Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume II, Part 12

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Rogers, Thomas H; Moffet, Hugh R; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Muncell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 972

USA > Illinois > Winnebago County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume II > Part 12

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Colonel James Sayre, a settler of 1835, pro- jected the village of Newburg. He built a saw- mill and afterward put up a gristmill in the same building, which began to grind early in the winter of 1837-38. Colonel Sayre carried on the business for several years. It was the first gristmill built in the northern counties, and was of great value to the settlers. Mr. Thurston says he went there with a bushel of wheat on

his pony the third day after the machinery started. There was no bolting apparatus, and the meal was sifted by hand. The machinery was crude, and the mill was abandoned. New- burg is today only a cross-roads, with nothing to remind the visitor of the time when it was considered a rival of Belvidere and Rockford.

Perhaps few persons now living have ever heard of the Vanceborough postoffice. Vance- boroughi was another name for Twelve-Mile Grove, on the State road, about halfway from Rockford to Freeport. Ephraim Sumner, born in Winhall, Vermont, February 9, 1808, settled near there in 1835. Mr. Sumner engaged ill milling and farmning near Twelve-Mile Grove, and became an extensive land-owner ; repre- sented this district in the Twenty-sixth General Assembly ; held several minor civil offices; and 011 February 11, 1845, was commissioned post- master at Vanceborough, to retain the office dur- ing the pleasure of the postmaster-general, C. Wickliffe, during the administration of John Tyler. The seal is the figure of a man on horse- back, with a small mail-bag upon his back. Both man and horse are apparently in great haste to reach the next station. This commission, now in possession of Hon. E. B. Sumner, is well pre- served. The elder Sumner built a stone house at Vanceborough, which is still in a good state of preservation, and has well nigh outlived the memory of the town. These primitive villages along the old stage lines were superseded by the railway station, and they now scarcely livc in memory.

TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS.

It is well that Winnebago County was settled by sturdy pioneers, men of will and purpose, who knew no such word as fail; who pushed out in advance of civilization, with the determination of the old Norse baron, who engraved upon his shield, as heraldic device, a pickax, surmounted by the motto, "Where there's no hole for ine to pass, I'll make one." It must be evident to the casual observer that only a small portion of the human family possess the qualifications for pioneers. It is not the business of the pioneer to seek good society, but to make it. The social status was based upon respectability. In the rural districts a family would sometimes drive twenty-five miles in a lumber wagon, to visit a "neighbor." In the villages amusements were

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY

extemporized to dispel the lonesomeuess of the long winter evenings. Among the most popular was the "mock court." The sessions of the court were held in Mr. Miller's store, where "pent- up Uticas" of spread-eagle eloquence were allowed full expression. Each member of the court had his sobriquet; some of those were not suggested by the muses. Another popular sunumner amusemeut with a certain class was the "awkward squad," which performed fre- quent evolutions around Sam Little's saloon. They always produced a "smile."

The noble band of women displayed the forti- tude of true heroines. They shared the toils, endured the privations, counseled in difficulties, encouraged in despondency, and nursed in sickness.

At the first reunion of the Society of Early Settlers, held at the Holland House, February 2, 1871, Charles I. Horsman responded to the toast. "The Mothers and Daughters of the West," in which he paid them this tribute :

"I don't know why I have been selected to re- spond to this toast, only that the ladies and I have always been good friends, and I find them my best friends in prosperity and in adversity.

"'Man works from sun to sun, Woman's work is uever done.'

"Mr. President, the truth of this old adage was literally verified in the early settlement of this county. It was the womeu that carried the laboring oar, and it was to their untiring in- dustry by day and night that we, the men, mainly owe the measure of success we have achieved. It was her words of encouragement, and smiles of approbation that cheered us on in the darkest hour of trial. They were not the effeminate angels that Willis writes of, 'with lins like rose-leaves torn,' but sterling women that met the stern realities of life, and were equal to the occasion ; and, Mr. President, wnat would we poor fellows have done when burning up with fever, or chilled to death with the ague! But for the kind offices of wife and mother and sister to smooth our pillow, bathe our fe- vered brows, and moisten our parched lips, many of use here tonight in robust health would be lying under the clods of the valley. All honor, say I, Mr. President, to the mothers and daugh- ters of the west, those who, with their enterpris- ing fathers and husbands, left their own pleasant

hills and valleys to tread upon the receding footsteps of the red man."

SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS.

One of the greatest privations of the early settlers was the scarcity of provisions, which at that time were obtained from the older settle- ments in the southern portion of the state. The pioneers possessed limited means, and few were individually able to bear the expense of a jour- ney of such distance. Several neighbors would unite their small sums, and send one of their number for supplies. The difficulties of travel were great ; there were rivers to cross, either to ford or swim ; streams and sloughs to be waded ; muddy roads and ponderous wagons. Under these circumstances, the time of the messeu- ger's return was uncertain. Later, when a trade in provisions had been established, the same ob- stacles kept them at almost fabulous prices, and the settlers were sometimes reduced to the verge of absolute destitution. Flour sold from $16 to $20 per barrel, and ou one occasion Thomas Lake purchased three barrels at $22 each. Pork was $30 per barrel; wheat sold from $3 to $4 per bushel : New Orleans sugar 25 cents per pound ; and other provisions in proportion. This condi- tion rendered it impossible for the great majority of the settlers, with their scanty means, to scarce- ly procure the necessities for their support. For six weeks in the winter of 1837-3S there was a tobacco ťamine, which was a terrible privation to the slaves of the weed. "Judge" E. S. Black- stone said the people in the early forties were too poor to cast a shadow. Mr. Thurston ven- tures the assertion that in 1841-42 there were not twenty farmers in the county who possessed a suit of clothes suitable to wear at church or at court, which they had purchased with the fruits of their labor on their farms. Some who had passed the prime of life became discouraged and returned to their homes in the east to die. Barter was practiced even in payment for per- forming the marriage ceremony. Abraham I. Enoch, a justice of the peace, once took a bushel of beans as his fee. Joel B. Potter, a clergyman, was compensated for two ceremonies in wheat, and one day's breaking. Ephraim Sumuer swam Pecatonica river twice one cold night, to per- form the rite, and received fifty cents. Had it not been for a beneficent Providence, who stocked

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY

the woods and prairies with game and the rivers with fish, many would have suffered for the necessities of the barest subsistence. As late as 1841 the scarcity of fruit was a great trial. In many homes there was little, but many house- wives could produce most appetizing mince pies trom their store of dried apples.

The late Judge Church once told this story : "I have in my mind one who is now among the most prosperous farmers, who found himself without the means of procuring for his family a single meal, and he, with one of his neighbors similarly situated, determined to try their luck at fishing. They proceeded to Rock river, and met with success entirely beyond their expecta- tions. When returning, each with as many fish as he could well carry, said one farmer : 'Well, we have got our fish, but what have we to fry them in?' 'Fry them in" replied his hopeful and satisfied companion. 'Why, fry them in water!' And could you in those days have visited the log cabins scattered over these prairies, that are now groaning under the load of a bountiful harvest, and covered with all the evidences of comfort that wealth can purchase, you would have found many a man going to his hard day's toil from as scanty a breakfast as of suckers fried in water."

FIRST PATRIOTIC CELEBRATIONS,

The patriotism of the little villages of the county did not differ essentially from the prevailing type. It necessarily found its expression in more primitive ways than it does at the present time, There was such a display of eloquence and gun- powder as the times afforded, and the amuse- ments differed somewhat from those of today. On July 4, 1836, when Belvidere was in Winne- bago County, the citizens of that village let loose their patriotism in quite unconventional fashion. Dr. Daniel H. Whitney has given this vivid pen- picture of the day : "Young Morn shook from her purple wings as glorious a Fourth as ever kissed Aurora's cheek when she unbarred the gates of light, and no more patriotic and grate- ful hearts beat in American bosoms on that glorious day than did those of the citizens of Boone, as with all available material at our command, an old rifle, a tolerable shot-gun and a pocket pistol, the old settlers took their posi- tion on the mound, raised a liberty-pole, from

which fluttered in the breeze a pocket handker- chiet having the portraits of the presidents around its border, and being the nearest ap- proach to a national flag of anything in these 'diggings.' We read the Declaration of Inde- pendence, fired a national salute, gave three times three that frightened the Indian from his wigwam, and the red deer from his covert."

