USA > Illinois > Iroquois County > History of Iroquois County, together with Historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 1
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LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
: 977.364 * * B386
ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY
[
HISTORY
OF
IROQUOIS COUNTY,
TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES On THE NORTHWEST,
GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS, PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.
BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.
WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 1880.
COPYRIGHT, 1879, BY H. W. BECKWITH AND SON.
PRE KNIGHT & LEONARD
CHIC
977.364 338%
PREFACE.
IN presenting the History of Iroquois County to the publie the editors and publishers have had in view the preservation of eertain valuable historical facts and information which without concentrated effort would not have been obtained but with the passing away of the old pioneers, the failure of memory, and the loss of public records and private diaries, would soon have been lost. This locality being comparatively new, we flatter ourselves that, with the zeal and indus- try displayed by our general and local historians, we have succeeded in reseuing from the fading years almost every scrap of history worthy of preservation. Doubtless the work is, in some respects, imperfeet ; - we do not present it as a model literary effort, but, in that which goes to make up a valuable book of reference for the pres- ent reader and the future historian, we assure our patrons that neither money nor time has been spared in the aeeoniplishment of the work. Perhaps some errors will be found. With treacherous mem- ories, personal, political and sectarian prejudiees and preferences to contend against, it would be almost a miraele if no mistakes were made. We hope that even these defects which may be found to exist may be made available in so far as they may provoke discussion and eall attention to eorreetions and additions necessary to perfect history.
The "Notes on the Northwest " - necessarily the foundation for the history of this part of the country, by H. W. Beekwith, of Dan- ville - have already received the hearty endorsement of the press, Sof the historical soeieties of the northwestern states, and of the most 1 6 aeeurate historians in the country. Mr. Beekwith has in his pos- session perhaps the most extensive private library of rare historieal ¿ works bearing on the territory under consideration in the world, and from them he has drawn as oeeasion demanded.
4
PREFACE.
"Iroquois County in the Great Rebellion," by A. L. Whitehall, we are certain, will be an agreeable surprise not only to the many old soldiers of the late war but to every one interested in that great event ; and when we speak of Iroquois county we necessarily include almost every citizen, for hardly the man survives who does not take pride in the part that this county took in the suppression of that great iniquity. Mr. Whitehall has had in his mind the production of a complete war history, and our readers will agree with us when we say he has succeeded in an eminent degree.
The general county history, written by E. S. Ricker, Esq., will be found by our readers to be in a bold, fearless style, dealing in facts as so many causes, and pursuing effects to the end without turning to the right or left to accommodate the opinions or preferences of friend, party or sect.
The township histories, by Hon. C. F. McNeill, M. H. Messer, A. W. Kellogg, E. Whittlesey, C. W. Raymond, and S. Gray, will be found full of valuable recollections, which, but for their patient research, must soon have been lost forever, but which are now happily preserved for all ages to come. These gentlemen have placed upon Iroquois county and the adjacent country a mark which will not be obliterated, but which will grow brighter and broader as the years go by.
The biographical department contains the names and private sketches of nearly every person of importance in the county. A few persons, whose sketches we should be pleased to have presented, for various reasons refused or delayed furnishing us with the desired information, and in this matter only we feel that our work is incom- plete. However, in most of such cases we have obtained, in regard to the most important persons, some items, and have woven them into the county or township sketches, so that, as we believe, we can- not be accused of either partiality or prejudice.
We had designed to give our patrons a book of about 800 pages, but the amount of interesting historical matter has been so great that we have had to extend the work to nearly one half more than the original design.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
Topography - The drainage of the Lakes and the Mississippi, and the Indian and French names by which they were severally called. 11
CHAPTER II.
Drainage of the Illinois and Wabash - Their tributary streams - The portages connecting the drainage to the Atlantic with that of the Gulf 17
CHAPTER III.
The ancient Maumee Valley -Geological features -The portage of the Wabash and the Kankakee.
21
CHAPTER IV.
