USA > Illinois > DuPage County > History of Du Page County, Illinois (Historical, Biographical) > Part 34
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Bull remained about two years, and was suc- ceeded by Miss M. C. Knight. Under their supervision, the school was brought up to its former standard, but the demand for increased facilities were greater than the ladies in charge could supply, and the school was again aban- doned. During these many years, hundreds of pupils went ont from this school to take their places in the active arena of life, with a broader outlook, with higher aims and nobler ambitions. The course of instruction they had received aimed to develop thought-power, to quicken mental activity, to rouse latent energy, and give the self-reliance necessary for the cumula- tive responsibilities that lay before them. So far as it accomplished this purpose, its brief existence became a moral force, whose power must be enduring. At the opening of the civil war, many students went ont from that school and took their places in the ranks of the Union army. Ashley Carpenter, Joseph Monk and his brother Corelle, Ferdinand and Daniel Fowler, William Ray, Alvord Drullard were, within a few months, brought back and consigned to their final rest in the village cemetery. Dr. J. M. Woodworth, Gen. F. A. Starring and his brother, Capt. William Starring. followed the fortunes of the war to its close. Dr. Woodworth has since died at the post of duty in Washington. The mission and influence of this school may still be traced by the life-record of those who were its members, as every seed dropped in the fer- tile soil of the young heart germinates and bears fruit, 'it may be a hundred fold,' ac- cording to the strength of the germ and the favoring influence of its environments, so that the social and educational force which gave to Warrensville an impetus for a few years, may be repeated from new centers which trace their life- threads back to a starting-point in that village school."
CHURCHES.
Baptist Church .- As early as 1834, steps were taken to organize a Baptist Church, so
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
says the record, but in 1836 measures were taken to organize a society, and a church was established numbering sixteen members, Rev. L. B. King, pastor. He was succeeded by A. B. Hubbard, Joel Wheeler, A. J. Joslyn, P. Taylor, Joel Wheeler, S. F. Holt, Freeman and H. Wescott. The society first worshiped in a private house, and next in a schoolhouse, till this church was built, in 1857, which is a com- modious edifice, on a beautiful site, and im- parts to the town an air of propriety. Mrs. Alvah Fowler is now the only remaining one living of the original sixteen who formed this church.
Methodist Episcopal Church .- This denomi- nation has a fine church, eligibly located, at which regular preaching is sustained, and also a flourishing Sabbath school. Rev. J. R. Wel- burn is its present Pastor.
GARY'S MILLS.
Just above the southern line of Section 15 in the present township of Winfield, the West Fork of the Du Page River presents unusual attractions. Its banks are firm on both sides, and gradnate upward, without marshy inter- vals. The current of the river is active, and afforded a mill site of fair promise. There was then much valuable timber in the adjacent groves, and the three Gary brothers, Erastus, Jude and Charles, jointly erected a saw-mill at the place in 1837, which then gave a reasona- ble assurance of becoming the most important town in the county except Naperville. A post office was soon organized at the place, Charles Gary, Postmaster. A store was next estab- lished, kept by William Gary, the present banker in Wheaton. A schoolhouse was built which proved more permanent than anything else built there, as it is still standing and in use. The inevitable church organization came in with the rest, and this spot became the nucleus around which the Methodism of the immediate country first planted its principles
into the soil, " to use a figure." It was under the charge of Rev. Washington Wilcox, who rode the Du Page Circuit (as this region was then called), and preached to the new congre- gation in the schoolhouse at Gary's Mills every fourth week. Erastus, Jude and Charles Gary, Warren L. and Jesse C. Wheaton, Hezekiah Holt and family, William Ainsworth, Peter B. Curtis and family, Nat. Brown, Mrs. Woodard and a few others were members. A black- smith shop next came in, where Mr. Foster, like others at the place, " struck while the iron was hot," and Gary's Mills became a center at which covetous eyes looked with regret that they had not made early claims there. The old settlers of Turner Junction and Wheaton for several years received their letters there. It also became the place where camp-meetings were held, and the groves near by, which were then vocal with singing, are now solitudes.
