After the War

After the war had ended, settlers literally poured into the area. Much of the first land that had been purchased had been mortgaged, and some tracts had been sold and resold several times.

A.J. Cropsey sold the rest of his property in 1867. He sold 480 acres in section 27 and 360 acres in section 22, a total of 840 acres to Moses Meeker of Tazewell County. His sons E. B. and D. B. Meeker came to Cropsey Township to work the land. This acreage became a grain and stock farm. A. J. Cropsey left Fairbury and moved to Nebraska.

Isaac Walton, who had served in the Ohio Infantry, went to Idaho and worked in the gold mines for several years. In 1867, he returned to the Crum home. Later, he went to Fairbury and started a small grocery store. The store also sold odds and ends. The next year his younger brother, John Wesley Walton, came from Ohio and went into business with him. They established a business in Fairbury named Walton Brothers that became very successful.

David Straight returned from the war, removed into Fairbury and was postmaster there for two years, 1866-68. Later he moved to Indiana. He married Annie Cassedy, a daughter of John Cassedy of Lawndale Township.

Daniel P. Stewart, a native of New York, bought a large tract of land three miles south of Fairview. He hired a large group of laborers to prepare the land for cultivation. He developed the land, and helped obtain a railroad to the area. He was the founder of the village of Anchor along that railroad.

J. B. T. Mann came from Kentucky. He bought 480 acres in section 33. He also was a nurseryman who sold trees to the settlers. For years most of the homesteads in Cropsey Township had elm, soft maple, ash, box elder and Scotch pine trees which had been bought from Mann. His brother, William Mann, was a farmer and nurseryman at Gilman, Ill. J. B. T. Mann lost his farm and moved north of Fairbury. After a few years he moved to Florida, where he died in July 1883.

John Thomas came to Cropsey Twp. in 1868 to live with a son. He was born in Vermont in 1782. He was a veteran of the War of 1812. He had been living in Adams, Jefferson Co., N.Y. before he came to Illinois.

J. T. Conn returned from the war and lived in Belle Prairie Twp. Fred Hall, H. Humphrey, John Harris, John Watkins and John Barnes were some of the many settlers close to the north side of the ridge.1

In Cropsey Twp. those listed were Isaac Spangler, Jacob Decker, John Hinshaw, and many others new names. Many had occupied the swampy lands near the creeks in Cropsey Twp.

Cattle that had grazed at large had created a problem for those who were trying to raise crops. It was in 1868, that a �stock law� was passed requiring people to build fences or enclosures to confine their livestock. It was following the enactment of this law that many miles of hedges of Osage Orange plants were planted. These thorny plants grew rapidly and soon made a natural fence.

Because of the increase in population more schools were needed. In 1867 the southern part of the Fairview district was detached and Merrill school district, two miles south, was formed.3

In 1868, parts of the Cropsey district were divided into Mann, Cropsey and Potosi districts. Farther south, the Miller school district was organized.

In 1866, the southern half of Township 24 had been made into one big district. The first schoolhouse on the eastern edge of section 21 was the Jones schoolhouse. North of it was the Worley school and it served the northern part of the township. The schoolhouse was on the southwest corner of section 11.

So many people had come into Township 24 N. (southern two-thirds of Cropsey Twp.) after the war, that in 1868 the Stewart Bunch school was built at the southeast corner of section 5. Two years later in 1870, Sabin, two miles south of Stewart Bunch school, and Fairview, on the northeast corner of section 26, were formed and buildings erected. Sherwood school district, two miles south of Sabin in the southwestern corner of the township, was also created in 1870.

In 1877, the Worley district was split and Mt. Zion and Kingston districts were formed. When Anchor was started in 1880, the Stewart Bunch school was moved into the new village.4

On February 5, 1868, David S. Crum petitioned for a post office to be called Potosi and located in Belle Prairie Township to serve the new settlers. A copy of the petition is on the next page.5 He was appointed postmaster February 18, 1868. The post office would be on the route from Fairbury to Saybrook and would be served by a carrier on horseback who made three round trips between these towns weekly.

The origin of this name has been a mystery. One source states that the Government assigned the name. However, a copy of the petition for the new post office does not support this claim. Crum had specified that the new post office be called Potosi. Several possibilities exist. Bearing the name of Potosi is a town in Bolivia, S.A. famous for its tin mines; in Clark Co., southeastern Nevada there is peak; and in Ouray Co., southwestern Colorado there is a mountain. Closer to central Illinois, a town about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis, Missouri was established in 1813 with the name of Potosi.7 In the Mexican War of 1848, there was an important battle near San Luis Potosi.8

Could David Crum have had a relative or close friend who had traveled in the western states, or was in this famous battle, and therefore chose the name of Potosi??? The pronunciation of Potosi, in Spanish, is Po�-to - SEE�. Most local people say it with the accent on the second syllable: Po -TO� - see.

