USA > Illinois > Bureau County > History of Bureau County, Illinois > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104
ANINO.
4
OF CONGRA 5
OF
. ETHE LIBRARY" OF CONGR ONG E. THE
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS THE FIRE
CONGRESS T
LIBRARY
5 OF S
LIBRARY 1. CONGRESSOSEMDADOS LIBR.IRPO CP:
D
AUCHMIT J " LIBRARY.
THE CONGRES VE MIRRARIO 3 3
. LIBRARY 1020
HR LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONGRESS
CONGRESS MIE LIBRARY
OF CONGI
c PY.
. C . . H WHE LIBRI" "CONGA AF CONGRE. "" CONGRES 4 H e H
TIS
I.IR 1
0
.
H
.
.
THE LIBRA. CONGRESS
L
R
.
H 0 0 1. V. V & CONGRESS THE LIBRARY OF SV )F CONGI
R.IRY OF CO
. DONGGRESS THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS THE LIBRARY
LIBRARY SEVadI)
academy ... . CONGE CONGRESS SSHHONO
CONGA LII RAIY
H € AGRESS THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS THE LIBRILY " CONGRESS STADNOJ N
H CF CONGRES
THE LIBRIDY OF CONGRESS,
M ( F . OF CONGR CONGKE HE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ONGRESS 1 OF CONGR : LIPRARY A THE LIB
OF CONGRESS
C H THE LIBRARY THE LIBRARY
. .. J : C 1 2 !1 1 A . . . LIPRIRY CONGRF. 9 LIBRARY 5 LIDPAR THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS .
CONGRESS THE LIBRARY OF
2
S
.
.
. -
.
1
NGRESS
3 GRF JITKARY
IN. LIIRALY
7
1
1
. ..
R.A
4 P 7 A CONGRESS ARENILLAS RE LIPRARI, 7
CONGA LIBR
1 IBRARY OF "CONGRESS SAMONOS. NTHE LIBP. : RY
1.1
. 1 . Orr CONGRESS THE LIBRARY LIBRARY
CONTRE
RE
P
THE Y RE 3 T P M I LIBRARY( THE LIBR EN GRIS
A
HRARY
RAY
.
LIBRARY
OF CONGS
.
THE
A
NGRE. ..
CO
LIBRARIES THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
. . LIBRARY 5 N OF CONGRES SIONO1 10 E LIBRARY
GR CONGRE V
CONGR
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS THE LIBRARY 2 .C 3 1 CONGRESS THE LIBRARY F ANYNUIT GA HE LIBRARY. OF CONGRESS 2 4
VONF CONGRE
N F
3 20 H
F
CONGRESS THE LIBRARY 1 115% CONGRESS STVENO THE LIBRARY BRARY N G
Se CONGRE
OF .. . . 4.41. · RARY
M N THE OF CO
OF
3 OF CONGRESS N RARY OF CONGRESS
E IIBA
. . . . A
>
SSAXONO CONGRESS SUNDNO
. do ddeall & & LIBRARY
BRARY . OF CO
HRARY
DE COR
R.IRY
GRARY
THE LIBRARY € OF CONGRESS CONGRESS
THE LIBRARY & CONGRESS SIND.YOU. CONGRESS THE LIBRARY
3 C CONGRESS THE LIBRARY CONGRES LA LIBRARIO OF CONGRES LIBRAR
NE CONCRE YYONO.
CONGRESS STUDNU ) LIBRIRY
4
·
E OF CONGRESS
THE LIBRARY, OF CONGRESS
OF CONGRESS 5 OF BRARY OF CONGRI THE LIBR
5 .