The morning of July 4, 1837, was welcomed at Rockford with the boom of all available ar- tillery. A hickory liberty-pole was raised near what is now 310 East State street, and patri- otic exercises were held in Mr. Haight's barn, which stood in the grove near the intersection of State and Third streets. Charles I. Horsman read the Declaration of Independence, and Hon. John C. Kemble was the orator of the day. Din- ner was served in the old Rockford House, by the proprietor, Henry Thurston. The main part of the building had been covered with a roof, and was sided to the first-story windows. Loose boards were laid for a floor, tables were ar- ranged, and, in the absence of crockery, the cold meat was served on shingles. The tickets for this dinner were sold at one dollar each, and this feature of the celebration was a financial success. J. Ambrose Wight, in a letter written many years later, referred to the celebration in this wise: "The seventeen-year locusts were on hand and gave us such music as they had; suffi- cient at least in quantity. And in seventeen years. again they were on hand in the same vicinity ; that is, their successors were. After the cele- bration there was a dinner with toasts given and liquors swallowed. But a temperance society was organized in the barn during the afternoon. The elder Mr. Potter, Eleazer or Herman, I for- get which-but who lived near by in the grove, was the leader in the movement." The celebra- tion was concluded with a public ball, the first in the county, given in Mr. Haight's barn. John H. Thurston, in referring to this event, says: "Some shirting was tacked to the studding about one room for a ladies' dressing-room." The or- chestra consisted of three pieces. In this day they would be called violins; but seventy-eight years ago they were simply common fiddles. The leader, Mr. Thurston says, was "old Jake Miller, whose only dancing tune was 'Zip Coon.'" Thus passed the first celebration of the national holiday in Rockford.

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY

CHAPTER VII.

LAND TITLES.

POLISH CLAIMS-THEIR FOUNDATION-POLISH EX- ILES REACH ROCKFORD IN 1836-SELECTION OF LANDS BY POLISH AGENTS-SETTLERS WITH NO TITLES BECAME UNEASY - THEIR SQUATTER RIGHTS DISREGARDED-APPEAL TO WASHINGTON -COMPLICATION OF QUESTION OF TITLES-LAND OFFICE REMOVED TO DIXON-POLISH AGENT'S CLAIM FORFEITED-CONGRESS PASSES NEW LAW- SETTLERS PETITION FOR PUBLIC SALE OF LANDS -HISTORY OF THIS MEMORABLE SALE -- PERFECT TITLES FINALLY SECURED - TRUTH STRANGER TIIAN FICTION.

POLISH CLAIMS,

Events of local interest occasionally have their historic background in national and even inter- national affairs, A notable instance was the celebrated Polish claims made in 1836 to a por- tion of the territory which now comprises the townships of Rockford and Rockton. It is one of the most interesting chapters in the history of Winnebago County. Local histories have briefly referred to the incident, but no complete statement of the affair has previously been writ- ten.

The checkered career of Poland furnishes the historic background. The reader of history will recall the Polish rebellion of 1830-31. Previous to that time her territory had been partitioned between Russia and other powers. The impulse to this uprising of 1830 was given by the French, and was begun by a number of students, who proposed to seize the Grand Duke Constantine in the vicinity of Warsaw. The city and the troops enlisted in the movement, under the com- mand of General Chlopicki, a veteran of the wars of Napoleon. Upon the suppression of this uprising in the following year, the leaders were sent into exile. They sought refuge in this country.

The forlorn condition of these exiles enlisted the sympathy of the American people, and Con- gress rendered them some assistance. An act was approved June 30, 1834, which granted to

these Polish exiles, 235 in number, who had been transported to this country by the order of the emperor of Austria, thirty-six sections of land. These sections were to be selected by them, under the direction of the secretary of the treasury, in any three adjacent townships of the public lands, surveyed or unsurveyed, in the state of Illinois or the territory of Michigan. After this land had been surveyed, it became the duty of the secretary of the treasury to divide the thirty-six sections into equal parts, and to distribute them by lot among the exiles. They were to reside upon and cultivate these lands for ten years, and at the expiration of this time they were to obtain their patents upon the pay- ment of the minimum price per acre.

POLISH EXILES.

