Mrs. Blanche Dulany Reporting…..

Lovilla, Illinois

The little town of Lovilla, Ill. was located in Hamilton Co., in the SW quarter of the SW quarter of Section 21, township 4 S, range, 5 E of the third principal meridian.  This is 2-3/4 miles south and 1 mile east of the present site of Dahlgren.

Lovilla was surveyed June 21, 1854, but it is probable that it was a trading post for a good many years previous.  It is not known who surveyed the site, but it may have been Enos T. Allen, who lived at Lovilla, and who was an authorized surveyor for Hamilton Co., or it may have been John Judd, who lived in the Moore’s Prairie vicinity.

The exact origin of the name of Lovilla cannot be traced, but one belief is that it was named after a certain Lovilla McLean, the daughter of Dr. William B. McLean, one of the first residents of McLeansboro.  If this be the case, then it is evident that Dr. McLean may have established, or had a hand in establishing, the first place of business there.  History reveals that Dr. McLean was a far sighted and civic minded man, and since land speculation and surveying of town sites seemed to be quite a money making investment during the 1800’s, it is only natural that he would have been interested enough to venture into such a project.  Another theory is that the word Lovilla simply meant “Low Town” in reference to its location in the lower part of the state.  Others have suggested that since Lovilla was located at the top of a hill, and you traveled up and out of the valley before you could see it, hence “Lo Villa,” or, “behold, the village!”

The greater part of this town lay on the east side of the old “Fairfield Road” which ran north and south and connected with the “Old Goshen Road” just south of Hebo Church, and with the “George Rogers Clark Road” near Fairfield.  This old “Fairfield Road” was a route of travel long before the surveying of the “Old State Road” which passed through Lovilla at a NW – SW angle.  This road was completed about 1850, and extended from East St. Louis to SW of McLeansboro, where it connected with the “Old Goshen Road” somewhere near Reed School.

Lovilla, according to an old plat, had three streets running in a NE – SW direction. (Note by Continental Historical Bureau:  Actually, these streets ran SE-NW, if our information be correct, which is borne out by looking at Mrs. Dulany’s copy of the town plat.), and one street, called Franklin St., running ins NE-SW direction and intersecting the others.  The old “Fairfield Road” was called Market St., and crossed Main St. in the center of town.  The west half of Lovilla was known as the “Goodridge Addition,” and was never laid off into lots but the original town had thirty-one lots.

Lovilla, then, being situated at the crossroads of two main routes of travel, had the promise of becoming a thriving little town.  The stagecoach came that way, bringing mail and passengers from St. Louis, Vandalia, and Mt. Vernon to McLeansboro and on to Shawneetown, which was at the time the most important city in southern Illinois.

As the stagecoach approached Lovilla, the driver blew a blast on a bugle, and the inhabitants swarmed out to greet him.  Here the mail was delivered to the post office, and other mail and passengers picked up.  Often the driver and passengers spent the night her, which must have been quite an event in the lives of the townspeople, since news was scarce and traveled slow in those days.

At one time the stagecoach station, where the driver changed horses, ate, and sometimes spent the night, was operated by Thomas Burton, grandfather of John T. Wood, Carson (Jack) Wood, and O. B. Moore of Dahlgren.  It is easy to understand why Grandfather Burton would enjoy such a position, since loved to converse with strangers and has often been known to stop passerby, invite them in, feed and bed them, just for the sake of company and news from other localities.

At this point in my story, it would be well to mention that often shows and circuses passed through this little village.  Their steam calliope would play loudly as they traveled along, and its music could be heard for miles around.  Often the country people went into Lovilla that evening in hops that “the show” had stopped for the night.  Gypsies, too, traveled this way, begging, stealing and swapping horses, and often getting the worst end of the deal, for the Lovilla pioneer had plenty of “horse sense”, and was not easily “outsmarted” even by the cunning gypsies.

