USA > Illinois > DuPage County > History of Du Page County, Illinois (Historical, Biographical) > Part 30
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The church is out of debt, and the present rector is highly esteemed by his parishion- ers.
No history of this church would do justice which did not speak of Miss Alethea Gibbs, who may properly be called the Patron Saint of St. John's Church of Naperville.
not only contributed largely toward building the church, and when the building and its surroundings were complete, paid the last few hundred dollars yet due, and, through her generosity, the church was out of debt. This made the amount paid into the building fund by Miss Gibbs, $868. Miss Gibbs had frequently expressed a desire to live to see a church of her own faith built in Naperville. She watched the progress of the building to- ward completion with great interest, and finally enjoyed the satisfaction of witnessing the consecration of the church by her be- loved and now departed Bishop. Soon after, this Miss Gibbs was called to her final rest.
The number of baptisms in the church rec- ord is 150; confirmations, 78; present com- municants, 92; burials, 46; marriages, 19.
The cost of the rectory as first built was $3,000; the cost of the addition, $2,200; the cost of the rectory, $2,500 .- SELINUS M. SKIN- NER.
TEMPERANCE WORK.
The loss of records and the death or re- moval from the place of those engaged in the early temperance work in Naperville make it impossible to give more than a very general outline of that work.
The first temperance organization, so far as we have been able to learn, was known as "The Sons of Temperance." It was formed some time during the fall of 1850. For sev- eral years it prospered greatly. At one time it numbered over three hundred members, and included among the number every promi- nent business and professional man of the town.
The Daughters of Temperance also had a lodge, organized about the same time, and published for some time a weekly paper de- voted to the interests of the order. Who the first officers of these two organizations She | were, how long they flourished, how lasting
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the effects of their labors, and what was the cause of their decay, we have been unable to discover. The Good Templars were the next to take up the work in the temperance cause. The lodge was first organized some time during the war of the rebellion, the exact date we have been unable to learn. Their lodge has been in existence for nearly twenty years, and has had a checkered experience; seasons of great prosperity have been followed by long periods of rest, during which its life seemed extinct, but after a time it would re- vive and again prosper. March 31, 1873, this lodge suspended, and no meetings were again held until March 1, 1878, when J. Q. Detwile re-organized it, with C. Kendig, Fred Long, David Frost, W. M. Hillegas, George Porter. J. K. Lutz and several others as char- ter members. Regular weekly meetings were held by the lodge from this re-organization until recently, when, owing to lack of inter- est, it suspended active work, and is now en- joying a season of rest. Dr. Ross, a lecturer of some repute, delivered a series of lectures on temperance during the winter of 1872-73, and organized what was then called a Tem- perance Alliance. The work of this organi- zation consisted in securing signers to its pledge by personal solicitation. Its exist- ence, however, did not exceed two years, and the effect of its work is not now apparent.
The Blue Ribbon Club was one of the strongest organizations ever formed in Na- perville. About the 1st of December, 1878, Liberty Jones, a disciple of Francis Murphy, commenced to labor in Naperville. His efforts, however, were but poorly repaid for some time. He finally succeeded, however, in interesting in his work Hiram S. Cody, a talented young lawyer of Naperville, and the two together succeeded in organizing a club, about January 1, 1879. Mr Cody was its first President, and continued to hold the office
until his death, March 3, 1879. Mr. S. W. Smith was elected to succeed him, and held the office until March 9, 1880, when he re- tired in favor of D. B. Givler. June 26, 1880, the club adjourned for the summer. and, notwithstanding some well-directed ef- forts at resuscitation, it has never been re- vived. The club held weekly meetings for more than two years, and at one time had 710 members. The effects of its work have been lasting. September 13, 1881, the Na- perville Temperance Alliance was organized, Proť. H. H. Rassweiler being its first Presi . dent, and A. B. Cody, its Secretary. The object of the Alliance was to combine for united action all other temperance bodies of the place. It has a woman's section, a chil- dren's sections and a voter's section, and is to be a branch of a county organization of the same general plan, which in turn is to be an auxilliary of a State association. The Alliance has held monthly meetings since its organization, and, at the municipal elec- tion, in May, 1882, secured sixty-nine votes for its ticket, which was run on a prohibition platform. - H. H. GOODRICH.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
As early as 1835, a Methodist Circuit, where stated preaching was held as often as once a month at appointed places, was formed, including the whole of Du Page County as now located. Rev. Wilder B. Mark was Pre- siding Elder. The next year, Rev. John Clark succeeded him. Preaching was now sustained at Naperville, at intervals of two weeks, till 1847, where a church was built on land donated to the society by Morris Sleight. Rev. O. Lyman was first pastor, who was suc- ceeded by Rev. Hope Brown, who remained with them till 1856, when he was succeeded by Rev. E. Barber. . In 1857, the church membership was sixty-two.
