USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 1
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LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 977.335 D29h v. 1
HLINOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY
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HISTORY
of
WHITESIDE COUNTY, ILLINOIS
From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908
frite
By WILLIAM W. DAVIS, M. A. 6. 1836
ILLUSTRATED
With Biographical Sketches of some Prominent Citizens of the County
VOL. I
Chicago: THE PIONEER PUBLISHING CO. 1908
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977.335 Da9h VI
FOREWORD
This is not a directory of names, a gazetteer of places, a census report ₹ of tables, but a simple narrative of Whiteside county as it was, and as it appears to the observer today. 0
The work lays no claim to completeness or infallibility; and if there are errors in names, dates, places, or events, the author asks the charity of the critic, who, doubtless, could not do any better.
Be to her virtues very kind; Bc to her faults a little blind.
Whiteside is a wide field to traverse in a short time. ,
To the editors of the Daily Gazette and of the Daily Standard of Sterling upon whose columns he has freely drawn and to the editors of the excellent weeklies throughout the county who so generously extended the courtesies of their sanctums, and to the good people in town and country who so kindly gave all desired information, the author returns a thousand thanks, acknowledges obligations that can never be forgotten.
S. g. Clarke
The play is donc; the curtain drops, Slow falling to the prompter's bell ; A moment yet the actor stops, And looks around, to say farewell!
Sterling, Illinois, June 1, 1908.
WILLIAM W. DAVIS, M. A.
vet 2 Dec, 4 En
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LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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w.w. Davis ,
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HISTORY OF
WHITESIDE COUNTY, ILLINOIS
INDIAN HISTORY IN AN OIL PORTRAIT.
Lo, the poor Indian whose untutored mind, Sees God in clouds or hears him in the wind .- Pope.
In a discourse delivered in Providence, Dr. Swain said when a traveler would speak of his experience in foreign lands, he must begin with the sea. So in a narrative of our western country, it is customary to begin with the Mound Builders. Their artificial hillocks are found all over the Mis- sissippi valley, in our own county, at Fulton, Como, Sterling, and their origin has given rise to much speculation. A theme for the poet. Bryant in his "Prairies" gives wings to his fancy as he saw them in an early visit to his brothers in Princeton :
A racc, that long has passed away, Built them ; a disciplined and populous race Heaped with long toil, the earth, while yet the Greek Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock The glittering Parthenon.
But we must give up our fantastic theories. Robin Hood and William Tell are myths. One pretty childish legend after another disappears. An article in the Handbook of American Indians, issued by the Smithsonian Institution, 1907, sums up the researches of the ethnological authorities in a few sentences. "The articles found in the mounds, and the character of the various monuments indicate a stage of culture much the same as that of the more advanced tribes found inhabiting this region at the advent of the whites. Moreover,European articles found in the mounds, and the state- ments by early chroniclers, as those of the De Soto's expedition, prove beyond question that some of these structures were erceted by the Indians in post- Columbian times."
AN HISTORIC OCCASION.
Every place has its memorable event: Boston its tea party, Paris the destruction of the Bastile, Philadelphia the Declaration of Independence, Chicago its great fire, and in our own county, last but not least, the presenta-
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
tion, October 24, 1877, of a portrait of the Indian Prophet, by Hon. E. B. Washburne, to the people of Whiteside. It was painted by Healy from sketches made by Catlin. Washburne was then in the fullness of his fame. After his long and honorable service in Congress, he was appointed by President Grant as minister to France, and while in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, 1871, he sheltered under the Stars and Stripes at the American embassy hundreds of defenseless foreigners from the wrath of the Commune. Never did the old flag exercise a nobler humanity. It was a city of refuge. The German emperor and people were profuse in their thanks. Who was George Catlin? A Pennsylvania artist who went to the far West in 1832, spending eight years among the Indians, and painting nearly five hundred portraits of the chiefs and prominent members of various tribes. Healy was a Boston artist who spent most of his time in Paris, with occasional visits to America. In his six hundred portraits is nearly every celebrated man of his day from Louis Philippe to Gen. Sherman. His Webster's Reply to Hayne hangs in Faneuil Hall, Boston. It seems Washburne found Catlin at Brussels, and secured the Indian original for Healy's brush.
