USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > History of DeKalb County, Illinois > Part 30
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At the August election, Carlos Lattin was chosen County Treasurer ; Marshall Stark, School Commissioner ; E. L. Mayo, Recorder ; A. J. Brown, Probate Justice, and Morris Walrod Collector for the County. E. P. Young resigned his office of Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court, and W. H. Beavers was appointed in his stead.
The land having now become the property of the occupants was subjected to a tax, and the Assessor was paid for half his
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expenses by the State. But County indebtedness was still purchaseable at a large discount. When one of our since prominent citizens was fined ten dollars for assault and bat- tery, he was glad to be allowed to pay it with a County order of thirty dollars.
1845.
The settlement of DeKalb County at this period progressed very slowly. Indeed, emigrants avoided the whole State of Illinois, and passed west to Missouri, or north to Wisconsin. Illinois had a bad reputation. The State was overwhelmed with a vast unwieldy debt. It was unable to pay even the interest upon it. Taxes were high, money scarce. Repudiation was talked of, and by many was thought to be inevitable. DeKalb County furnished no especial attractions to the few settlers who came into the State. The beautiful valleys of the Fox and Rock Rivers were far more alluring to the few emigrants who at this period, made their homes in the debt- ridden, heavily-taxed, much-abused State of Illinois. Many of those who came to make their homes in this section, were of a lawless class who were hardly fit for better settled and better regulated communities.
Settlers were also deterred by the acts of the claim associ- ations who boldly banded together and threatened the lives of any who should enter lands around which any of their gang had ploughed the furrow which constituted the commonly received marks of a claim. Some account of these contests -these intestine wars, may be found in other portions of this work.
There was little money in the country. Of the three hun- dred and seventy-five dollars collected in taxes this year, one hundred and forty-three dollars was in Jurors certificates, and two hundred and nineteen dollars in County orders. Few debts were prosecuted by law, for the policy of the laws favored the debtor, and rendered it almost impossible to col- lect a claim by legal process. More settlers were anxious to leave the country than to move into it.
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
1846.
In May, 1846, the President called for four regiments of volunteers, for the war with Mexico. Nine regiments speedily offered their services. Most of them were of course disap- pointed in their hope to serve their country thus and win glory upon the battle-field, but among those accepted, was a company raised by Captain Shepard of Belvidere, from the Counties of Boone and Northern DeKalb. Early in June, Captain Shepard marched his Company across the country from Belvidere to Sycamore, paraded them through the streets of the village during two or three days, and enlisted in the ranks about twenty recruits. They were mostly from the northern towns or precincts of the County.
From Shabbona, Somonauk, and Paw Paw districts, a num- ber of recruits were enlisted in a regiment that rendezvoused at Ottawa. Among them were Thomas S. Terry, and Horace Austin, who subsequently raised and commanded Companies in the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment, during the war of the Great Rebellion. Only a comparatively small number of those who thus went out, ever returned. Some lost their lives upon the Mexican battle-field, some died of the diseases incident to camp life, and some, who had no cspecial ties to bind them to this country, found other homes after their dis- charge from the service.
At the March term of the County Court, the Paw Paw district and election precinct was divided by the creation of a new precinct, called Shabbona. It comprised the territory now contained in the four towns of Shabbona, Clinton, Milan, and Afton. Elections were ordered to be held at the house of William Marks.
A report on the County finances exhibited the discouraging fact that there were outstanding twelve hundred and ninety- nine dollars in County orders, and but one hundred and twenty-six dollars of available means. Five hundred and seventy dollars of tax was collected, all of it in Jurors' certi- ficates and County orders.
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EIGHTEEN FORTY-SEVEN.
Austin Hayden, George II. Hill, and Joseph Newberry were elected County Commissioners ; James Harrington, School Commissioner ; John A. Waterman, Treasurer ; E. L. Mayo, Probate Justice. Jacob A. Simons and William Ford- ham each served as County Clerk. The Justices of the Peace elected, were George Flinn, Isaac Campton, Simon Young, Aaron Rand, David Merritt, G. T. Sandborn, Wheeler IIedges, Samuel Stevens, B. F. Johnson, Russell Huntley, Joseph A. Bilks, Z. B. Mayo, John Byers, George H. Hill, and William Marks. The first brick dwellings in the County were built this year at Sycamore by the brothers Mayo, and although they now look humble enough when compared with many of the more spacious and elegant residences of the pres- ent day, they were then decidedly the best houses in the County, and attracted a great deal of attention and admiration. 1847.