.10 3 SE CONGRES "MAGNO.) LIBRARY FTHE LIBRARY THE LIBKA Y OF CONGRI OF CONGRESS SINDAUS BOS. OF CONGRESS T > OF CONGRESS I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS? LIKES, CONGRESOS HE 5 LIBRARY LIBRARY 0 LIBRARY BRARY CONGRESS .. LIBIIRY IBRARY NGRESS THE BRARY : CONGRESS 1 . . . THE -1 () OF CONGRESS THE LIBRARY
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS THE LIDY
NGRESS
I.IF
i.IL
INGRESS
-
IUGRESS THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS THE LIT
.THE
ANGRESS
DR.IRY
OF R.IRY . : LIBMÍRYOF
M
A 5 CONGRESS
SAMONOJ
CO
IBRARY O1
2 C C 0 THE LIBRARY E LIBRARY TA LIBRARY OF CONGRESS OF CONGRESS O 5 CONGRESS THE
OF CONGRESS.
ASSIMON
!! I:
y 2 00
CONGRES RE LINHARES " LIBRARY
RARY
RARY
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
OF CONGRESS THE LIBRARY
S THE LIBRARY
THE LIBRARY R OF CONGRESS THE LIBRARY OF THE LIBRARY 9
RARY OF CU
€
.
HISTORY
-OF-
BUREAU COUNTY,
ILLINOIS.
H. C. BRADSBY, EDITOR.
* * here as elsewhere we must search out the causes after we have collected the facts. No matter if the facts be physical or moral, they all have their causes; there is a cause for ambition, for courage, for truth, as there is for digestion, for muscular movement, for animal heat. Vice and virtue are products, like vitriol and vinegar. - TAINE.
ILLUSTRATED.
1 9182Q
CHICAGO : WORLD PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1885.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1885, BY H. C. BRADSBY In the Office ot the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
John Morris Company, Printers, Chicago.
PREFACE.
HE history of Bureau County, Illinois, after much toil and patient research, is now completed, and it is believed that no object of public importance or interest has been omitted, save where the most diligent efforts failed to secure reliable results.
The chief aim of this book is to give the facts and dates as we found them in the recollections of the few surviving early settlers, the private and public records in the County and State archives, the few private diaries, family Bibles and on the tomb- stones placed by the hands of affection over the final resting-places of the departed, in their chronological order. The legends and traditions have been carefully gone over, and no small part of the work has been in collating and verifying them, and in every case where fiction had found its way into the web or woof of the story, to retain the true and reject the false.
In some respects the reader may think, especially if he should be a stranger to the pioneers and their descendants, that at times there is a tediousness of detail, or even that some are unimportant, but a generation from now these very details will be the more highly prized the more full and complete they are.
In telling the story of the general county history we have combined and woven together the account as best we could, and in addition to the county's genealogy and chronology will be found that of the people, together with the biographies and lives of the living and the dead, that will some day be an invaluable prize in the hands of the future historian, as well as of interest and profit to the readers of to-day.
We believe the whole will be found clothed in a literary garb, and brightened with reflections, suggestions and philosophical deductions that will make it a store-house for the young and old, where they may find new and valuable ideas, and thus gain knowledge and pleasure that will repay them many times the original outlay for the book.
This work has cost us much labor and a large expenditure of money, and as the territory is but a single county, and, therefore, our patronage can be but limited, yet we have given here more than we promised, and we feel assured that all thoughtful and fair-minded people will recognize and appreciate the work and its permanent value.
There is a perceptibly constant increase in the interest in the history of the pioneers. This, of course, commenced in the original States of the Union, but is extending all over the West. In the New England States it is still far in advance of the Mississippi Valley. It may be true that these are richer historical grounds than the newer States can present, but it is not certain that, therefore, there are not great fields here for the real historian,
PREFACE.
because there is much in the man who writes the history of a people as to whether he finds and suitably points out, and fully works up the actual material that may lie within his possible reach.
In this work we have followed no beaten track in formulating the story, the subjects treated, or the manner of treatment, and some readers may conclude that to that extent we have marred what we have done, yet we have followed a general plan, and made prominent those special subjects that we have, after long study and reflection, conceived to be for the best in the end, even if not now.
And all we care to say in self defense is, that where the reader may fall upon chance paragraphs that do not meet his cordial approval, that in justice to the writer he withhold his judgments until he can fairly view and estimate the work as a whole-the story in all its lights and shadows.