When this place was in the heyday of its glory, the church there may claim the honor of having first established a principle worthy of imitation. The case was this : One of its mem- bers, Nat. Brown, held a deed for forty acres of land near the place, ten acres of which he was justly bound, by the rules of Claim Socie- ties, to deed back to Mrs. Woodard, whose claim, before the surveys were made, covered the said ten acres. This he refused to do, and in this resolution he had the law on his side, but not the higher law of justice. The matter came before the church, and he still refused to relinquish the land. Here was a dilemma-a brother refusing to do an act of simple justice because the law did not compel him to do it. 'Tis true, he might some time repent of this sin, but repentance without restoration was but a skin-deep disguise, and if such repentance could not be verified by restitution when the land was worth but $3 per acre, as at pres- ent, would it be likely to come with this vouchsafe when the land had increased in value to five or ten times that amount, as
DEITRICK GRAUE.
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such men as the Wheatons, Garys, Curtises and Holts must have thought a probability ? Any expectation of a remote restitution was not to be thought of, and Mr Brown was ex- communicated by a clear vote of the church.
The name of Gary's Mills is still familiar, though the mills, having executed their mis- sion, which was to saw into lumber all the use- ful timber near by, have been suffered to decay. The dam has gone with the floods, and the mill has been entirely demolished by the ravages of time, though the most of the private dwellings at the place still stand there, tenanted by till- ers of the soil.
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The West Fork of the Du Page passes through the eastern portion of Winfield Township. Its banks graduate upward in the form of rolling lands on both sides, beyond which are exten- sive lands sufficiently rolling for drainage, all of which are fertile and well suited to dairy business or the growth of eereals.
There are eight schools in the township, in- cluding the graded school at Turner's Junetion, and 782 persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years.
TURNER JUNCTION.
A brief biographical sketch of the gentle- man for whom this village was named cannot fail to be of interest to every reader, the more so on account of the high standard of integrity he ever maintained through a long and useful life :
John B. Turner was born in Colchester, Del- aware Co., N. Y., January 14, 1799. His father died when he was two years of age ; his mother when he was fourteen. He was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Powers at eleven years of age. Mr. Powers purchased a farm in Martin, Sar- atoga Co., N. Y., upon which he labored for nine years. In 1819, he married Miss Martha Volentine, formed a copartnership with Joshua Parmelee, who had married the twin sister of his bride. They snecessfully prosecuted the
agricultural labors upon the Volentine farm for five years. In 1835, Mr. Turner embarked in railroad enterprise ; he first contracted to build seven miles of the Ransom & Saratoga Railroad. In the same year, he constructed a part of the New York & Erie Railroad. In this work he eontinued until the erisis of 1837, then he en- gaged in the work of building the Genesee Valley Canal. In 1841, he contracted to grade seven miles of the Troy & Schenectady Rail- road. In 1843, he came to Chicago, and in 1847, was appointed Acting Director of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company, which had been chartered in 1836. In 1848, he accompanied B. W. Raymond to New York, and by his previous experience in railroad building, and having examined the surveyed route of the Galena & Chicago Railroad, aided very much in the sale of the bonds and stock of the Galena & Chicago Railroad ; work con- menced March. 1848, and track laid to Free- port, 121 miles. In 1853, the Dixon Air Line was commeneed, and the same year he organ- ized the Beloit & Madison Railroad Company. He resigned the Presidency of Galena, Chieago & Northwestern Railroad Company. In 1858, as a citizen of Chicago, he was not forgetful of her local prospects and interests ; was a Direc- tor in Boards of Water Commissioners ; organ- ized the North Side Horse Railroad Company. His wife, mother of his six children, died in 1853. Two years after, he married Miss Ade- line Williams. Among the many whose names Chicago is proud to honor and perpetuate, none are more deserving than that of John B. Turner, with a record of more than seventy years, and a character unstained by the many corruptions of the present age. Ilis declining years were spent amid the sunshine of life, sincerely mourned by his many friends, among whom he was universally respected and beloved. He died on the 26th day of February, 1871.
Many years before it was supposed that a thriving village was to spring up here, the 0
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
land on which it now stands had been taken up in claims by settlers expecting to make farms of it.
The claim covering the present village was brought by Capt. Alonzo Harvey. Among the early residents at or near the place were James Conley, from Mount Morris, N. Y., who is still a citizen of the town. Sherman Winslow was his nearest neighbor to the east. Next in the same direction was George W. Easton. Job A. Smith, Thomas Brown and William Ribley were not far away in the same direction.