The rainfall-Cultivation of the soil tends to equalize rainfall, and prevent the recurrence of drouths and floods. ..
26
CHAPTER V.
Origin of the prairies-Their former extent - Gradual encroachment of the forest - Prairie fires - Aboriginal names of the prairies, and the Indians who lived exclusively upon them 29
CHAPTER VI.
Early French discoveries-Jaques Cartier ascends the St. Lawrence in 1535- Samuel Champlain founds Quebec in 1608 - In 1642 Montreal is established - Influence of Quebec and Montreal upon the Northwest continues until subse- quent to the war of 1812- Spanish discoveries of the lower Mississippi in 1525, 37 1
CHAPTER VII.
Joliet and Marquette's Voyage-Father Marquette's Journal, descriptive of the journey and the country through which they traveled - Biographical sketches of Marquette and Joliet. 43
CHAPTER VIII.
La Salle's Voyage - Biographical sketch of La Salle - Sketch of Father Hennepin and the merit of his writings . 54
CHAPTER IX.
La Salle's Voyage continued -He erects Fort Miamis 63
CHAPTER X.
The several rivers called the Miamis- La Salle's route down the Illinois -The Kankakee Marshes-The French and Indian names of the Kankakee and Des Plaines - The Illinois- "Fort Crevecoeur "-The whole valley of the great river taken possession of in the name of the King of France
72
6
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
Death of La Salle, in attempting to establish a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi - Chicago Creek - The origin of the name - La Salle assassinated and his colony destroyed - Second attempt of France, under Mons. Iberville, in 1699, to establish settlements on the Gulf-The Western Company - Law's scheme of inflation and its consequences . 87
CHAPTER XII.
Surrender of Louisiana to the French Crown in 1731 - Early routes by way of the Kankakee, Chicago Creek, the Ohio, the Maumee and Wabash described - The Maumee and Wabash, and the number and origin of their several names - Indian villages
96
CHAPTER XIII.
Aboriginal inhabitants - The several Illinois tribes -Of the name Illinois, and its origin-The Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Tamaroas, Peorias and Metchigamis, sub- divisions of the Illinois Confederacy - The tradition concerning the Iroquois River -Their decline and removal westward of the Missouri . . . . . 105
CHAPTER XIV.
The Miamis - The Miami, Piankeshaw and Wea bands-Their superiority and their military disposition - Their trade and difficulties with the French and the English - They are upon the Maumee and Wabash -Their Villages - They defeat the Iroquois -They trade with the English, and incur the anger of the French -Their bravery - Their decline - Destructive effects of intem- perance-Cession of their lands in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio - Their re- moval westward and present condition 119
CHAPTER XV.
The Pottawatomies - Originally from the north and east of Lake Huron - Their migrations by way of Mackinaw to the country west of Lake Michigan, and thence south and eastward -Their games -Origin of the name Pottawato- mie- Occupy a portion of the country of the Miamis along the Wabash - Their villages - At peace with the United States after the war of 1812 - Cede their lands - Their exodus from the Wabash, the Kankakee and Wabash ... 137
CHAPTER XVI.
The Kickapoos and Mascoutins reside about Saginaw Bay in 1612; on Fox River, Wisconsin, in 1670 - Their reception of the Catholic fathers - On the Maumee in 1712-In southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois - Migrate to the Wabash - Dwellers of the prairie - Their destruction at the siege of De- troit - Nearly destroy the Illinois and Piankeshaws, and occupy their country -Join Tecumseh in a body-They, with the Winnebagoes, attack Fort Harrison -Their country between the Illinois and Wabash -Their resem- blance to the Sac and Fox Indians 153
CHAPTER XVII.
The Shawnees and Delawares - Originally east of the Alleghany Mountains - Are subdued and driven out by the Iroquois -They war on the American settlements - Their villages on the Big and Little Miamis, the St. Mary's, the Au Glaize, Maumee and Wabash - The Delawares - Made women of by the Iroquois - Their country on White River, Indiana, and eastward defined - They, with the Shawnees, sent west of the Mississippi .. 170
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Indians-Their implements, utensils, fortifications, mounds, manners and customs
180
7
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX.
