USA > Illinois > Stark County > Documents and biography pertaining to the settlement and progress of Stark County, Illinois : containing an authentic summary of records, documents, historical works and newspapers > Part 4
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President Lincoln assassinated, April 14.
Andrew Johnson inaugurated President, April 15.
Surrender of Johnston's army, April 26.
Jefferson Davis captured in Georgia, May to.
Close of the Great Rebellion ; last battle at mouth of Rio Grande. May 12, 13.
Slavery declared abolished, December 18.
1861
Nebraska admitted into the Union, March 1.
Alaska purchased from Russia for $7.200,000, June 20.
1868 The House of Representatives impeached President Johnson, Febru- ary 24.
The President was declared acquitted. April 26.
1869 Ulysses S. Grant inaugurated President, March 4.
18:1 The " Alabama Treaty " was concluded, May 8.
The great fire of Chicago occurred. October 9, 10.
18:3 Second Chicago tire.
1816 The Centennial Anniversary of American Independence. The " World's Fair " in Philadelphia, May 10 to November 10. Colorado admitted into the Union. August 1.
1820 Rutherford B. Hayes inaugurated President, March 5.
1881 James A. Garfield inangurated President, March 4. James A. Garfield shot by Charles J. Guiteau. at Washington, July 2. James A. Garfield died at Long Branch, September 19.
Chester A. Arthur inaugurated President, September 20.
1882 The Two Cents Postage Bill introduced, December 8.
1883 Centennial of the evacuation of New York by the British, Novem- ber 26. following the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown,
1884 James G. Blaine, the Republican nominee for president. defeated. A small majority giving New York State to Grover Cleveland, the nominee of the democratic party.
1885-6 The . Canadian Fisheries " and the " Cutting Affair " claimed some attention from the State Department. The press and people prevented a wanton attack on the sister republic of Mexico.
PART II.
CITRONOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
HE origin of the name Ilinois is variously credited. Some persons maintain that the early French explorers called it Isle aus Nois or Nut Island, while others are equally certain that the aborigines applied the name Illini or Land of Superior Men. The first party state that, while the explorers were en route down the Mississippi. they camped on an island covered with a heavy growth of peean trees. and there gave this name to the country. The second party give the authority of Algonquin annals for the word Ilimicol, meaning men, and also quote the Otchipwe and Cree adapta- tion of the word Ininiok and Iginurok, as applied to the prairie Indians in the same manner as Chicagok was applied to the red settlers along Chicago river and their neighborhood. This latter definition is accepted with very just reason : for the once powerful confederaey of the Illinois was in truth a race of superior Indians. This confederacy comprised the Tamaroas. Michigans, Kaskaskias, Cahokas and Poorias, with representatives of the Miamis and Delawares, who, between 1670 and 1675 returned from the West and settled in this State. Some years prior to 1670. in 1655, those tribes inhabited the country south of lakes Erie and Michigan, but were driven westward beyond the Mississippi by the Iroquois, where their eight towns stood in 1670, when Father Marquette visited St. Esprit, on Lake Superior. In 1673 Marquette and Joliet met them here, and two years later the former established the Mission of the Immaculate Conception among them at Kaskaskia. seven miles below the present town of Ottawa. Four years after the establishment of this mission, in 1679. La Salle found at least six thou- sand persons there and four hundred and sixty lodges ; and there they resided until the Pottawatomie war. when the power of the confederacy was shattered at Starved Rock. The Sacs and Foxes inhabited the northwestern part of this State, and in later years became notorious as the allies of the English. In 1832 there were twelve Sae families and eight Foxes; while Kickapoos, Shawnees, Maseoulins. Piankishaws. Pottawatomies. Otchipwes and Ottawas were represented in other parts of the State, as related in the history of the county.
1655 First Iroquois Invasion of Illinois.
1621 Exploration by Nicholas Perrot.
1072 Exploration by Fathers Allouez and Dablon.
32
33
CHRONOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
1613 Return of the Illinois tribes.
Exploration by Louis Joliet.
