Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 140

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

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In the fall, William Lance and his son John, having left Mary and Charles with an uncle in Du Page County, returned to Indiana for the other members of the family. John and an older daughter, Margaret, married in Indiana during that winter, and all returned to Illinois together, arriving at the claim on Christmas Day. William Lance and his family, John Lance and his bride, and David Beeler with his bride, Margaret Lance-all living in one little log cabin-were the only white people in this township; and probably the only ones in the county, save Haight, west of the river during the winter of 1834-5. Mary Lance, the first white woman in the townsnip, married John Souders about Christmas time 1835, their's be- ing the first wedding in the township; and about this date her sister, Margaret Beeler, gave birth to a daughter, Martha, who was the first white child born in the township. A little more than a year after, on February 2, 1837, an- other sister, little Sarah Lance, was burned to death in the destruction of the first cabin built

in the township. These are said to have been the first death and the first fire in the township -a very remarkable train of "firsts" to center in the family of a man of such extraordinary experience.

In the spring and summer of 1835 came D. W. Annis, Harry White, George Trimble, L. D. Kendall, John Souders, Hiram Hall, and per- haps others, and settled near R. Acres and J. G. Acres. John Vannatta arrived in 1836, and during that year and the following year, S. Kendall, Mr. Corey, James Smith, S. Platt, J. Calkins, Mr. Larkin, Noah B. Spalding and others took up claims in the township. William B. West was one of the first settlers. He be- came a magistrate of the township, and a man of great influence throughout the county; was also the first banker at Geneva.

The early settlers of Blackberry effected a very strong organization for protection against "claim jumpers" and to secure to all their re- spective claims, each placing himself under $2,000 bonds to observe its requirements. They selected Mr. West to bid in all the land at the Government sale, and convey to each his proper portion according to the claim lines. Whoever will examine a map of the township, show- ing the irregularity of the farm lines, will get some idea of the delicacy and difficulty of the duty assigned to Mr. West, but which he suc- cessfully and satisfactorily accomplished.

Peter H. Johnson, at an early day, paid David Beeler $1,150 for his improvements and claim of about 1,000 acres, covering the Mound; and a little below its summit, on its southerly side near a distinct Indian trail, he built the first frame house in the township, which he opened with a national celebration on July 4, 1844. William P. West was another influen- tial man among the pioneers of this township. The names of many of these pioneers, and of others not here mentioned, are still familiar as "household words" in the families of the older residents of the county.

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP.

Township 41, Range 6, is another purely ag- ricultural township. Its lands came into mar- ket January 30, 1843. No stream flows across the township; but Coon Creek and two other creeks which empty into the Kishwaukee, have

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their rise within its borders. As the woodland and the prairie intermingle, the farm lines fol- low very nearly the Government surveys, and the farms have a more uniform acreage than exists in most of the townships. Its lands are peculiarly adapted to grazing, and it is a fine dairying section.

Stephen Van Velzer appears to have made the first location in the township and, unfor- tunately, made the preposterous claim to an area of about twelve miles square. This must have retarded settlement, as many quarrels resulted in consequence, while a number of settlers paid him something for his pretended claim to avoid contention. He came in 1835, as also did Allison Banker. In 1836 Solomon Wright and his three sons, Baldwin, Elisha and D. C., and a daughter who soon married Banker, arrived from New York; also P. R. Joslyn from Indiana, who, with his son Riley, settled upon a portion of Van Velzer's claim in defiance of his objection. T. C. and O. H. Ellithorp also came this year from Vermont, and Asa W. Lawrence of New York, who soon sold his claim and settled on Section 9 in El- gin Township, upon the beautiful farm on which he died, and which is now occupied by his son, Oscar F. Lawrence. John Holden, of Pennsylvania, and C. M. Andrews, from Massa- chusetts, came and entered claims in 1837. Stephen Godfrey, the father of Charles B., came from Vermont in the fall of 1839, and bought a claim of Van Velzer, arranged to have a portion plowed, and went back for his family, with whom he returned the next spring. This family has ever been one of the most use- ful and highly respected in the community. B. T. Chapman came from Canada and Stephen R. Ellithorp from Vermont in 1842. The next year David Sholes, whose home had been in Genesee County, N. Y., arrived and made very extensive purchases of 'land, including the site of Van Velzer's first settlement. He died in October, 1881, owning some 1,900 acres of very excellent land. James Roseborough came from the North of Ireland, and became a permanent resident in 1843. James Mann came in the fall of the same year from Wyoming County, N. Y., bought a 1,000-acre claim, plowed a part of it, set out a few apple trees, and went back home for his family. Eben Norton, Elder Isaac New- ton, Joel Root and J. W. Hapgood, Simon Young, Sr., and his sons-William, Daniel, John, Simon, Jr. ( who perhaps came a little

before the others), Stephen and David-made a strong addition to the settlement in 1841. Harvey A. Matteson, an old and public-spirited resident, came with his parents to St. Charles this same year. The Manns and Hapgoods in- termarried, and have been active factors in building up the community.