Stone implements used by the Indians before they came in contact with the Euro- peans- Illustrations of various kinds of stone implements, and suggestions as to their probable uses 195
CHAPTER XX.
The war for the fur trade - Former abundance of wild animals and water-fowl in the Northwest - The buffalo ; their range, their numbers, and final disap- pearance - Value of the fur trade ; its importance to Canada 208
CHAPTER XXI.
The war for the empire - English claims to the Northwest- Deeds from the Iro- quois to a large part of the country.
224
CHAPTER XXII.
Pontiac's war to recover the country from the English-Pontiac's confederacy falls to pieces -The country turned over to the English - Pontiac's death ... 234
CHAPTER XXIII.
Gen. Clark's conquest of the "Illinois "- The Revolutionary war-Sketch of Gen. Clark- His manuscript memoir of his march to the Illinois - He cap- tures Kaskaskia -The surrender of Vincennes -Capt. Helm surprises a convoy of English boats at the mouth of the Vermilion River - Organization of the northwest territory into Illinois county of Virginia 245
Iroquois county in the war of the great rebellion 261
Regimental history-Infantry.
262
-Cavalry 304
-Artillery
314
Dead heroes
317
Roll of honor.
327
History of Iroquois county.
331 331
Early settlements
334 340
Organization of the county
343
Thomas Frame ....
346
The era of speculation.
349
Navigation of the Iroquois river
355
Illinois Central railroad
358
Peoria & Oquawka railroad.
363
The swamp land controversy.
372
Attempt to detach a part of Iroquois to form Ford.
391
Publication of the proceedings of the board of supervisors.
392
County seat contest
395
Building of the present court-house
403
Burning of the county offices and loss of records.
406
Political history
407
Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad
418
Micajah Stanley's account of early times
430
Larch Farm .. 434
County officers 437
Biographies of Experience Lehigh, Joseph Elzeard Michaud, Franklin Blades,
Edward Matthews, Isaac Amerman, John B. Robinson, Lucas Emory Pearce,
Andrew C. Rankin, Winslow Woods, John H. Atwood, Samuel H. Harper, Thomas M. Pangborn, James P. Forsythe, Luther T. Clark, Moses H. Messer, Samuel M. Ayres, Edward S. Gilbert, George F. Page, E. S. Ricker, William H. Shannon, Perry Darst, James P. Martin, Martin Burnham, William A. Babcock 440-466 466
Executions
Topographical.
The Indian scare
Other railroads 428
8
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PART II.
TOWNSHIP HISTORY.
MIDDLEPORT AND BELMONT TOWNSHIPS
1
First exploration
3
First settlement in Belmont
6
Woodland
11
Officers of Belmont
12
First settlement in Middleport
12
Officers of Middleport.
16
Middleport
17 24 26
Incorporation of Watseka
34
Press of the county seat
35 40
Secret societies of the county seat
Biographical
MILFORD TOWNSHIP
Incidents
142
Description
145
Village of Milford .
146
Societies and churches
148
Schools .
149
Biographical .
151
Early history .
175 176 178
Schools ..
179
Village of Sheldon
181
Societies, etc
183
Biographical
185
CONCORD TOWNSHIP
208
Iroquois
210
Incidents
213
Religious matters
214
Schools
215
Societies
216
Biographical
217
DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP
229
City of Gilman .
232
Churches
235
Newspapers
241
Biographical
244
ARTESIA TOWNSHIP
262
Buckley
265
Churches
270 272
Biographical
273
LODA TOWNSHIP
284
Loda village
288
Churches, societies, etc.
293
Biographical
298
DANFORTH TOWNSHIP
308
Danforth village
314
Biographical 314
319
Ashkum village
323
Churches, societies, etc.