Exploration by Father Marquette.
Marquette's Voyage up the Illinois and Desplaines Rivers.
1674
Establishment of the Mission of the Immaculate Conception near Utica. La Salle county.
1675
Death of Marquette, May 18.
1680 Fathers Ribourde and Membre at Starved Rock.
Chevalier La Salle takes possession of Illinois for France.
La Salle at Lake Peoria, January 3.
La Salle returned to Fort Frontenac (Canada. )
Henry Tonti, the Italian, and fifteen men at Fort Crevecoeur.
Second Invasion of Illinois by the Iroquois.
Father Louis Hennepin left Fort Crevecoeur in February for the Upper Mississippi.
1680
Father Ribourde murdered by Kickapoo Indians.
Anthony Auquel and Michael Ake explored the Illinois river country.
Tonti returned to Green Bay.
Annihilation of the Illinois and Tamaroas by the Iroquois. La Salle returned to Illinois.
1682 Building of Fort St. Louis.
La Salle descended the Mississippi, and named the country Louisiana. 1682-7La Salle visited France: brought out a colony to the Gulf States: explored New Mexico.
1687 La Salle and twenty men left Fort St. Louis (Matagorda Bay) for Illinois, January 12.
Assassination of La Salle's nephew by Du Haut and Leotat, en route to Illinois.
Assassination of La Salle by Du Haut and Leotat.
168- Tonti's expedition in search of La Salle and colonists.
1689 Execution of Du Haut and Leotat, the assassins.
1690 The Mission of the Immaculate Conception removed from Old Kas- kaskia, or Fort St. Louis, on the Illinois river, to Kaskaskia, six miles above the mouth of the Kaskaskia river.
1690-1Settlement of Cahokia, five miles below St. Louis city, near mouth of Cahokia.
1698 Kaskaskia founded by Rev. Father Gravier. Father Pinet at Ca- hokia.
1:12 M. Crozat, of Paris, granted a monopoly of trade in Illinois.
1411 Settlement of St. Philip, forty-five miles from Cahokia. Philip Renault, 1419.
1:18
M. Crozat surrendered his charter. Company of the West organized. Settlement of Fort Chartres, twelve miles above Kaskaskia, by Mis- sissippi Company.
Settlement of Kaskaskia, six miles above confluence of Kaskaskia and Mississippi.
Settlement of Prairie du Rocher, near Fort Chartres.
1:20 Philip Renault introduced Negro slaves into Illinois.
1:30
Total population of settlements: 1+0 French families. 200 French traders. 600 converted Indians.
1:50 Father Vivier preaching to the Illinois tribes. He places the popu- lation of the five French villages at 1,100 whites, 300 blacks, and 60 red savages. The three Indian villages did not then contain 3
34
INTRODUCTION.
more than 800 souls, all told. There was not a settlement between the Arkansas and Illinois rivers at that date.
1765
The French flag replace.l by the British tlag on Fort Chartres, Oeto- ber 10.
Pontiac and two hundred French families settled on the Kankakee, near Wilmington.
1469 Pontiae assassinated by Illinois Chief at Joliet Mound after the Couneil. Extermination of the Illinois.
1773 The Illinois Land Company organized. Purchased lands from the Peorias and Kaskaskias.
1775
The French trader Viviat organized the Wabash Land Company of Virginia, aided by Pere M. Gibault, July 4. Total defeat of the British.
Shabbonee bom near Wilmington. Illinois.
1778 La Ville de Meillet founded near Lake Peoria.
Capture of Kaskaskia by the Americans under Colonel George Rogers Clarke.
M. Gibault negotiates for the surrender of Vincennes, the establish- ment of American courts, etc.
1179
Establishment of the county of Illinois in October. John Todd ap- pointed Lieutenant-Commander by Patrick Henry. December 12. Surrender of the British Governor and General Hamilton (the hair- buyer) to General Clarke, February.