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BAPTIST CHURCH.
In 1843, there being a few Baptists at this place, Rev. Morgan Edwards made an effort to organize a church of that faith, which was crowned with success. A society was formed, and, though their numbers were small, they began to build a house for worship on some lots of ground of which they had not yet ob- tained a deed. But before they had proceed- ed far in their work, a personal difficulty arose between the owner of the lots and one of the members of the new church to be erected on them, and he refused to give the expected deed. Meanwhile, the foundation had been partly laid, and the work in a good state of progress. The builders now proposed to remove their materials already on the ground to another locality. but the captious lot owner forbade.
This eccentric conduct on his part de- manded prompt action on the part of the so- ciety. and they, with the assistance of some worthy citizens who made common cause with them (despite threats of violence), trans- planted the foundation stone and other ma- terials on the ground to a lot which Lewis Ellsworth donated to the society, and here the church was erected and nearly finished the next year. The Congregational society occupied it on each alternate Sabbath for a few months. Rev. R. B. Ashley, their first pastor, preaching on the day unoccupied by the Congregationalists. He was their pastor till 1846, and during his term the church in- | creased in numbers from nine members at its commencement to thirty-six. Rev. Allen Glos became their next pastor, remaining with them till July, 1848, at the expiration of whose term the church numbered fifty six members. Rev. S. Tucker, D. D., succeeding him, held the charge till October, 1855, when he left the church. which now numbered ninety six members. Rev. Ira E. Kenney
was the next pastor. whose term lasted but eight months. The church was now in the zenith of her prosperity. Their Sabbath school numbered about fifty scholars. They had enlarged and beautified their church, and ornamented it with a belfry, in which a bell was hung-the first that ever tolled the tid- ings of the Gospel in "these valleys and hills. "
The doctrines of Spiritualism now subtly crept into the church. Some members with- drew, and held spiritual services elsewhere; others dropped out silently as a flake of snow falls from heaven. But still the main body of the society held on and carried the burden. with exemplary resolution, till all but a very few had "stood from under."
Rev. George B. Simenson and Rev. E. W. Hicks were the two last regular pastors, both of whom were estimable men, but causes beyond their control had contributed to reduce the church in numbers. Students and temporary supplies have preached to their congregation from time to time since, till the winter of 1879, since which time the bell has hung in silence on its pivots, and the path to the church door has been overgrown with green grasses.
GERMAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
This is one of the largest and oldest con- gregations of the Evangelical association in the State of Illinois. The first two families of this society emigrated from Pennsylvania to Illinois, and settled in Naperville in the year 1836. They were those of Conrad Gross, the father of Daniel Gross, a promi- nent resident of Naperville now. and Jacob Schnaebli, of whose family there are also representatives living in this county. In 1837. another group of four families, those of Martin Escher, the father of George Esch- er, John Rehm, who is still living in Naper- ville, Adam Knopp and George Strubler,
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whose sons are now leading citizens of Na- perville and vicinity, followed, when the first class was organized, by the Rev. Jacob Boos. The meetings were held in the houses of Con- rad Gross and John Rehm. In connection with this, there was another class organized at Desplaines, in Cook County, which consti- tuted the first two Evangelical preaching places in the State of Illinois. In 1838, sev- eral other families arrived from Pennsylvania, and the Rev. Jacob Boos was succeeded by Rev. Einsel, who organized a class in Chicago and preached in German in the City Hotel, where the present Sherman House stands.
