USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a record of its settlement, organization, and three-quarters of a century of progress > Part 1
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LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
977.333 F95h v. |
Minois Historical Survey
1
HISTORY
OF
1
STEPHENSON COUNTY ILLINOIS
A RECORD OF ITS SETTLEMENT, ORGANIZATION AND THREE-QUARTERS OF A CENTURY OF PROGRESS
By ADDISON L. FULWIDER, A. M. .. 1
"History is the accumulated experience of the race." -JUDSON
VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1910
LIL. RY OF THE . UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
L. A. FULWIDER
977.333 F95h VI
Ilinois Historical Suivrey
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
ILLINOIS.
UNDER FOUR FLAGS.
The first people to roam over Stephenson County and Illinois were the Mound Builders. In various parts of Illinois there are evidences that these early people lived here in great numbers. In Winnebago County and in White- side County, are yet to be found interesting mounds, the homes and burial places of this ancient people who undoubtedly at an early day occupied part of this County. They have gone and have left little or nothing of value to the march of civilization.
Then came the Indian. Two hundred and fifty years ago, this state, that now has a population of over six million people in the height of civilization, was overrun by only a few thousand red men. They were Algonquins and Dakotas, broken up into several subordinate bands, living for the most part on wild game. The squaws engaged in a rude and primitive agriculture. The largest and best known Indian tribe was the "Illinois," a division of the Algon- quin, who settled along the Illinois River, occupying the state from Joliet to Kaskaskia. To the north, and in Stephenson county, were the Winnebagoes, ya branch of the Dakotas. The state was so large and the Indian population so small, that it cannot be said that to any great extent they made use of the land at all. Friendly, at first, to the French Traders and Missionaries, the oIndians opposed the advance of the white settlements. The most bitter opposi- tion came from a band of Sacs and Foxes under Black Hawk. With the de- v feat and almost extermination of this band in 1832, fourteen years after Illi- 2 nois became a state and within the memory of men yet living here, came the end of Indian occupation and resistance.
The Indian had gone west from Stephenson County to await the doom of extinction that hangs over his head. He left this great, rich and beautiful state, no better than he found it. He added nothing to the storehouse of civiliza- tion. Nothing did he add to the stock of our institutions. Aside from an interesting tradition and stories of a wild romantic life, it may be safely said
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
that the only lasting contribution of the Indian to the civilization of today, is to be found in the brave, independent and sturdy character of the pioneers, made stronger and more self-reliant by the dangers of Indian warfare-in the big, frank, progressive spirit of the valley of the Mississippi, where there is grow- ing up the genuine, distinctive American spirit.
The first flag of a civilized people to wave over the prairies of Illinois, was the flag of France. The French explorations from the mouth of the St. Law- rence, up that river, over the Great Lakes, over the portages, down the Illi- nois, and on the waters of the Mississippi, have no rival in the history of the world. From the discovery of the St. Lawrence in 1534 and the settlement of Champlain, in 1608, French love of romantic daring, determined patriotism and religious zeal never flagged till the whole of the Mississippi valley was made known to the civilized world. The work of exploration was carried on to Lake Michigan. It was then taken up by these wonderful men: Marquette, Joliet, Hennepin, Allonez, Tonti and La Salle. In birch bark canoes, they went up and down the Wisconsin, Illinois, the Rock River and the Mississippi, trading with the Indians, preaching Christianity to them, establishing trading posts and planting here the flag of France. La Salle built Fort Crevecoeur near Peoria, in 1680, and in 1683, Fort St. Louis, between Ottawa and La Salle. French settlements were established at Cahokia and at Kaskaskia. French settlers came from France and from New Orleans. In 1720, Fort Chartres was built on the Mississippi between Kaskaskia and Cahokia. In 1750 there were eleven hundred French in Illinois about Kaskaskia and three hun- dred negroes and sixty red slaves. The negro slaves were brought into Illi- nois as a result of edicts by Louis XIII and Louis XIV. The officers in Illi- nois then were a commandant and a civil judge. There was no representative government.
The European wars between France and England spread to America. Eng- lad won America at the battle of Quebec, in 1759, and Illinois and Stephenson County passed from France to England by the Treaty of Paris, 1763. The dream of a great French empire was gone forever and the French flag gave away the banner of Great Britain.