1180
The Illinois and Wabash Land Companies consolidated.
1784
Virginia ceded all her territory north of the Ohio to the United States, when a territorial form of government was instituted.
1181
Ordinance for the government of the Northwestern Territory. Major-General Arthur St. Clair appointed Governor by Congress. Illinois a county of Indiana Territory.
1196 J. B. Pointe an Sable, a resident of Chicago.
Old Peoria abandoned.
1804 Building of Fort Dearborn at Chicago.
Treaty with Saes and Foxes.
1805
First mail route (Vincennes to Cahokia) established.
1809 The Territory of Illinois organized. John Boyle. of Kentucky, ap- pointed Governor by President Madison. Boyle declined this position, when it was offered to Ninian Edwards.
St. Clair and Randolph counties only political divisions of Ter- ritory.
1811 Peace Convention with Pottawatomies at Peoria.
Battle of Tippecanoe, November ;.
1812 Building of Fort Russell, near the present village of Edwardsville. Massacre of Fort Dearborn. August 16.
Governor Edwards' militia attack the Pottawatomie village at Peoria. Angust. Captain Craig burned Peoria. November.
1813 General Howard's command of nine hundred men build Fort Clarke, at Peoria.
1814 Illinois Herald established at Kaskaskia.
Governor Clarke's expedition up the Mississippi.
The Sixty-sixth Illinois Rangers' terrific fight near Rock Island.
Major Taylor, Captains Rector and Whiteside attack the English and Indians near Rock river. Defeat of the Americans. Peace of Ghent, December 24.
35
CHRONOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
1816 Treaty of St. Lonis. Lands between Illinois and Mississippi rivers ceded.
1818 Fort Clarke destroyed by fire.
Territorial Legislature petitioned Congress for admission as a State in Jannary.
The Enabling Act was passed April 18.
Convention of Kaskaskia, July.
Illinois admitted. December 3.
Change of northern boundary so as to secure Chicago.
Adoption of whipping, stocks, pillory, and gibbet for punishment of criminals.
First State election. Shadrack Bond, Governor : Pierre Mesnard, Lieutenant-governor.
1819 Peoria reoccupied and settled by American citizens.
Vandalia, the seat of government. (Removed to Springfield in 1832.)
1820 Reverend J. M. Peck was the first educated Protestant minister in the State. He settled in St. Clair county.
1821 Appropriation of $10,000 by State Legislature for survey of Illinois and Michigan canal.
Incorporation of the Bank of Illinois.
Henry R. Schoolcraft and party at Fort Joliet.
1822 The slavery and anti-slavery questions raised for election purposes.
1824 Direct mail ronte from Vandalia to Springfield ; and to Chicago in 1832.
Aggregate vote polled, 11,612.
The proposition to make Illinois a slave State defeated at the polls by 1,800 votes.
1825
Lafayette accepted invitation of Assembly and visited Kaskaskia in February.
Bills for the support of schools and construction of roads by pub- lie tax passed.
1826
Sanganash, or Billy Caldwell, appointed Justice of Peace of Peoria connty.
Congress granted 800,000 acres of land to the State to aid in build- ing the canal.
1827 Winnebago War under Chief Red Bird. General Cass. of Michigan, visited Illinois.
1828 Line of Illinois and Michigan canal resurveyed.
The Methodist Episcopal college, Lebanon, established. First in State.
1830 The legal rate of interest established. Previously 150 per centum was reached.
1831 Criminal code adapted to penitentiary punishment.
Black Hawk established himself upon his disputed territory.
General Gaines, commanding 1.500 Illinois volunteers, destroyed the Indian town, and forced Black Hawk's people to cede all lands east of the Mississippi, and settle on the west side of the river.
1832 General Zachary Taylor. Abraham Lincoln, Jeff Davis and Lieu- tenant Robert Anderson. at Dixon. Illinois, in re Black Hawk's war.
Black Hawk recrossed the Mississippi to war on the whites. Building of Fort Joliet.