DECEMBER, 1884.
H. C. BRADSBY.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I .- Introduction to the Subject Generally- The State's Present Growth-The Anglo-Americans- Cavaliers and Puritans-People Suffer Only for their Ignorance-Lawmakers Generally Considered-Med- dlers in Social Organizations-Climate, Soil, Race, Epoch, and the Bent of the Public Mind the Great Workers of Events-History Considers Men's Errors Mostly Because These Predominate-The Measure of People's Morality is the Knowledge They Possess-The Present is Completing the Past and the Past Explaining the Present, etc., etc 13
CHAPTER H .- Why History Interests Us-What is His- tory ?- Laws of Development-The Soil and its Won- ders-Importance of Teaching it to All-Needs of Our People-The Coming Public Schools -- Learned Igno- rance Should Stop Now-Early Illiteracy and Modern Demoralization Compared-Who Are the Real Immortals -True Philosophy and Kindly Thought-Teaching Error a Crime-How to Educate-An Agricultural People Should Have an Agricultural Education-In- stances Given-Education the Most Practical Thing in the World-Geological Ilistory, its Immensity and Im- portance-The Rocks, Soil, Age, Climate Great Factors in Making History-Geology of Bureau County-Coal Measures-The Wonderful Stories of the Prairies, etc ... 21
CHAPTER III .- The Wonders of Prehistoric People-Re- mains of Great Cities-The Indians and yet Older People Who Were Here-Winnebago War, Capture and Death of Red Bird-Black Hawk War-First Bloodless Cam- paign in 1831-Black Hawk Enters into a Treaty- Starved Rock, the First Settlement in Illinois-Joliet and Marquette-LaSalle's Colony and Fort St. Louis- Two Hundredth Auniversary of the Discovery and Possession of the Country-First White Settlement in the West Made in 1682, at Starved Rock-Capts. Willia Ilawes, and Stewart's Companies and the Men from Bureau County, in the Black Hawk War, etc., etc ....... 43
CHAPTER IV .- The Genealogy of the County-New France-Canada-Louisiana-Northwestern Territory -St. Clair County-Madison, Clark, Bond, Crawford, Pike, Fulton, Peoria, Putnam and Finally Bureau County-The Several and Final Treaties-The Chain of Title to the Territory-Title to the Land, etc., etc. ..... 58
CHAPTER V .- The Grand March of Empire-The Marvels in the Sweep of Population Across our Continent-The Work of One Hundred Years-The Legislative Act Creating Bureau County, etc., etc .. 65
CHAPTER VI .- The Order in which the People Came- First the Explorer, then the Trafficker, then the Trap- per and Hunter, and then the Settler-Their Curious Habits and Customs-The Children of the Solitudes- What They Encountered-Hog and Hominy-The Shirt- tail Age-Houses and Furniture-Suffering for Bread- Anecdotes-Some of the Experiences of Pioneer Chil- dren-To Your Gums ! ! !- Experiences of a Boy at His First Hotel-He Hears a Gong-Supposes the House Busted-Board Two Dollars and a Half a Day, and He Eats Bread and Water-Witches, Wizards, and the Hor- rors of Superstition-How People Forted-Weddings, Dances, and the One-Eyed Fiddler-Bottle Race-}low People Dressed-Salute Your Bride-Going to House- keeping, etc .. etc. 69
PAGE.
CHAPTER VII .- The Name of Bureau County-How it Came-The First Five Families-Who They Were- Bulbona, John Dixon, Charles S. Boyd, Henry Thomas -Sketches and Anecdotes of Early Settlers-Death and Burial of John Dixon-Gurdon S. Hubbard-Who Was the First Postmaster-Oldest Living Settlers-Abram Stratton-His Remarkable Trip in 1829-Sketch of Him -The Brighams-The County's Total First Tax- Remarkable Career of John H. Boyd-The Three Broth- ers-in-Law-The First Death in the County, Daniel Smith-His Widow and Family, etc., etc., etc ...