The financial affairs of the County improved during this year, and its indebtedness was reduced one half. This was in sympathy and accord with the general condition of the State which was now rapidly improving. Four years before, the State officers were sometimes troubled to get money to pay even the postage on their letters ; the credit of the State was gone, its Treasury warrants sold at fifty cents on the dollar, it was a hissing and a byc-word both in America and England. Now, it had paid or satisfactorily provided for, about eight millions of its debt, and had been able to borrow money enough to finish the Illinois Canal, which was now in a fair way to completion. Emigrants came into the County more rapidly, but still the settlers were very poor. Good wheat sold in Chicago at thirty cents per bushel, and many drew it there from near the Mississippi river. Considerable amounts were also drawn to Ottawa and Peru, upon the canal. A very fair team of horses could be bought for eighty dollars. It was a difficult matter to collect taxes. They were all paid in specie, and to pay a tax of six or seven dollars, distressed the payer more than one of forty times that amount would at 51
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
the present time. The collector would have to call again and again for it. The roads were alive with teams loaded with grain, and the taverns were crowded every night. Fifty cents was the regular charge for supper, lodging, breakfast and the feed for a team. At the August election of this year, William Young was chosen County Commissioner, and William H. Beavers, Clerk of that Court. Sheldon Crossett, School Commissioner ; E. L. Mayo, Probate Justice ; William Ford- ham, Recorder ; William Shepardson, Treasurer ; E. P. Young, County Collector.
The first recorded allowances for the care of paupers were made during this year. Before that time there either were no paupers or they were otherwise provided for.
1848.
A new Constitution for the State was formed during this year.
The increasing population demanded a division of the County into more election precincts and Justices' districts. Squaw Grove precinct was formed out of the present town of Squaw Grove, and the south half of Pierce.
Somonauk precinct was changed so as to include Somonauk township and four tiers of sections off of Victor.
The name of Wooster precinct was changed to Genoa, which had for twelve years been the name of the thriving village at its center.
For County Commissioners this year, Messrs. William Young, John S. Brown, and Arunah Hill were elected. The old Court House, a shabby two-story building, now standing nearly opposite the present one, was still almost the only building in the little village for public use. The County eked out its petty finances by letting it for various uses. The Congregational and Universalist Churches held alternate or occasional services there. Mr. Roswell Dow occupied it on week days for a select school, and the Sons of Temperance held evening meetings, paying twenty-five cents rent each evening.
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EIGHTEEN FORTY-NINE.
But itwas evident that the County demanded a better build. ing. The subject was much canvassed and discussed all over the County. A large portion of the people of the County were unwilling to be taxed for the expense of a suitable building. The population at the County seat were willing to bear some share of the expensc, but not the whole. After a great deal of discussion at the March term of the County Commissioners' Court in
1849,
The three Commissioners appointed Messrs. E. P. Young, Kimball Dow, and J. C. Kellogg, to contract for building a new Court House. It was to be placed in the center of the public square, to be of brick, sixty feet long and forty feet wide, and to cost not exceeding six thousand dollars. But this was to be done only upon condition that individual citizens should contribute fifteen hundred dollars of this amount. This they were authorized to pay in notes; two-thirds of which should be paid November 1st, 1849, and one-third November 1st, 1850. And the order of the Commissioners further states, that it is expressly agreed, that in case the County seat shall ever be removed, the County shall pay back to said individu- als, the amount of said notes with interest. It was ordered that the notes be registered on the Court records, and be evidence of the liability of the County for the re-payment of this advance.