In Naperville services were still held in private houses and partly in the schoolhouse, on Scott's Hill. In 1839, the Revs. Stroh and Lintner were in charge of the now con- siderably increased congregation, who resid- ed in Naperville and in the surrounding country, on their farms, which studded the most beautiful prairies in Northern Illinois. The meetings were still held in private houses and in the above-named schoolhouse. In 1840, four more families arrived-Schroei- gert, Youngheim, Bishop and Garlach. Up to this time, all the families were European Germans, except the last three named, who were Pennsylvanians. This accession added materially to the strength of the society, so that the private houses and schoolhouse be- came too small to accommodate the attendants at the public services. This induced the Revs. Hoffert and Kern to commence the erection of the small frame church in the western part of Naperville (now occupied by the German Lutheran congregation of this place) in 1840. This comfortable meeting- house, as it was then regarded, was completed in 1841, to the great joy of the earnest and devoted membership. The Presiding Elder, Father Zinser, who recently died at an ad- vanced ago, added much to the prosperity of
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this and other societies that had now been or- ganized.
In 1844, there was a remarkably large in- crease of this society of Pennsylvania Ger- mans from Pennsylvania. On the 1st of May, there arrived fourteen families, among whom were those of David Brown, father of Martin Brown, now a prominent merchant and os- teemed citizen of Naperville, of Adam Hart- man, Joseph Bessler and Benjamin Frablick. Two weeks after, sixteen additional families arrived, among whom were those of Sam Rickert, Sam Tobias and Benjamin Hassler and thirteen others, all of whom settled in and near Naperville. The little frame church now becoming too small, was enlarged by an addition, in 1845, so as to accommodate the faithful worshipers.
During the next thirteen years, many other families followed their friends to the " beauti- ful West " from Pennsylvania and Germany, and the society increased numerically to such an extent that even the enlarged frame church became again too small; hence, the energetic Rev. C. Augenstein and the zealous and elo- quent Presiding Elder. Sam Baumgaertner, induced the now numerous and prosperous congregation to build the present substantial and commodious brick church, at a cost of about $6,000.
During the winter of 1858-59, while the meetings were yet held in the incompleted new church, the society enjoyed a glorious revival, under the labors of Rev. Sam Dick- over, assisted by Rev. G. Kleinknecht, when many were converted and added to the church, who are still useful members of the same.
From that time to the present, the society has enjoyed several marked revivals, as under the ministry of the Revs. William Goessele and Henry Rohland.
In the year 1870, by the removal of the
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Northwestern College to Naperville, the so- ciety gained several families from the Ger- man members of the college faculty and valu- able working force in the students and teach- ers, especially in the Sabbath school, so that the latter had for several years about four hundred members. With the opening of the college, in the fall of 1850, an English con- gregation was organized in the college chapel, which has drawn largely on the mem- bership of the parent society. But while the members of the mother church have been somewhat diminished in numbers. the daugh- ter has remarkably prospered, so that her membership, up to date (1SS2), is about two hundred.
During the revival under the Rev. H. Roh- land, in 1877, the membership rose to over four hundred, but through the death of aged members, removals, and through the division of the Sabbath schools and the passing over to the English congregation of those who prefer to worship in English, the membership of the German and parent church has been somewhat diminished, while, however, in reality, the Evangelical Church membership in Naperville, as a whole, has gained materi- ally. numbering in all about 550.
The German congregation to which this sketch is dovoted is in a prosperous condition, and is at present under the faithful pastorato of the Rev. J. G. Kleinknecht; but it has in its ranks a large number of veterans of the cross. A few years more will remove most of them from the church militant to the church triumphant, but those who will pass away and those that remain have the pleasure to know that their church, as one of the old- est and largest, has, for many years, been a blessing to a large portion of the inhabitants of Du Page County by preaching and prac- ticing the true religion of Jesus Christ. - F. W. WEIDNER.
NAPERVILLE PRESS.