79
CHAPTER VIII .- Records Made by Old Settlers-On All Disputed Questions They are the Best Authority-Old Settlers Society-First Agitation of the Subject-Ilistor- ical Importance of Speeches, Poems, Addresses, Remarks, Anecdotes and Pictures-Address of E. S. Phelps-First Old Settlers' Meeting - Who Participated-Their Records of Early Settlers, and When They Came-Poem by Johu H. Bryant-" Doctor Bill"-Officers of the Society-Killing of Phillips-Milo Kendall's Address- Warren's History of Putnam County-E. Strong Phelps -. John M. Gay, Munson and Miss Hall-First Burial and First Birth-Caleb Cook-Aquilla Triplett-A Long List of the Early Settlers and Their Descendants -Arthur Bryant's Poem-Michael Kitterman, Sketch of -Thirteen Dogs and the Assessor-More Anecdotes- Rev. Martin and Ilis Dog " Penny"-The Perkinses- George Hinsdale-C. G. Corss-And a Great Many Othera, etc., etc ...
87
CHAPTER IX .- Lone Tree-Putnam County Organized- Capt. Haws-Johu M. Gay Elected Commissioner- Dr. N. Chamberlain School Superintendent in 1831- Bureau Precinct-Ita First Nineteen Voters-Thelr Names and Whom They Voted For-A Democratic Majority at the First Election-Bureau Men on the Jury in 1831-Daniel M. Gay and Daniel Dimmick Elected Justices-Gurdon S. Hubbard's Account of Bur- bonnais-Peoria and Galena Road-Dave Jones-First Steamboat on the Illinois River-First Grist and Saw Mill-" Dad Joe" Smith, a Sketch-Young Dad Joe's Ride-Alex Boyd's Ride-People Flee the Country- Shabbona, etc., etc
110
CHIAPTER X .- End of the Indian Troubles-Commence- ment of Permanent Settlements and Improvements- Election of 1834-Bryant and Brigham Elected for Bureau Precinct-Estimated Number of People Here Then-Browne's Company of Rangers-IJampshire Col- ony-William O. Chamberlain Its Original Inventor-E. H. Phelp'a Account of the Colony and Their Coming and the History Thereof-Names and an Account ofthe Colonists and Their Friends.
125
CHAPTER XI .- "Curt " Williams, the Man of Many Marks -- Smiley Shepherd-The Deep Snow of 1831-John, Job, Timothy, Brown and David Searle-Greenbury Hall- Lewis Cobb-The Cholera in 1832-Scott's Army and Its Suffering From the Plague-First Steamboata Arrive in Chicago, 1832-Politicians In the Black Hawk War-“ I Surrender, Mr. Indian "-Sketches of Many Early Set- tlers-Henry F. Miller-M. Studyvin-David Chase- James Coddington-Enoch Lumry-James Garvin-E. Piper-James Wilson- Jacob Galer-John Leeper-John Bagga-Wiswalls-Tripletta-Ilalls-How Negro Creek Got its Name, etc., etc ..