Soon after the land sale, Mr. McClenathan entered a tract of land claimed by Mr. Mason- in retaliation, it is said, of Mason's attempt to avoid payment for a yoke of cattle. The quar- rel came near ending fatally. Mason and a number of his friends seized the alleged "claim jumper," dragged him to a near-by pond, cut the ice, and nearly drowned him in the freezing water. He managed, however, to escape, and fled to the village, whose few settlers protected him from further violence, although a pitched battle with his pursuers seemed imminent. This pond is on Section 12, near the Wallace Brothers' barn, and McClenathan's old log cabin is now their chicken house.

The first death in the settlement was that of Van Velzer's wife, in 1837. She was a Southern woman and brought with her a negro slave who served her mistress faithfully; but soon after her death, the slave returned to her old home in the sunny South land. The first school in the township was taught by Mrs. Catherine Ellithorp in her own log house in 1839, and her husband, John W. Ellithorp, was the first postmaster. The next year (1840) Mrs. God- frey also taught a few pupils in her home. Miss Fannie Putnam kept a school in 1842 in Van Velzer's barn. About this date a log school- house was built on the old stage road about a mile southeast of the present village, and Miss Larrabee and Miss Nancy Hill taught there in the early days.

The marriage of John Holden and Hannah Van Velzer in 1840, was the first wedding. Ezra Hanson put out the first tavern sign at his log-house on the State road southeast of the village. James Mann erected, in 1844-45, the first frame barn and house in the township. While on a visit to "York State," where he drove with a team of horses in 1845, his house and all his household goods were burned; but on his return he erected the quite commodious brick tavern which, for many years, entertained very many travelers, and was the happy scene of numerous dancing parties and other social festivities. The first store was opened by Syl- vester S. Mann, who, for a number of years,

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

represented the district in the State Legisla- ture, and after his removal to Elgin it was conducted very sucessfully by his brother A. J. Mann, and by the firm of Mann, Hapgood & Co. until A. J. Mann also moved to Elgin. Franklin Mann and Gideon Sherman erected the first saw-mill in 1850.

The first clergyman in the town was "Elder Eaton," who came in 1840 and soon after organ- ized a Free-Will Baptist society. The first church building appears to have been com- menced in 1853 by the Congregationalists, but it was four or five years in process of construc- tion, and was also used by the Methodists and Free-Will Baptists, finally passing to the owner- ship of the latter.

In the late 'forties appearances were very fa- vorable for the village of Burlington becoming an important place in the county. The State road was crowded with teams hauling out the produce of the country. The daily stages were filled with passengers, and the horses were stabled and changed at Mann's brick tavern. Plank roads were being built from St. Charles and Elgin, converging at Burlington, and pros- pects were very bright. But the route of the steam railways changed all this, and the vil- lage is now a thriving station on the Chicago Great Western Railway, which passes nearly due east and west across the township through the second tier of sections from the north line.

CAMPTON TOWNSHIP.

Township 40, Range 7, is the central township of the county. East of it lies St. Charles, at the north Plato and Rutland, on the west Virgil, and at the south Blackberry and Sugar Grove. There is no township in the county in which the pioneers found the indispensable wood and water more bountifully provided and con- veniently distributed; while bordering the woodlands were the inviting tracts of open land, scarcely large enough to be called prairie, en- tirely free of rocks and bushes and ready for the plow, the wild grasses and flowers alone covering the rich black soil of seemingly ex- haustless fertility. The southerly branch of Ferson's Creek had its rise in Lily Lake near the north line of Section 18 and, passing east- ward across the entire township, in the early days was a stream of very respectable dimen-