South of him were Warren Towne and Will- iam Bailey, and north, John Barre.
When the railroad came through the place in 1849, Michael McDonald came from Chicago and opened a general store, but subsequently sold out to his brother Joseph, who in turn sold the same to Joel Wiant in the spring of 1857. The place at this date, says Mr. Wiant, consisted only of a post office, kept by C. D. Smith; a blacksmith shop, by Mr. Foster; a doctor's office and about two hundred inhabit- ants all told.
James M. Dale was station agent. Mr. Con- ley, in 1848, bought eighty acres of land where the graded school now stands, for $3 per acre, which is now worth $10 a front foot in lots.
Mr. A. Archer owned ninety-six acres near the center of the town. He did not like rail- roads, and refused either to give or even to sell the right of way through it, but would sell the whole tract for $530.00. The railroad company bought it ; a few years later it became worth from $200 to $300 per lot.
The Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Com- pany platted the town, and recorded it Sep- tember 29, 1855.
It is situated on the northwest quarter of Section 10, Township 39, Range 9, and its ele- vation above Lake Michigan is 182 feet. By the last census the village contained 1,125 in- habitants, having attained these numbers not by a spasmodie but a steady growth.
The machine shops and other buildings of the Chicago & North-Western Railroad Com- pany consist of a freight-house, built in 1856; two water tanks, one built in 1862, the other in 1865; round-house, built in 1864; rail mill and depot, both built in 1869; junction round- house and repairs shops, repairs engine tools and machinery; at rail mill, rails are cut, straightened, drilled and reslotted; twenty- horse power engine at round-house, and em- ploys thirty-two men; at rail mill, uses forty- horse power engine, and employs eleven men. Foreman of shop and rail mill, David Hanney.
SCHOOLS OF TURNER JUNCTION.
Its pioneer school was taught in a log house situated on property now owned by E. Carey. Miss Sarah Carter was its first teacher, but in 1856 school was kept in a small building standing on the spot now occupied by the Con- gregational Church, when Miss Arvilla Currier taught. She is now the wife of Charles M. Clark, a well-known citizen of the place. The next year a two-story schoolhouse was built on North street, in the eastern part of the town, in which the school was continued for sixteen years. When the present building for the graded school was finished, which was in 1873, John Tye, William Ripley and Charles M. Clark were Directors, and also constituted the build- ing committee. The entire cost of the build- ing was $23,502.50. It contains four rooms- being one for each department; a recitation room, a library room and lecture room in the basement.
The course of study includes only English branches, but classical and foreign languages are taught outside of the regular course.
Miss H. F. Yakeley has been Principal for seven years. Miss Lizzie Davis, Miss Addie Everden, Miss Louisa Anthony and Miss Annie Lockwood are the names of the teachers.
Under the charge of the Principal, the school has won distinction in the county for its good
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WINFIELD TOWNSHIP.
discipline. And here it is due to its credit to state that Mr. Clark, who has been Director ever since 1872, gives Miss Yakeley credit for managing the school with so much discretion as to leave him little care to distract his atten- tion from his daily routine of other responsi- bilities. It is also due to the credit of Miss Emma Davies, who formerly had charge of the Primary Department, to say that her system of training and gymnastic drilling of the little ones under her charge won the admiration of all who beheld it. The School Board of Rockford, who came to the place to witness it, pronounced hers the best drilled class in the State.
A library of 300 volumes has been provided for the school, from the proceeds of its exhibi- tions. The average attendance is about 250. from an enrollment of 300.
CHURCHES.
Methodist Episcopal Church .- " Just when the church at Turner was built the records do not show, but believed to have been during 1857 and 1858. The parsonage was built some ten years later.
" In all this work Charles Gary was a leading spirit. His house was a preaching place in 1835. He was many years a class leader ; March 23, 1850, licensed to preach ; four years later, assistant preacher ; and in 1861 ordained Deacon. To his long and faithful services, as much as to any other, is dne the establishment of Turner Methodist Episcopal Church.
" Most of the fathers have passed to their re- ward. As far as we can learn, only Erastus Gary and Edward D. Wheedon remain of those who composed the quarterly conference of the original Du Page Circuit.
