USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > The History of Stephenson County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches war record statistics portraits of early settlers history of the Northwest, history of Illinois, &c. > Part 1
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Gc 977.301 St4h 436465
PUBLIC LIBRARY FORT WAYNE & ALLEN CO., IND.
Mi L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01071 1163
THE
EDWARD HUNT WINSLOW STEPHENSON CO ILL
HISTORY
OF
STEPHENSON COUNTY.
ILLINOIS,
CONTAINING
A history of the County, its Cities, Gowns,
Biographical Sketches of Citizens, War Record of its Volunteers in the late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest, History of Illinois, Map of Stephenson County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO : WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, 1880.
PREFACE.
ITTHE following pages, assuming to relate a history of Stephenson County from its earliest settlement to the present day, owe their appearance to the enter- prise of an historical company, supplemented by the demand of a generous pub- lic. In its preparation, sources of information have been sought and appropria- tions freely made from presumably authentic data. No claim is made to origin- ality, and numerous mistakes will doubtless be discovered, especially by those disposed to be hypercritical. In a work of such magnitude, these are unavoid- able.
The author cannot pretend to have acquitted himself to his own satisfac- tion, though he has labored diligently to furnish a reliable, if yet an imperfect, . compilation of facts and events which are alleged to have occurred in Stephen- son County since the days when KELLOGG, KIRKER, ROBEY, TIMMS and others rejoiced to get into the wilderness. Whatever of merit or demerit the book con- tains remains for the reader to discover, and his judgment may be unprejudiced if he finds no word of promise on the introductory page.
In conclusion, he desires to make his acknowledgments to the Pioneers who still survive, to the Press, the "cloth," the public officers, County, State and Federal, and other mediums of communication, not alone for " history," but for many kind acts, and much else that may contribute to whatever of success shall greet the succeeding pages.
A preface is generally regarded as the substitute for an apology. The author indulges the hope that, in equaling reasonable expectations, the substi- tute will be adopted by his readers.
M. H. TILDEN.
Chicago, September, 1880.
CHICAGO:
CULVER, PAGE, HOYNE & CO., PRINTERS
118 AND 120 MONROE STREET.
Van norman 2,50
436465
CONTENTS.
HISTORY NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
PAGE.
History Northwest Territory ....
19
History of Ohio ..
93
French History
96
Ancient Works
174
Some General Characteristics ... 177
Ordinance of 1787, No. 32
.. 105
The War of 1812.
122
Outline Geology of Ohio ......... 179
Banking
126
Ohio's Rank During the War .. 182
A Brief Mention of Prominent
The Canal System.
128
Ohio Land Tracts.
129
Improvements
132
Ohio Generals ..
191
Some Discussed Subjects.
196
Boundary Lines.
136
Conclusion
200
006 31
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Source of the Mississippi
...
22
La Salle Landing on the Shore of
Green Bay
24
Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain.
42
High Bridge ....
33
Lake Bluff
62
Tecumseh, the Shawanoe Chieftain 68
Indians Attacking Frontiersmen ..
55
Buffalo Hunt
26
Present Site Lake Street Bridge,
Indians Attacking a Stockade .......
71
Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain ..... 74
Perry's Monument, Cleveland.
91
Chicago, 1833.
58
Trapping
28
Niagara Falls
92
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS,
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Game ..
130
Chattel Mortgages.
147
Interest.
123
Jurisdiction of Courts.
126
Limitation of Action
.127
Landlord and Tenant.
.139
Liens.
142
Married Women.
127
Notes
144
Millers.
131
Marks and Brands
131
Definition of Commercial Terms .: .143 Exemptions from Forced Sales .. 128 Estrays. 129
Receipt ..
144
Fences
138
Forms :
Real Estate Mortgaged to Secure
Payment of Money.
151
Release
154
Tenant's Agreement ....
.150
Articles of Agreement.
145
Bills of Purchase.
144
Tenant's Notice of Leaving.
.151
Bills of Sale ..