sions, in the spring being filled with pickerel and red-horse suckers, seeking the shoal waters in which to deposit their spawn. Very near the center of the township is the head of a branch of Mill Creek, which passes out of the township near the east line of Section 35. We can scarcely estimate, in these days of numer- ous wells and convenient pumping machinery, and of steam and electric power so easily avail- able, the value of these natural features to the pioneer settlers. At first the water for all daily household use was obtained from the spring, creek or shallow well at the edge of the slough; and for fully twenty years, the farmers depended upon these for stock water. During the winter, ice was hauled from them and melted for family use, and to secure the luxury of soft water for washing. In the later 'thirties, Dr. King, a preacher, a physician and an energetic, useful pioneer, built an up-and- down saw-mill on Lily Lake Creek on the north- west quarter of Section 14, and established the King's Mill postoffice on the old thoroughfare toward Rockford. Each was a great conven- ience in its time. It is said that there was a very distinct Indian trail near the line of the highway from the river northwestward, pass- ing the south end of Lily Lake. This lake is now practically dry, and doubtless its former bed will soon be cultivated land. The effect of the drying up of the water reservoirs and shrinking of the stream is one of the problems future time must solve, we hope without seri- ous detriment to posterity.

John Beatty, who arrived at Haight's early in the spring of 1835 and began prospecting westward, was doubtless the first person to stake out a claim in this township. He drove his first stakes in the prairie upon what is now the southeast quarter of Section 36; but with the advancing season he ventured a mile or two further west, and located permanently in the edge of the woodland on the northwest quarter of Section 35, convenient to a fine spring and near the running creek, where he erected the first settler's cabin in the township. He sold his first claim to a Mr. Archie, and the second passed to the Burr family. John Whitney, Charles Babcock and James Hackett also came in 1835, and Luke Pike who entered the claim which became the home of the well-known and highly useful Chaffee family. In 1836 and '37 Harry and Spalding Eddy, John Elliott, At- well Burr, James Ward, William Kendall, John

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

Durant, E. Reed, James Outhouse, John Hager- man, T. E. Dodge, Ansel Lake, John Tucker, George Thompson, Eben Foss, Franklin Wat- kins and others arrived, and some of them, with their families, became important factors in the town and county. The venerable Robert Cor- ion was also one of the earliest and best set- tlers in this township.

In 1837 Henry Warne and his wife, Charity Warne, took up a large claim on Sections 32 and 31 and became, with their intelligent and enterprising descendants, among the most pow- ertul and beneficent forces in upbuilding the township and county. Mr. Warne built a large and good log house, which naturally became the halting place for incoming settlers, and as nat- urally and necessarily, a tavern, named by Judge Ford, "The Halfway House," between the county-seats. Geneva and Sycamore, and be- tween Chicago and Oregon on Rock River. Governor Marcy, of New York, Stephen A. Douglas, John Wentworth and other noted men of that day, were among its sometime guests. John Warne, Elisha Warne and Gideon D. Warne, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Warne, have ever been noted for their energy, enter- prise, integrity and business success, while their daughters-Susan, wife of the late L. N. B. Burr; Lucinda, wite of the "barb-wire king," J. F. Glidden, of De Kalb; and Isabel, wife of M. W. Willis-are women of whom any com- munity may rightfully be proud.

At least four very popular taverns were kept in this township as early as 1840. "The Half- way House," "The Fairfield Exchange" by D. B. Mallory on the southeast quarter of Section 24, Timothy Garfield's tavern, and one near the south end of Chicken Grove, kept by Elias Crary. The extent of the teaming from Chi- cago westward, in early days, may be inferred from the fact that there were, at this time, forty taverns by the roadside between Mal- lory's place and Chicago. It is said that, in order to mark and establish the route of travel, Ira Minard and Daniel Marvin drove a number of yoke of oxen attached to a fallen tree, from St. Charles across Campton to Oregon, in Ogle County, in 1838.

During the winter of 1836-7 a Mrs. McClure taught school in a log house upon the claim of a Mr. Lawson, and the next winter Miss Mary Lee taught in the house of James Ward. The next tall a log school-house was built on land occupied by Mr. A. Fisher. In 1841 E. Chaffee,

Charles Fletcher, Thomas E. Dodge, Ansel Lake and Hylas T. Currier were elected School Trustees, Nelson Walker chosen Clerk, and the town divided into five school districts, besides a sixth district including a portion of Virgil Township. The township has always been well supplied with schools, and it was one of the first townships to erect a neat and com- modious town house. Avon; the first postoffice in the township, was established April 20, 1840, with Henry Warne as postmaster, was discon- tinued in 1845, but reestablished as Swinton, July 24, 1849, with the same postmaster. The first village settlement was at Canada Corners where, about 1844 or '45, Eldridge Walker opened a little store and soon the industries of a village gathered about it. He came from Canada, as did the Wolcotts and Lindleys who settled near, and thus it took the name Canada Corners. It came to have two blacksmith shops and a paint shop, a store, church, school house, a number of homes, and a well-kept cemetery.

