of 1812, a Matross in Hobarts
Company, Light Artillery, by the United States of America on January 3,
1818. The grant was signed by President James Monroe, and Josiah Meigs,
Commissioner of General Land Office.
In 1868 after the land had changed ownership several times, Wesley Smalley
Doyle purchased the west one-half of this NW1/4, Section 27 from Jacob
Hammel and his wife, Margaret Hammel for $50 an acre, and established a
home. In those horse and buggy days over muddy roads, or behind "Old Dobbin"
in the sleigh, Mary Ann Saylor, wife of Wesley Doyle, traveled many miles as
a neighborly midwife to bring many new babies into this world. The Wesley
Doyles lived on this farm until 1900 when their only child, Eva Doyle and
her husband, Peter Lewis, and their eldest son, Lester Doyle Lewis, moved to
reside here. Mrs. Peter Lewis acquired ownership of the land by deed in
December, 1908 and continued to reside on it until her death in 1948 and her
husband until his death in 1953.
In 1948, Lester D. Lewis, son of Peter and Eva Doyle Lewis, acquired the
deed to the land. Lester, his wife, Zella Kimble Lewis, with their third and
last child, Robert Edward Lewis moved to the farm in 1951, and Lester and
Zella still reside there in this Bicentennial year, 1976. They have three
children; Mrs. Martha Lammers, who with her husband are missionaries in
Morioka, Japan; Ralph Kimble Lewis, an order coordinator for Uniroyal in
Mishawaka, Indiana; and Robert E. Lewis, C.L.U. Chief Risk Appraiser for
State Farm Life Insurance Company in Newark, Ohio. The six Lewis
grandchildren have enjoyed many happy hours on the farm. The only other
family member to live on this farm since 1868 was the Peter and Eva Doyle
Lewis' second son, Lloyd. (See the following story.)
There have been many changes since the earlier days when the white man first
settled in this area. The Galena Trail ran north and south a half mile west.
Peter Lewis remembered when he could step across the branch of the
Senachwine Creek running through this farm. It is now at least forty feet
from side to side. This is a reminder of what is happening to the rich top
soil. None of the original buildings remain on the farm now. The present
house was built in 1925.
Across from the Lewis farm was the rural Doyle School named after Lester and
Lloyd Lewis' great-grandparents, Thomas and Hannah Smalley Doyle who owned a
farm north of the school site. It was one of the last to close in the
township.
On the corner one-half mile west of the Lester Lewis farm was the Saratoga
Post Office, a medical doctor's office, general store, and a blacksmith
shop.
In 1972 the Lewis' received the Centennial award.
Mrs. Lester D. Lewis
[Page 86]
Lloyd and Ruth Lewis Farm
In August, 1876, Wesley S. Doyle purchased the east half of the NW1/4 of
Section 27, Saratoga Township, Marshall County from Thomas and Charlotte
Monier, except for the two acres given from this eighty acres to the
Trustees of the Saratoga Methodist Episcopal Church in 1868 by William D.
Lytle and his wife, Phoebe. (See Church story.)
In 1908, Eva Doyle Lewis inherited this tract of land from her father,
Wesley S. Doyle, a widower.
After the death of Eva Doyle and that of her husband Peter Lewis, Lloyd
Lewis, second son, inherited this 78 acres.
Lloyd married Ruth VanOstrand, lives in LaPrairie Township, and farms this
land.
Mrs. Lloyd (Ruth) Lewis
*****
George B. Howes Estate
In September, 1861, George B. Howes and wife, Katherine, purchased the NW1/4
of Section 7, Saratoga Township from a Thomas Chase.
A small portion of this farm played an important part in the development of
this area. Fifty feet along the east side of the farm were sold to the
Northwestern Railroad in 1901. It was after the building of the railroad
that the village of Broadmoor began, and the elevator and grain business
thrived. The farmers in the area now had a near outlet for their grain.
In 1904 the Howes farm was acquired by G. B. Howes' son, George B. In 1939
the George B. Howes' estate went to Ella, his widow and children; John R.
Howes and Helen E. Howes Weygandt.
In 1954 the widow, Ella, and daughter, Helen, obtained the property. In
1968, Helen E. Howes Weygandt became the owner. Mrs. Weygandt replaced the
original house by a new home in 1961.
