Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 132

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388

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ENTRY OF COLONY LAND.

Going first to Knoxville, they found accommo- dations at the house of Dr. Hansford, then and long afterwards a prominent citizen of Knox County. On learning their mission, he assured them that he could and would show them all the land they wanted, an offer which was gladly accepted. No time was lost on the way to the Quincy land office, where they entered all the land available for that purpose in the northern two-thirds of the township. Certain members of the committee had come prepared to make entries on their own individual account after the purchase for the colony had been completed. Mr. Ferris wished to give to each of his slx sons and to his daughter an entire section.

On taking a second look at the prairie where their purchase had been made, they discovered that more land might be secured in and near the township than their combined ready cash would enable them to pay for; but on their re- turn to the land office, to make further entries, they learned that Richard Bassett, a land spec- ulator, having been informed of the aims and acts of the colonists, had, entered one-half of each quarter-section on the tier of townships directly south of their purchase. He evidently supposed that the alternate eighty acre lots would be regarded as undesirable by settlers unless more land, adjoining, could be obtained, and no doubt his intention was ultimately to take these up also. The committee felt confl- dence in its ability to checkmate this. wily scheme, and accordingly entered all the re- maining land in the township, as well as a little in the one adjoining.

It was decided that the colony lands should be selected from the entire amount purchased, in such locality and form as might be deemed best calculated to promote the final success of the original project, and in the end it was taken in a compact tract toward the north and

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east, its total area, including the school section, being nearly equal to that of half a township.

In order the better to provide for the shelter and comfort of the colonists as they might ar- rive, the committee bought three improved farms lying in the western part of Section 33, adjacent to this prairie and extending into l.en- derson Grove. They also contracted for a tract of timber, that the colonists might the more easily supply their urgent need for wood, for fuel and fencing. The committee reported at Whitesboro, on January 7, 1836, and a plan was formulated and approved for the disposal of the land. Reservations were made of the farms at Henderson Grove, and of a tract two miles in length, from east to west, and one mile and a half in breadth, of which Section 15 was the center. The eastern half of Section 16 (the school section) not being at the disposal of the company, was not taken into consideration. A strip of land on the north, half a mile wide and divided into equal parts by the sectional line, was set apart to be platted as a village and for outlying lots, and the remainder of the terri- tory secured was devoted to sale for the found- ing and endowment of the college. This was divided into forty and eighty acre lots, and appraised at from three to eight dollars per acre. Each purchaser of an eighty acre tract was to be guaranteed the privilege of buying eight acres of woodland and the right, for twenty-five years, to name one student who should receive gratuitous tuition at the college. Subscribers were accorded the first right to buy, and after them actual settlers.

COLONY ORGANIZATION AND FIRST TITLES.

The first meeting for the sale of lands was held in Whitesboro, in the session room of the Presbyterian church. Great care had been taken that the rules governing the sale should be equit- able and prove satisfactory. Should two or more persons select the same tract, it was to be awarded to the one offering the highest prem- lum, and if any purchaser, on seeing the land which he had chosen, should feel dissatisfied, he was to be allowed to exchange it for any other, not taken, at the appraised valuation. Not all the subscribers, however, were prepared or de- sired to go. Some had subscribed merely to aid in promoting a good cause, while others had found it impossible to complete the arrange- ments necessary to their emigration to a new country. Those who did not expect to become

colonists were encouraged to withdraw their subscriptions, as it was evident that the sales would fully repay the outlay, and non-resident land ownership was considered undesirable.

Other details were arranged at the same meet- ing. It was decided that the title to the prop- erty should be vested in Messrs. Ferris and West, until such time as a charter could be ob- tained from the State, when it was to be con- veyed to the corporation, from whom the indi- vidual purchasers were to derive their titles until legal incorporation should be effected un- der the law of Illinois. The affairs of the infant colony were to be administered by a provisional Board of Trustees, which was granted full pow- ers. The name Galesburg was chosen for the settlement, and Prairie College for the institu- tion; and all profits accruing from sales of land were to be set apart as an endowment fund for the college.

FIRST CONCEPTION OF GALESBURG.

