Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 126

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 950

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CHAPTER IV.

EVOLUTION OF THE COUNTY.

EARLY CONDITIONS-WATER-COURSES CONVERGING TOWARD ILLINOIS-THE "ILLINOIS COUNTRY" IN TRANSITION-A PART OF VIRGINIA-TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATIONS - NORTHWEST TERRITORY - IL- LINOIS STATE ENABLING ACT-NORTHERN BOUND- ARY QUESTION-WONDERFUL FORESIGHT OF DELEGATE NATHANIEL POPE-KANE COUNTY GOV- ERNMENTAL CHANGES-COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND FIRST ELECTION-JUSTICES' DISTRICTS AND VOTING PRECINCTS-TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.

It is highly interesting to note the remark- able accessibility of Illinois to immigration, in those days when the rivers were the best and

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

almost only avenues of transportation. The Wabash has its rise in Northwestern Ohio, traverses a rich section of that great State, crosses Indiana diagonally, and becomes, for about a hundred miles, the dividing line be- tween that State and Illinois. Far away in Western New York are the headwaters of the Allegheny, and, in West Virginia, of the Monon- gahela. Converging and flowing across the State of Pennsylvania, they unite at Pittsburg to form the majestic Ohio; which, after travers- ing a portion of Pennsylvania, becomes the dividing line of the States of Ohio and West Virginia, of Ohio and Kentucky, of Indiana and Kentucky, and at length of Kentucky and Il- linois. Next the lovely Cumberland River comes winding through the heart of Kentucky and a large portion of Tennessee, to join the Ohio at Smithland. The charming French Broad River, from North Carolina, and the Holston, from Virginia, unite just above Knoxville, to form the historic Tennessee, that, with its affluents, taps both the Carolinas. It traverses all East- ern Tennessee, skirts a corner of Georgia, flows across the entire north end of Alabama and a portion of Mississippi. Then reversing the current of the streams of the Mississippi valley, it flows nearly due north across the entire breadth of Western Tennessee, and a portion of Kentucky, to its confluence with the Ohio at Paducah.

These are each large navigable streams, and for many miles all their waters flow along the southeastern boundary of Illinois. Immigrants could float with their current from a dozen States to the beautiful "Illinois Country," so easily bringing all their goods and household effects. At Cairo these waters unite with the mighty Mississippi, which forms the western border of the State for its entire length, and at no other point in the republic can be found such great waterways, converging and uniting and reaching back over so vast, so varied, and so rich an expanse of country.

The commanding importance of this delta, in both a military and commercial point of view, was recognized at a very early period. And its central location at the heart of the republic, its salubrious climate, its fertile soil and ex- uberant fecundity gave the "Illinois Country" an attractive name, and desirable significance, very early in the settlement of the continent. In 1634-but fourteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims-Jean Nicolet discovered the "Lac des Illinois" (now Lake Michigan), and

in 1673 Louis Joliet and Pere Jacques Mar- quette paddled up the Illinois and Des Plaines Rivers, and made the portage at "Chicago." Father Marquette wrote in his journal, "We have seen nothing like this, for the fertility of the land, its prairies, woods, and wild cattle." In 1680, a year before Penn landed at Phila- delphia, the Sieur de La Salle and Henry Tonti erected Fort Crevecoeur near the foot of Peoria Lake. In 1765 the last French flag waving over the northwestern portion of the continent, was lowered at Fort Chartres to the proud ensign of England, and that, in turn, was the last emblem of the sovereignty of King George to float over any territory of the United States. Beside the struggles of the Indians to retain its possession, it has been . schemed and battled for by Spaniard, French- man, Briton and American. The "Illinois Country" was first officially recognized by the "Continental Congress" in an act of July 13, 1775, creating it an "Indian Department," with Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson and Patrick Henry as Commissioners. Virginia, however, claimed the territory, and, in 1778, organized the County of Illinois, and appointed Col. John Todd "County Lieutenant." Thus, the brilliant Patrick Henry was the first Governor, and, through his lieutenant, directed the first election of civil officers at Kaskaskia and Cahokia in 1779. Virginia ceded her claims to the United States in 1783. By the famous. Ordinance in 1787, Congress organized the Northwest Territory and President Washing- ton appointed Gen. Arthur St. Clair its first Governor. In March, 1790, Governor St. Clair arrived at Kaskaskia and, during his stay of three months, he organized the county of St. Clair, embracing indefinitely the vast region lying between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia. were established as county seats, where the first court proceedings under the English common law were held in 1796. The records, however, were preserved in the French language.