The Franz Waldinger family reside there and operate the farm.
[Page 87]
The William Marshall Farm
William and Elizabeth Bryan Marshall came from England (probably in the
1840's) where William had been employed as a butler and Elizabeth had been
employed as head housekeeper in the house of Lady Clan-Williams,
Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria. William became a victim of tuberculosis,
known then as "consumption." As a last resort, his doctor advised an ocean
voyage. They intended going to Australia, but missed their ship while
waiting for a grandmother to bring their son, Samuel, to the port to go with
them. When the boy failed to come, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall departed on the
first ship out, which was headed for the United States. They never saw their
son again and he died before the age of 20.
The ship took them to New Orleans. They came up to Illinois by boat, and
Mrs. Marshall worked for a time in a mattress factory in Peoria before
moving to a farm in Valley Township, where their only daughter, Mary Ann was
born, Mary Ann Marshall (Mrs. Milan Holmes) often recalled her girlhood to
her family with recollections of the times she rode her horse over the hedge
rows. In some places rows of these Osage orange still exist to form the
fence lines between fields.
It is interesting to note here that records indicate Captain William Mann is
credited with bringing the first Osage orange seeds here from Texas after
the Mexican War. Mann came to Peoria, Illinois in 1848. Being unable to sell
the seeds of the then unknown plant, Mann laid out his first nursery on the
site of the present city of Normal, Illinois. Eventually the business spread
to LaSalle and Marshall Counties.
John O. Dent who is said to have furnished Osage orange plants to farmers
and stockmen is a name better known in Marshall County. The early prairies
became crisscrossed with these sturdy hedges of Osage orange. The hedges'
rapid growth made a fence impenetrable to man and beast and was preferred
over the ungalvanized barbed wire which quickly rusted.
The corn crop was hauled by ox team to Peoria, the round trip taking about a
week. Corn sold for ten cents a bushel. Later they came to Marshall County,
Illinois, where they farmed for a short time before buying and moving to the
farm of 160 acres in Section 35, Saratoga Township. They had to pay from 12
to 20% interest on money borrowed at that time. Chickens sold at $2.50 a
dozen. Mrs. Marshall kept boarders, raised turkeys and chickens to help pay
for the farm.
An amusing incident concerning Mrs. Marshall's turkey flock occurred one day
when she discovered the whole flock lying, apparently dead, around the yard.
Being a thrifty soul, she decided to pluck the feathers and at least salvage
that much. Imagine her surprise when she looked outside sometime later, and
saw the flock of naked turkeys walking around the yard. Evidently they had
discovered and eaten fermented fruit that proved their undoing !
Elizabeth Marshall was always ready to go to the aid of sick neighbors to
help in any way she could. Mr. Marshall eventually seemed to recover his
health and outlived Mrs. Marshall.
After William Marshall's death, the farm went to the daughter, Mary Ann, who
was then Mrs. Milan H. Holmes and living on a nearby farm. Eventually the
Holmes' oldest son, Alfred, and his wife lived at and farmed the Marshall
place until moving to Mrs. Holmes' folk's farm in northwest Saratoga
Township. Charles Holmes moved there in 1914, a short time later the place
was deeded to Alfred, Bessie Holmes Gray and Charles Holmes. The Gray's
bought Alfred's share and have continued to own the South one-half of the
160 acres. It now belongs to their son, Charles E. Gray. The North one-half
belonging to Charles R. Holmes was sold when Charles retired from the farm.
The original house was torn down and replaced around 1918 or 1919 by Charles
Holmes.
Mrs. Charles Gray
R. R. 1, Box 148
Sparland, Illinois
[Page 89]
Saga of Saratoga Lake or Goose Lake
The following article written by Margaret Dewey appeared in the Henry News
Republican on December 30, 1971.
"Many years ago, there was a huge body of water in Saratoga Township,
Marshall County, located about three miles southeast of present day Lake
Broadmoor. This water was designated on early plat books and maps as
Saratoga Lake, and covered an area of considerably over 100 acres. (In
comparison, the Lake at Broadmoor today covers some 30 acres.)