The exiles arrived in America in 1835, and their committee, at the head of whom was Count Chlopicki, arrived in Rockford in the autumn of the following year. The Count was an elderly gentleman, well informed, and apparently an ex- cellent judge of land. Upon his arrival in the Rock river valley, he selected townships 44 and 46, range 1 east. These are Rockford and Rock- ton. The intervening township of Owen was not taken, and thus was violated one of the provis- ions of the grant, which stipulated that the land should be selected in three adjacent townships. Much of this land was already in possession of American citizens when Count Chlopicki arrived upon the scene. They had only a squatter's title, inasmuch as there was then no pre-emption law that would apply in this case, and the govern- ment had not placed the land upon the market. The settlers had enclosed their farms and made such improvements as they were able. More- over, the several Indian "floats" in these town- ships might have precedence over the claims of settlers or exiles. But these facts did not dis- turb the plans of the doughty nobleman. He dis- regarded the squatter rights of the settlers, made a formal selection of their land, and reported his choice to the secretary of the treasury.

While in this section Count Chlopicki had been a guest of Germanicus Kent. That gentle- man explained the situation to his visitor, and the latter declared that the settlers should not be disturbed. He thus set their fears at rest in a measure. But these assurances were not en- tirely satisfactory, and after the Count's depar-

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY

ture a sum of money was raised and Mr. Kent was sent to Washington to make further inquiry. The anxiety of the settlers was increased by the fact, as already stated, that they held no titles to the land upon which they had settled. Upon Mr. Kent's arrival in Washington, he found that his apprehensions were well founded. The Count had not kept his word; he had chosen the very townships he had promised Mr. Kent he would not select. Mr. Kent went directly to the land office and made his complaint before the com- missioner ; but he was told that every settler in the county was a trespasser, and that he had no legal right to a foot of the land which he had so unceremoniously taken. It is said facts are stubborn things. Mr. Kent and the settlers knew that the commissioner was correct, but they did not become alarmed. Perhaps they thought that in union there was strength. The secretary of the treasury did not, however, order the subdivision of the lands, because their selec- tion by the Polish agent was not in compliance with the law, and thus the matter rested for some years.

The selection of these lands by the Polish agent, while squatter's possession was held by the settlers, complicated the whole question of titles. The settlers had certain rights in equity, but inasmuch as no pre-emption law was then in force that would bear upon the case, the gov- ernment did not at that time formally recognize their claims. In view of this fact, it is not a matter of surprise that the Polish count, in his desire to select good lands for his exiled coun- trymen, should disregard claims that the gov- ernment did not recognize. Moreover, this sec- tion of the Rock river valley had been framed in the prodigality of nature. Its soil was good, its atmosphere invigorating, its scenery a per- petual delight. The possession of such land al- ways promotes domestic happiness and commer- cial strength. The lands in this vicinity be- longed at that time to the Galena land district, and with the exception of Rockford and Rock- ton, were opened to sale and entry in the autumn of 1839. These townships, which included the thirty-six sections in controversy, were with- held from sale for nearly eight years after they had been surveyed.

CONGRESS PASSES NEW LAW.

Matters continued in this unsettled condition until 1843. In the meantime the land office had

been removed to Dixon, through the influence of John Dixon, who settled there in 1830, and after whom the town was named. In 1840 Mr. Dixon went to Washington, and through the in- fluence of General Scott and other army officers, who were his personal friends, he secured the removal of the government land office from Ga- lena to Dixon. The settlers in Rockford and Rockton could not procure patents on the lands which they had occupied for some years. The attention of Congress was repeatedly called to the situation. The settlers addressed petitions to that body until their grievance received atten- ion. The Polish agent had forfeited his claim in not selecting his lands in three adjacent town- ships. The exiles had also forfeited their rights in not making an actual settlement on the lands. Congress therefore, April 14, 1842, passed an- other act, authorizing the entry and sale of these lands in these two townships. This relief was due in large measure to the efforts of Hon. O. H. Smith, of Indiana, Hon. Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, and Hon. Richard M. Young, of this state, senators in Congress.

When the settlers had been finally delivered from their dilemma by a special act of Congress, they began to make preparations to perfect their titles to their lands. The inhabitants petitioned the president for a public sale. Fifteen months elapsed before their petition was granted, and October 30, 1843, the land in these townships was offered for sale, and was sold November 3d. It was the most notable land sale that ever oc- curred in the district. Rockford had been incor- porated as a town four years before. Daniel S. Haight had platted the East side, north of State as far east as Longwood, and south of State east to Kishwaukee. A portion of this had been platted as early as 1836, and Mr. Haight had sold the lots to the settlers and given them quit- claim deeds to the same several years before he had obtained his own patent from the govern- ment. When the land was finally offered for sale at the land office, Mr. Haight was authorized to go to Dixon and bid in the entire tract for the settlers. A committee, appointed for this purpose, prepared a list of names to whom the deeds should be given after the sale. This com- mittee consisted of Willard Wheeler, David S. Penfield, E. H. Potter, of Rockford, and Na- thaniel Crosby, of Belvidere. This committee was in session several days, passed upon every lot in the town on the East side, and decided