The newspapers of Naperville have been published under circumstances adverse to success. The earlier inhabitants of the vil- lage and immediate vicinity, being largely composed of Germans, were not interested in the success of an English paper for the rea- son that they could read it with difficulty and understood less than they could read. Their denominational paper was the source from which they gleaned all the news they desired to hear pertaining to this world or that to come. The pioneer custom of exchanging commodities of various kinds was practical to an extent that took in the local newspaper, so that one copy would go the rounds of an en- tire school district, doing a great deal of good to all readers, but impoverishing the pub- lisher. Notwithstanding this custom has be- come nearly obsolete, cases occur even in this advanced day of civilization, independence and prosperity. Then, again, being so near the city of Chicago, the newspapers of Na- perville, as well as those of other suburban towns, have been compelled to eke out an existence in the shadow of the metropolitan press, circumscribing their patronage, belit- tleing their importance and reducing their source of revenue to a very limited circle. The failures of earlier years may have been partially the result of a lack of business tact on the part of publishers, but undoubtedly the foregoing were the chief causes that re- sulted in so many wrecks.
In December, 1849, Charles J. Sellen is sued the first paper published in Naperville, or in the county, called the Du Page County Recorder, and for nine months it had a flour- ishing existence. The name was then changed to the Democratic Plaindealer, and, in connection therewith, a small weekly sheet, called the Daughter af Temperance, both of which soon followed in the wake of their
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
predecessors. and were numbered with things past.
The printing material, however, remained in the village, and, in January, 1851, the Du Page County Observer appeared under the management of Barnes, Humphrey & Keith. But, notwithstanding the paper met the de- mand of that early day, the former failures had so weakened the confidence of the people in the enterprise that the subscription list never grew to paying proportions. In April, 1852, Mr. Gershom Matin purchased Mr. Humphrey's interest in the paper, and con- tinued it two years longer, in connection with Barnes & Keith, when it, too, perma- nently suspended publication.
With increased facilities, the Du Page County Journal was started, in the fall of 1854, by Mr. Charles W. Keith, and was a marked improvement on all that had gone before. It changed hands rapidly, however, from C. W. Keith to Keith, Edson & Co .. from that firm to J. M Edson, and then to E. M. Day, under whose proprietorship the Journal office, press, paper, type, materials, furniture and all appurtenances and heredita- ments thereunto belonging were swept down the Du Page River by the freshet of Febru- ary, 1857. Portions of the wood type, cases and wooden furniture were carried scores of miles on the cakes of ice and picked up by astonished citizens who went to see the river on a rampage. It was decidedly the most disastrous "pi" that ever occurred in any printing office in Du Page County.
The News Letler, published by E. H. Eyer, came into existence shortly after the Journal ceased to appear, but it, too, was destined to failure after a prief career.
Next in order came the Sentinel, published by D. B. Birdsall. Its existence terminated some time during the year 1862, and was succeeded, in August, 1863, by the Press,
under the management of R. K. Potter, Jr., who, in February, 1868, sold the outfit to D. B. Givler.
Mr. Givler, shortly after taking charge of the paper, changed its name from the Du Page County Press to the Naperville Clarion, so that the town in which it was established would be represented in the title. In the course of time the old type was exchanged for new; the hand-press gave way to the cyl- inder; improved jobbers were purchased, and the entire apparatus of the original office supplanted by new and improved material, so that now it is safe to say there are few su- perior printing offices in any suburban town in this State. The Clarion is in every way worthy of liberal support, the length of time it has been successfully published being an assurance of its permanency and a fixed in- stitution of the town .- D. B. GIVLER.
NAPERVILLE SCHOOLS.
The first school ever taught here was in the autumn of 1831, Leister Peet being teach- er, and probably every child in the settle- ment, which then comprised also the Scout settlement at the fork, were the pupils- twenty-two in number, full details of which have already been given in preceding pages. The Sauk war broke up this school, but after the return of the settlers from their temporary absence on account of the war, Mrs. Hines and Mr. Hiram Standish both taught in the same old log schoolhouse, built before the war on a rise of ground, about thirty rods west of Naper's log store. R. N. Murray says he graduated at this school. By the year 1835, the settlement had attained proportions sufficient to warrant the erection of a permanent frame building for school purposes, and Joseph Naper circulated a sub- scription paper to raise the means to pay for it. Settlers had abundance of everything
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but money, but this was wanting in sufficient quantities to bring the enterprise to a suc- cessful result, and in this emergency some of the friends of the scheme contributed labor or materials which was just as good as money, for in those days when a public improvement was to be made, there was no private pecu- lation or friction or any subtle methods of depleting the public treasury out of special funds for special objects.