.146
Warranty Deed.
152
Wolf Scalps.
136
Bonds .146 Will 155
MISCELLANEOUS.
PAGE.
Surveyors' Measure .. .177
How to Keep Accounts.
177
Interest Table.
178
Miscellaneous Tables.
.178
Names of the States of the Union
and their Signification .......
.. 179
Population of Fifty Principal Cities
of the United States.
180
PAGE.
Map of Stephenson County. Front Constitution of the U. S 160 Electors President and Vice Presi- dent 172 Practical Rules for Every Day Use.173 U. S. Government Land Measure ... 176
Agricultural Productions of Illinois
by Counties, 1870. .186
Forms :
Adoption of Children 132
Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes. 123 County Courts 127 Conveyances ... 136 Church Organizations. 157
Codicil ..
.157
Lease of Farm and Build-
ings .......
149
Lease of House .....
150
Descent.
123
Landlord's Agreement.
150
Deeds and Mortgages. 129 Drainage .. 135
Damages from Trespass. 139
Notice Tenant to Quit.
.151
Orders ....
144
Paupers ..
.. 136
Roads and Bridges.
133
Quit ('laim Deed.
.153
Surveyors and Surveys.
132
Suggestions to Persons Purchasing
Books by Subscription
.158
Taxes.
126
Wills and Estates ..
124
Weights and Measures.
130
Mouth of the Mississippi ...
31
PAGE.
History of Ohio:
PAGE.
Geographical Position .. 19 Early Explorations. 20 Discovery of the Ohio 32 English Explorations and Set- tlements. 34 American Settlements .. 59
Division of the Northwest Ter- ritory ... 65 Tecumseh and the War of 1812 69
Black Hawk and the Black
Organization of Counties, and
Early Events ..
137
Hawk War
73
Governors of Ohio.
160
PAGE.
PAGE.
A Pioneer Dwelling.
60
Population of the United States ..... 180 Population of the Principal Coun- tries in the World ... 181 Population of Illinois .182-183 State Laws Relating to Interest ..... 184 State Laws Relating to Limitations of Actions 185
PAGE.
iv
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
PAGE.
Topography .. .189
Geological Formations .. 191 Quaternary Deposits 193
Indian Occupation .. 200
Indian Troubles-Black Hawk War ...... 203
County Roster.
217
Early Settlements.
219-
Mormon Meddlings
262
Wallace Suicide ..
267
The Boardman Murder. 269
Mexican War.
272
Railroads ..
273
Famine of 1848 280
Township Organization 280
The Hegira to California, 1849 281
Cholera Visitations.
284
Completion of the C. & G. U. R. R .... 285
Educational Facilities
.287
The Panic of 1857.
.289
County Buildings .. .298
Stephenson County Society of Phy- sicians and Surgeons .. .. 301 Stephenson County Farmer's Co- operative Association .. .. 301 Stephenson County Agricultural
Volunteer Roster. 315
Soldiers' Monument 344
PAGE.
Agricultural Statistics. .361
Rock Grove Township .. .482
Rock Grove Village. 485
.364 Rock Run Township. .486
365
Davis ....
.488
Official Roster ..
389
Rock City.
.492
Dakota Township. Dakota Village .. .495
394 Silver Creek Township.
Loran Township ...
Jefferson Township.
.502
Gas Works 504
Erin Township ..
Dublin Settlement. .506
Eleroy .507
Banks. 427 Harlem Township .509
German Insurance Company .... 429
Kent Township. 513
Telephone Exchange .. .430 Ridott Township. 515
Post Office. .431 Ridott Village. 517
Cemetery
.432
West Point Township
520
Parks.
433
Lena .. 522
Opera House. .433 Buckeye Township. 535
Munn's Building. 433 Cedarville. 537
Fry's Building. .434 Buckeye Center. 542
Brewster House .434 Buena Vista .. 543
Taylor's Driving Park .435
Odd Fellows 454
Society
.302
Masonic.