Abraham W. Green, who had lived with D. S. Crum for several years before the Civil War, had attended Rush Medical School in Chicago after the Civil War for two years. He returned to the Crum�s home in 1868.

Across the road from Crum, Woodford and Marion McDowell bought 80 acres. This was the land that Jeremiah Pratt had received in a land patent grant in 1854, and had sold several months later. It had changed ownership several times during the following 14 years.

On September 14, 1868, the McDowells sold three acres on the northeast corner of the 80 acres, to Abraham W. Green.9 On the same day, they sold two acres, adjoining the three acres on the south side, to Mary Crum. The remaining 75 acres were sold on September 25, 1868, to William Rudkin.

Dr. Green divided the three acres into twelve lots. This was the beginning of the village of Potosi. The schoolhouse, located just east of the corner in section 21, became the Potosi school. The story of the village of Potosi is told in the next chapter.

At the time the census was taken in 1870, there were 145 households listed in Cropsey Township.�0 Over in Belle Prairie Township, there were 120 households.� That census lists the name, age, place of birth of each person. An extract of the census for the two townships will be included in the appendix. Readers should find it interesting to see the names of the pioneers. Some will find names of their ancestors in those enumeration lists.

While most of these settlers had come from the eastern states, a few more immigrants had come from England, including the Blundys, Sharples and Hargitts.

The 1870 census reveals a new trend. Settlers had started to come to Illinois from the continent of Europe.

John Frohn/Frahm and Henry Eggers from Prussia were located near the center of Twp 24 N. (later called Anchor Twp). Charles Miller, George Haller, Jacob Runinger, Adam Shade and Gottleib Brucker, all from Germany, had located in Cropsey Township. John Stoller and Ulrich Steffen from Switzerland had also settled in Cropsey Township.

Conrad Winger, also from Switzerland, was listed in Belle Prairie Township. The eastern half of Belle Prairie Twp. became Fayette Twp. in 1871. Winger was probably in that half of Belle Prairie.

The census takers were English-speaking people. Some of the newcomers spoke only German and were not understood, so many times those names were spelled incorrectly of the census.

In northwestern Cropsey Township, John Schotoft, wife Willeen, daughters Mary, Caroline and Sinia are believed to be John Saathoff, wife Wilhemina Saathoff, daughters Maria, Cornelia and Sina. They were listed with John Crisley, age 30, and Adam Crisley, age 27.12 Later in 1870, John Saathoff bought land from Peter Crissley.13


1 Federal Census of Belle Prairie Twp., Livingston Co., IL., 1870
2 Federal Census of Cropsey Twp., McLean Co., IL, 1870.
3 Brigham, op.cit., p. 210.
4 Ibid, pp. 184-188.
5 U.S. Postal Dept. Petition by D. S. Crum., 1868.
6 Ibid D. S. Crum.
7 From the website: sites.rootsweb.com/~mowashin/potosi. The unusual name comes from the South American Indian word meaning �place of much noise�, and through the years the historic town has been the home of hardy pioneers who made �much noise� in Missouri and throughout the American West. The original Potosi was a 16th century Spanish silver find in Bolivia - a fabulous mountain of silver ore named by the Indians from the noises of the volcanic activity in the area. Through the centuries, into Mexico and into North America, the name of�Potosi� became generic in meaning as a �bonanza� of �El Dorado,� and hopes of riches.
8 Edward E. Ellis. Youth�s History of the United States. Vol.2, pp 346-361. There was a decisive battle at Buena Vista, Mexico during the War of 1848 (U.S. war with Mexico). Gen. Zachary Taylor and Gen. Wood had scarcely 6000 troops compared to the 20,000 Mexicans who swarmed through the gorges and over the hills from the direction of San Luis Potosi on February 22, 1847. Santa Anna demanded that the Americans surrender, and Gen. Taylor was rash enough to refuse. The battle opened on the 23td� The Mexicans attacked on the center and were driven back by Capt. Washington�s artillery. The attack on the left flank held by Indiana troops gave way, but the Mississippians and Kentuckians threw themselves into the breach, and the troops of Illinois and Indiana rallied, and the enemy was driven back. The final charge was made upon Capt. Bragg�s battery, but was scattered by the volleys of grape-shot and a charge of American cavalry. That night Santa Anna retreated. The Mexicans had lost 2000 men. The American lost 746 men wounded, killed or missing. That was the last battle that Gen. Zachary Taylor fought in Mexico. Gen. Winfield Scott fought several more battles before the war ended with a peace treaty in February 1848.
9 Deeds, McLean Co., IL., op. cit.
10 Census, Cropsey Twp., 1870, op.cit.
11 Census, Belle Prairie Twp., 1870, op.cit.
12 Census, Cropsey Twp., 1870, op.cit.
13 Deeds, McLean Co., IL., op.cit.

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