36
INTRODUCTION.
1832 Governor Reynolds collected 1.800 volunteers under command of Brigadier-General Whiteside. This command destroyed Prophets- town. and proceeded to join General Atkinson's division. The fight from Stillman's Run was one of the comicalities of this war. The assault on Apple River fort. June, 1832. Black Hawk and 150 warriors defeated by 25 men. Generals Henry and Atkinson at the battle of Rock river. Three hundred savages killed and 50 made prisoners, against 14 whites killed and 12 wounded. Black Hawk and his special warriors, who escaped from the Rock river affair, were captured by the Winnebagoes and handed over to General Street. He was interned in Fortress Monroe with other hostile Sacs, until June 4, 1833, when the chief and his party were conveyed to Rock Island, Illinois, and there set at liberty. lle settled near Des Moines, lowa. In 1838 this old ally of the British died.
Massacre of the settlers on Indian creek.
Rachel and Sylvia Hall captured by Indians. Ransom, $2,000 and a number of horses.
1833
Treaty of Chicago.
1834-5 Beginning of Governor Duncan's administration. AAppropriations aggregating $10,230,000 made by the State. Town lot fever. Railroads for every man, or a money compensation. Legislators magnificently reckless,
1834 First payment of annuity, at Chicago, under treaty of 1833, in October.
1836 The construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal commenced.
183: Elijah P. Lovejoy, Abolitionist, mobbed and killed at Alton, No- vember :.
1838 The first locomotive run on Northern Cross railroad, November 8. Thomas Carlin elected Governor, opposed by Cyrus Edwards, Whig.
1839 The Illinois Institute for Deaf and Dumb was founded. and the buildings erected at Jacksonville in 1842.
1840 Settlement of the Mormons at Nauvoo.
Improvement laws repealed. after a debt of $15,000,000 was con- tracted.
1841 Arrest of Joe Smith, and his release by JJudge Douglas.
Pirates of the Prairie before the law. The regulators administering law.
1842 Seeond arrest of Joe Smith and his escape.
Adam W. Snyder nominated for Governor: died previous to election. when Thomas Ford was nominated to oppose Duncan.
The Mormon war. Joe Smith and Hiram Smith killed at Carthage. End of Nauvoo Mormonism. September, 1846. The action of the Gentiles narrow and unconstitutional. The Mormon exiles reached Salt Lake, July 21. 1847.
1846
Work on canal resumed by Illinois and Michigan Canal Company. Nine regiments (8.3;0 men) answered the call for troops to serve against Mexicans. Four regiments. or 3,420 men, accepted. Generals James Shields. Baker, Coffey, Harris, Hardin, Bissell. Houghton. McKee, are names identified with this state in the Mexican war.
1841 River and Harbor Convention at Chicago, July 5. State Constitutional Convention.
37
CHRONOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
1847 The Illinois Hospital for the Insane was established by the act of March 1, 1842.
1848 Opening of the Illinois and Michigan canal.
1850 The Galena railroad opened to Elgin.
1851
In 1851 the hospital buildings were commenced near Jacksonville.
1852-54 Railroad building era in the West.
1855 Chicago the focal point of 2,933 miles of railroad.
1858 The Chicago Eye and Ear Infirmary Association, in May. Was made a state institution in 1871.
1859 Selection of Lincoln's name for President at the Springfield caneus.
1860 Abraham Lincoln elected President.
1861 Ten thousand volunteers offered before April 24, and $1,000,000 tendered by patriotic citizens.
Captain Stokes and 700 men. of the Seventh Ilinois Infantry. took 10.000 stand of arms from St. Louis arsenal.
1862 State Constitutional Convention .
1865
The Asylum for Feeble-minded Children established by the act of February 15.
First steel rail rolled in America at Chicago. May 25. 1865.
Illinois was represented in her own regiments by 256,000 men, and in other states by about 30.000 men.
Great State Fair at Chicago netted $250.000 for soldiers' aid and military purposes.