Illinois was under the actual rule of England from 1763 till the conquest by Colonel Geo. Rogers Clarke in 1778-1779. The Revolutionary War came in 1776 and the Americans were aroused against the English Forts in Illinois, because they felt that the English were stirring up the Indians against the fron- tier settlements. Geo. Rogers Clarke, a Virginian, who knew the value of the west, secured a commission from Geo. Patrick Henry and in 1778 with about one hundred and fifty men equipped largely by his own means, marched to Pittsburg, dropped down the Ohio in flat boats, plunged through the wilds of Southern Illinois, and captured Kaskaskia and Cahokia. In 1779, he made a desperate march across Southern Illinois and captured Vincennes. Thus the British flag went down forever in Illinois and the rule of Virginia, the "Old Dominion," began with the organization of the "County of Illinois," in 1779. The Treaty of 1763 ceded the Northwest to the thirteen United Colonies and, Virginia, after an occupation of five years ceded Illinois and the Northwest to the United States in 1784. Then over old Fort Chartres, and over Illinois,
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
waved the Star Spangled Banner, the flag of the United States. The flags of France, of England and of Virginia had passed upon Illinois and the future of this great state was henceforth to be identified with the history of America.
The Ordinance of 1787, passed by the Old Continental Congress, organized the Northwest Territory and prohibited slavery. Illinois was organized as a separate territory in 1809, including Wisconsin and a large part of Michigan. There were, in 1810, 12,282 white people in Illinois and about 600 negro slaves indentured servants .. The governor was Ninian Edwards of Kentucky. In 1812 the people were granted a representative assembly. Like the spirit of the west, the government was liberal, giving the right to vote to all male taxpayers, and providing for the direct election of both branches of the Territorial Legisla- ture. The first meeting of the Representative Legislature was held at Kaskas- kia, Nov. 25, 1812.
In 1818, Illinois, through her delegate to Congress, Wm. Nathaniel Pope, asked admission into the Union as a state. The old Northern Boundary Line, suggested by the Ordinance of 1787, would have cut off the three northern tiers of counties and left Illinois without a foot hold on Lake Michigan. Pope was alive to the interests of his state and to the welfare of the nation. Seeing the value of Lake Michigan to the state, he secured the adoption of an amendment that fixed the boundary line at 42° 30', giving the state its present frontage on the lake. This change, binding the state to the northern and middle states, Pope said, "Would afford added security to the perpetuity of the Union." Another amendment by Pope, provided that a part of the proceeds of the pub- lic lands should be given to the support of public schools.
The first state constitution was made at Kaskaskia in 1818, and Shadrach Band was elected the first governor of the state of Illinois, Dec. 3, 1818. Con- gress formally voted the state into the Union and Dec. 4, Illinois was repre- sented in both houses of Congress. Thomas and Edwards were our first sen- ators.
Several determined attempts had been made by both Indiana and Illinois to have Congress repeal that part of the ordinance that prohibited slavery in Illinois, but all had failed. However, the Anti-slavery Clause of the ordi- nance was flagrantly circumvented. Most of the population was in the southern third of the state and had come from Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina. They brought slaves with them and in 1820 there were about 1400 negroes in the state, 917 of which were counted as slaves. The total population of the state was fifty-five thousand. From 1822 to 1824, there was fought out one of the most bitter and hotly contested campaigns known in Illinois politics. The proslavery people who were largely a majority of the population, were fight- ing for a new Constitutional Convention. The Anti-slavery people, led by Edward Coles, believed that the real object was to change the constitution so as to legalize slavery. The proslavery party made the mistake of putting two candidates in the field and Coles was elected governor. The legislature was pro-slavery by about two-thirds majority. A resolution to submit the proposi- tion of a new constitutional convention to the people was passed. After a vig- orous campaign the resolution was defeated at the polls and thus was ended the attempts to make Illinois legally, a slave state.
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
The defeat of Tecumseh at the battle of Tippecanoe and the close of the war of 1812, opened the way to the settlement of northern Illinois. New counties were organized to the north. Peoria, Ottawa, Dixon and Chicago were estab- lished and lead mining at Galena attracted settlers to the northwest corner of the state. Kellog's Trail was blazed through Stephenson County to Galena and Black Hawk's War was fought to a successful issue before there was a single permanent settler in Stephenson County.