133
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER XII .- Immke's Group Picture of Early Settlers -Of Great Value Now, But of Greater Value in the Future-Appeal to the County Authorities-The First Families, the Real Knickerbockers-A Chapter That Will Loug Grow in Value, etc., etc. 141
CHAPTER XIII .- John 11. Bryant-The Farmer Poet-A Sketch of His Life and Works-Ilis Name Identified With Every Important Movement in the County Since He Came Here, etc., etc. 155
CHAPTER XIV .- Something About a Great Many People of the C'ounty-When Different Places Were Settled aud by Whom-First Government Land Surveys-The Den- hams -Moseleys-J. V. Thompson-Judge R. T. Temple- ton-Rev. E. Scudder High and Doughnuts-To Market to Sell a Pig-Waluut and Ohio Townships, etc., etc ..... 169
CHAPTER XV .- The Churches of the County-Their Pres- eut Pastors and Condition-The Growth of Church In- stitutions-Iu God We Trust-A Well Written Chapter by HI. B. Leeper, of Princeton, etc., etc. 180
CHAPTER XVI .- The Anti-monopoly Movement, its Ori- gin-John H. Bryant's Connection Therewith and Also Senator L. D. Whiting-Birth of the Republican Party -Judge Lawrence Defeated and Judge Craig Elected Supreme Judge-The Great Contest of the People Against Corporations and Monopolies-Effect Through- out the Whole Country-How Bureau Has Led in Many of These Great Movements-The XIIIth Article of Our Coustitution, llow it Came About-The Laws and the Courts' Decisions Founded Thereon-Illinois the Birth- place of Nearly Every Political Revolutiou-Some Cor- rections in Current History-Much Information and Many Importaut Facts That Will be New to Most Read- ers 204
CHAPTER XVII .- The Hennepin Canal-Ilistory of the Ill- inois and Michigan Canal -- Its Extension to the Missis- sippi River-Its Paramount Importance-Cheap Trans- portation the Great Want of the Mississippi Valley- Some Curious Legislation-And a Few Statutory Pyro- tecnics, etc., etc. 217
CHAPTER XVIII .- Horticulture-Arthur Bryant the Pio- neer in This Line lere-Forestry-About Fruits Gen- erally, and Shade and Ornamental Trees-Sketch of Arthur Bryant, etc., etc. 227
CHAPTER XIX .- Gold and Silver Mines-Curious Super- stitions About Them-" Way-Bills," Leading to Fabu- lous Fortunes-How Ignorance Dupes Itself-Tenacity
. of Ignorant Beliefs-Ancient Fools Perished in the IFunt for the Fountain of Youth-More Modern Ones Also Pursue Their Foolish Dreams of Wealth-Counterfeiters in Their Caves, etc., etc. 237
CHAPTER XX .- Debating Societies-Some Immortal Speci- meus-Old-Time Church Severity-Ilow These Things are Modified and Bettered-Forefathers' Day in Prince- ton and Addresses-Discussion About it in the Press- The Puritans Attacked and Ably Defended-The Writ- ers Tartly Review History, etc., etc. 241
CHAPTER XXI .- Drainage - Swamp Lands - Illinois Drainage Laws-The Long Fight to Make Them Effect- ive-llow L. D. Whiting Successfully Fights out the Loug Battle for the Right-The Great Benefits His Ac- tion Will Confer on the Entire State, etc., etc., etc ......... 262
CHAPTER XXII .- Bureau County Created, 1837-Election -Bureau Triumphs and lollifies-" Shut the Door !"- The First Highway-Part of the Old Indian Trail Yet Preserved-First County Officials and Their Acts-List of County Officers Complete, Brought Down to the Adop- tion of Township Organization-The Civil History of the County, With Sketches of Some of the Prominent Actors, etc., etc., etc ... 267
CHAPTER XXIII .- Civil History Continued-Laws, Pub- lic and Special, Referring to the County of Bureau and its Tuwas-A Complete Index and Reference to the Same, etc., etc , etc ... 278
CHAPTER XXIV .- Township Organization Adopted -- Board of Supervisors Meet-John H. Bryant First Chair- man-List of Supervisors-George Mellannis Second
PAGE. Chairman-Premium for Wolf Scalps-John M. Grimes First Attorney for the Board-Terwilleger Overseer of the l'oor-R. T. Templeton County Judge-List of Town- ship and County Officers to 1857-The Anti-Duelling Oath Required-Jacob T. Thompson's Report as County Treasurer - County Officers, Supervisors, and Other Officers-J. T. Thompson-O. L. Bearss-Sketches, etc., etc., etc ....