By act of Congress of May 7. 1800, the North- west Territory was divided, and substantially that portion embracing the present States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin was organized as Indiana Territory, and Captain -afterwards General and President-William Henry Harrison was appointed its Governor by President John Adams. In February 1809, Indiana Territory was divided, and the Territory of Illinois, including the present

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

limits of the State, and also Wisconsin and the peninsular portion of Michigan, was organized and Ninian Edwards was appointed its first Governor, and Nathaniel Pope its first Secre- tary, in March of that year, by President Madi- son. On April 7, 1818, a bill was introduced in Congress, enabling the people of a portion of the Territory to organize the State of Illinois. As presented, the bill designated the northern boundary of the new State, to be "an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan, west along the north parallel of 40 degrees, 39 minutes, to the center of the Mississippi River." Nathaniel Pope was then the delegate from Illinois Ter- ritory in Congress. With rare political fore- sight he moved as an amendment that the east- ern boundary of the proposed new State "upon - reaching the northwest corner of Indiana, should turn due east, and be extended to the middle of Lake Michigan, and thence north. along the middle of the lake, to North latitude 40 degrees, 30 minutes, and thence west to the center of the Mississippi River." In the light of subsequent events, the argument of Mr. Pope in support of this amendment was wonderfully prophetic. In substance, he said that the new State, by reason of her accessi- bility, central location, and exceedingly fertile soil, was destined soon to become densely popu- lous, and of potential influence; that her people long had been, and ever would be, closely bound to the South by ties of consanguinity and commerce; that, by the proposed line, they would be confined to that section in their future domestic and trade relations, through the use of those great arteries of communica- tion, the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and their tributaries; and that these ties were liable to become so powerful that, in the event of an attempted dismemberment of the Union, she might be carried to the Southern Confederacy; that, from the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, great lines of communication by land and water were soon to be opened, reaching far to the north, to the south, to the east, and to the west, uniting all in bonds of common inter- course; and that, to counteract her present and future strong southern tendency, these mighty forces should be included within the northern boundary of the new State; thus possibly plac- ing her, at some time of future national peril, in the position of the keystone of the arch of perpetual union.

It will be difficult to find in all history a parallel to this wise political forecast; to note an hour pregnant with more wide and vital issues for good or ill. Had his amendment. failed, Kane, with the other thirteen rich and populous northern counties of Illinois, would have passed to another State. In that event would this State have constructed the Illinois and Michigan Canal ?- would the Illinois Cen- tral Railroad have been built? Could Chicago have attained its present magnificent propor- tions, and become the dominant financial, com- mercial, and industrial center of the nation? Could the loyal people have held the great State of Illinois in the front line of the defenders of the assailed Union, four decades later, without the potent political influence of these fourteen patriotic counties? Would Abraham Lincoln have been chosen President of the United States? The student familiar with the condi- tions leading up to the mighty conflict for the Nation's preservation, in 1861, will not doubt that, had that original line prevailed, the peo- ple of the great fertile delta of Illinois would have been as hopelessly divided at the crucial period of the Republic's history, as were those of Kentucky or Missouri, and the probable re- sult too appalling to contemplate. Kane County has been a part of all these events, and her history is linked with all these changes.

Summarizing the governmental organizations of which Kane County has been a part, its political status may be traced as follows:

First, the home of various Indian tribes, whose title was finally transferred to the United States in the treaty negotiated by Gen. Har- rison with the chiefs of the Sac and Fox tribes, Nov. 3, 1804, covering the region lying between the Fox River of Illinois, on the east and south, the Wisconsin River on the north, and the Mississippi River on the west. Under this treaty, the Indians conveyed about fifteen million acres of the fairest lands for the miser- able pittance of twenty-five hundred dollars and a promised annuity of one thousand dollars. Indian dissatisfaction with the unfair terms of this treaty was one of the causes of the in- famous Black Hawk War, which occurred twenty-eight years later, causing the loss of many lives and the expenditure of some two and a half million dollars. Second, it was a part of the famous "Illinois Country" from about 1765, claimed in turn by Indian, Spaniard, Frenchman, Briton and American;

