The first marriage, the date of which memory has kept green, was that of Miss Maria Seats to Samuel Haves. The nuptial ceremony was performed at the house of Joseph Everly in the month of December, 1840, by the Rev. William Mikels. The young couple started out with a host of friends and their well wishes, and had bright anticipations of their own happiness.
The first child was William H., son of Peter and Lucy Bear, who was born April 15, 1839; the next was G. W. Williams.
The first girl born in the township was Hannah J. Mikels, daughter of John and Catherine A. Mikels.
The first death of record is that of the infant child of Peter and Lucy Bear, who died in the spring of 1841. It was buried on John Mikels’s place on section thirty-one.
The Rev. William Mikels, a Baptist divine, was the first preacher of the gospel in the township. He preached at the house of Joseph Everly in the year 1839 and at other places, and organized. what has since been known as the Pilot Grove Baptist Church in the year 1840. He has always been am earnest and consistent worker in the church.
The first school was taught by James Jefferies in the year 1844. This was in a log school-house on section thirty, put up by ‘the surrounding neighbors, primitive in style but fully up to houses of education erected in those days. This school numbered from ten to fifteen scholars and being a subscription school, the teacher received a salary of fifteen dollars per month. Mr. Jefferies is now, or was when last heard from, a minister of the gospel, and was preaching in Iowa.
The first regular school-house was built in 1855, and was erected by Alexander Gillilan at a cost to the district of $140. It was a frame house and was at that time considered one of the finest in the county. It was known as the Brown school-house. The first school taught in it was by Caleb Smith, who still lives an honored citizen with a large family of children and grandchildren growing up around him.
Dr. D. B. Hill has the honor of being the oldest permanent physician in Lincoln township. He came from Adams county, Illinois, and settled near Bancroft, at which place he now lives. He belongs to the homeopathic school of medicine and still enjoys a large practice and is respected and honored by all.
In the industrial arts, Mrs. Hannah Everly wove the first cloth in the township, one of those early pioneer women whose strong sense and active hands were the groundwork of success of pioneer life.
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