In 1886-7 the Minneapolis & Northwestern- now the Chicago Great Western-Railroad was constructed across the township near its cen- ter, and the busy thriving station of Wasco was located on the north half of Section 28, and Lily Lake Station on the south half of 18, a short half-mile from Canada Corners. Lily Lake village was platted May 9, 1887, by Renal- win Outhouse. Dairying has, for years, been the principal industry, and fine herds of dairy cows are found on nearly every farm of that township. The Hon. John Stewart's magnifi- cent farm, of over 900 acres, is one of the finest breeding establishments in any county. His Clydesdale horses, Polled Angus cattle, and Ayreshire cows are the very choicest that brains, experience and money can produce.

The lands of the township came into market January 30, 1843.

"BONNIE DUNDEE."

Dundee Township, No. 42, Range 8, is the northeast township of Kane County, and in making a "set off" to correct errors in the orig- inal government surveys, it is projected east- ward of the other townships of the county about a mile and a quarter. The river passes from north to south through the second and third

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

tier of sections west of its east line. Thomp- son's Creek, which skirts a valley of singular loveliness and remarkable fertility, emptying into the river near the southeast corner of Sec- tion 27, is the principal flowing brook, while from its romantic hillsides, many springs sup- ply brooklets of pure water delightfully cool in summer, and in the coldest weather free from ice for quite a distance from their source -a condition peculiarly attractive in the early days. The current of Thompson's Creek had formed at its mouth a gravel bar reaching quite across the river, which the pioneers thought the best ford in the county at times of high water. The river valley is very narrow and extremely fertile, bordered by higher and more precipitate bluffs than in the lower townships, while the small prairie lands in many places extended to the river side. The table lands are high and quite hilly, presenting at many points extensive views of great beauty.

The Government sale of lands in Dundee Township opened on September 2, 1840. Jesse H. Newman and Joseph Russell, from Virginia, whose families had intermarried in their na- tive State, came westward from the "Old Do- minion" and located in La Porte County, Ind. From there the two men, in a covered wagon, prospected westward in the summer of 1834, and early in October camped for the night on the high bluff upon the west bank of Fox River near the present beautiful cemetery at Dun- dee. Whoever has viewed the charming land- scape that environed them will not be surprised that they resolved to seek no farther. Newman staked a claim including their camp ground, and Russell selected a location on the east bank of the stream near Chief Nickowa's village in "Granny Russell's hollow." They returned at once to Indiana, and in April, 1835, came back with their families, and first put up a cabin on Newman's claim, where all lived while they built Russell's log house, which stood for many years just south of the brick yard. These were the first white men's habitations in the county. Mr. A. R. Dempster came to the new land in May of that same year, and during that season John Jackson, the Hawleys, Mr. Burbank, Ben- jamin Irick, Mr. Moore, Mr. Van Arsdell, George Tyler, Gen. George McClure, Mr. Parker, and possibly one or two others, settled in the neigh- borhood. Mr. and Mrs. John Oatman, with their nine sons-Joseph, Hardin, Clement, Jes- se, Ira, William, James, John Jr., and Pleasant

-and their two sons-in-law, Thomas Deweese and Thomas L. Shields, together with another daughter-all of whom came in the fall of 1835 or spring of 1836-constituted the strongest ad- dition this settlement ever received, or probably ever came to the county in one family. The names of eight of them appear among the sub- scribers for building the first river bridge, al- ready referred to, and they furnished over one- third of the money for that important improve- ment. All of the Oatmans except Jesse and his family moved south in 1849, there, as here, be- coming leaders in the communities where they settled. John Oatman, Deweese and Shields had Mark W. Fletcher survey and plat for then the village of Dundee on the west bank of the river, on March 29, 1837. Thomas H. Thompson located his claim in 1835, upon the south half of Section 27, and built the beautiful home which became the residence of the late E. G. Ketchum, and with his sons at once be- came a strong factor in the development of Lake Precinct, Dundee Township and Kane County.