The presentation took place at the Morrison fair grounds. After an intro- duction by Capt. John Whallon, supervisor from Lyndon, Mr. Washburne arose amid generous applause. After acknowledging his pleasure in meeting his former constituents, he entered upon a careful discussion of the men and events concerned in the Black Hawk war. Prophetstown was in the center of hostile operations. The Indian name of the Prophet was Wa-bo-kies-sheik. He was a son of the chief of the Sac and Fox tribes, but two of his wives were Winnebagoes. A splendid specimen of his race, tall, intelligent, clear-headed, he always exercised great influence over his people. He was the lieutenant and right arm of Black Hawk, and followed him to the bitter end.
THE NAME OF WHITESIDE.
Further in his address, Mr. Washburne alludes to the origin of our county name. There was a Kentucky family of Whiteside, well known as Indian fighters, and the son of John, Samuel Whiteside, was appointed by Gov. Reynolds commander of all the Illinois troops in 1832 in the expedition against Black Hawk. "My judgment is that the county was named after Gen. Samuel Whiteside, as he resided in the Galena country, was known to the people, identified with their interests, and a leading figure in the Black Hawk war." As he closed his speech, he pulled the flag covering the picture, and as the portrait of the Prophet was displayed to the audience, the air was rent with cheers.
PROF. C. C. BUELL'S ACCEPTANCE.
In replying to Mr. Washburne's closing remark, "Gentlemen of the Board of Supervisors, citizens of Whiteside county, and ladies and gentlemen, I now have the pleasure of introducing to you the Prophet," Prof. Buell, of Montmorency arose: "Honored sir, it is made my pleasing duty on behalf of the county board, and of the people of Whiteside county, to accept this gift." Mr. Buell then complimented Mr. Washburne on the efficiency of his public
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
life at home and on his distinction abroad, and concluded: "Accept, sir, the thanks of this people for this significant and valuable gift. As a work of art, as a memento of Catlin, the painter and traveler, and of the dis- tinguished artist, Healy, as the portrait of the great Winnebago chief, whose tribe once occupied this region, and whose principal village was but a few miles from the spot where we stand, it will deserve to be carefully preserved by the people of this county. Whatever, sir, may be your future home, what- ever responsibilities you may be called to bear, we tender to you assurances of the continued sympathy and confidence of the people of Whiteside county."
At the conclusion of Mr. Buell's address, a banquet in Floral Hall was followed by toasts and responses : Paris in 1870, E. B. Washburne; Our Country, Wm. H. Allen, of Erie; Prophetstown, the Home of the Prophet, by P. B. Reynolds of Prophetstown ; Our Sister State of Iowa, by Hon. Waldo M. Potter of Clinton Herald; Common Schools, by Prof. M. R. Kelly of Mor- rison. A private banquet in the evening at the Revcre House concluded a day of precious reminiscence for all who were so happy as to participate in the festivities.
BLACK HAWK AND KEOKUK.
Black it stood as Night, Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, And shook a dreadful dart .- Paradise Lost.
Among the Indian warriors, there are some names almost as celebrated as Hannibal, Caesar, and Alexander. Osceola of the Seminoles, Red Jacket of the Senecas, Pontiac of the Ottawas, Tecumseh of the Shawnees, are familiar to every reader. They figure as prominently in the first half of the last century as Jackson, Scott, or Harrison.
As Black Hawk and Keokuk were conspicuous leaders in the Black Hawk War, they deserve special consideration. They were types of opposite pol- icies. Johnson drew a parallel between Pope and Dryden, and we may contrast in a general way our two Indian chieftains. Keokuk was con- ciliatory, Black Hawk was defiant. Keokuk sought the friendship of the whites, Black Hawk aimed to provoke their hostility. Keokuk knew that Indian supremacy was hopeless and gracefully accepted the situation, Black Hawk saw the danger, but like an infuriated beast madly rushed to destruc- tion. Keokuk was a considerate prophet, Black Hawk a desperate devotee.