325
Biographical
. .
327
.
.
Watseka.
Schools of Watseka ..
.
Murders and executions
43 49 125
SHELDON TOWNSHIP
Religious matters
.
ASHKUM TOWNSHIP
Societies
9
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHEBANSE TOWNSHIP
329
Chebanse village
334
Churches, societies, etc.
338
Clifton
343
Churches
347
Biographical
348
MILK'S GROVE TOWNSHIP
369
Biographical
376
IROQUOIS TOWNSHIP
382
Early settlements and incidents
383 391
Biographical
393
CRESCENT TOWNSHIP
399 404
Biographical
409
PIGEON GROVE TOWNSHIP
415
The cattle war
416 419 421
LOVEJOY TOWNSHIP
Biographical
425 434 439
Biographical
452 456
Biographical
458 466 470
STOCKLAND TOWNSHIP
Description
Biographical .
MARTINTON TOWNSHIP
Martinton village
499 512
Donovan.
518
St. Mary
519
Biographical
520
PAPINEAU TOWNSHIP
527
Papineau village
534 536
ONARGA TOWNSHIP
547
Schools ..
560
Churches
568
City of Onarga
577
Decatur Bagging Company.
582
Murder of Martin Meara
595
Biographical .
598
ASH GROVE TOWNSHIP
640
First elections
649
Educational
652
Churches
654
Villages
658
Biographical
660
LIST OF PORTRAITS.
PART I.
George Rogers Clarke. 245
Experience Lehigh. 336
Micajah Stanley 352
PART II.
C. F. McNeill
1
Gurdon S. Hubbard
6
Villages
FOUNTAIN CREEK TOWNSHIP
Biographical .
479 486 488 494 498
Biographical .
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
Biographical
PRAIRIE GREEN TOWNSHIP
RIDGELAND TOWNSHIP.
The ferry war
Crescent City
Biographical .
10
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
John L. Donovan
32
Daniel Fry ...
56
Franklin Blades
65
Thomas Vennum
83
Edward Dalton
92
M. H. Peters
101
M. B. Wright
119
W. B. Fleager
201
B. F. Fry
219
J. A. Koplin
276
A. C. Rankin.
292
Addison Goodell. J. M. Balthis.
364
Lemuel Milk
373
John Wilson
390
J. L. Hamilton
431
Thomas Maggee.
503
Henry Jones.
529
Fabien Langdoc
539
W. A. Babcock.
548
T. M. Pangborn
556
G. F. Page ..
565
John B. Robinson 567
Winslow Woods 583
593
W. P. Pierson.
613
C. H. Wood.
623
W. H. Harrison
649
OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS.
PART I.
Indian Implements 197-207
Buffalo .
209
Map of Iroquois County 260
Fall of color-bearer ...
320
Whipple & Brown's hardware store, Milford
417
Woodland Mills
427
Miller & Woodworth's Block, Milford
433
PART II.
Williams & Sons' creamery 11
Key of old court-house. 17
Iroquois county court-house.
24
First National Bank, Watseka .
33
Iroquois County "Times " office
39
Pioneer log cabin .
556
ʻ
Hamilton Jefferson
300
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
CHAPTER I.
TOPOGRAPHY.
THE reader will have a better understanding of the manner in which the territory, herein treated of, was discovered and subse- quently occupied, if reference is made, in the outset, to some of its more important topographical features.
Indeed, it would be an unsatisfactory task to try to follow the routes of early travel, or to undertake to pursue the devious wanderings of the aboriginal tribes, or trace the advance of civilized society into a country, without some preliminary knowledge of its topography.
Looking upon a map of North America, it is observed that west- ward of the Alleghany Mountains the waters are divided into two great masses; the one, composed of waters flowing into the great northern lakes, is, by the river St. Lawrence, carried into the Atlantic Ocean ; the other, collected by a multitude of streams spread out like a vast net over the surface of more than twenty states and several ter- ritories, is gathered at last into the Mississippi River, and thence dis- charged into the Gulf of Mexico.