At the same term another order was passed authorizing the erection of a jail by the same agents at a cost not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars. Nothing seems to have been done under this order. An active canvass of all those who felt an especial interest in the prosperity of the village now rapidly growing at the scat of justice was now commenced and more than the necessary fifteen hundred was subscribed as a free gift toward the erection of the present handsome Court House. The subscriptions of the principal donors were as follows :
Harvey G. Barns, $100; Amos Story $20; John Maxfield
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
$40; Thomas Woolsey $20 ; Kimball Dow $50; E. P. Young $150; W. H. Beavers, $37; W. J. Hunt $50; Ellsworth Rose $25 ; E. Hall $25 ; E. H. Barnes $25; Alonzo Brown $20; O. P. White $25 ; Z. B. Mayo $50; E. L. Mayo $50; John Chatfield $20; J. S. & J. C. Waterman $150; M. Stark $50 ; O. M. Bryan $30; Thomas II. Wood $25; E. Wharry $20 : E. G. Jewell $20 Darius Williams $25; R. Wyman $20; William Connell $20; J. C. Kellogg $25; R. Hopkins & W. P. Dutton $75; Decatur Esterbrook $25; A. Jackman 20; Homer Roberts $20; Sylvanus Holcomb $25; W. Fordham $30; G. W. Kretsinger $20.
The agents for building were also authorized to sell the old Court House, and all town lots owned by the County at auc- tion, and that the proceeds were to be applied religiously to the payment of the forty-five hundred dollars of County orders issued for the erection of the new building. The lots were however, apprized at prices varying from ten dollars to four hundred.
It was during this year, that the wonderful stories told of the discovery of the gold fields of California, began to make a stir among the hardy pioneers of this section of country. The people were still very poor. Moncy was scarce-a dollar looked to them as large as a cart-wheel. Why should they spend their lives in ekeing out a poor and insufficient support in the shabby log dwellings and amid the inevitable hardships of pioneer life in this new country, when an abundance of the yellow, glittering metal that was the representative of all wealth, lay open to any one who chose to gather it, upon the pleasant shores of the Pacific. They were used to hardship ; they were accustomed to pioneer life ; the settlement of a new country had no terrors for them. Urged by these considera- tions, large numbers of men, among the best of the citizens of the County, formed themselves into companies, rigged out their old pioneer wagons, and settling their affairs as best they could, started on the long and weary march for the golden shores of California. Many came back in a few years mate-
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rially enriched, and used their means to fit up their old farms with fine buildings and comfortable surroundings. Many died on the way, and some still remain in the Golden State, and are among her best and most prosperous citizens.
At the election of this year Marshall Stark was chosen Sheriff ; W. II. Beavers, County Clerk ; William Fordham, Recorder ; Sheldon Crossett, School Commissioner and E. L. Mayo, Probate Judge. But a new election was held Novem- ber 6th, under the provisions of the new Constitution, at which M. M. Mack was made Circuit Clerk and Recorder ; U. B. Prescott, County Clerk ; Wm. Shepardson, County Treasurer, and James II. Beveridge and George H. Hill County Justices of the Peace.
Seven hundred and fifty votes were cast in favor of the adoption of the Township Organization, and only one against it. The County School Superintendent was paid twenty-eight dollars for his year's services, and the County Judge received seventy-five dollars for the performance of the duties of his office for six months.
The County Commissioners, at the December term, appoint- ed Messrs. William A. Miller, William J. Hunt, and Robert Sterritt, to divide the County into townships, in preparation for a new organization, under the Township Organization law. They visited the different sections of the County, heard the statements of those citizens who met them, and divided off the County into thirteen towns, named as follows: Genoa, Kingston, Franklin, Vernon, Liberty, Sycamore, Richland, Orange, Shabbona, Clinton, Squaw Grove, Somonauk, and PawPaw. Most of these names still adhere to the towns to which they were originally given, although most of these towns have been diminished in extent by the creation of new town- ships Of those names which have been abandoned, Vernon belonged to the present town of South Grove; Orange to DeKalb and some adjoining territory ; Liberty to Mayfield ; Richland to Cortland and Pierce. The County tax of 1849 amounted to two thousand eight hundred and eighty-three dollars.
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
1850.
The County was now divided into Townships, and organized with Town governments. Each of the towns chose a Super- visor as the head of its town government, and also as its rep- resentative upon the County Board, which met for the trans- action of the business which had hitherto devolved upon the County Commissioners. It is a question, however, among the thoughtful men of the County, whether its business under this more expensive and more ambitious method of administration, is any better managed than under the old Board of three County Commissioners, and there are not a few, who still think it would be wise to discard the Township organization and go back to the old method.