Keokuk was a member of the Fox clan, and born on Rock river about 1780. His mother was said to have been half French, and this may account for his vivacity. "He was a natural orator, and he soon arose to a controlling influence in his tribe. He was stout, graceful, commanding in appearance, fond of athletic sports, and so fond of display that on occasions of tribal ceremony he always appeared on horseback whether his companions were · mounted or not. So persuasive in argument that he often carried the vote of the tribe when every member before his specch had determined on the contrary. But when the war finally burst forth against his protest, he with- drew from the scene of operations.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
After the war Keokuk again comes to the front. In the city of Wash- ington in debate with the Sioux before the government officials, he estab- lished the chain of the Sauk and Foxes to the territory comprised in the present state of Iowa. His town during the Black Hawk war was on the rapids near the mouth of Des Moines river. Here is the city of Keokuk, named in his honor. The treaty of 1832 gave him a reservation of forty miles square on Iowa river to which he removed. In 1845 he moved to Kansas, and three years later was poisoned by a member of the Black Hawk band.
Keokuk's life-long rival, Black Hawk, was also born on Rock river, at its mouth, in 1767. A warrior from his youth, at seventeen he attacked an Osage camp, and returned with the scalp of a victim. In 1812 he fought for the British. He seemed to cherish a hereditary dislike to the Americans, and to the last resisted their oceupation of the country. No wonder. It is a charming valley, like ancient Canaan to the Israelites, flowing with milk and honey. His last speech contained these pathetic words: "Rock river is a beautiful country. I like my towns and my corn fields, and the home of my people. I fought for it. It is now yours."
Various complications led to the Black Hawk war. By the treaty of 1804 at St. Louis, the Sauk and Foxes agreed to surrender all their lands east of the Mississippi, for the payment of one thousand dollars a year. This was repudiated by Black Hawk, who affirmed that the chiefs were drunk when they signed the treaty. Meantime after the war of 1812, set- tlers began to pour into the old Sauk and Fox territory, and troubles soon arose. In 1823 Keokuk and his followers, bowing to the inevitable, moved into Iowa, but Black Hawk remained. By the spring of 1831 so much frietion had occurred that Gov. Reynolds of Illinois ealled out the militia, and on June 30, Black Hawk signed a treaty to abstain from further hos- tility and leave the country.
This was simply to gain time, for during the following winter he sent emissaries to excite various tribes to a general insurrection against the whites. When Gen. Atkinson, April 1, 1832, received orders to demand from the Sauk and Foxes the members who had massacred some Menominee, he found that Black Hawk at the head of a band of two thousand, five hundred. of them, warriors, had erossed the Mississippi into Illinois. The militia were called out and the settlers warned. The confliet was on. Black Hawk passed up Rock river, undiseiplined militia in pursuit, and Stillman's brigade met with a disastrous defeat. On June 24 he was repulsed in an attack on Apple river fort, and the following day he defeated Major Dement's bat- talion with heavy loss to himself.
But the end was near. On July 21, while trying to eross to the west side of Wisconsin river, he was overtaken by volunteers under Gen. Henry, and defeated with a loss of sixty-eight killed and more wounded. Retreating with the remainder of his force to the mouth of Bad Ax river, and about to cross the Mississippi, the steamer Warrior shelled his camp. The following day, August 3, the pursuing troops under Atkinson appeared, and after a desperate struggle, killed or drove into the river one hundred and fifty of the band, and captured forty. Those who reached the other side were cut
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off by the Sioux. Black Hawk escaped, but was followed and captured by some Winnebago. Thus elosed the chapter of the only race tragedy on our borders.
As Black Hawk's courageous operations had excited general attention throughout the United States, he was taken with some of his warriors on a tour in the east, visiting the principal eities with the two-fold object of gratifying popular curiosity, and also impressing the savage mind with the power of the nation. In 1837 he accompanied Keokuk on a second trip. He died in 1838 near Iowaville. His obsequies were spectacular. His body was dressed in a uniform presented by Jackson, accompanied by a sword from the hero, a cane given by Henry Clay, and medals from Jackson, Adams, and Boston. But one night everything was stolen, and the bones made into a skeleton found their way to the Burlington Historical Society, where they were destroyed in 1855 with the burning of the building.
In connection with the Black Hawk War, it is interesting to recall the names of several men who were summoned to our valley, and who after- wards won undying fame. Jefferson Davis was a graduate of West Point in 1828, and a staff offieer in the infantry. Lineoln volunteered in a Sanga- mon county company, and remained in the service until mustered out by. Lieut. Robert Anderson of Fort Sumter fame. Zachary Taylor, the hero of the Mexican War subsequently, was colonel of the first infantry, and with Atkinson's army moved up the Roek river valley after Black Hawk. Gen. Winfield Seott with troops from the east had established his headquarters at Rock Island.
ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE AND COUNTY.
By the rivers gently flowing, Illinois, Illinois, O'er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois, Comes an echo on the breeze, Rustling thro' the leafy trees, And its mellow tones are these, Illinois, Illinois.
Our readers, young and old, who are not familiar with the early his- tory of Illinois will be surprised to learn that its boundaries were not always the same. As we know, the Mississippi valley was elaimed by the French through the right of discovery by La Salle and the Jesuit explorers, and then by the decisive defeat of Montealm by Wolfe at Quebec in 1759, passed into possession of the English. This was the condition at the opening of the Revolution in 1775. The Indians were indueed by the British to take up the tomahawk against the American settlers, and were continually on the war-patlı.
George Rogers Clark, a frontiersman from Virginia, saw the situation and determined to relieve it. He laid his scheme before the governor and
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
council of Virginia, who approved it, and gave him authority to raise troops. He drilled his men at Louisville, and on June 24, 1778, he set sail, passed safely over the rapids, landed at deserted Fort Massac on the Ohio river, started across the country, and after a six days' march, surprised Kaskaskia, then the center of operations, and took quiet possession. The other French villages surrendered. Thus, as is said, the Illinois country was captured without the firing of a gun or the loss of a man.
Clark was a hero, gave his best years to this frontier warfarc against savage foes, and his sacrifices should be gratefully remembered. Another Daniel Boone. His last days, sad to relate, were spent in poverty in a hut near Louisville until his sister took him to her homc. A little headstone, marked, G. R. C., is all that marks the grave of a soldier who secured for his country the rich domain north of the Ohio. When Virginia sent a sword to the old man, he exclaimed, "When Virginia needed a sword, I gave her one. Now she sends me a toy when I want bread." He thrust the sword into the ground, and broke it with his crutch. His brother, William, became world-famous as the military director of Lewis and Clark's expedi- tion appointed by Jefferson in 1804 to explore the Rocky mountain region.
As the conquest of the country was made by Clark with Virginia troops, that state felt the responsibility of taking care of the settlers, and a bill for that purpose was passed by the assembly in December, 1778, and signed by Governor Patrick Henry. It was a long document, affirming in substance that as several British posts in the country adjacent to the Mississippi river have been reduced by a successful expedition carried on by the Virginia militia, Be it enacted by the General Assembly that all citizens of this com- monwealth who are already settled or shall hereafter scttle on the western side of Ohio aforesaid, shall be included in a distinct county, which shall be called Illinois county.
By the way, this governor whose name was affixed to the act, was no other than the immortal Patrick Henry, the ficry orator of times preceding the Revolutionary war, and whose speeches were so long the favorite declama- tions of ambitious schoolboys. We all remember that stirring passage: "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell, and George III"-here crics of treason, treason! from timid loyalists, but the orator kept his head, "and George III may profit by their example."
Persons who would like to learn more of the proceedings in these times may find much valuable information in volume two of Illinois Historical Collections, edited by Clarence Walworth Alvord, of University of Illinois, who has examined the Cahokia Records from 1778 to 1790.
In 1779, Capt. John Todd was appointed commandant of the new county of Illinois, and organized a government, but it soon went to pieces, and in 1784 Virginia surrendered her claim to the United States. In 1787 Congress passed what is known as the
NORTHWEST ORDINANCE.
This provided for a territorial form of government for the whole country north and west of the Ohio, but provided, also, that it should ultimately be
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formed into states on an equal footing with the original thirteen. The western, southern, and eastern boundaries of Illinois were as they now are, but it was left optional with Congress either to give the state a northward extension to the Canadian frontier, or to form another state north of a line drawn, through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan.
Under this Northwest Ordinance, government was set up by Governor St. Clair at Marietta, Ohio, named by the way after the unfortunate Marie Antionette, but not until 1790 was the Illinois country organized as St. Clair county, modestly named after himself. The county seat was at Caho- kia. In 1800 the Northwest Territory was divided into two districts. In one was Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, with parts of Michigan and Minnesota, all forming the new Indiana territory under Governor William Henry Harrison. Vincennes, Indiana, another old town, was the capital. But one county was found to be too much for Illinois, and in 1795, Randolph county was formed from the southern portion of St. Clair, with Kaskaskia as its capital.
