From The History of Shelby and Moultrie Counties

From The History of Shelby and Moultrie Counties
page 263

EAST NELSON TOWNSHIP.* (MOULTRIE COUNTY.)

*We are indebted to George Purvis for the facts related in this township history.

In this township we find the first land entries were made as follows:


May 10th, 1830, Jesse Ellis entered the W. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of Section 12, T. 13, R. 6 E. 80 acres;

Nov. 12, 1830, James Purvis entered the W. 1/2 of the S.E. 1/4 of Section 17, T. 13, R. 6 E. 80 acres;

September 26th, 1834, Jonathan E. Graham entered the W. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of Section 24, T. 13, R 6 E. of the 3d P. M. containing 80 acres.

The first settlers were Joel and Peter Freeman, brothers, with their families, and
James and George Purvis, who arrived early in the spring of 1830.

The Freemans were natives of North Carolina, and several of their descendants
are among the best citizens of the county. They settled on Coon creek, a little south
of the present site of Nelson.

James and George Purvis came April 1st, 1830, and built a cabin of rough unhewn logs on section 7, where George Purvis still continues to live. They broke the first prairie and put in a crop, and in the following month their father, John Purvis, his wife, and daughter Malinda came from Sangamon county.

They all lived in this cabin one year, after which the elder Purvis moved to the " Mill Seat " at the bend of the river, where he lived with his sons John and James G., who had also arrived and built a cabin. The bend in the river is nearly the shape of a horse-shoe, and is three and one-half miles around, and at the neck it is only seventy steps between the streams. At this point it is said there is about nine feet fall.

The eighty acres, including the bend, was entered by James Purvis in 1829. He, in company with this brother, John G., built a water mill on this neck in 1833, and it has ever since been know as the "Mill seat." It was a grist and saw mill, and was operated for several years by the Purvises and others, and finally washed away.

Maj. James Poor settled a half mile west of George Purvis in the fall of 1832. He
had a family of five children, many of whose descendants are still living in the
county. At one time Maj. Poor was owner of the Mill Seat. He died in 1850.

Alfred Wood settled in 1833.

Frederick Price, Thomas Purvis, a Mr. Sims, Absolun Brown, Mr. Fox, Boswell, Thomas Isaac and William Purvis, John Spencer, John Bracken, Milton Cox, Isaac Munson, John Goldsby, Samuel Martin, Joseph Lilly, Samuel Hughes, William Snyder, Alfred G. De Bruder, the Elders and Landers were all early settlers.

Grandfather Purvis, who died in January, 1833, was probably the first death in the township.

The first marriage was that of George Purvis, to Cassie Waller, in 1833.

School was taught here as early as 1834, by Joseph Rodgers, on
section 4, where the first school-house was erected of logs. Parnell Hamilton was
also an early teacher. The Elders, Hostetler and Grider, and Rev. Hughes were
early preachers. The first house used as a church was a school building erected at Nelson. Doctors Slater , Dodson, B. B. Everett and Montague were the earliest physicians. The first post-office was established at Nelson.

Old Nelson, laid out by Philip Vandakin in 1835, was the first village in the county.
Dr. Montague, Joseph Rodgers and Samuel Martin erected the first buildings, and
the two latter kept the first stores. Hugh M. Elder built a store and stocked it with
general goods and kept the first post-office; A. Richardson also kept a store, and
a man by the name of Dobbs had a blacksmith shop. This village was located just south of the "Mill Seat" in section 17. Mr. Vandakin failed to get a deed to this
tract before James Purvis, the owner, died, and the heirs being minors, could not
convey; hence the place became extinct. Soon after the death of Mr. Purvis, his brother, John G. Purvis, Dr. Montague and Jonathan Dazey, laid out a tract a half
mile east, into lots and blocks, and called it

EAST NELSON

It contained 40 acres; 20 in section 17, and the same number in section 20, All the buildings were moved from old Nelson into the new village, and in addition to
these J. S. Gordon, James Elder, Samuel Egbert, Whitney & Morton, Joseph Duncan, Ewing & Prentice and William Snyder erected storehouses and became merchants. Felix Landers had a tan-yard here for a number of years. When Moultrie county was organized in 1843, some of the early courts were held here -- Judge Treat presided -- but when the county seat was located at Sullivan, many of the merchants and residents of East Nelson moved there or to other points, and it virtually died. When the railroad came through they made it a station, and a post-office named Farlow, was established. At present there is but one store and wagon shop kept by Newton Farlow and a blacksmith shop occupied by William Farlow, in the once noted place of East Nelson.

JULIAN

WAS a small village laid out by Thomas Purvis, about 1836, in section 3. John Patterson and Samuel Martin, were its merchants, and Purvis run a horse mill. The land upon which it was located has long since been cultivated, and now forms part
of a beautiful farm.