"Present day conservationists and advocates of ecology would have been
delighted with this early paradise of hunters, trappers and fishermen. The
slough grass was higher than a man's head, with wild geese, deer, cranes and
other forms of wildlife in abundance,
"About 1870, a man by the name of Mr. Henry Seeley purchased several pieces
of land both to the east and to the west of the Lake area, and moved to the
farm (where George Stange lives today) about 1/2 mile from the east shore of
'Goose Lake.' Mr. Seeley made his home there for over ten years before
moving to Henry, Illinois, where he died in 1896. His obituary stated that
he was the largest man in the area, weighing over 275 pounds, and possessed
a booming laugh that could be heard a block away. Judging from some of the
newspaper items concerning him which appeared in the Henry paper during
those years he lived near 'Goose Lake,' he must also have been possessed of
a wonderful sense of humor.
". . . Through the years much difficulty was encountered in trying to drain
this Lake, to utilize the swamp-like land for farming purposes, as well as
to prevent flooded road conditions after heavy rains and snows. All efforts
to achieve this proved unsuccessful however, prior to the organization in
the late 1920's of the Saratoga Lake Drainage District. Commissioners,
appointed by the County Court, ascertained just which lands in that area of
Saratoga Township had water draining into the Lake, and assessed those farm
owners for their share in paying for the Drainage project.
"The contract for draining the Lake with 48-inch tile was awarded to an Iowa
man for approximately $50,000. This was a huge sum of money for some twenty
farmers to raise, especially when corn was down to 15-cents a bushel in
those early Depression years.
"After the Lake was drained, the late Chris Beyer cleared the willows from
the land, and Louis Stotler of Camp Grove remembers walking behind a plow
and helping cultivate the old Lake bed prior to the planting of crops there.
His father, the late Ike Stotler, helped Chris Beyer harvest the first crop
from old Goose Lake that fall.
Many Saratoga residents, who well remember the Big Tile Project, as well as
much of the bitter controversy concerning same, report that since that time
there has never been so much water in the old Lake area, or clear across the
road, as this year. The heavy spring rains flooded the area, and this was
repeated in September when the excessive rainfall was breaking records
again, and inundated the crops standing in the fields.
They say that history has a habit of repeating itself, and that hunters are
again in that area this fall. The subject of so much water draining into
what was once Saratoga Lake, and what to do about, is being discussed
again."
[Page 91]
As a house is not a home until it is lived in; neither is a church a center
of a Christian community unless it is entwined with the faith of its people.
The early Methodist families who pioneered and broke the sod, set hedges for
fencing, built humble homes, endured the hardships and privations of a
lonely prairie, were in the early days of Saratoga Township these kind of
people; deeply embedded with a Christian faith and desirous of the
fellowship of worship in the participation of their faith.
About the time Saratoga Township was organized in 1857, Corydon Gillett,
Archie McVicker, and Hugh McVicker formed and were leaders of the first
Methodist Episcopal Classes, and affiliated with the Whitefield Circuit.
George Scholes and Sam Divelbiss attended the quarterly meetings faithfully.
These class members met in the Ray, Gillett, McVicker and Doyle School
Houses. Later Thomas Kelley, Darby, and A. P. Webber were leaders. Interest
increased and plans were formulated to erect a church. Funds were collected,
and on June 12, 1868 William D. and Phoebe Lytle deeded two acres from their
farm on the NE1/2 of the NW1/4 of Section 27 to the Trustees of the Saratoga
Methodist Episcopal Church for a church and cemetery. The one room well
built edifice was already under contract with Dryden and Russell; and was to
be thirty-six by fifty feet with two entrances to the east and a porch. It
was plastered, painted and furnished with pews and pulpit. October 11, 1868
was a "glorious day for Saratoga," when the new church was dedicated by Rev.
J. T. Evans. The total cost of the church had expanded to the figure of
$2,835 and included a $300 donation for hauling. Rev. James Cowden was
appointed as the minister.
The first members recorded were Corydon Gillett, Alonson P. Webber, M. J.
Webber, Hannah Carse, James E. Jones, Mary Jones, John Green, Kate Green,
Thomas Kelley, Martha Kelley, Emily Darby, Sam Divelbiss and Rachael
Divelbiss.
A cemetery was laid out with ninety-nine lots, and fenced in 1871.
Twenty-five men were listed as helping haul lumber and posts and building
the fence; and others contributed money. Thirteen soldiers who served in the
Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II are buried in
the cemetery.