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

third, of the Indian Department of the Con- federate Colonies in 1775; fourth, of Illinois County, Virginia, in 1778; fifth, of the North- west Territory, in 1779; sixth, of St. Clair County, Northwest Territory of the United States, in 1790; seventh, of Indiana Territory in 1800; eighth, of Illinois Territory in 1809; ninth, of Madison county in 1812; tenth, of Edwards County in 1814; eleventh, of Clark County, State of Illinois, in 1819; twelfth, of Pike County in 1821; thirteenth, of Ful- ton County in 1823; fourteenth of Peoria County in 1825; fifteenth, of LaSalle in 1831; sixteenth, by act of the State Legislature, dated January 16, 1836, it was organized as Kane County. It was named in honor of Elias Kent Kane, who was one of the Territorial Judges, a member of the first Constitutional Convention, and first Secretary of the new State. He was also a member of the State Legislature, and of the United States Senate, dying at Washington during his second sena- torial term. He was cousin of the distinguished Chancellor, Judge James Kent, of New York, and a relative of the famous arctic explorer, Elisha Kent Kane.

As originally organized, Kane County was thirty-six miles square, including all of De Kalb and the three northern townships of Kendall County. De Kalb was set off in 1837, and the three townships of Kendall in 1841, by acts of the Legislature, thus leaving the county as at present-three townships (eighteen miles) wide, and five townships (thirty miles) long. The statute under which the county was originally organized required that three reputable citizens residing therein should cer- tify that fifty voters actually resided within the limits of the proposed new county; and it is said that the late Hon. Ira Minard and two others rode three days on horseback, camping out nights, in finding fifty-three voters to sign their petition. The proceedings preliminary to organization were had before the Hon. Thomas Ford, then Judge of the Sixth Judicial District, and later Governor of the State.

By proclamation, dated May 24, 1836, he ordered the first county election to be held, at

the house of James Herrington, on Saturday, June 4, of that year, for the election of a Sheriff, Coroner, Recorder, Surveyor, and three County Commissioners, designating Nathan Collins, A. F. Hubbard and John Griggs as judges of such election, and announced the third Monday of June, and fourth Monday of September as the days for opening the terms of circuit court at the same place. James T. Wheeler and Selden M. Church were the clerks of this election, and one hundred and eighty votes were polled. James Herrington was elected Sheriff; Asa McDole, Coroner; Relief Duryea, Recorder; and Solomon Dunham, Eli Barnes, and Ebenezer Morgan were chosen County Commissioners. These Commissioners met at the same place the following Wednes- day, June 8th, and appointed Mark Fletcher Clerk. The next day they divided the new county into eight Justice of the Peace Districts, and nine voting precincts, naming them and de- fining their boundaries. These precincts were named in numerical order: First, Ellery; Sec- ond, Fox River; Third, Sandusky; Fourth, Lake; Fifth, Pleasant Grove; Sixth, Kish- waukee; Seventh, Sycamore; Eighth, Orange, and Ninth, Samonac. The justice districts and voting precincts were identical, except that the Eighth District included both Orange and Samonac. The subjoined map shows these dis- tricts and precincts with reasonable accuracy, save that the boundaries of Ellery, Sycamore, Orange and Samonac were determined in part by objects that have changed or disappeared, and can, therefore, only be approximated. (For map here referred to, see Index.)

These names and boundaries, however, were subsequently frequently changed, until, in ae- cordance with the provisions of Section 6 of the act of the State Legislature in 1849, providing for township organization, a commission, com- posed of Gen. Elijah Wilcox, Dr. D. D. Waite. and Mr. W. B. Gillett, so established them as to conform to the government survey as to townships, and fixed their present permanent names, one of them being named in honor of the able lawyer and cultured gentleman, State Senator William B. Plato.

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

CHAPTER V.

COMING OF THE WHITE MAN.

INDIAN DISSATISFACTION AND UNREST-VALIANT EXPLOIT OF LIEUT. JAMES WATSON WEBB-MAJ. STEPIIEN H. LONG'S EXPEDITION-TIIE BLACK HAWK WAR OPENS-THE STILLMAN RUN DEFEAT AND INDIAN CREEK MASSACRE-GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT'S ARMY TRAIL THROUGH KANE COUNTY- CHARACTERISTICS OF TIIE EARLY SQUATTERS.

