St. Rose Township
(Clinton County)
Source: "1881 History of Marion & Clinton Counties, Illinois"
Situated in the north-western part of the county, with Bond county on the north, Madison county on the west, Breese township on the south, and Wheatfield township on the east. Shoal Creek flows through the township on the east side, from north to south. It enters at the north-east corner of section two, and passes out at the south-east corner of section thirty-two. A strip on the east side a mile and a half wide along Shoal creek is timber. The balance of the township is a beautiful rolling prairie. The first settlement made here was near the present village of Jamestown, by John KING and Mr. REED, who were brothers-in-law. They came here in the spring of 1817. John KING entered the east half of the north-west quarter of section two, June 25th, of the same year. Their cabins stood a short distance north of where Jamestown now is.
July 14th, 1817, Joseph BARBER entered the west half of the south-west quarter of section thirteen, where he made an improvement the same year. His cabin stood near the west bank of Shoal creek, in the timber. He resided there until his death.
William and John BRISBAN, two brothers from Tennessee, built a cabin on the present site of Jamestown in the spring of 1818. April of that year William entered the east half of the south-west quarter of section two. John was a man of family, and William was a bachelor or widower, and a man of some means. They lived here together a number of years, and subsequently moved to Morgan county, Ills.
Burton BAKER located on the west side of Shoal creek, south of Jamestown, in 1830, where he lived until his death. He was an upright man, a good citizen, and a working member of the Methodist Church.
Joseph TAYLOR, a native of Kentucky, settled the old Taylor homestead in the south-west part of the township, in 1835. He built a large brick residence here on the Kentucky style, forty-four years ago, and made the brick on his farm. At that time it was the largest house in this part of the county, and the first brick structure in the township. It is now occupied by his daughter. He improved a large farm here, and entered a great deal of land, upwards of three thousand acres. He was a minister of the Baptist Church, and preached regularly in this settlement until his death, which took place in 1845, while in Franklin county, Kentucky, on a business trip. He raised a family of eight children - three are now living, viz.: Joseph TAYLOR, Mrs. Lucy D. AMOS, and Joel TAYLOR; the former are residents of this township, and the latter now lives in Montana.
John JACKSON, a native of Tennessee, settled in the north-west part of the township in 1835. He afterwards moved to the east part of the county, where he lived several years, and subsequently moved to Bond county, Ills., where he died in 1852. Freeland JACKSON, a son of his, now lives south of Jamestown, and is one of the oldest settlers now living in St. Rose township.
Other early residents are Elijah ELLEGOOD, William HUNTER, Joseph BALLOU, Samuel GILLESPIE, Robert POTTS, John SUTTON, Thomas and William CASEY. Most all of the old citizens of St. Rose have either died or moved away, and their places have been filled by the German farmers who commenced to settle here after 1840. The first to come were Henry HANNE, Antone DUMBECK, Peter BARTH, Hubert HARTLIEB. They all settled in the vicinity of Jamestown. Prior to 1850 other Germans who came up to 1851 were Abraham FRICKER, Hironimus WEIDNER, Christian PPISTER, John E. MEYER, Joseph AMMAN, Jacob SENN, Christoph JUNGHAUS, Jacob AMSLER.
Jamestown was laid out by Wm. LENOX and James M. MASSEY, June 4, 1850, on the south-west quarter of section 2. LENOX afterward laid out an addition of two blocks. He opened a store here, and afterward took in Charles KAUNE as a partner. They did business together some time, and then dissolved partnership, and carried on two separate stores for many years.
The village now contains 20 houses; one store by J. R. GRUNDMAN; saloon by L. G. MEYERS; Mrs. Mary K. HABBEGGER, post mistress; harness shop, blacksmith shop, wagon shop, school-house, and Methodist church.
Wm. UZZELL was the first post-master here in 1851. He was a blacksmith, farmer and preacher.
The water mill on Shoal creek, east of Jamestown, owned by the widow of A. J. RANDALL, is now run by Jacob LINDLEY.
Blue Mound is a beautiful elevation in the prairie, on the north-west quarter of section 28. It can be seen for many miles around. In 1868 a commodious brick Catholic church was erected near the base of this mound. It stands on section 20, and was finished in 1871. It is called St. Rose church. There is now being built near by a large brick school-house in connection with the church.
In 1870 Peter SCHUETTE erected a store building here, and opened up a stock of goods the following year. A post-office was established, called St. Rose. He has since kept the office, and in the meantime a little village has built up here of 22 houses, with a population of 120, with two stores and saloons, by Peter SCHUETTE and Henry FELDEWERT, tow blacksmith shops, tow wagon shops, and two shoemakers. St. Rose is a growing village six and a half miles north-west of Breese.
The supervisors who have represented the township since its organization are: Joseph SHRAGE, elected in 1874; Joseph PETERMEYER, elected in 1875; J. P. MAXEY, elected in 1876; Joseph PETERMEYER, elected in 1877, and served until 1879, when J. J. SUTTON was elected and served two terms; Joseph PETERMEYER was again elected in 1881.
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