The general plan for the laying out of the village and the disposition of the adjacent realty, to which reference has been already made, also received attention. It was deter- mined that the village plat should he one-half mile square and should be divided into thirty- six blocks, each of which should be subdivided into from eight to twelve lots. The principal avenue, to be known as Main Street, was to run along a line separating the southeast quarter of Section 10 from the northeast quarter of Sec- tion 15. Crossing this thoroughfare at its cen- ter, at a right angle, was to run Broad Street, and at their intersection four quarter blocks were to be reserved as a public square. On either side of the land set apart for the college there was an additional reservation of ten acres-one for a Female Seminary and the other for a Boys' Academy. The two institutions were to face each other, the one on Seminary and the other on Academy Street. Midway between them, at the head of Broad Street, was to stand the edu- cational institution, whose conception in the mind of George W. Gale had given birth to the entire enterprise. In the naming of other streets the members of the purchasing committee re- ceived the recognition which their services mer- ited, West, Ferris, Waters, Simmons and Tomkins being among the cognomens se- lected.

Both east and west of the village plat other lands were reserved from immediate sale, a plot being retained to be used as a cemetery, and the

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remainder divided into small parcels of two and one-half, five and ten acres each.

FIRST ARRIVAL OF COLONISTS.

The first colonist to take up actual residence was Henry, the fifth son of Silvanus Ferris. He was a theological student, in delicate health, and in the hope of finding a more favorable climate he left his school at Whitesboro and joined the anti-slavery missionary school of Dr. Nelson, in Missouri. Meeting his father at Quincy, he tem- porarily abandoned his studies and came to the new settlement in November, 1835. The next, Abel Gooddel, from Maine, left his location in Hancock County on hearing of the colony, and built him a cabin on the colony plantation, in which he spent the winter of 1835-36.

In June, 1836, the colonists began to arrive. Those who brought their families and effects usually traversed the entire distance overland, although in some cases coming hy canal and lake to the head of Lake Erie. Some came merely to survey the situation and prepare for the re- moval of their families, whom they expected to bring later in the season or the following year.

The overland route was long and tedious, there being no railroad west of Whitesboro. Mr. John C. Smith, one of the trustees and an active, energetic man, gathered together a company, purchased a canal boat, and undertook the jour- ney by way of the Erie and Ohio canals, and the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois rivers. This party hoped to save time and avoid unnecessary fa- tigue, but they underestimated the difficulties to be overcome and the danger of exposure to a malarial climate. Long and anxiously expected, they were met by their friends at Copperas Creek, forty miles from Galesburg, and, suffer- ing from fever and ague and bilious fevers, were taken to the colony, where Smith, Colonel Mills and Mr. Lyman, members of the exped !- tion, soon died.

The subscribers to the plan comprised only a fraction of the actual colonists. Friends and neighbors came with them, and others, hearing of the enterprise, followed. Intending emi; grants on exploring trips came, and being pleased with the conditions, bought land. Among them was a company from Vermont, under the leadership of Matthew Chambers and Erastus Swift, which became an influential ele- ment in the future history of the settlement. C. S. Colton, from Maine, looking for a location, visited his old friend, Mr. Gooddel, and re- mained.

In December, 1836, about forty families were on the ground. Some had found accommoda- tions for the winter, sharing the cabins or occu- pying the outbuildings, of the neighboring farmers, a majority of the colonists buying from the company. They occupied the buildings left by the former owners, and built cabins, some of logs and some of split boards, along the very imperfect roads which they built skirting the edge of the timber. Only one, Mr. William Ham- lin, with his family, spent the winter on the prairie in a cabin of boards, at a point near the present eastern limits of the city.

SOCIAL LIFE, FIRST MARRIAGES, RE- LIGIOUS SERVICES AND SCHOOLS.

The industrial life of the new settlement was active, and pleasant social features were not wanting. The novelty of the life and the com- munity of plans and hopes formed perennial topics of discourse. A mutually helpful spirit permeated the entire colony, which was, for the greater part, composed of men and women of intelligence and culture.

It was not long after the arrival of the early colonists that the first marriage was solemnized, the contracting parties being Henry Ferris and Elizabeth Hudson, the lady a member of a fam- ily who arrived during the first summer.