" Turner now stands in the front rank of vil- lage churches on Chicago District. During the last year, 123 different names were on her reg- ister, twenty-one were baptized and $198.58 contributed for benevolent purposes."
Rev. William H. Holmes is the present pas- tor of the church. He has recently written a "History of Early Methodism in Du Page County and Adjacent Territory," from which the above sketch has been copied rerbatim.
German M. E. Church .- The Methodist Epis- copal Church of the Germans was organized in the spring of 1864 by about a dozen men. Rev. John G. Keller came from Aurora to preach every Sunday, services being held in the Ger- man language at the Methodist Church already organized by the American portion of the community, where English services were held.
The name of the present pastor is Jacob Shafer, who resides also in Aurora, and preaches once in two weeks in the German language to this church, in the house owned by their Amer- ican brethren.
German Evangelical Church .- The German Evangelical Protestant Church was established in the summer of 1870, and the church edifice finished the same year. Mr. John M. Faessler was appointed on the building committee, in connection with Rev. Julius Schumm.
Mr. Schumm was pastor nearly two years when he was succeeded by Rev. Gustave Koch. He was succeeded by Rev. Jacob Furrer, who remained nearly two years, when the pulpit was supplied for about a year by theological stu- dents from the Melancthon College in Elmhurst. Rev. Fredrick Boeber was the next ordained pastor, who remained about a year. Rev. Hen- rich Wolf came next, and remained about three years, and was succeeded by Rev. William Hat- tendorf, the present pastor.
The church is out of debt and in a flourish- ing situation.
A parsonage was built in 1881 and a German school in attachment to it. The school is taught by the minister. 1
Congregational Church .- On May 17, 1856, this church was organized with the following members : Dr. J. McConnell, Jobn L. Haga-
.
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
done, Margaret Hagadone, Mary Town. Rev. Lot Church as pastor, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Watkins from Vermont, adopting the Constitu- tion, Discipline and Articles of Faith of the Fox River Union, Dr. J. McConnell and J. L. Hagadone its first Deacons. The next minister called was Rev. Mr. Champlin, who preached off and on until the church was re-organized March 30, 1867, finding at that time only seven members remaining, and all of them females. A meeting was called by the Rev. J. E. Roy, who was then acting as Home Mission- ary, for the purpose of organizing and building a church on the lot given by J. B. Turner, where the present church remains at present, with the following members : W. J. Wilson, Mrs. H. M. Nelson, Mr. Esbon Morrill and wife, Mrs. Charlotte Delton, Dr. H. C. French, Msr. Julia A. French, making in all fourteen mem- bers. Steps were then taken to build a house of worship, Rev. J. E. Roy supplying the pul- pit, preaching in the Methodist Episcopal Church until the church was built, which was dedicated March 8, 1868, out of debt. Rev. J. D. Davis was called from the Chicago Semi- nary, who preached six months during vaca. tion (was then a student), after which Rev. I. B. Smith was called, and preached about two years. The Rev. A. R. Thain was called, and preached three years. Rev. Mr. Fox was the next pastor, who preached one year. After that, the Rev. H. M. Skeels was called, and preached five years. The present pastor is Rev. E. L. Hill. The church has a member- ship of eighty members, with the present offi- cers, T. Brown, C. K. Sanders and E. Boynton, Trustees ; Watson and Manvill, Deacons ; W. J. Wilson, Clerk, with a large Sunday school of over one hundred members, with a good libra- ry, and the following officers : W. J. Wilson, Superintendent ; R. T. Robinson, Assistant ; T. Evendon, Librarian ; J. Grove, Clerk ; Mrs. C. K. Sanders, Treasurer .- W. J. WILSON, Church Clerk.
CATHOLIC CHURCHI.
Services are held once in two weeks by Rev. Dominick Spellman, who resides at Anrora.
LODGES.
Amity Lodge No. 472, A., F. & A. M., was chartered October 3, A. D. 1866, A. L. 5866.
Charter Members : John H. Lakey, Joseph McConnell, Richard W. Bushnell, Joel Wiant, H. H. Ketcham, John McWilliams, John Tyc. F. F. Loveland, J. Newbarger, William Ripley. Jr., M. Fessler, A. H. Wiant, G. McAuley and Thomas Wiant. The following brethren were installed as the officers at that time. John H. Lakey, W. M .; Joseph McConnell, S. W .; Rich- ard W. Bushnell, J. W.