The Saratoga United Methodist Church has always been a part of a circuit; in
1871 the Church became a part of the LaPrairie Circuit. The minister was
housed in the parsonage there, and commuted by horseback and carriage. The
Church gained in membership when the Brick (Presbyterian) Church closed
around 1880 and the Whitefield Center Methodist Episcopal Church closed in
1914. In 1930, the Church ceased its relationship with the LaPrairie Circuit
and became a part of the Wyoming Charge which was composed of Wyoming,
Saratoga and Camp Grove. In 1938 after the Camp Grove Church closed, two
more churches were added to the appointment and the Rev. C. Nicholas served
four churches, including Castleton and Snareville. In 1939 with the Uniting
Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, The Methodist Episcopal
Church South, and The Methodist Episcopal Church North; the name was changed
to the Saratoga Methodist Church. In 1945 the Henry-Saratoga Charge was
formed and has remained a happy friendly relationship through the years. In
1968 with the Uniting Conference of The Methodist Church and The Evangelical
United Brethren Church, the name was changed to The Saratoga United
Methodist Church.
Through the years this church has opened its doors to many community
activities from singing and Bible Schools, study classes to homecoming
celebrations and picnics. Farm Bureau and Homemaker Extension meetings,
programs, suppers, family nights, weddings, showers, ice cream socials,
plays, receptions, and a long list of many activities which have brought
fellowship and pleasure to the people of Saratoga Township for over one
hundred years.
Records and memories of the past well preserved in the hearts and minds of
the people of Saratoga were transferred to written form in 1968 when the
Church celebrated a Rededication of its Building, and a historical book was
written which is still available to those who would like a more complete
history of this rural agricultural community fellowship.
Even though the excitement of 1936 was a moment of great discovery when the
Coleman gas lamp was replaced with a new Delco Light Plant, and rural
electrification became a reality for the church in 1941; nothing has
excelled quite as much as the faith of the Saratoga people who have given of
their time and talent to keep their church building in the excellent
condition it is today.
With an increase in attendance following World War II, extensive plans were
started under the direction of Rev. C. Nicholas, and continued under Rev. D.
Lemkau for remodeling. The basement was excavated, a new church foundation
was built, the narthex built with a new entrance to the north, the ceiling
lowered, the old coal stoves replaced with a furnace, the one classroom was
divided, and the sanctuary was remodeled to include a divided chancel and
new flooring.
Even though the Church has never had a large membership, it has always been
and still is a stable congregation; about the same size in membership as
when it first began, and today carries a membership of ninety-eight members
with its present pastor, Rev. Prosper O. Tournear serving as the sixty-third
minister of this active rural congregation. It has apparently been, and
still is, God's will to relate to the people of Saratoga Township through
the facilities and faith of the United Methodist Church of Saratoga.
[Page 93]
In 1860 Alanson P. Webber obtained, for the sum of $1,500, this I60 acres
located in the NE1/4 of Section 28, Saratoga Township.
It is thought that Mr. A. P. Webber moved here, in the present home, about
1866. It is not known for certain the exact date the house was built. It is
one of the very few remaining old residences of Saratoga Township.
Some of the features which seem to indicate the age of the building are:
rock foundation; slate roof; wide front door with glass panels along both
sides, much like the more elaborate Georgian homes the early settlers
remembered from their Eastern roots. Original six-inch wide board floors,
ten-foot ceilings, and floor to ceiling windows are still in use. The
smaller windows throughout the house contain the twelve lights, a popular
design in many early homes. Through the years, sane of the original house
was removed and minor changes made in the front porch, however, basically
the house looks as it did in the middle 1800 's.
Alanson P. Webber died in 1902. His son, Allie, then lived in the home and
reared a family. In 1905 he moved to Stark County and the farm was sold a
couple of times.
In 1942 the farm was purchased by Fred and Alice Pyell. They lived here
until Mr. Pyell's death in 1956. Mrs. Pyell continued to live on the farm
until 1961. In that year she moved to Wyoming, Illinois where she resides
today.
The farm is now operated by Mrs. Pyell's nephew, Donald Down, who along with
his family reside in the old home.
| Bureau | Putnam | |
| Stark |
 |
La Salle |
| Peoria | Woodford |