The first meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held at Sycamore, October 7th, 1850. The Board consisted of thir- teen members, viz : Henry Durham, representing Genoa ; John Sheely, Kingston ; Clark Bliss, Franklin; John S. Brown, Vernon ; Mulford Nickerson, Liberty ; James Har- rington, Sycamore; D. F. Finley, Richland ;' Thomas R. Hopkins, Orange; William Marks, Shabbona; Reuben Pritchard, Clinton ; Abram L. Hemenway, Squaw Grove; Lyman Bacon, Somonauk ; Pierpont Edwards, Paw Paw.
James Harrington was chosen Chairman. Among the first acts of the Board, was the passage of an order changing the names of Orange to DeKalb; of Richland to Pampas ; of Liberty to Mayfield; and of Vernon to South Grove.
Other towns in the State had already appropriated the first chosen names, and to prevent confusion, the Board of Super- visors were authorized and directed to select others. Having accomplished this duty, the Board plunged at once into the business of auditing bills, arraigning delinquent collectors, appointing places for town meetings, and all of those multifa- rious duties that have ever since engrossed the attention of that body.
Work upon the new Court House had been in progress for nearly two years and in the winter of 1850, it was completed,
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and presented an appearance of which the people of the County were justly proud.
1851.
Ever since the first settlement of the County, the custom seems to have prevailed, of inaugurating all new public build- ings with a public ball; exceptions only being made with the churches ; so in accordance with the custom, a grand ball was given in the new Court House in February, 1857. It was a notable occasion. The company was gathered from all over the country, a considerable party coming even from Chicago, fifty-five miles distant. The building was not yet however entirely completed or partitioned below. That was done dur- ing the summer, under direction of the Board of Supervisors.
The regular seven years flood and subsequent long wet summer, came again this year. There had been no snow during the previous winter, but a great amount of rain. On the first Sunday in April, one of the most furious snow-storms ever known in this country, set in and more than fifteen inches fell in the course of the day. On the Sunday following, came another similar storm of equal severity. About a month after and before the soil had become sufficiently dry for farming operations, a heavy rain set in and continued with but occa- sional intervals, for more than two months. It is related that at one time the sun did not shine through the clouds for ten days. The plowed ground became covered with a green mould. The wheat crop was all scabbed. Little or none was raised that was really fit for flouring, and in some cases it sickened and apparently poisoned those who were compelled by the prevalent destitution, to use it.
The roads became impassable and continued so during most of the season. It became evident that something must be done to secure means of communication with the outside world and transportation for the products of the country, to market. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was now in process of construction, and this promised relief to the south- ern portion of the County.
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
The Galena and Chicago Railroad was also being built, and a branch of it was this year extended to St. Charles, which was then a very flourishing little city, and the principal mar- ket for all the northern part of the County. But our people were too poor to extend that road to' this County, and the main road was laid several miles to the north of the County line. The project of building a plank-road to St. Charles was started. Plank roads were then very popular in the eastern States, and during the first year or two of use they furnished the smoothest and most agreeable of highways. When more worn, they were found to be more a source of danger and dis- comfort than of advantage, and their use was abandoned. A subscription was started for the construction of a plank road from Sycamore to St. Charles. A large amount of money was raised, the road was graded, the plank laid down and toll-gates established. For about one season the road was a decided convenience, but soon the hard wood plank became warped by the sun ; the road was as rough as the old-fashioned corduroy ; no one used it when they could avoid it ; the neighboring inhabitants finally confiscated the plank and the road was abandoned.
1852.
The Assessors' reports for this year valued the total personal property of the County at three hundred and twenty-five thousand three hundred and fifty-three dollars, and the real estate at seven hundred and sixty-seven thousand four hun- dred and eighty-seven dollars. The prospect that the country would soon be made accessible to market by railroads, had induced a great many speculators and settlers to purchase the wild prairie land. We find that two hundred and ninety-one thousand, five hundred and nine acres were assessed this year, which would indicate that only about twenty thousand acres still remained in the hands of the government.
The elections of this year were very exciting. The County was overwhelmingly Democratic in politics, but there was a very strong and active Free-Soil party, and a'sturdy and
.
DANIEL B.JAMES COUNTY JUDGE.