The Indians were greatly dissatisfied with the unfair terms of the treaty of 1804, which Black Hawk, the War Chief of the Sac and Fox tribes, bitterly denounced, and which he contended had never been properly ratified by the councils of his people. The horrors of the Fort Dearborn Massacre were still vivid in the minds of the few settlers at Chicago, and at the portage, and along the river routes of the Illinois; and at the time the State was or- ganized, the menace of further uprisings of the savages was an ever present terror. In 1822 the commanding officer at Fort Dearborn became convinced that the destruction of the garrison and few settlers at Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island near Black Hawk's village, was being planned by the Indians, and Second Lieutenant James Watson Webb volunteered to warn the unsuspecting garrison of the impending danger. Alone and in mid-winter, he ac- complished this perilous mission, and his pro- motion, the following year, to a first lieuten- ancy was doubtless in recognition of this deed of high daring and arduous endurance. Later he became a famous journalist and editor, and was appointed United States Minister to Brazil by President Lincoln. Avoiding the Indian trails, he secretly and silently held his danger- ous way due westward through the unbroken wilderness to the Mississippi River at a point near the site of the present city of Fulton, and thence passed down that stream to the Fort. In all that vast solitude he saw no sign of human life save at the crossing of Rock River, where a Frenchman named La Salier had a trading post. He crossed the Fox River at the opening between the heavy timber of the "big woods" and of the "little woods," just north

of Batavia. He was, beyond doubt, the first white man to enter the bounds of the present County of Kane.

The following year (1823), Major Stephen Harriman Long, in whose honor "Long's Peak" of the Rocky Mountains was named, passed over the county in charge of a party of United States topographical engineers, en route to explore the sources of the Mississippi River. From prehistoric times, important Indian trails centered at the portage between the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers, radiating eastward and southeastward, and in all directions westward. There is little doubt that Major Long's party reached the portage over the old Indian and wagon trail around the foot of the lake from Detroit, and, crossing both streams, passed westward on an Indian trail leading past the place where Fort Paine was constructed in 1832, and on or near the site of the present city of Naperville, where he took a more north- ward trail toward Warrenville and Wayne, crossing the Fox River and Kane County on the route afterward well known as "Scott's army trail."

Black Hawk and his followers, known as the "British Band" of the Sac and Fox tribes, had clung tenaciously to their large village, "Saukatuk," and its adjacent fields, situated near the mouth of Rock River, but had been roughly crowded out by the invading whites and, by threats and warlike preparations of the National and State Governments, driven across the Mississippi; and, on the 30th day of June, 1831, he was forced to sign a stipulation not to return unless by permission of the United States. It was too late in the season to raise any crop; game was scarce and, during that summer and the following winter, the Indians suffered miserably for want of food and shelter. On April 6, 1832, Black Hawk and his band of about five hundred men, with their families and scant effects, recrossed the river and trailed leisurely up the valley of the Rock, saying they were going to visit, and raise a crop of corn, with their friends, the Winnebagoes.

At Dixon's Ferry he was entertained at dinner by Mrs. John Dixon and declared that all his intentions were peaceful. But his com. ing created the wildest excitement throughout the State, and Governor Reynolds at once sum- moned volunteers to repel "the invasion," and called upon the General Government for assist- ance. Meanwhile Black Hawk moved leisurely

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

up the Rock River valley, and encamped on the Killbuck near the mouth of the Kishwaukee, a few miles north of the beautiful Stillman valley, and, it is said, was enjoying a dog-feast with some Winnebagoes and Pottawatomies. The country was absolutely wild and there were no settlers in that region. Some of his hunters re- posted a body of white soldiers on his trail and encamped on the Stillman Creek. He at once dispatched a small party of braves, with a white flag of peace, to request a conference with its commander. This party was fired upon and two of them killed. Just how the miserable blunder occurred none can tell; but the Indians, already smarting under a bitter sense of previous wrong, were rendered furious with rage. Burning with hatred and desire for re- venge, the chief raised the war-whoop of his tribes and plunged into open savage warfare. Charging furiously upon Major Stillman's com- mand of volunteers and killing eleven of their number, he sent them flying back to Dixon's Ferry, "stinging under the most disgraceful de- feat ever received by white men at the hand of Indians."