The second state constitutional convention in Illinois was convened June 7, 1847. It was in session eighty-four days. The new constitution was adopted by the people in March, 1848, and went into effect April 1, 1848. One im- portant measure was the provision for a two mill tax to be kept separate to pay the state debt. The state's finances were in a bad way because of the wild- cat, internal improvements of 1837.
The new constitution fixed the salary of the governor at $1,500 a year. The secretary of state, state auditor and state treasurer at $800; the supreme court judges at $1,200 and the circuit judges at $1,000. From 1818 to 1848, the governor's salary was $1,000 and the other state officials labored for $600. The constitution of 1848 placed the salary of members of the State Legislature at $2 per day for 42 days and $1 per day thereafter, with 10 cents mileage both ways.
- SUCKER STATE.
In an address of July 4, 1876, Gen. Smith D. Atkins gave two explanations of the sobriquet, sucker, as applied to the people of Illinois, as follows: "Many settlers in Illinois came from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. They were mostly poor people, unable to own slaves and many of them were in senti- ment opposed to slavery, and were seeking a new, country where slavery did not exist. Southern Illinois was principally settled by these people, who with their families penetrated the wilderness, with all their household goods on pack animals and themselves upon foot, depending on their trusty rifles and fishing rods for sustenance on the way. They were emigrants from the poorer classes of the slave states, and being unable to own slaves came to Illinois to get away from slave domination of their wealthy neighbors. The tobacco plant has many sprouts from the root and main stem which, if not stripped off, suck up the nourishment and destroy the staple. These sprouts are called suckers, and are as carefully stripped from the main plant and thrown away as the tobacco worm itself. These poor emigrants from the slave states were jeeringly and derisively called "suckers," because they were asserted to be a burden on the people of wealth; and when removed to Illinois, they were supposed to have stripped themselves from the parent stem, and gave way to perish in the wilderness like the suckers stripped from the tobacco plant. But we wear the title proudly now, for, the stone rejected by the builders has become the chief stone of the corner, and in intelligence, morals, material prosperity and population, Illinois has far outstripped her poor old mother, Virginia, and surpassed Kentucky and Tennessee. The cognomen was misapplied. Slavery was the "sucker" from which they fled and the "subtle corps of sappers and miners," that
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
"sucked" the life blood out of the states from which the early settlers of Illi- nois emigrated.
But there is another generally accepted sobriquet of "suckers," the nick- name of Illinoisans. Lead was early discovered in the vicinity of Galena, and in 1824 Col. James Johnson, of Kentucky, had gone there with a party of miners and opened a lead mine about a mile above the present city of Galena. Others followed in great numbers. The southern Illinoisans ran up the Mis- sissippi in the spring season, worked the lead mines during the warm weather, and ran down the river again to their homes in the fall, thus establishing a similitude between their migratory habits and the fishy tribe known as “suck- ers," that run up a stream in the spring and down the stream in the fall. No matter how it came about, the term "sucker" will stick to the people of Illi- nois, while wood grows and water runs.
PHYSIOGRAPHY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
In this book, "The Government of Illinois," Prof. E. B. Green, of the Uni- versity of Illinois, says, "The first great fact in the experience of any people is the land on which they live." Certainly what people do is determined largely by the streams, the soil, the latitude and the location of the section in which they live. These conditions, in a large part, determine whether a people's life shall be devoted wholly to agriculture, wholly to manufacturing, or that it shall be a life of diversified industries. It is no less true, that people's in- terests govern mainly their ideas and their ideals, and these determine their politics, their social, moral and religious principles. It is evident that long before a section of the country is occupied by the first civilized men much of that section's history has been written; written in the soil; in the streams; in the hills and valleys; in the forests and in the prairies; in its climatic condi- tions, and in its relation to present or future natural trade centers and trans- portation lines.