As it was by the St. Lawrence River, and the great lakes connected with it, that the Northwest Territory was discovered, and for many years its trade mainly carried on, a more minute notice of this remark- able water communication will not be out of place. Jacques Cartier, a French navigator, having sailed from St. Malo, entered, on the 10th of August, 1535, the Gulf, which he had explored the year before, and named it the St. Lawrence, in memory of the holy martyr whose feast is celebrated on that day. This name was subsequently extended to the river. Previous to this it was called the River of Canada, the name given by the Indians to the whole country .* The drainage of the St. Lawrence and the lakes extends through 14 degrees of longi- tude, and covers a distance of over two thousand miles. Ascending
* Father Charlevoix' "History and General Description of New France ;" Dr. John G. Shea's translation ; vol. 1, pp. 37, 115.
11
12
HISTORIC NOTES OF THE NORTHWEST.
this river, we behold it flanked with bold crags and sloping hillsides ; its current beset with rapids and studded with a thousand islands ; combining scenery of marvelous beauty and grandeur. Seven hundred and fifty miles above its mouth, the channel deepens and the shores recede into an expanse of water known as Lake Ontario .*
Passing westward on Lake Ontario one hundred and eighty miles a second river is reached. A few miles above its entry into the lake, the river is thrown over a ledge of rock into a yawning chasm, one hundred and fifty feet below ; and, amid the deafening noise and clouds of vapor escaping from the agitated waters is seen the great Falls of Niagara. At Buffalo, twenty-two miles above the falls, the shores of Niagara River recede and a second great inland sea is formed, having an average breadth of 40 miles and a length of 240 miles. This is Lake Erie. The name has been variously spelt,-Earie, Herie, Erige and Erike. It has also born the name of Conti.+ Father Hennepin says : " The Hurons call it Lake Erige, or Erike, that is to say, the Lake of the Cat, and the inliabitants of Canada have softened the word to Erie ;" vide " A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America," p. 77; London edition, 1698.
Hennepin's derivation is substantially followed by the more accurate and accomplished historian, Father Charlevoix, who at a later period, in 1721, in writing of this lake uses the following words: "Tlie name it bears is that of an Indian nation of the Huron language, which was formerly settled on its banks and who have been entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. Erie in that language signifies cat, and in some accounts this nation is called the cat nation." He adds : "Some modern maps have given Lake Erie the name of Conti, but with no better success than the names of Conde, Tracy and Orleans which have been given to Lakes Huron, Superior and Michigan."}
At the upper end of Lake Erie, to the southward, is Maumee Bay, of which more hereafter ; to the northiward the shores of the lake again
* Ontario has been favored with several names by early authors and map makers. Champlain's map, 1632, lays it down as Lac St. Louis. The map prefixed to Colden's "History of the Five Nations" designates it as Cata-ra-qui, or Ontario Lake. The word is Huron-Iroquois, and is derived, in their language, from Ontra, a lake, and io, beautiful, the compound word meaning a beautiful lake ; vide Letter of DuBois D'Avaugour, August 16, 1663, to the Minister : Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 16. Baron LaHontan, in his work and on the accompanying map, calls it Lake Frontenac; ride "New Voyages to North America," vol. 1, p. 219. And Frontenac, the name by which this lake was most generally designated by the early French writers, was given to it in honor of the great Count Frontenac. Governor-General of Canada.
+ Narrative of Father Zenobia Membre, who accompanied Sieur La Salle in the voyage westward on this lake in 1679; vide "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi," by Dr. John G. Shea, p. 90. Barou La Hontan's "Voyages to North America," vol. 1, p. 217, also map prefixed ; London edition, 1703. Cadwalder Col- den's map, referred to in a previous note, designates it as "Lake Erie, or Okswego."