The people of this little community, like all other early settlements, had few conveniences.  Before the days of the stagecoach, they had to travel by horseback to Shawneetown to get their mail.  They also made trips there after salt, and carried it back in a bag tied to the saddle horn.  The meal was home ground, and of course there was sorghum and New Orleans molasses, the last being quite a luxury, since it had to be hauled a long way—being made from the juice of Louisiana sugar cane.  The nearest bank was at Shawneetown.  The United States land office was also located there, so these people often had cause for a long and dangerous trip to Shawneetown.  All dry goods, groceries, etc., were hauled in wagons, over bad roads, either from St. Louis or Shawneetown.  Almost all commodities came in barrels, such as barrels of flour, barrels of sugar, barrels of unground coffee, and last, but not least, barrels of whiskey.  (The late Enos A. Burton, as a young man did much of the hauling for the John Halley Store at Lovilla.)

Lovilla seems to have reached the height of its advancement during the Civil War days.  During this time there was a recruiting station at Lovilla, army officers from Shawneetown coming up to “muster the boys in.”  Captain Samuel Hogue was recruiting agent.  John J. Wood, who had just recently arrived here from Ohio, enlisted in Co. G, 40^th Ill. Infantry, at Lovilla early in the war.  Captain Thomas S. Campbell of Lovilla belonged to Co. G, 56^th Regiment.  He resigned June 10, 1864.  Other Civil War soldiers who enlisted at Lovilla are: Enos Allen Burton, Albert Judd, Edward Newby, Edward Learned, Austin Learned, William R. Burton, Archibald Stull, Simon McCoy, Thomas Drew, David Risley, Hiram Angel, Bill Thorpe, and Joshua Epperson.  (Note by Continental Historical Bureau: In pencil, the name of Alec Shipley is written at the end of the above list.)

Some of those who went to Shawneetown to enlist were: Martin Moore, and Steven Moore.  Steven Moore was lost on the Battleship, “General Lyon”, which burned and sank off the Atlantic Coast, as it was enroute home with a large number of Union soldiers at the close of the War.  Most of these soldiers were from southern Illinois.

It was during the Civil War that a certain lady at Lovilla was expecting a registered letter, containing money, from her husband in the service.  She never received the money, and after reporting it to authorities, an investigation began.  A certain Widow Doughty was postmistress at the time, and when the government agent arrived to investigate the case, Mrs. Daughty was doing the family wash at a nearby well.  The agent decided to stop at the well to water his horse.  As he stooped to sink the bucket, he spied an envelope from the missing letter.  After some questioning, Mrs. Doughty admitted taking the money.  It seems she had used the money and had been carrying the letter upon her person; but upon seeing the agent approaching, became frightened and wrapped the letter around a rock and threw it into the well.  She was sent to a government prison for crime. (This lady was not a relative of Dr. Doughty of that place.)

At one time Lovilla had three saloons, or “jug groceries”, as they were called.  Charley McGrath operated one of these saloons.  Some merchants who had general stores there were John Halley and James Burton.  George Miller had a blacksmith shop there shortly after the close of the War.  This shop was located on the west side of the road in the Goodridge addition.  This George Miller was the grandfather of Mrs. O. B. Moore, and Mrs. C. O. Upchurch of Dahlgren.

Other early residents of Lovilla were: Thomas J. Burton, Enos T. Allen, Rueben Oglesby, Philip Bearden, Sam McCoy, O. L. Cannon, George Irvin, Henry Runyon, and James Lane, one time judge of Hamilton County and inventor of the Diamond Plow.  Some other well known family names from that vicinity are: Cook, Preston, Learned, Sturman, Venerable, Miller, McCarver, Lowery, Tarwater, Thomas, Angel, King, Oliver, Dale, Dewitt, Allen, Moore, and McKnight.

  From Washington, D. C. Post Office Department, I secured the following census records for Lovilla in 1850 and again in 1860:

1850 Census

1860 Census