280
CHAPTER XXV .- Continuation of County Officers-Com- plete List to Date-Marriages-First One J. H. Olds and Louisa C. Bryaut-Powers Exercised by the County Court-Publie, Civil and Private Affairs Generally- These Old Law-Makers Regulate the Price of Whisky and Eating and Sleeping and Horse Feed, etc., etc., etc ... 291
CHAPTER XXVI .- Courts-Lawyers-Judges, and Those Who Held These Offices-Legal Doings-Lawyers Who Rode the Circuit-Visiting and Local Lawyers-Simon Kinney First Attorney to Locate in the County-Cyrus Bryant the First Circuit Clerk-Sketch of Him-Fuge Songs-Judge Martin Ballou the Second Lawyer to Lo- eate in the County, Now the Oldest Member-Hon. Charles L. Kelsey-How Judge Fraser Lost a Federal Judgeship-Bureau County Electors-Representatives and State Senators-Congressmen, etc., etc., etc ...
295
CHAPTER XXVII .- The Press-First Paper the Bureau Advocate-The Three Political Parties Run the Same Paper-A Novel Idea-The Princetonian-Post-Herald -Yeoman-Democrat- Republican-Tribune - Patriot -News-Motor-Tidings-Press - Register - Indepen- dent-Call-Home Guard-Times-Who Managed Them -Present Papers-List of Editors and Publishers- Present Papers and Proprietors, etc., etc., etc .. 307
CHAPTER XXVIII .- Agricultural Society-Its Commence- ment aud Who Started It-List of Offices-A Successful Institution-Its Great Value to the People-Land in the County-Agricultural Interests-Value and Tax of the Same-Farms-And Much Other Information, etc .... 321
CHAPTER XXIX .- Hon. Owen Lovejoy-The Martyrdom of His Brother Elijah P. Lovejoy-An Event in Ameri- can History-Owen Lovejoy's Mission in Life-His Death in the Hour of the Triumph of his Political Principles, etc., etc. 326
CHAPTER XXX .- The Rebellion-Bureau County and its Importaut Part Therein-The News of the Firing Upon Fort Sumter-A Detailed Account of the Companies, Officers, Regiments and Squads-Killed and Dead-Bat- tles-Politicians-Knights of the Golden Circle-Wo- men's Aid Societies - War Meetings - Bounties - Speeches-Enlisting, etc., etc., etc. 340
CHAPTERXXXI-Schools-Reflections on the Subject Gen- erally-Suggestions and History of Schools - Learned Ignorance-Classical Education-Investigation Invited- Progress of the Schools-The Present Number and Efficiency-The Princeton High School-Teachers, etc ... 367
CIFAPTER XXXII .- Stock-Graded and Thoroughbreds- Growth of this Industry-Who First Experimented in This Line-Cattle, Ilorses, etc., etc .. 379
CHAPTER XXXIII .- Political Matters Generally-Census of the County-Douglas and Stewart's Congressional Race-The Size of the Original District-Post Offices and Postmasters - The County's Vote - Great Wolf Hunts-Roads-Relics-H. L. Kinney, etc., etc ...... 392
CHAPTER XXXIV .- Odds and Ends - Retrospective- Paths, Indian Trains and Railroads-Blessings Received and Anticipated-Farmers and Their Future Education -The Buffalo and the Indian-Natural Engineers and Places for Great Cities-Douglas, :Breese and the Idea of the Illinois Ceutral Railroad, etc., etc. 404
CHAPTER XXXV .- City of Princeton-Whence its Name - First Survey - First Election - Who Voted - Officials-Improvements, Growth, Beauties, Societies, Business, etc., etc ... 408
CHAPTER XXXVI .- Townships, Villages and Towns in the County-Additional Information in Regard to Each Township-The Settlers, Prominent Men, etc., etc ......... 419
CONTENTS.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Alphabetically arranged ....
... 439 Received too late for insertion in proper order. 706
In memoriam, Hon. Justus Stevens
709
PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Allen, Joseph. ...... Facing 400
340
Henderson, Thomas J ...
80
Boyden, A. W ...
216
Knox, S. M.
250
Brenneman, Martin
322 Miller, Henry J. Between 164 and 167
Bryant, Arthnr.