After enriching themselves with the spoils of Stillman's camp, the Indians hurried their women and children to the broken country and swamps about Lake Koshkonong, and then, joined by a few disreputable Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes, the warriors returned to Illinois, where scattered bands of the savages swept eastward and southward, upon the defenseless homes of the few settlers along the frontier, killing, scalping and destroying. Sha-be-na, the Peace Chief of the Pottawatomies, rode night and day giving hasty warning, and the few settlers near the Upper Illinois fled to the fort at Ottawa, and those more eastward to Fort Dearborn. A number, however, were massacred, and their homes burned. At Indian Creek, in La Salle County, which then included the present Kane County, sixteen men, women and children were brutally killed and scalped, and two young girls were carried into savage captivity.

Meanwhile, Gen. Winfield Scott, in command of Government troops, was hurrying toward the border, and arrived at Fort Dearborn, July 8, 1832. The dreaded scourge of cholera had broken out in his command and he was forced into a short encampment on the bank of the Des Plaines some miles above the portage. From this camp Gen. Scott moved nearly due

west, and struck the trail followed by Major Long probably a little northerly from Warren- ville. Following that trail, he entered Kane County near the dividing line of Sections 12 and 13 in St. Charles Township. Moving down the southerly bank of Brewster Creek, he forded Fox River near the northeast corner of the northwest quarter of Section 11, where the traction company's bridge now crosses. The graves of two soldiers of his command are still pointed out on the northerly bank of the river. From here the old trail is readily traced, some portions of it being still visible and its location well remembered by old settlers. It passed through the southwest corner of Elgin, over the whole diagonal breadth of Plato Township, across the northeast corner of Burlington, and the southwest corner of Hampshire, and left the county over the old Hogebome farm on Section 30.

Thus the first white men appearing in the county were soldiers, and led by distinguished officers. Soldiers observe the county through which they march, and relate far and wide the tales of its characteristic features, and armies are often the advance guard of a changing civilization. Surely in the United States the sword and rifle have ever preceded the axe and the plow. Over these Indian and army trails, and along the waterways of the streams, the pioneers of Kane County found their way to this beautiful valley.

In 1833, when the first squatters appeared, Chicago was but a frontier outpost, in that year was incorporated as a village with two or three hundred inhabitants-many of them half-breed French and Indian-and Galena was the only village of any importance in the north- ern part of the State. The whole country be- tween these points was peopled by only a few bands of Indians. As in other new lands, the first white men to appear were restless ad- venturers-men dominated by an impulsive desire for freedom of action that chafed at the social and legal restraints of populous com- munities and demanded more nearly the isola- tion and lawlessness of the Indian. Such men followed closely upon the footsteps of the army, constructed their rude and temporary cabins beside the springs, in the groves and in many of the most beautiful places throughout the county, always seeking the convenience and shelter of the timber. They were a brave, generous and honest people, very hospitable,

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and full of rude kindness; but they were rough and resentful, reckless and improvident. They were hunters and trappers, loved the abandon and freedom from restraint of isolated life, and had no desire for neighbors or the improve- ments of civilization. Whence and when they came was nobody's business, and when or where they went, few knew or cared, and they were soon forgotten. Still they were of great service to the early permanent settlers, many of whom were quite unfamiliar with the needs and ways of pioneer life. It was near their cabins the home-seekers camped, and left their families while searching for desirable locations; and of them they learned of the pleasant places where there was water and wood, and open sheltered land to cultivate. As the squatters made no improvements for themselves, they had time, and willingly helped the new-comers; and very handy help they were, for they knew how to adjust life to the primitive surround- ings. But they did not wish the settler to lo- cate too near, and they did not care to work many days. They knew how to locate a cabin; how to notch the logs so as to fit, and bind at the corners; how to split shakes and puncheons, and how to lay the crooked rail fence upon a straight line. They taught very many lessons highly useful to men and women, making homes amid surroundings and conditions wholly new and strange. In sickness, too, they were exceedingly helpful. They lived princi- pally by hunting, trapping and fishing; and when the sound of a neighbor's axe was too frequently heard, or the light too often seen in a neighbor's cabin, they deemed the settlement too close, and soon sold their claim, or traded it to some new-comer, for enough of his outfit to transport them to another location on the western border; and so they kept advancing continually to the front. Two of them hap- pened to locate their temporary homes in this county where beautiful cities have since been built, and their names are still remembered. Daniel S. Haight's cabin was beside the big spring on the west bank of the river at Geneva; while Christopher Payne's was located on the east bank of the river, near the center of the city of Batavia. It is known that these people came in 1833 along the old army trail, and quite a number of similar squatters built their cabins .in the woods, in various parts of the county about the same time.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 126

Author: Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 950

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 950