Col. Warren informs the writer that he was then hauling salt from Chicago, and, the subscription paper being presented to him, on his arrival with a load of it. he rolled off a barrel as his contribution to the desired ob- ject. Its value was then $6. The building was erected the next year, 1836, and was put to immediate use; not for a school only, but the early Gospel was dispensed from the ros- trum in it designed for the pedagogue, and it was, moreover, honored with judicial er- mine, for here the Circuit Court held two or three sessions. Its location was near the present Congregational Church.
For some cause not known to the writer, this schoolhouse was sold by the district, and the school had to depend on such rooms as were available in which to hold their ses- sions. This unsystematic way of conducting them was neither creditable to the educational enterprise of the town. nor profitable to the scholars, but ample amends in due time were made for this, what might, with no misnomer, be called a hiatus in Naperville schools, by erecting an academy building, which was in- corporated in IS51, where the higher branches of science were taught by competent teachers. Mr. N. F. Atkins was its first preceptor, who was succeeded the next year by C. W. Rich - mond, from the academy at Great Barrington, Mass. Besides common branches of educa- tion, the classical course of the best Eastern academies were taught here, including, also, ' Township.
music, drawing and painting. The attend- ance was good, and the progress of the pupils all that could be desired. Up to 1863, this academy, together with the public schools and a select school, in which the higher branches were taught by Miss S. B. Skinner, fully answered the requirements of the place.
But now the time had come when a public graded school was a necessity as an advance system of education within the means of every one who felt ambitious to pursue the higher branches of English education. No general law of the State had yet been passed for the organization of graded schools, which made it necessary to get a charter for one ere it could get its due proportion of the public funds for its support. In 1863, Messrs. Val- lette and Cody and R. N. Murray drew up the required instrument which was sent to the Legislature of the State, and received its le- galized authority to act. The incorporate act was known by the following style: The Directors of the Naperville Graded School. The school district had already bought the academy building, which had been erected in 1851. J. L. Nichols was Principal in 1881 -82. and W. Knickerbocker, C. Wise and Peter Thompson, Directors. Mr. Knickerbocker was succeeded, July 3, by Casper L. Dilley. Mr. Nichols having resigned for a professor- ship in the Northwestern College, his place was supplied, in 1882, by Levi MI. Umbach. The Principal, with four assistant teachers, gives instruction in botany, history, Latin, philosophy, geometry, algebra, physiology, chemistry, civil government and the usual fun- damental branches taught in normal schools. The school justifies the expectations of the parents and pupils, and is a model worthy of imitation. It enrolls 302 pupils from a cen- sus enrollment of 572 children and youths iu its district, which is No 7 in Naperville
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The Village Council, after the fire in July, 1874, deemed it expedient to organize a fire department, and, in September, 1874, ordered the purchase of a hand-engine, hose cart and hose. The committee purchased one Dutton No. 3 hand-engine, one hose-cart and 700 feet of two and a half inch rubber hose.
Companies were organized torun and man- age the same. On the 2d day of January, 1875, the Council passed an ordinance to govern the fire department, and purchased a hook and ladder truck, with twenty-four pails, in September, 1875, and 300 feet more hose. Total cost of apparatus, $2,800; fixing build- ing to store apparatus, $300; expenses for repairs and running the department, from September, 1874, to July, 1882, about $550; amount of property saved by reason of organ- ized fire department during that time about $20,000.
The following-named citizens have served as Fire Marshal and assistant:
Marshals -Willard Scott, Jr., two terms; B. B. Boecker, one and a half terms; J. J. Hunt, two terms; A. McS. S. Riddler, two terms.
Assistant Marshals-B. B. Boecker, three terms: A. McS. S. Riddler, M. Weismantel, M. B. Hasler, J. Egermann.
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