In its location Stephenson County is a part of northern Illinois. The great prairie state extends from latitude 37° to a latitude 42°30', more than 380 miles. Illinois extends farther south than Richmond, Virginia, and farther north than Boston, Massachusetts. The state has an area of more than 56,000 square miles. The Wabash, the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers bind the state, geographically, to the south. Lake Michigan, in a like manner, ties Illinois to the northern section of the nation. The first explorers came by way of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. The first settlers to come in numbers, came up the Mississippi from France by way of New Orleans. Illinois geographi- cally and politically, has been regarded as the keystone state of the arch of the greater union of states. It has been said that the nation never could be divided north and south without dividing Illinois.
The southern triangle of the sate between the Ohio and the Mississippi is about three hundred feet above sea level. The highest point in the state, Charles Mound, near the northern state line in Jo Daviess County, is 1,257 feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico, and 951 feet above low water of the Missis-
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
sippi at Cairo. The northern part of Stephenson County averages about 800 feet above sea level. Lake Michigan is about 600 feet above sea level.
Illinois is the lowest of the North Central States. Its average elevation is about 600 feet above tide, while that of Indiana is 700 feet; Michigan, 900 feet; Wisconsin, 1,050 feet; Iowa, 1,100 feet, and Missouri, 700 feet. The bot- tom of Lake Michigan opposite Racine, Wisconsin, it at sea level.
The altitude of the state decreases in a general way from north to south. Four northern counties, Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Boone and McHenry have points which rise above 1,000 feet above sea level. The lowest points are in the southernmost part of the state, near where the Ohio flows into the Missis- sippi, slightly below 300 feet. In Illinois, only 125 square miles, less than four townships, have an altitude above 1,000 feet. Only 10,747 square miles, or less than one-fifth of the state, is below 500 feet. About 20,000 square miles, or one-third of the state, is 600 to 700 feet above tide. The average thickness of the drift in Illinois is between 100 and 130 feet. Deducting the drift, the aver- age altitude of the state is about 525 feet or 50 feet below the surface of Lake Michigan.
The rock surface of Illinois is marked by a few district ridges. The most prominent ridge extends from the mouth of the Wabash to Grand Tower. This ridge is from 700 to 1047 feet above tide and 5 to 10 miles wide, and forms the southern limit to glacial action. The drift of the glacial period is found well up on, the northern slope but its crest was never passed by the ice fields. An- other limestone ridge extends along the Mississippi from Grand Tower to St. Louis. This belt separates the river valley from the coal fields. It is 5 to 10 miles wide and 650 to 750 feet above tide. The ridge is cut across by two rivers, the Big Muddy and the Kaskaskia. Another ridge extends along the Mis- sissippi from St. Louis to the mouth of the Illinois River. Still another lime- stone ridge crosses from the Rock River basin into Indiana. At the Illinois- Wisconsin line, it is 400 feet above the level of Lake Michigan, while at the Indiana line it is only 100 to 200 feet above the lake. This limestone ridge is cut across by the Fox, the Kankakee and the Des Plaines Rivers. Aside from these ridges, the preglacial surface of Illinois is comparatively level, not marked by bold relief forms.
V
Stephenson County is one of the northern tier of Illinois counties, and is the second county east of the Mississippi. It is twenty-seven miles wide, east to west, and 2114 miles, north to south. It contains an area of about 573 square miles or 366,720 acres. The Illinois Central Railroad surveys show that the northern part of the county averages about 1,000 feet above the level of the sea, about 723 feet above the level of the Mississippi at Cairo and about 415 feet above the level of Lake Michigan. The southern part of the county aver- ages about 750 feet above sea level, showing a 250 foot slope to the south over the general surface of the county.
The surface of Stephenson county is made up of gently rolling prairie land, with here and there small groves and belts of timber along the streams. Flow- ing across the surface of the county are a number of streams which afford abundant natural water and drainage facilities. The Pecatonica River is the largest and most important stream. It enters the county from Wisconsin about
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
seven miles from its northern corner, follows in a direction southeast to Free- port, and then east into Winnebago county not far from the middle of the east- ern boundary line of Stephenson County. ' The waters of the Pecatonica 'are muddy and turbulent, following a wonderfully crooked and winding course. In spite of a difference of level of about 200 feet, the current is slow and tortu- ous, affording but little water power. The Indians named the River Peca- tonica. Just what the word "Pecatonica" meant to the Indians, is not definitely known. Some claim it meant "Muddy water" and others "Crooked stream," either meaning indicating unmistakable characteristics of the stream.