# Journal of a Voyage to North America, vol. 2, p. 2; London Edition, 1761.
13
THE LAKES.
approach each other and form a channel known as the River Detroit, a French word signifying a strait or narrow passage. Northward some twenty miles, and above the city of Detroit, the river widens into a small body of water called Lake St. Clair. The name as now written is incorrect : " we should either retain the French form, Claire, or take the English Clare. It received its name in honor of the founder of the Franciscan nuns, from the fact that La Salle reached it on the day con- secrated to her."* Northward some twelve miles across this lake the land again encroaches upon and contracts the waters within another narrow bound known as the Strait of St. Clair. Passing up this strait, northward about forty miles, Lake Huron is reached. It is 250 miles long and 190 miles wide, including Georgian Bay on the east, and its whole area is computed to be about 21,000 square miles. Its magnitude fully justified its early name, La Mer-douce, the Fresh Sea, on account of its extreme vastness.t The more popular name of Huron, which has survived all others, was given to it from the great Huron nation of Indians who formerly inhabited the country lying to the eastward of it. Indeed, many of the early French writers call it Lac des Hurons, that is, Lake of the Hurons. It is so laid down on the maps of Hen- nepin, La Hontan, Charlevoix and Colden in the volumes before quoted.
Going northward, leaving the Straits of Mackinaw, through which Lake Michigan discharges itself from the west, and the chain of Manitoulin Islands to the eastward, yet another river, the connecting link between Lake Huron and Superior, is reached. Its current is swift, and a mile below Lake Superior are the Falls, where the water leaps and tumbles down a channel obstructed by boulders and shoals, where, from time immemorial, the Indians of various tribes have resorted on account of the abundance of fish and the ease with which they are taken. Previous to the year 1670 the river was called the Sault, that is, the rapids, or falls. In this year Fathers Marquette and Dablon founded here the mission of "St. Marie du Sault " (St. Mary of the Falls), from which the modern name of the river, St. Mary's, is derived .¿ Recently the United States have perfected the ship canal cut in solid rock, around the falls, through which the largest vessels can now pass, from the one lake to the other.
Lake Superior, in its greatest length, is 360 miles, with a maximum breadth of 140, the largest of the five great American lakes, and the most extensive body of fresh water on the globe. Its form has been
* Note by Dr. Shea, "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi," p. 143.
+ Champlain's map, 1632. Also " Memoir on the Colony of Quebec," August 4, 1663 : Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 16.
# Charlevoix' "History of New France, " vol. 2, p. 119; also note.
14
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
poetically and not inaccurately described by a Jesuit Father, whose account of it is preserved in the Relations for the years 1669 and 1670 : " This lake has almost the form of a bended bow, and in length is more than 180 leagues. The southern shore is as it were the cord, the arrow being a long strip of land [Keweenaw Point] issuing from the south- ern coast and running more than 80 leagues to the middle of the lake." A glance on the map will show the aptness of the comparison. The name Superior was given to it by the Jesuit Fathers, "in conse- quence of its being above that of Lake Huron .* It was also called Lake Tracy, after Marquis De Tracy, who was governor-general of Canada from 1663 to 1665. Father Claude Allouez, in his " Journal of Travels to the Country of the Ottawas," preserved in the Relations for the years 1666, 1667, says: " After passing through the St. Mary's River we entered the upper lake, which will hereafter bear the name of Monsieur Tracy, an acknowledgment of the obligation under which the people of this country are to him." The good father, however, was mistaken ; the name Tracy only appears on a few ancient maps, or is perpetuated in rare volumes that record the almost for- gotten labors of the zealous Catholic missionaries; while the earlier name of Lake "Superior" is familiar to every school-boy who has thumbed an atlas.
At the western extremity of Lake Superior enter the Rivers Bois- Brule and St. Louis, the upper tributaries of which have their sources on the northeasterly slope of a water-shed, and approximate very near the head-waters of the St. Croix, Prairie and Savannah Rivers, which, issuing from the opposite side of this same ridge, flow into the upper Mississippi.
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