304
Miller, Mrs. Jane 164 and 167
Bryant, John H. 28
Norris, I. H. Facing 46
Colver, Jacob 416
Reeve, Tracy. 232
268
Dayton, Mrs. Lydia B 286 and 289
Stevens, Justus
62
Edwards, Richard
Facing 96
. Whipple, William M
148
Fassett, E. W
198
Whiting, L. D.
130
Frary, R. B.
114
Williams, Solomon.
366
Gray, Nathan
wFacing 182 Battey, Silas ..
Dayton, Chauncey L .. Between 286 and 289
Stevens, B N.
--
HISTORY OF BUREAU COUNTY -
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
I.
TLLINOIS has passed through its pio- neer period of development, and from a raw state of savagery and wild waste to one of the foremost States in the Union-already the first State, indeed, in many of those stand- ard articles of agriculture that are contribut- ing so much to make the Upper Mississippi Valley the garden and granary of the world; a State but sixty-six years old (1818-1884) and already in the lead in the number of miles of operated railroads, as well as lead- ing in many of the best agricultural products; the third State in the number of persons en- gaged in the various occupations of life ; a greater population engaged in agriculture than any other State in the Union, and this industry extended during the past decade be- yond anything before known in history; her mining and manufacturing industries lagging only behind her agricultural growth, and yet keeping pace well with perhaps any other similar sized community in the world. In all the elements of present wealth and future promise, the State, young as it is, bids well at no distant day to stand peerless and alone. And phenomenal as has been the growth of population and wealth, the increase bears the evidences that it is not sporadic, but regular
and permanent, and the limits of its future are too vast for present possible estimate.
Some measure of the mental and commer- cial activity of a people may be gained per- haps as well or better through the postoffice reports than from any other easily accessible source. The total postoffice expenditures for the State in 1882 in Illinois were second to that of the State of New York, although in population we are the fourth State in the Union. In illiterates-those ten years of age and over-Illinois is the fourteenth State. In newspapers, she stands next to New York; in the average daily attendance in the public schools, Illinois is the fourth State; in col- leges she is second, leading New York by one. [Railroads, in mileage, Illinois by far exceeds any State in the Union, nearly doub- ling the mileage of New York.] But with a much smaller mileage, the railroads of Penn- sylvania have larger annual earnings than the Illinois roads.
II.
The prosperity of a new State, especially when it is marked, is as a rule ephemeral. At first all industries flourish, but soon com- petition is felt, and the wave of prosperity is followed usually by a marked decadence of all these, or a relaxation of the active ener- gies that seem to wait for the new growth of an increased demand that will come in time and revive trade and traffic to renewed energy
14
HISTORY OF BUREAU COUNTY.
and effort. This general experience of new and rapidly growing communities has never come to Illinois. Flush times and hard times have come and gone here as well as else- where, but they were the same in their visits, and at the same time that they inade their appearance all over the land. The perma- nency of her growth, and the solidity and glory of her marvelous greatness has con- sisted chiefly in her farmers-those whose prudent foresight discovered here a wealth of soil and climato unequaled in the world.
For more than a century after the discovery and first small settlements of what is now Illinois by Joliet, La Salle, and the Jesuits- Marquette and Hennepin-the feeble but dar- ing little colonies were isolated in the heart of our great continent, and more remotely separated from the civilized world than could any people now be upon any portion of the globe; their growth was only the natural in- crease, as their isolation from mankind was almost complete. Religious enthusiasts, bear- ing aloft the cross of the church and the lilies of France, penetrated the wilderness and car- ried to the untutored savage the sublime mes- sage of "peace on earth and good will to man." And following in the long course of time these children of the church, came the "war-whoop that oft woke the sleep of the cradle," the massacres, the assassinations and the wars, and the last were the means in overy instance of bringing here the first streams of immigrants, who were the base upon which has grown the present greatness of the State. It was the sons of Mars who were the fathers of our State builders. First, the war of 1776 and of 1812-15 brought the Virginians and Carolinians, and made them acquainted with Southern Illinois, and then the war of 1832 extended the acquaintance of the Northern and Southern States to the northern limits of Illinois; and the wonder-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.