The year 1836 saw many strong accessions to this settlement, among the arrivals of that year being the Welch family, Henry Smith, John Allison, Mr. Freeman, William Wilburn, the Halls, Bucklins, Perrys, D. W. Bangs, the Mannings, Ashbaughs, Calvin Tyler, Benjamin Moore, and the first physician, Dr. Goodnow. The names Dundee and Elgin, given beyond doubt in loving remembrance for the old hymns then so familiar, found in Burns' couplet from the "Cotter's Saturday Night,"

"Perhaps Dundee's wild warbling accents rise, Or noble Elgin beats the heavenward flame,"

proved very attractive to the sons and daugh- ters of Auld Scotia, and A. R. Dempster was soon joined by a number of strong families from his beloved isle. We find near him and Allison the Binnies, Cochranes, Alstons, Todds, Hills, McCullucks, McNeils, Crichtons, Eggle- stons, Howies, Archibalds, Duffs, Fraziers, Grif- fiths, Campbells, Morrisons, McAllisters, Robert and Allan Pinkerton, and others, and there was never a more desirable class of settlers. The last named, while prosecuting his trade as a cooper, was appointed a Deputy Sheriff, and skillfully detected and arrested "Old Craig," one of the shrewdest counterfeiters of that time, well loaded with spurious bills of the famous Scotch financier, George Smith's "Wisconsin

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

Fire and Marine Insurance Company's" Bank. He quit coopering and became the founder of the great Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Probably the first persons drowned in the Fox River were two boys about thirteen or four- teen years old, sons of James Howie and James Sherrar, who in "teetering" their boat, over- turned it and were both drowned. Catharine Dempster, daughter of A. R. Dempster and, in womanhood, the wife of Malcolm M. McNeill, who was born June 25, 1835, was doubtless the first white child born in the township. Thomas Deweese's father died in October, 1836-the first death-and the first marriage was that of Captain Jamison, U. S. A., to a daughter of Gen. George McClure, in 1837. The first school was taught in 1837 by Amanda Cochrane, who became the wife of Moses Wanzer. The first preaching was undoubtedly by "Father Clark" at General McClure's settlement in 1836, which was very near the southeast corner of Section 26, then called McClure's Grove.

"Elder" Marshall Sherman-the first of the enterprising Sherman family-Moses Wanzer, David and John Mason, E. W. Austin, David Corliss, the Hewitts and many other excellent men settled upon the farms west of the river in the last half of the 'thirties, and the Smiths, Hawleys, Bullards, and others made equally desirable claims on the east side. The Deweese picturesque overshot mill, driven by water from the abundant springs flowing from the high bluff upon the east side of the river, began grinding in the fall of 1837, to the immense re- lief and delight of the settlers for many miles around. The Oatmans brought a small stock of goods with them, and at once opened a little store on the west side. Hardin Oatman opened the first tavern, also, in 1838; David Hammer kept the first grocery and the first tavern on the east side. The Bosworths, Edwardses and Carpenters came between 1837 and 1840-each composing unusually enterprising families; Daniel G. and Charles V. Carpenter located on Sections 14 and 15 in 1837, and the Oatmans and Shields built a dam and saw-mill here about this time, which they finally sold to George J. and S. H. Peck.

The village of Carpentersville was platted in 1851, and incorporated in 1857. The Hon. Jul- ius A. Carpenter was for many years the re- markably able leader in this community, and under his wise direction it developed some of the finest manufacturing industries of the coun-

ty. Dundee was quite exclusively a grain grow- ing township, until the failure of the wheat crop compelled a change; and it now claims to be the best dairy township in the county.

ELGIN TOWNSHIP.

This is Township 41 North, Range 8 East of the Third Principal Meridan, lying between Dundee and St. Charles. Tyler Creek takes its name from the Tyler family who, in 1835, set- tled on Section 2 near the township line, and about 1837 or '38, built a saw-mill on this stream some forty rods below the crossing of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. This creek enters the township on Section 5, runs southeasterly into Section 15 within about a mile of the center of the township, where it is joined on the Cox farm by a branch which rises north of Udina and flows about midway between the Burlington and Hampshire high- ways. At this point it swerves easterly a half mile, and, turning an even semicircle, flows sharply to the north past Illinois Park Addi- tion to Elgin through Wing Park; and, in a northeasterly course, returns again almost to the north line of the township, where it de- scribes another irregular half circle, flowing southeasterly to the river. Otter Creek-or the north branch of Ferson's Creek-heads in what was once quite a body of permanent water lying on the Henry Sherman and Cyrus Larkin farms, almost exactly in the center of the town- ship, and within a mile of the long southerly bend of Tyler Creek. The low land intervening almost permits the water of the stream passing to the pond, and following this outlet to the river. About a mile south of the Sherman Lake there used to be another pond on the Douglas tarm. These were both prairie ponds, and the south two-thirds of this township, from the river west as far as, and in places beyond, Ferson's Creek, was prairie land and well supplied with water. Nearly all the town- ship east of the river was covered with wood- land, as also were the western and northern portions.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 140

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