The regular conduct of religious services was soon commenced, Revs. John Waters and George W. Gale preaching alternately. Rev. John Thomas Avery also conducted a series of pro- tracted meetings, shortly after the founding of the church.

The first school was opened by N. H. (after- wards Professor) Losey and Miss Lucy Gay, In a rude house of split boards, and this was the nucleus of Knox College. (See Knox College.)

In the spring and summer of 1837 most of the first comers had left for their new homes on the prairie, some taking their houses with them. The buildings left, together with others subse- quently erected, afforded temporary shelter for those who came later, and were similarly used by those who followed them. The little village came to be known as Log City, and very early in its history presented a thriving appearance. The title to the unsold, land-with the timber lots allotted to colonists-remained vested in the trustees; but, its mission accomplished, the original settlement gradually fell into decadence and has now entirely disappeared.

The colonists of 1836, whose intention was to settle on farms, had spent their time in prepar-

Levi Sanforth

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ing for their prairie homes, and in the following year they were to be found occupying their new possessions, with houses hastily built, hut which were to he enlarged and improved, or replaced by better ones in the future.

The tough sod of the prairie too severely taxed the strength of horses, and the settlers contracted with the owners of ox teams for its breaking, from four to six yoke being employed and the price paid (in 1837) being $2.50 per acre. A year was usually required for it to decay suffi- ciently for cultivation, although corn was some- times planted in holes cut in the sod with an axe. Markets were too far away and too inac- cessible to justify the farmer in raising more than was needed for his own wants, particularly when help had to he hired and ready money was extremely scarce. There was little fencing, and stock were suffered to graze, in common, on the uninclosed lands. This custom obviated the necessity for meadows, which could not he prepared and improved until the primitive growth had been subdued and one or more crops raised, and hay was made on the open prairie. Prairie fires were not infrequent as late as 1850, and it was not until 1856 that all the farms in the township were enclosed.

Very little of the unreserved colony land re- mained unsold in 1838, and most of it was occu- pied. The remainder, no longer offered on the original terms, was gradually disposed of at advancing prices, the last being sold at thirty dollars per acre. The school section was laid off and offered for sale at the average value of ten dollars per acre. The alternate half-quarter sections entered by Barret in 1835 were sold in 1837 to Messrs. Clay, Williams and others from Vermont. By exchange and distribution, quar- ters were united and a settlement was formed in the southwestern part of the township; and with the adoption of township organization in 1853, Township 11 North, Range 1 East, be- came the township of Galesburg.

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RELATIONS.

The township as such had no separate politi- cal existence. The inhabitants, being joint ben- eficiaries of the school fund, elected school trus- tees, but in creating school districts little atten- tion was paid to township boundaries, which were constantly overlapped. The election pre- cinct and justice district of Galesburg consisted of only thirty-two sections; the four in the southeast corner belonged to the Knoxville pre- cinct.

As a social community Galesburg included the original colonists as well as those who after- ward had attached themselves to the enterprise, boundary lines heing disregarded. Earlier set- tlers retained their old associations with their neighbors in adjoining townships. A school house, answering for a meeting house, with a cemetery adjacent, on the Joseph Williams farm on the northwest corner of Section 30, was the center of a neighborhood in this and the adjacent townships.

TOWNSHIP DIVIDED AND TOWN RE- PLATTED.

In December, 1865, the town of Galesburg was divided by the County Board, a part being called West Galesburg. A year later an act of the Legislature reunited the two towns, but pro- vided that the city of Galesburg, with its three square miles, should not be under the jurisdic- tion of the town. The town house was built at the southeastern corner of Section 7.