After changing places of meeting several times, this lodge finally secured a nicely-fitted and well-adorned hall in Casper Voll's brick block, which was subsequently destroyed by fire, the lodge losing everything, but were happily insured for money enough to enable them to furnish another hall on a more limited scale, but comfortable and convenient, with all the requisite appurtenances. The present offi- cers are G. M. D. Gregory, W. M .; James T. Hosford, S. W .; Robert T. Robertson, J. W .; Lyman C. Clark, Chaplain ; Henry Bradley, Treasurer ; William P. Reed, Secretary ; John McWilliams, S. D .; Joseph A. Norris, J. D .; George Cary, S. S .; James Funston, J. S .; Ed- ward Morgan, Tiler.
LIST OF BUSINESS MEN AND HOUSES.
Thomas Hosford, Mayor.
John C. Neltner, general store.
Wiant & Stevens, general store.
J. E. West, general store.
Reed & Stark, general store. Charles Norris, furniture.
O. C. Woodworth, groceries.
Prof. Crossman, groceries.
T. V. Otis, hardware and tin.
C. W. Gary, hardware and tin.
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WINFIELD TOWNSHIP.
Mrs. George Briggs, restaurant. Clinton Neltner, restaurant and bakery. Thomas Barfield, restaurant. Mrs. F. Coart, milliner and dressmaking. Miss S. Dempsey, milliner and dressmaking. L. Renspergher, shoemaker. Charles J. Schlupp, shoemaker. Joseph Schalz, shoemaker. Frederick Thoro, saloon. Crist Wahl, saloon. Mrs. Hahn, saloon. Frank Whitton, butcher. Charles Gorham, stock-buyer. Abram Pierson, stock-buyer. Weger & Bradly, grain and stock-buyers. Benjamin Howarth, livery and sale stable. John Sargent, livery and sale stable. John E. Standize, farm machinery, etc. Charles Clark, Inmber, coal. lime, salt, etc. Frederick Weger, jeweler. Henry Boyer, barber. Joseph Brown, barber. William Ripley, hotel. David Springer, hotel. Benjamin Whitmarsh, boarding house. E. T. Wilcox, physician and surgeon. A. C. Cotton, physician and surgeon. G. L. Madison, physician and surgeon. E. L. Hill, Congregational pastor. W. H. Holmes, Methodist pastor. William Hottendorf, German Evangelical Church pastor.
Father Dominick Spellman, Catholic priest. Conrad Jaeger, blacksmith. Charles Jourdon, blacksmith. F. A. Elsemis, wagon-maker. Herain Vergil, carpenter and joiner. Albert ITills, carpenter and joiner. John Norris & Son, carpenter and joiner. Robert Norris, earpenter and joiner. Augustus Norris, carpenter and joiner. Henry Keller, carpenter and joiner. Anthony Deitch, carpenter and joiner. Anthony Gertz, carpenter and joiner.
James Fisk, carpenter and joiner. M. Kipp, carpenter and joiner. Nelson H. Lyon, painter and glazier. William Foster, painter and glazier. Crist Wahl, Jr., painter and glazier. John Groves, painter and glazier. Charles Goodin, painter and glazier. John C. Neltnor, nurseryman, etc.
D. Wilson, glove and mitten manufacturer. Andrew Murphy, stone and brick mason. John S. Barber, stone and brick mason. Frank Donehoe, stone and brick mason.
John Almindinger, stone and brick mason. Dr. W. J. Wilson, general insurance agent.
L. C. Clark, life insurance agent. Albert Wiant, Government gauger.
L. H. Manville, mail agent. John E. West, music teacher, etc. James Lenwyck, railroad blacksmith.
Thomas MeGraw, railroad blacksmith.
S. P. Tillotson, railroad carpenter.
M. A. Heiser, boiler-maker. Robert Robertson, machinist. Jolın Maiden, machinist.
John Neibergher, machinist. Capt. D. Hull, machinist.
Cheese factory, 5,000 pounds of milk re- ceived daily; 400 pounds of cheese and 150 pounds of butter made daily. John Newman, proprietor.
TURNER RESIDENTS DOING BUSINESS IN CHI-
CAGO.
Albert Wiant, Government gauger.
L. H. