USA > Illinois > Kane County > Elgin > The history of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois, 1835 to 1875 > Part 1
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Gc 977.302 EL3h 1455605
M. L".
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02493 2862
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018
https://archive.org/details/historyofelginka00unse
THE
HISTORY OF ELGIN
KANE COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
1835 TO 1875
ELGIN, ILL .: PUBLISHED BY LORD & BRADFORD. 1875.
THE
HISTORY OF ELGIN,
Kane County, OG.
FROM
11
1
1835 TO 1875. 1
ELGIN, ILL .: PUBLISHED BY LORD & BRADFORD.
1875.
PRINTED BY S. L. TAYLOR, PROPRIETOR
ADVOCATE POWER PRINTING HOUSE, ELGIN, ILL.
PREFACE. 1455605
TRUTHFUL history of a place is valuable, not only for present read- ing, but for the preservation of facts which, if not printed, will in time pass from the memory of the living, beyond recall. It is because the pen and the printing press have been used that we are so much better acquainted with the history of enlightened nations than with that of nations which have depended upon oral traditions for a knowledge of the acts of their ancestors.
We have endeavored to make the following History of Elgin not only interesting but accurate-not only useful to the reader at the present time, but to some future historian who shall continue the narrative. We have taken much pains to give facts and dates correctly, and yet some errors will doubtless be discovered which can be corrected in future editions, and some additions made which will be valuable.
All compilers of history avail themselves of what has previously been written, and of course we have done so in this instance, although we have introduced much new matter. In some cases we have used the facts, and in others not only the facts but the language of previous chroniclers, making such alterations and additions as seemed called for. We are especially indebted to a history of Elgin published by Gilbert & Hanchett, in 1870, and to a sketch of Kane county by M. H. Thompson, in 1872. We likewise tender our acknowledgments to the gentlemen who have furnished articles, or the facts embraced in them, on special subjects, and whose names appear at the head of their articles.
In the special articles there will, of course, be found some repetition of facts, which are briefly alluded to in the general history. But this repetition was necessary, in order to present unbroken narrations of certain subjects by themselves, and more at length than could well be done in connection with other matters.
THE PUBLISHERS.
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
HE Black Hawk war was ended in 1832 by the capture of the celebrat- ed chief who instigated it, and the submission of the Indians of North- ern Illinois to the authority of the United States. It was their last general effort to retain possession of their homes and their hunting grounds, and thenceforward they gradually disappeared beyond the Mississippi. A wide region was thus made ready for settlement, which attracted attention by its beauty and fertility. Its beautiful groves furnished timber for fuel, fencing and building. Its fertile prairies were all ready for cultivation, and needed only to be "tickled by the plow to laugh with a harvest." Its mur- muring streams afforded an abundance of water power, which needed only to be utilized that the hum of machinery might be heard in hundreds of ris- ing villages.
The northern part of the state of Illinois, which in 1832 was the home of savages and wild animals, but which is now dotted all over by well culti- vated farms and comfortable dwellings, was a region of such surpassing attractiveness that it needed only to be known to be coveted. Hence it is not surprising that the reports of explorers and immigrants to their friends in the eastern states awakened a desire in them and others to try their fortunes in this new region and possess a portion of this goodly land. Consequently while the Indians were still numerous the cabins of settlers began to appear -first on the margins of the groves which fringed the streams and then further out on the broad prairies. By 1834 these cabins had become quite numerous in the counties of Will, LaSalle and others in that latitute, but in those as far north as Kane they were like angels' visits, few and far between. The man still lives in Elgin, and he is not a very old man yet, who, with his brother, were the first settlers of the place. That man is Hezekiah Gifford. In 1834 he resided in Oneida county, N. Y., and his brother, James T. Gifford, in Yates county, in that state. The former, hearing that in the neighborhood of Fox river, Illinois, there was a beautiful country, and that it was no longer the scene of Indian depredations, concluded to visit the locality. Selling his property, he at once went to Buffalo, and thence tak- ing passage by steamer, arrived in course of time at Detroit ; traveling thence by stage through the Michigan wilderness, he arrived, after many delays, at
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
St. Joseph, from which place he sailed to Chicago in a schooner. There he found a miserable hamlet of 500 inhabitants, sunk, if not in the Slough of Despair, at least in a slough that invited despair, accompanied by bilious fever and ague ; but a rest had, nevertheless, to be taken in this undesirable locality after his long journey, and, accordingly, he rested with very unsatis- factory conclusions of western magnificence.
While sauntering around the mud-covered streets of this little village, Mr. Gifford met a man driving an ox team, and, during a conversation, he learned that the person with whom he was conversing owned a claim on Fox river, the very Utopia to which he was journeying, and that his name was Ferson. Mr. Gifford informed the gentleman that he, too, was going to Fox river, and at once secured a place in his primitive mode of conveyance. Another person, named Duryea, who had accompanied Mr. Gifford from Buffalo, was also introduced to Mr. Ferson, and when the latter had con- cluded his business in Chicago the oxen were turned westward, and the three pursued their journey to the river.
The journey, it may easily be imagined, was not a pleasant one. For a road the travelers had but the army trail left by Scott's troops during the Black Hawk war, some time before. Part of the way the gentlemen rode, and part of it they walked, but at length they reached the banks of the Fox, where St. Charles now stands, forded it near the present bridge in that town, and in a very short time afterward were hospitably received in Mr. Ferson's log cabin. A very few moments after their reception they were kneeling on the floor of the aforesaid cabin eating off a trunk, in lieu of a table, some excellent venison steaks, and drinking coffee with a relish that invested the Rio with qualities unknown to the connoisseurs who deli- cately discuss the excellencies of a better kind.
After a needed repose, Messrs. Gifford and Duryea took their way down the river, and soon arrived at the present site of Geneva. This short jour- ney absolutely entranced them with the beauty of the country through which they passed. Still following the river and an Indian trail, they walked to the spot where Aurora now stands, and here they found a man digging bowlders in the midst of a solitude that would have charmed a hermit. In reply to a question, the delver said he was digging stones for a prospective
dam. The news was quite welcome to the travelers, as foreshadowing civili- zation, and with the feeling that they were not altogether in a desert, they pursued their journey to where Yorkville now stands. From this place they proceeded to Indian creek, Somonauk and Blackberry, and at last rested at the cabin of a man named Hollenbeck. Mr. Duryea had now become tired of the west, but seeing the patriarchal comforts by which Hollenbeck was surrounded ; seeing him as a Pasha of many corn fields, surrounded by game of every kind, and living ostensibly in the happy condition that is exempli- fied by the expression,.
" My right there is none to dispute,"
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
he concluded to " make a claim," and did so. Mr. Gifford did the same, and the twain returned homeward, parting at Buffalo.
From Buffalo Mr. H. Gifford at once proceeded to the home of his brother, Mr. James T. Gifford, where he was received with extreme gratification, as during his sojourn in the west his father and other members of his family ly were unaware of his whereabouts. Mr. James T. Gifford at once com- menced asking him about the west, and soon the conversation led to a de- scription of the Fox river country. Maps were produced, and a full account of its beauties was poured forth by Hezekiah. It was agreed that the latter should visit his father's family in Oneida county and some acquaintances in Chenango county, among them a young lady who might possibly be going to Illinois before long; that James T. would endeavor to sell his property as soon as possible ; and arrangements were made that the brothers should emigrate to the west, and share in the toils and benefits incident to its settle- ment.
A short interval passed. Hezekiah was married; James T. sold out and was ready for the start; a lumber wagon was provided and filled with tools ; a double team was procured, and the advance made. The young men drove all the way to Chicago, at every step leaving civilization further and further behind, until, on the 24th of March, 1835, they reached the wished-for ham- let by the lake. Here learning that the place then called Milwaukee Bay was a magnificent site for a settlement, they left their wagon at Chicago and rode to that point in company with a man named Goodwin. On the way they did not meet a living soul, and being scantily provided with edibles, were necessitated to divide even their few biscuits with their horses. At length, arriving at Milwaukee, they procured food and corn, but soon dis- covered that people from Chicago had claimed all the land in the vicinity, and then came back the old thought, Let us go to the Fox river.
Accordingly they took up the line of march, sending their horses back to Chicago by Mr. Goodwin, he being desirous of returning thither without delay. An abortive attempt to cross the country from Milwaukee was now succeeded by their partly retracing their steps to the neighborhood of the present city of Racine, where they met a half-breed trader, named Jock Jumbeau, who invited them to rest a few days. Jock, who had been a trap- per, and was at one time one of those engages or voyageurs that the late Mrs. Kinzie so truly described in her "Early Days in the Northwest," told the Giffords that he knew the country well, and that by taking the trail from his cabin they could reach the waters of the Fox river in half a day. He also said they would very possibly find settlers on its banks. This was agreeable information ; and a negro boy who acted as cook, page, etc., etc., to Jock, having prepared the brothers some cakes, they struck into the woods and were soon again on their way.
Reaching the river in the time mentioned by Jock Jumbeau, they walked down stream for miles, but encountered no signs of human life. Anxious to
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
explore its west bank, they were prevented by the depth of the stream, until, when quite fatigued, they met a lone Pottawattamie in a canoe, who ferried them across, but could give them no information of settlers or settlements. Now the explorers found themselves with a broad and deep river between them and, as they feared, all white men, but still they walked on. Night overtook them, and they camped without supper. Next morning they were up betimes and still marching southward, but no settlers were yet to be seen, and being without a compass, they dared not leave the bank of the river for fear of getting lost. Creeks were waded through that chilled them to the very heart, but yet, hungry, wet and tired, they kept on. At length, when they had been forty-eight hours without food, they thought they descried something that seemed like a " claim mark," and stopped to examine it. The examination did not prove satisfactory, and again they pushed south- ward. After journeying for some hours, Mr. Hezekiah Gifford saw through the trees a little edifice called a " punshon," or hut, then much in use among Indians and settlers. He approached it, calling to his brother to follow. On reaching it they hallooed, but no response came, and then raising one of the planks they looked in, hoping to find some human being in the habita- tion. But, instead of white settlers, or even Indians, the famishing men only saw squatted in all the majesty of repose, decked with his blankets and innumerable little evidences of high rank, a dead Pottawattamie chief, taking the sleep that knows no waking. The body was in a sitting posture and but little decomposed, and was a terrible evidence to the travelers that they were further than ever from civilization and succor. And now, discouraged and weakened by privation, the journey was resumed ; night came on, and the wayfarers having lighted a fire, lay down to sleep. Rain fell during the night, and getting up chilled to replenish the fire some wild animals became frightened and went crashing and howling through the woods. In the morn- ing they started once more, and after a time the stream now called the Nip- persink, in McHenry county, was reached. Here they had to wade up to their waists and hold their clothes over their heads to keep them dry. The mud, too, at the bottom of the creek almost engulfed them, and, long after that day, the Messrs. Gifford laughingly remarked that the creek alluded to might be called the Nip-or-sink with increased propriety. But now at length they were, although unconscious of the fact, drawing near relief. They had walked at this time to the bend in the river above the present village of Algonquin, and stopping to survey the situation they descried afar off a figure moving. Their pace was quickened, and they soon came to a white man who was splitting rails. On being questioned, this man said that he worked for Samuel Gillan, who owned a cabin hard by. This was, of course, good news, and Mr. James T. Gifford, absolutely overburdened with joy, cried out, "Oh ! now we'll have a good meal !" Mr. Gillan and his wife kindly received the travelers, heard their story of suffering and travel, and soon placed before them a meal of corn dodgers and coffee that tasted deli-
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
ciously in this new wilderness. A good night's rest was afterward taken ; a hearty breakfasteaten ; a few miles further passed, and the ground on which Elgin now stands was reached.
Here the Messrs. Gifford at once became struck with the excellent site presented for a town. They saw before them a gently undulating country, and beautifully timbered banks, through which the river flowed and rippled, showing a fall of water so necessary for its use as a motive power. The country, too, around looked more like a deserted orchard than a wilderness -there was but little underbrush in the splendid oak openings that stretched on every side, and the scene was gracefully beautiful and homelike. Here, then, the Gifford brothers determined to settle, and Mr. James T. Gifford at once stepped off and claimed the land now known as James T. Gifford's plat of Elgin, his brother claiming the land south of it, on a portion of which the National Watch Factory now stands. Having heard from the Gillans that a man named Welch lived near the head of the Little Woods, they paid that gentleman a visit, after which they walked back to Chicago for their horses and wagon, conscious that they had secured a vine and fig tree in the great west.
In a couple of days they were again leaving Chicago for the river, when, on Randolph street, they met a gentleman who stopped them and stated that his name was Joseph Kimball ; that he wished to put up a saw mill, and that he would be happy to find a location for such a purpose. He also asked them, as they looked like travelers, where they were going, and being told to the Fox river, he inquired the way thither. They answered that by fol- lowing Scott's army trail he could reach a place called Meacham's Grove (now Bloomingdale), where there were a few settlers who would show him a way to the river. They then parted, the Giffords coming direct to their settlement. Mr. Kimball, it seems, at once entered into communication with some friends of his who resided at a place called Flag Creek, in Cook county, concerning the Gifford settlement on Fox river, and in a short time Messrs. Samuel J., G. W., Russell and Jonathan Kimball, with Isaac Stone, made their appearance at the Giffords' cabin and announced their intention of casting their fortunes in the new settlement. The Giffords were, of course, quite rejoiced at this accession, and soon after the new settlers established themselves as follows: Mr. Stone claimed his present farm property, some three miles west of Elgin ; Mr. S. J. Kimball claimed the property now owned by his sons, Joseph and Walter (the former the first white male child born in Elgin), and Mr. Jonathan Kimball claimed the property on the west side, now owned by Judge Wilcox, Mr. Wing and others. Mr. Joseph Kimball died while on a trip to the east for his family.
And now came a demand for the necessaries of life. Bread had to be obtained, and the settlers having gathered in their first crop of corn, the question arose, how was it to be ground. Journeys to Ottawa, Joliet and Chicago for this purpose were frequent, but they were long and tedious, and
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
it was evident that the place then called "State Road " by the few settlers, in the hope, it is to be supposed, that a state road would some time or other get to it, must have a mill. Accordingly, Mr. J. T. Gifford conceived the building of one, and constructed it by hollowing out a large stump and fitting into it an immense stone, which was raised and depressed by means similar to those once used in raising water out of wells. A sort of power- ful mortar and pestle were thus formed which, like another mill that is the subject of an old saying, "ground slowly," but, unlike that, mill, did not grind "extremely small." It served its purpose, however, for some time, and produced the staff of life in a semi-pulverized condition.
And now, too, the few gathered in the infant settlement became enter- prising. The Giffords went to a settlement on the banks of the DuPage, where they bought four yoke of cattle, and from thence Mr. James T. Gifford again went to Chicago, where he found Mrs. Hezekiah Gifford, just arrived from the east. The lady returned with him to the settlement, and for six weeks afterward did not see the face or form of a white woman. This scarcity of female loveliness in Elgin was during the early summer of 1835. But of red ladies and gentlemen she saw many. Sometimes they would come and importune her for flour ; sometimes they would offer her fish and game for the same article, and on one occasion the lady, while alone in her cabin on what is now the Bowen residence, received a delegation of twenty braves, one of whom essayed to take some flour without any regard to Mrs. Gifford's opinion in the matter. The lady, who was all the time scared almost to death, put on a bold face and gave the voracious Mr. Lo such a push as almost capsized him, and caused him such astonishment that his aboriginal brethren set up a roar of laughter that might be heard for some, distance. They soon after departed, and came back with Mr. Gifford, who gave the poor savages all the flour he could spare.
The settlement now requiring a road, one was staked to Meacham's Grove (Bloomingdale), and in June, 1835, two strange ladies, with pale faces, made their appearance in the settlement. These were Mrs. P. J. Kimball, Sr., and her daughter, whose husband and father also arrived and soon after located where the residence of Mr. P. J. Kimball, Jr., now stands, having purchased that claim from a settler who had just raised a cabin thereon. The newly- arrived ladies were gladly welcomed, and were, of course, a great acquisi- tion to the society of the little band of settlers.