In 1837 the ground reserved for the village plat and outiying lots, of which mention has been already made, was laid off by Professor Losey. Some modifications were made in the original plan, among the most important being those enumerated below. The ground in the center of the half mile square being found poorly adapted for use as a public square, another tier of blocks was added on the west, and the public square and Broad Street were moved one block in that direction. The original plat showed a long line of lots, extending from Main and Broad streets to the corner of the square, each of which was offered at one hundred dollars to any one who would establish a store upon it. The lots covering the north half of the west side and the south half of the east side had been purchased, the one by C. S. Colton and the other by Matthew Chambers. The remain- ing lots having a frontage on the square were divided into smaller parcels. A village lot was offered, free of cost, to any one who would build and occupy a house upon it in 1837, and sixteen dwellings were built and occupied that year. From the beginning the character of the Galesburg houses was hetter than that of those in other towns of the same age and size, no log structures being permitted on the village plat. The predecessors of the Galesburg colony in Henderson Grove substituted planks for sawed boards in building their cabins. These were split from linn logs and the clapboards were of oak, four feet long and rived and shaved, like

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shingles. When the colonists arrived there was at Knoxville a steam saw-mill, owned by Eldert Runkle. The first lumber used in the colony was obtainable only by hauling logs from Hen- derson Grove, ten miles distant, two-thirds of the boards being the price demanded for saw- ing. A steam saw-mill was built on colony land in Henderson Grove by John Kendall, being completed in 1837. The next year Western, OIm- stead and William, sons of Silvanus Ferris, built the second, two miles farther northwest; and the third was constructed very shortly aft- erward by Nehemiah West, Erastus Swift and George W. Gale, who were associated with Elisha H. King, a practical millwright.

The latter mill was established at Galesburg, being located on the north side of Ferris Street, between West and Academy. Although distant four miles from the nearest timber it met a real want, and its output was needed and used at the point where it was turned out.

For a time the product of all three mills con- sisted chiefly of hardwood lumber, walnut and linn being used for interior work, until the building of railroads rendered it possible to se- cure a liberal amount of pine, of which only a small quantity had been at first obtainable.

In the early days of the Galesburg settlement, few villages in Illinois could boast of painted houses, and the white dwellings of the embryo city attracted the pleased attention of eastern travelers. This distinction was rendered possi- ble by the oil mill built and operated by Leonard Chappell, on Kellogg Street, between Main and Ferris. There oil might be had in exchange for the flaxseed raised on the farms.

While a majority of the earlier homes were put up in naste, being intended for temporary occupancy rather than permanent residence, many of them continued to present a respecta- ble appearance for years to come.

EARLY DWELLINGS.

It is of interest to note some of the earlier structures. The first "house raising" occurred in 1836, and the owner of the building, Phleg- mon Phelps, completed a substantial (and for those days roomy) house the following year. That was not an era of rapid construction. Mr. Colton prepared the material for his home in Henderson Grove in the winter of 1836-timbers and clapboards of heavy oak, carefully selected and well worked-and had it ready for occu- pancy early in 1837. It was used for many years as a dwelling and store, but with the erection of

the present brick block upon its former site it was removed to another part of the city. The house built by Silvanus Ferris, in 1839, is yet standing at the corner of Tompkins and Cherry streets, and has undergone but few changes. The early home of George W. Gale was built upon what was then his farm, but is now the corner of Quincy and Grove streets. It was originally a double log cabin, and was after- wards clapboarded without and plastered within. He vacated it after a year, to occupy a house built upon the southwest corner of his farm, now the northeastern corner at the intersection of Cherry and North streets. The latter house is still standing, its main part substantially un- changed, although the wings have been rebuilt. Daniel Williams built at the corner of Tomp- kins and Prairie streets. Only the best work procurable would satisfy him, and the carpentry was done by George W. Brown and William Beswick. It was only recently removed, to make room for the Catholic Lyceum.

In the collapse that followed the high tide of speculation which culminated in 1837, Gales- burg could not fail to share. That by compari- son with other towns in the State it sustained itself so well was at the time a surprise, and afforded palpable proof of the soundness of its foundation and the character of its people. With immigration checked, speculation dead and markets paralyzed, money had well-nigh dis- appeared in Illinois. But want of money did not prevent progress and improvement in Galesburg. If the amount of currency per capita was small, brains, muscle and energy were not lacking.

All building materials, with the exception of glass, hardware and white lead, were the pro- duct of the neighborhood and were shaped and placed by local laborers and mechanics. Most of the food and much of the clothing was pro- duced at home. The storekeepers sold goods on credit, taking in payment such produce as would bear transportation to market. The pres- ent financial system of trade, resting upon money and checks, was scarcely necessary in view of the exchanges of labor and property and the prevalence of book accounts, notes being given payable-either in terms or by under- standing-in farm produce or other merchant- able goods.