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY

quite a number of disputed claims. Mr. Crosby was not present, but it was understood that a majority should have power to act. Thus a num- ber of the first settlers of East Rockford pur- chased their land twice. The first purchase, of town lots, was from Mr. Haight ; the second was made through Mr. Haight as agent, from the general government. Inasmuch, however, as the land office took no notice of the fact that the land had been platted, it was sold at the usual price of $1.25 per acre. The second purchase was therefore more of a formality than an addi- tional burden. With the land sold in bulk, at $1.25 per acre, the second purchase of a town lot, from the government, was at a nominal price, merely its relative value to an unplatted acre of land. This second purchase, however, per- fected the title.

At this point it may be necessary to state that Mr. Haight's first sales of land were per- fectly legitimate transactions. The purchasers knew at the time that a second purchase would be necessary to procure a perfect title. There was recently found among some old papers of the late Francis Burnap a list of the town lots in East Rockford and the names of the persons to whom the deeds should be given after the land sale. At the same salc at Dixon the land on the west side of the river was hid in for the settlers by Ephraim Wyman. The West side committee was composed of G. A. Sanford, De- rastus Harper, and George Haskell. The cer- tificates of title were turned over to Mr. Wyman by the committee. When Mr. Wyman went to California, about 1850, these certificates were left in a trunk, in charge of G. A. Sanford. During Mr. Wyman's absence they were totally destroyed by rodents; and these facts are set forth with grave precision by Mr. Wyman, in a certificate, duplicates of which are on file in the abstract offices of the city.

STRANGER THAN FICTION.

Thus for a period of nine years from Mr. Kent's settlement were the early residents of Rockford and Rockton unable to obtain titles to the lands which they had selected and im- proved, by reason of the illegal intrusion of an exiled Polish count. The sequel is one of those facts that is stranger than fiction. Only one of those exiles ever subsequently appeared in Rock- ford or Winnebago County. He was employed

for a time as a cook, in 1837, by Henry Thurs- ton, the landlord of the old Rockford House. The later history of the exiles is unknown.

Mr. Haight's plat of East Rockford was filed for record November 7, 1843, four days after the land sale. The east part of the original town of Rockford, west of Rock River, included all that part of the city lying south of a line drawn from the Beattie residence west to the Horsman es- tate, and east of a line drawn from the latter point to the west end of the Chicago & North- western railroad bridge. It was platted by Dun- can Ferguson, November 9, 1843, and filed for record by Ephraim Wyman, November 28, 1843. J. W. Leavitt's town plat included all that part of West Rockford situated between Wyman's plat on the east, and Kent's Creek on the west and south. This plat was made August 17, 1844, and filed for record October 5, 1844.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BANDITTI OF THE FRONTIER AND LATER CRIMES.

A WELL ORGANIZED GANG-COUNTERFEITERS-HORSE THIEVES - ROBBERS - MURDERERS - SETTLERS FORCED TO ADOPT RADICAL MEASURES-COUNTY REGULATORS-MURDER .OF JOHN CAMPBELL - LYNCH LAW - ROBBERY OF M'KENNEY AND MULFORD-INDICTMENT OF REGULATORS-"NOT GUILTY" - REVOLTING CRIMES - EXCITING CRIM- INAL CASES ON RECORD-MURDER OF COLONEL DAVENPORT - REGULATORS FINALLY COMPLETE THEIR WORK-BANDIT GANG EXTERMINATED -- MURDER OF SHERIFF TAYLOR-EX-GOVERNOR BEBB TRIED FOR MANSLAUGHTER-LATER MURDERS AND EXECUTIONS.

A WELL ORGANIZED GANG.

From 1837 to 1845 the Rock river valley was infested with a notorious gang of outlaws. The leaders of this gang had come from Ohio, and settled in Monroe Township, Ogle County, at South Grove, in DeKalb County, a short dis- tance east of the old village of Lynnville, in

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume II, Part 12

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Rogers, Thomas H; Moffet, Hugh R; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : Muncell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 972

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Rogers, Thomas H; Moffet, Hugh R; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Muncell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 972