456
Winslow ..
550
Patrons of Husbandry
303
Temperance
Orangeville.
554
.462
Old Settlers' Association
.303
Criminal Records
.304
Other Societies.
.463
Oneco ...
.. 560
War Record.
308
Mills.
467
Florence Township.
.560
Breweries ..
468
Manufactures.
.470
PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
D. A. Knowlton ..
.295
C. H. Rosenstiel .313
Jacob Krohn. .439
V. Stoskopf.
331
Horatio C. Burchard. .. 367
· A. A. Babcock. 385
Ross Babcock
493
Pells Manny. 241
Chancellor Martin. 189
William Young.
.421
TOWNSHIPS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Jefferson.
701
Rock Grove ... 732
Dakota 769 Kent ... 663 Rock Run 759
Erin ... 703 Lancaster 752
Freeport City
.611
Loran
695
Waddams
669
Florence
675
Oneco.
710
West Point.
720
Harlem
683
Ridott 778 Winslow 666
PAGE.
Assessment Tables. 362-363
Population, 1880.
Freeport
Fire Department.
391
Police ..
.393
Educational
.499
Press ..
500
Water Power
.425
.426
Young Men's Library Associa- tion .427
Religious. 436 New Pennsylvania .. 544
Winslow Township ... .545
Military.
461
Oneco Township.
552
O. H. Wright.
205
Ira Winchell ..
.. 511
L. A. Babcock 475
Thomas Hunt.
547
349
George Purinton 223
PAGE.
John H. Addams. 277
Smith D. Atkins .. .. 403
A. A. Krape. .529 Jared Sheetz. .. 259
George W. Loveland. .565
L. L. Munn.
457
M. Hettinger.
PAGE.
Buckeye ... 741
Silver Creek. 678
Lancaster Township.
562
Waddams Township .. 543
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THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi River; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the "New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old "Northwestern Territory."
In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles ; being greater in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula- tion, at the present time, of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of the entire population of the United States.
Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far- stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent on the globe.
For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North- west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.
(19)
20
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New World. He, however, penetrated no farther north than the 35th parallel of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than half his army, the remainder of whom found their way to Cuba, thence to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer took advantage of these discoveries.
In 1616, four years before the pilgrims " moored their bark on the wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene- trated through the Iroquois and Wyandots (Hurons) to the streams which run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded the first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary, below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent result ; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes, nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude Allouez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor Gen- eral of Canada, explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.
During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St. Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied -as all others did then-that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a
.
21
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean, Marquette with Joliet, as commander of the expe- dition, prepared for the undertaking.
On the 13th of May, 1673, the explorers, accompanied by five assist- ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of discovery. The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose by representing the tribes on the Mississippi as exceedingly savage and cruel, and the river itself as full of all sorts of frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But, nothing daunted by these terrific descriptions, Marquette told them he was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together they separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Mar- quette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the town ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank him for the pity he had bestowed on them during the Winter in giving them an abundant " chase." This was the farthest outpost to which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary labors the year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters and was instructed in the secret of a root which cures the bite of the venomous rattlesnake. He assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and, pointing to Joliet, said : "My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new coun- tries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the truths of the Gospel." Two Miami guides were here furnished to conduct them to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Indian village on the 10th of June, amidst a great crowd of natives who had assembled to witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet ventured. The guides, having conducted them across the portage, returned. The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin, which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknown waters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struck out into the broadening current and became conscious that they were now upon the bosom of the Father of Waters. The mystery was about to be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is beautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have been clad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of
22
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand "reminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of France." By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of inhab- itants yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under the fas- tidious cultivation of lordly proprietors.