In 1809 another change. By act of Congress, Feb. 3, Indiana Territory was divided, and the western portion became the Territory of Illinois. Ninian Edwards, who had been chief justice of court of appeals in Kentucky, was appointed governor by President Madison.
LAWS OF THE EARLY TERRITORY.
Some of the penalties were pretty hard on various offenders. As Prof. Alvord remarks, this early code in operation from 1809 to 1811 has all the earmarks of cruelty characteristic of England and her colonies during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Stocks, the pillory, and the whipping post were set up in every county.
Thus, for obstructing the authority of a magistrate, the offender shall · be fined not more than $300, and receive not to exceed thirty-nine lashes. For larceny, the convicted party, besides restoring double the value of the thing stolen, is required to pay a fine of the same amount, or be whipped not exceeding thirty-nine lashes. These whippings were dreadful. Dr. Sam- uel Willard in his Personal Reminiscences witnessed one of these savage performances on the public square of Carrollton as late as 1832. He describes it in detail. Near the courthouse was set a strong post, ten feet high, with a cross at the top. The man to be punished for the theft of a horse, was stripped naked to the hips, his hands ticd, and the rope carried to the cross piece, and drawn as tight as could be without taking his feet from the ground. Then the sheriff took the rawhide. What was that? A strip of soft wet cowskin twisted and dried, hard and rough but flexible, three quarters of a yard long. The sheriff began by laying strokes on the culprit's back near the neck, and going down the side. After fifteen strokes were counted aloud, someone gave the poor wretch a tumbler of whisky. Then the other side of the back received the same treatment. Every stroke drew a blood-red blister. The man's shirt was replaced, and he was led back to jail.
1 Gambling was strictly opposed by the Virginia code. Here is one clause : Any person, who shall suffer any of the games played at tables
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
commonly called A. B. C. or E. O. or faro bank, or any other gaming table or bank of like kind, to be played in his or her house, shall for every suclı offense forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars, to be recovered in any court of record by any person who will sue for the same.
Dueling was a capital offense. No mercy for the man with a hair trigger. The murder of Hamilton by Burr in 1804 seems to have set the seal of national condemnation on the barbarous practice. So there was this act in the Virginia code: That any person who shall hereafter wilfully and maliciously, fight a duel or single combat with any engine, instrument, or weapon, and in so doing shall kill his antagonist, or inflict such injuries that the person shall die thereof within three months thereafter, such offender, his aiders, abettors, and counsellors being thereof duly convicted, shall be guilty of murder, and suffer death by being hanged by the neck, any law or usage of this territory to the contrary notwithstanding.
ILLINOIS A STATE.
After nine years as a distinct territory, the next and last political change came with the act of Congress, April 15, 1818, "to enable the people of Illinois territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such states into the Union on an equal footing with the original states.
This act provided for the election of thirty-three delegates to a con- vention to be held at Kaskaskia on the first Monday of the following August. All white male persons over twenty-one, and who had resided in the ter- ritory six months prior to election, could vote. There were fifteen counties in the territory. Two delegates were apportioned to each of the counties of Bond, Monroe, Randolph, Jackson, Johnson, Pope, White, Edwards, Craw- ford, Union, Washington, and Franklin, while Madison, St. Clair and Gal- latin had cach three representatives. In the bill for statehood as passed was an amendment, apparently trifling, but of critical and lasting value to the prosperity of Illinois.
By the Ordinance of 1787, there were to be not less than three, nor more than five states in the territory northwest of the Ohio river. Congress reserved the power, if deemed expedient, to form one or two states in that part of the territory lying north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan. That line, as Ford says in his history, was generally supposed to be the north boundary of Illinois. Nathaniel Pope, our delegate in Congress, seeing that Chicago was north of that line, and would be excluded by it from the state, and that the contemplated Illinois and Michigan canal to connect the lakes with the Mississippi, would be partly without the state, came to the conclusion that it was competent for Congress to extend the boundaries of the new state as far north as they pleased. This amendment was to extend the northern boundary of the new state to the parallel of forty-two degrecs thirty minutes north latitude. Few persons realize what we owe to Pope's amendment. It simply secured for Illinois instead of Wisconsin, fourteen of our splendid northern counties. including the city of Chicago. A small empire. Everlasting honor to
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