The Pecatonica is in process of filling and scarcely ever runs on rock bed. This filling up is the cause of the crookedness and consequent cutting off of the so-called "oxbows" of which the island, as it is called immediately north of town, is now a peninsula and will shortly cease to be water-girt. Many of these "sloughs" in various stages of filling are a marked feature of the valleys of both the Pecatonica and Yellow Creek. Immense opportunity for the reclamation of some of the best soils of the Pecatonica valley awaits the time when through mutual cooperation or government help and supervision the river is dyked out of these so-called sloughs now occupying hundreds of acres of our most fertile soil. Some efforts are being made along this line, particularly at Ridott, but lack of cooperation very largely increases the cost and efficiency so far. Hundreds of acres of corn were lost last year, 1909, by a rise less than a foot above the danger line.
Yellow Creek enters Stephenson County near the middle of the western boun- dary line, flows in a direction a little south of east, into the Pecatonica about 21/2 miles southeast of Freeport. It is a slow flowing stream, its waters being marked by a yellowish color. The creek cuts its way through the Cincinnati Shales and this soft yellowish rock dissolving and mingling with the waters gives color to the stream. Abandoned mills along its banks are evidence that its few water powers, while they served for a time to turn the wheels in an earlier day, were not sufficient in power to compete with steam and have long since stood idle.
Cedar and Richland Creeks flow across the northeast part of the county. They unite a few miles from the Pecatonica, between Cedarville and Sciota Mills, and flow into it a few miles above Freeport. The mills still standing at Cedarville and at Sciota, one time made good use of the light water power at those places.
Rock Run enters the county four miles from its northeast corner. Running southward about twelve miles, it flows into the Pecatonia 11/2 miles west of the Winnebago county line. It has but few very light water powers.
Cranes Creek is a small stream or brook, that comes into Stephenson County near the middle of its southern boundary line and flows into Yellow Creek, south of Freeport. Silver Creek is a small stream that flows through Silver Creek township, into Yellow Creek. In addition to those above mentioned, there are other brooks and creeks, and taken together they afford Stephenson county an excellent natural water and drainage system.
- Yellow Creek and the Pecatonica form a line east to west across the county. In a large measure, these streams served as a partial barrier against the prairie
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
fires that swept toward the north, destroying the timbers. South of these water courses, consequently, there is little woodland. Along Yellow Creek' and across from Mill Grove to Eleroy and Sciota were groves of white oak. There were white oak barrens in Loran Township. Along Cedar and Rich- land Creeks were belts of heavy timber. The east bank of the Pecatonica was skirted by heavy growths of timber, extending north into the township of Oneco.
The timber of Stephenson County consists, for the most part, of shell-bark and common hickory, black walnut, sugar maple, white, black and burr oak, pignut, butternut, elm and poplar. To a less degree are found the ash, the wild cherry, honey locust, basswood, cottonwood and white poplar. Sumac and hazel are found in the groves and, occasionally, red cedar, white pine and the rarer oaks.
The timber lands of the county are special features, the general character- istic of the county's surface being a rolling prairie land. The timber sections have been, and are yet, of considerable economic value and by adding variety, give the county a beautiful and interesting landscape. Everywhere in the county there are drives through the country districts that are unrivaled for the beauty of the groves and the grandeur of rich valleys and distant wooded hillsides.
GEOLOGY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
The most casual observer cannot fail to be interested in the geological foun- dation upon which has grown the civilization of his time. About him is the rich soil, producing great fields of grain, and over all a wonderful natural drainage system of creeks and rivers-over 365,000 acres supporting in plenty over 40,000 people, on farms, in villages, towns and the city of Freeport. Curi- 1
osity alone would lead the mind to some study of the structure of the earth un- derlying the surface of the county.
In almost every community in Stephenson County, are to be seen the out- cropping of the foundation framework of stone. On the country drives, along the railroad cuts, along the creeks and rivers, at Eleroy Hill and at Waddams Grove, are seen the great layers of limestone. Here and there over the country these stony ridges come to the surface. On them the soil is very thin or has been washed entirely away, leaving the barren rock. But the depres- sions between these ridges and above the hills are filled in with gravel, sand, clays and soils. Down through the lower levels of these depressions or val- leys run the creeks and the Pecatonica River.
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