A very extensive settlement, at least in the distance between houses, was it at this time, and the question of a name for the inchoate city one day very naturally forced itself on Mr. J. T. Gifford, as he was sitting in his brother's cabin. "What name shall we call the town ?" said he, rather abruptly. Mrs. H. Gifford absolutely started with astonishment, and she replied : " Call the town ? Pshaw ! Where is the town ?" Her brother-in-law laughed and said : " Well, never mind ; I have a name for it, at any rate, an old Scotch one, too, and a short one. We'll call it Elgin." And Elgin it
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
was henceforth called ; but yet Mrs. Gifford, who could not be convinced of the growth of the place, said to her husband soon after this circumstance, " What's the use of a name for this place ? Do you ever expect to see stages running here ?" Both brothers answered, "Of course we do." And in 1837, only two years after this nomenclatural discussion, it was no uncom- mon sight for the lady to stand at her cabin door and see, not one, but two, stages pass daily into Elgin, with horns blowing the announcement of their arrival.
In 1835, Mr. J. T. Gifford's wife, accompanied by his sister, Miss Harriet Gifford (Elgin's first school teacher), arrived from the east, and were installed in the new cabin erected by Mr. Gifford, almost in front of the present residence of Mr. O. Davidson. A mark of the cellar of this old building is yet visible, and to many an old settler it brings thoughts of the really large-hearted man whose former home it denotes.
Dr. Joseph Tefft, the first mayor of the city, came also in 1835, and until 1838 was the only practicing physician for miles around.
About this time two efforts were made to introduce religious exercises, and, as the cabin above mentioned was the resort of the settlers for all civil purposes, such as postoffice, etc., it was also for the time being the village church. The first Sunday that the Gifford family spent in Elgin a sermon was read to them by Miss Gifford. Afterward the settlers held regular services in the cabin, Mr. Russell Kimball, or Deacon Philo Hatch, assist- ing in or conducting them.
The first Fourth of July celebration was a unique affair, and deserves mention in this sketch of the village. It was conducted in. this wise : Although, as before mentioned, a road had been staked off to Meacham's Grove, it was by no means a sufficient guide ; and, on the 4th day of July, 1836, a large tree having been cut down and attached to several yoke of cat- tle, all the inhabitants gathered and aided in having it drawn half way to the Grove. A deep furrow was also plowed in its course ; and the Meach- am's Grove people having performed a similar work on their half of the road, the people met together and declared the road open. Then they joined in a grand Independence dinner of corn bread, bacon and cold coffee.
About this time, also, the settlement began to show signs of political life, and an election for justice and constable was held on the 1st of July, 1836, at the house of Thos. H. Thompson, which stood on the farm now owned by E. G. Ketchum, in the present town of Dundee. It seems from the poll- book that Elgin was then known in the political divisions of the state as Lake township, and embraced both Elgin and Dundee. The following is a list of the voters at this election :
John Johnson, Moses Akers, Alfred M. Henley, George Tyler, James E. Parker, Ransom Olds, Aaron Burbank Isaac Fitz, Wanton Parker, Sol. Akers, Benjamin Bell, Russell F. Kimball, Joseph Russell, Charles B. Kim- ball, P. J. Kimball, Thos. H. Thompson, Jonathan Kimball, Thos. Deweese.
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HISTORY OF ELGIN.
At this election Jonathan Kimball, for justice of the peace, had fifteen votes, and Wanton Parker had, for the same office, seventeen votes. Seth Green, for constable, received eighteen votes, and S. J. Kimball, seventeen votes. Thos. H. Thompson, Jonathan Kimball and Thomas Deweese were judges of the election, and Isaac Fitz and Wanton Parker were clerks thereof.
The next election occurred in August, 1836, and was also held at the above locality in Lake precinct, as the district was yet called. It was for congress- man, state senator and representative, county commissioner, sheriff, recorder, surveyor and coroner, and called out a full vote of the citizens.
The first election in the town of Elgin, properly speaking, was held at the public house of Hezekiah Gifford, where the Presbyterian church now stands, Oct. 10, 1836, and was probably the first formal election after the organization of Kane county, which was effected in 1836.
On the 7th of November an election for Lake precinct was again held at Mr. Thompson's house, this being for presidential electors, and as the names exhibit those of several new settlers, we append them, also directing atten- tion to the fact that, from the residence of the voters, it must have been a good day's work to go to and from the polls :
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