Throughout its history, the city has been a town of liberal distances. The original lots were large, and few of the first settlers were satisfied with a single one. Most purchases in- cluded a corner lot. The early selections of land

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were scattered over the whole plat, and the buildings fronted toward either street, as the taste or whim of the builder might dictate. Most of the dwellings were surrounded by lawns and gardens, and the holdings, generally, were inin- lature farms. Little labor on streets was re- quired, paths from house to house running across vacant lots, and planks thrown across the water courses, as necessity or convenience might demand, being considered sufficiently good bridges. In fact, the opening of streets upon any regular, well defined plan was de- feried, and buildings were erected almost at random.

The tendency to expansion exists to this day. It is encouraged by the situation, good build- ing ground, requiring little labor of prepara- tion, being obtainable in every direction. The large amount of land always available, together with the comparative absence of active specula- tion during the greater part of the life of the town, have checked any incipient tendency to excessive valuation. The salient features of the situation have allowed the gratification of the desire for ample lawns and gardens, besides per- mitting laborers to obtain, at no inconvenient distance from their work, good lots at moderate cost and on easy terms, on which their own labor in spare hours may be utilized, and the pleasures and profits of the garden secured. There are in Galesburg no blocks especially de- voted to residences, no crowded quarters, no tenement districts, no squatters' shantics; bnt it is a city of pleasant homes, the comfortable cottages of the workingmen and the handsome residences of the well-to-do being alike the pride of the people.

TREES AND SHRUBBERY.

It was the work of the early prairie settlers to plant trees and shrubbery. Pending the de- cay of the long roots of prairie grass which held together and compacted the soil below the reach of the plow, but few of those first trans- planted from the forest survived. A substitute, however, was found in the beautiful black lo- cust, with its delicate foliage and fragrant blos- soms. Raised from the seed and with its lateral roots near the surface, its first growth was amazingly rapid. The village became in a few years so completely embowered that, at a short distance, it appeared to the "stranger and the pilgrim" almost as charming as the groves of Daphne. Perhaps the most terse statement in all the Old Testament writing is that "God pre-

pared a worm." In the history of Galesburg foliage only two years were required for the "borers" to ruin all this beauty, and in 1850 no shade was left but that afforded by the fruit trees, only a few of the denizens of the original woods remaining. Yet the early agriculturalists were not easily discouraged, and no time was lost in the effort to renew the shade. The soft maple was at first the chief resource. It was discovered that some varieties of forest trees could find a congenial soil, and again the streets began to be shaded, and the parks and lawns to be once more illumined by the checkered, fit- ful, filtered light of the, golden, glowing sunset, as the splendor of the dying day was at once softened and rendered more beautiful by the leafy luxuriance.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

It had not been the hope of the early colonists that Galesburg would be more than a respectable country village-a town for pleasant residence, yet strong enough to sustain church and schools, and to exert a wholesome moral influence, and furnish healthful, attractive surroundings to the college. But the location had been especially well chosen. It stood in the center of a richly fertile agricultural district and was easily acces- sible, its natural advantages surpassed those of any near-by town, and the effect was soon per- ce.ved in the growth of population and wealth. In less than twenty years it ranked third among the towns in the Military Tract, being surpassed only by Peoria and Quincy. Although a major- ity of the early colonists were of the Presbyte- rian faith, there was no proscription on account of religious creed, and many of the leading de- nominations established churches early in the history of the village. In 1848 began the immi- gration of the Swedes, whose high moral sense, industry and thrift have done so much toward building up the city. The Liberal Institute, or Lombard University, was founded in 1852, thus adding to the educational influence of the young settlement, and rendering it a more desirable home for many having young sons for whose higher education they were solicitous. In 1855-6 progress was marked and accelerated by the building of Brown's Corn Planter Factory, and growth had already become rapid when the struggle for railroad connections began, the suc- cessful issue of which brought to the city new life, and marked the opening of a new era of im- provement and of active, though legitimate and healthful, speculation. The demand for real

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 132

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1388

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388