-
SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
On June 25, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in the boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within a half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person. After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to about latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course
23
-
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
up the river, and ascending the stream to the mouth of the Illinois, rowed up that stream to its source, and procured guides from that point to the lakes. " Nowhere on this journey," says Marquette, " did we see such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as on the Illinois River." The party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay in September, and reported their discovery-one of the most important of the age, but of which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet losing his by the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec. Afterward Marquette returned to the Illinois Indians by their request, and ministered to them until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the mouth of a stream-going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan-he asked to land at its mouth and celebrate Mass. Leaving his men with the canoe, he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefully passed away while at prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place fifty years after, found the waters had retreated from the grave, leaving the beloved missionary to repose in peace. The river has since been called Marquette.
While. Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were pre- paring to follow in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun by him. These were Robert de La Salle and Louis Hennepin.
After La Salle's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see the narrative elsewhere), he established himself again among the French trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of those ages-a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific, when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories theidea that by fol- lowing the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He applied to Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the plan, dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, and saw that LaSalle's idea to connect the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf of Mexico would bind the country so wonderfully together, give un- measured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose adminis- tration he earnestly hoped all would be realized.
LaSalle now repaired to France, laid his plans before the King, who warmly approved of them, and made him a Chevalier. He also received from all the noblemen the warmest wishes for his success. The Chev-
24
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
alier returned to Canada, and busily entered upon his work. He at once rebuilt Fort Frontenac and constructed the first ship to sail on these fresh-water seas. On the 7th of August, 1679, having been joined by Hennepin, he began his voyage in the Griffin up Lake Erie. He passed over this lake, through the straits beyond, up Lake St. Clair and into Huron. In this lake they encountered heavy storms. They were some time at Michillimackinac, where LaSalle founded a fort, and passed on to Green Bay, the " Baie des Puans" of the French, where he found a large quantity of furs collected for him. He loaded the Griffin with these, and placing her under the care of a pilot and fourteen sailors,
LA SALLE LANDING ON THE SHORE OF GREEN BAY.
started her on her return voyage. The vessel was never afterward heard of. He remained about these parts until early in the Winter, when, hear- ing nothing from the Griffin, he collected all the men-thirty working men and three monks-and started again upon his great undertaking.
By a short portage they passed to the Illinois or Kankakee, called by the Indians, "Theakeke," wolf, because of the tribes of Indians called by that name, commonly known as the Mahingans, dwelling there. The French pronounced it Kiakiki, which became corrupted to Kankakee. "Falling down the said river by easy journeys, the better to observe the country," about the last of December they reached a village of the Illi- nois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but at that moment
25
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
no inhabitants. The Seur de LaSalle being in want of some breadstuffs, took advantage of the absence of the Indians to help himself to a suffi- ciency of maize, large quantities of which he found concealed in holes under the wigwams. This village was situated near the present village of Utica in LaSalle County, Illinois. The corn being securely stored, the voyagers again betook themselves to the stream, and toward evening, on the 4th day of January, 1680, they came into a lake which must have been the lake of Peoria. This was called by the Indians Pim-i-te-wi, that is, a place where there are many fat beasts. Here the natives were met with in large numbers, but they were gentle and kind, and having spent some time with them, LaSalle determined to erect another fort in that place, for he had heard rumors that some of the adjoining tribes were trying to disturb the good feeling which existed, and some of his men were disposed to complain, owing to the hardships and perils of the travel. He called this fort " Crevecœur " (broken-heart), a name expressive of the very natural sorrow and anxiety which the pretty certain loss of his ship, Griffin, and his consequent impoverishment, the danger of hostility on the part of the Indians, and of mutiny among his own men, might well cause him. His fears were not entirely groundless. At one time poison was placed in his food, but fortunately was discovered.
While building this fort, the Winter wore away, the prairies began to look green. and LaSalle, despairing of any reinforcements, concluded to return to Canada, raise new means and new men, and embark anew in the enterprise. For this purpose he made Hennepin the leader of a party to explore the head waters of the Mississippi, and he set out on his jour- ney. This journey was accomplished with the aid of a few persons, and was successfully made, though over an almost unknown route, and in a bad season of the year. He safely reached Cana da, and set out again for the object of his search.
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