1861 The Illinois Industrial University at Urbana was chartered.
1869 The Northern. Asylum for the Insane was established at Elgin.
1870
State Constitutional Convention
1871
Chicago destroyed by fire, October 9. The number of buildings burned was 12,450, and amount of direct loss. $190,000,000, of which $44,000,000 returned from insurance.
State resumed control of Illinois and Michigan canal.
The events since 1871 are of such a character as to come under the head of ordinary news. The return of the Illinois and Michigan canal into possession of the state, its cession by the state to the general gov ernment, and the redemption of the public debt, or state bonds, form the leading events. The great strikes of 1877, 1886, and the anarchist troubles at Chicago last year, while engaging much attention from the press, did not affect the course of business materially. Among the acts of the legislature, the most beneficent was that regulating regis- tration and voting at Chicago. Though sectional in its direct influ- ence, it forms the entering wedge for equal justice throughout the state.
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49
FAC SIMILE of Ihs Autograph Map ofthe
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DOCUMENTS AND BIOGRAPHY OF STARK COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.
TARK COUNTY is bounded on the north by Henry and Bu- reau counties, on the south by Peoria county, on the west by Henry and Knox counties and on the east by Bureau and Marshall counties. The area is 288 square miles or 184,320 acres, of which 182,659 aeres were surveyed, and 180.125 acres assessed. The population in ISso was 11,207. increased in 1885 to over 12.000. Toulon, the seat of jus- tiee, is 14 miles from the southwest corner, 83 miles from the northwest corner, 93 from the extreme northwest cor- ner. 20% from the northeast eorner, 20 miles from the south- east corner. and S miles from the south line, on the line of the R. I. & P. R. R. Wyoming. the leading commercial town, is equally outside the geographical center. but has the advantages of two railroads, the R. I. & P. and the C. B. & Q. branch between Buda and Rushville. Lafavette is situated near the western county line, and Bradford near the east line, each having railroad facilities. Duncan, Castle- ton and Lombardville are villages on the C. B. & Q .. while Wady Petra and Stark are on the R. I. & P. R. R. The villages of Ehnira, Osceola. Pleasant Green, Modena. Waldron. Camp Grove, Val- lev. Slackwater, Starwano and West Jersey are without railroad facil- ities.
The surface of the county is undulating. except in the neighbor hood of Spoon river, where it is decidedly broken. Of the entire area. no less than 173.711 aeres were under cultivation in 1885, and it may be said with truth that the total area offers one great fertile field of wealth to the eultivator. Along the streams and around old Osceola the primeval forest still stands. a reminder of the past. South of Toulon, too, the old, old woods continne sentinel, but throughout the county. the trees of fifty years ago have given place to ornamental groves of walnut, eh, maple, and. in a few instances, red and white pine. Osage orange hedges guard each field instead of the old rail fence : large and elegant residences have taken the place of the
43
44
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.
pioneers' homes ; well-kept flower and vegetable gardens are common in the towns and villages, and are often seen in the country distriets, while the mown lawn, always pleasing to the eye, greets the traveler in both town and country. Within fifty years this wilderness of waving prairie has been transformed into one of the most beautiful garden spots of Illinois. A few groves and the streams remain as landmarks of the olden time.
Rivers and Streams. Spoon river has its head waters in Neponsett township, Bureau county, where the stream known as " East Branch" rises, and in Kewanee township, Henry county, where the West branch has its source. The east fork enters Stark county in three divisions, so to speak, the central stream being known as Silver ereek. The streams unite in section 10, Osceola, forming the East Branch. Ilall creek flows into it in the northwestern quarter of section 22, and Cooper's Defeat creek in the northeastern quarter of section 31. A confluence with the West Branch is formed just north of the village of Modena in Tou- lon township and thence to its estuary, the name Spoon river is ap- plied. In Essex township it receives the united waters of two ereeks. flowing westward, known as Mud Run and Camping Run and near the village of Slaekwater receives the waters of West Indian creek. From this Spoon river flows through a tortuous channel to the parent Illi- nois, which it enters at Point Isabelle, opposite Havana. In the days of the Indians it was known as " Feather River" or Maquon. Its present name is said to have been given by Dr. Davison, the hermit, on account of a bayou resembling a spoon in the formation of its shores near what is now the village of Waterford in Fulton county.