Chucago Lithographing Co. Chicago,
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EIGHTEEN FIFTY-THREE.
enterprising minority of Whigs. The office of Circuit Clerk and Recorder had with the increase of population, become the most valuable office in the County. James H. Beveridge, a merchant at Freeland corners in the town of Somonauk, was the nominee of the Free-Soil party for this office, and E. P. Young, of the Democracy. By a combination of the Whig and Free-Soil vote, Mr. Beveridge was elected, and he held the office for the eight years succeeding. Joseph Sixbury was chosen County Treasurer, Jacob R. Crossett, School Commissioner, and Herman Furness Sheriff.
Bills for the care of paupers were paid by the County to the amount of six hundred and thirteen dollars. It was dur- ing this year that the Chicago, St. Charles and Mississippi Air Line R. R. was first projected, to run through St. Charles, Sycamore, South Grove and Oregon to the Mississippi river at Savannah. Messrs. Waterman and Fordham, of Sycamore, first proposed the matter, and began correspondence with E. S. Litchfield, the manager of the Michigan Southern Railroad. He warmly favored the project ; a large meeting was held at Sycamore; about twenty thousand dollars in stock was taken in the northern part of the county ; a company was organized; it seemed certain that a railroad would be built.
During this year the first Agricultural Society of the County was organized and held an exhibition in marked contrast with the extensive collections of the present era. One old white bull was chained to a stake in the center of a vacant open lot, and two or three stallions with as many cows and colts, and a few beets and pumpkins completed the amusing exhibition.
1853.
But the newly proposed railroad promised to be an active rival to the Galena road; and that Company was anxious to pro- vent its construction. They procured a charter authorizing them to build an air line road to the Mississippi, passing through the central portion of the county to Dixon, and thence to the Mississippi river at Fulton and Lyons. Agents 52
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
of this Company visited Sycamore and endeavored to induce its people to take stock in it to a sufficient amount to ensure its being built through that town. Had the citizens of Syc- amore been able to foresee the future they would have con- sented to this arrangement, in which event the now flourishing villages of Cortland or DeKalb would never have had an existence, and Sycamore would probably have become one of the largest towns in northern Illinois. But Sycamore was full of hope and interest in the rival road and scouted the idea that any other would be built. This, the St. Charles Road was now being graded, and during the summer the work was completed for some forty miles. But now, trouble arose. The contract had been let to Litchfield at the high rate of twenty- four thousand, five hundred dollars per mile. The Board of Directors had promised to raise three hundred thousand dollars more stock upon the line of the road, payable at the rate of five per cent per month, which payments Litchfield was to receive on his contract. This was contrary to the advice of Directors J. S. Waterman and H. A. Mix, who knew that in this poor and thinly settled country, the amount could not be raised. Their surmises proved to be correct. The stock was never taken, the payments were not forthcoming, and the contractor refused to proceed with the work. But in the mean time the company had acquired a large amount of valu- able real estate in Chicago for depot grounds.
At a sale of canal lands they had purchased all of those lots which they needed to secure the right of way, and had bought at a very low rate sixty acres additional. This had appreciated enormously in value-far more than enough to pay for all of the work that had been done upon the Road. E. S. Litchfield and Ira Minard of St. Charles, now bought up all of the stock which they could purchase at a low rate, obtained control of the Company, sold its real estate and charter to the Galena Company, and it was reported, made a profit of over four hundred thousand dollars by the transaction. The embankments on the line of the road, and
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the piers of the bridges built but never used, only remain as mementoes of this project whose failure nearly ruined the business of several thriving towns and drained the country of a large amount of money.
Meantime the construction of the Dixon Road was pushed forward at a rate that had never before been equalled. The charter required that it should be so completed that a train could be run through to Dixon by January 1st, 1854, and it is certain that before midnight of that day a train was run over the road. But such a road! For many miles of its course, no grading whatever was done. The sleepers were laid down upon the bare grassy prairie and leveled up with stove wood. It had neither station-houses, freight-houses, engine-houses, nor any other buildings. It was necessary that every thing should be built over from the foundation. But the road gave a powerful forward impulse to the country. It brought a market for all the abundant produce of this fertile country to the doors of its growers. It seems incredi- ble now that speculators could not foresee the immense advance in the intrinsic value of the lands that was caused by this revolution in affairs, but yet large tracts of land which could be purchased with land-warrants at seventy-five cents per acre still lay open to entry.
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