Walnut creek has its source near Nekoma in Ilenry county, whence it flows southeast to West Jersey township, and thence to its confluence with Spoon river, just north of Rochester. Peoria county. To the char- acter of the trees foun I along this stream is to be attributed its name.
Camping Run rises in Marshall county, east of Camp Grove, and dates its name baek to ante-railroad days, when prairie schooners anchored there, while their crews feasted round the camp fires.
Indian creek rises just northeast of Galva, winds like a trail through Goshen. Toulon and Essex townships, and enters Spoon river in section 28, Essex. Prior to the negotiation of the treaty of Chi- cago, a few Pottawattomie and mongrel Indian lodges were scattered along its banks, owing to which fact the pioneers of the county gave it this name. This ereek is not to be confounded with Indian creek, La Salle county, where the massacre of settlers, by the British Indians, took place in 1832.
Cooper's Defeat creek may be called the east branch of the East Fork of Spoon river. It is a tributary of that stream, rising near Milo in Bureau county, and flowing cast through Osceola township, except for two miles where it wanders, as it wore, through the northern see- tions of Penn township. The name is credited to a teamster of the surveying party, who never failed before to drive his horses aeross or through a creek, until this point was reached, as related in sketch of Penn township.
45
TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.
Muddy Run parallels Camping Run. It also rises in Marshall county, flows through the southern sections of Valley township and forms a confluence with Camping Run, near the mouth of that stream
Jaek creek is the name given to a small stream running eastward to Spoon river, which it enters in the northwest quarter of section 12. Toulon township.
Fiteh creek rises in Grove township, Knox county. Its various feeders flow generally eastward, forming the main stream near the west line of Goshen township, and watering the northwestern sections of that township.
There are found in every division of the county numerous small streams, some of which flow from springs. As noticed in the history of the townships, many ponds or miniature lakes are found through- out the county.
Altitudes, soil and trees .- The altitudes are not very marked, yet it is stated that in the neighborhood of Lawn Ridge the highest elevation in the State is reached. At Bradford, too, a decided elevation occurs.
Prof. E. W. Claypole's paper on Buffalo and Chicago, read some time ago before the American Association for the Advancement of Seience, contained a suggestion which goes to show what narrow margins nature sometimes makes in her geographical and geological arrangements. It also shows what a narrow escape Chicago has had from a flood that would have revealed no friendly Ararat and that would have discouraged the most resolute of doves on its quest for terra-firma. The professor's statement in brief is that the great lakes are banked upon a table land about 600 feet above the sea, and that the drainage flows over the dam at Black Rock. the lowest point. Hence a dam twenty-five feet high across the river at Black Rock would be sufficient to throw the waters of the upper lakes into the Mississippi by the Illinois river. The professor complacently stated that the result of this would be to annihilate the St. Lawrence river, make Buffalo the head of navigation. and Chicago the outlet. In other words, the conditions of Chicago and Buffalo would have been reversed had the rim of the basin at Black Rock been originally a few feet higher.
A large portion of the county is prairie, but on account of the numerous intersecting streams, the prairies usually contain but few square miles of area. There are, however, some large prairies in townships 12 and 13, range 7. The soil is a common dark-colored loam, and when properly drained and cultivated is everywhere pro- ductive, except the " barrens," a small tract of sandy soil. The subsoil is usually a brown or yellow clay. The soil of the timber lands along the water-courses is usually of less depth and lighter in color. Along the water courses common oak, hiekory, ash, maple, black walnut, butternut, cottonwood, sycamore, coffee tree, buck-eve. box-older, red bud. wild phun, cherry and crab apple trees abound.
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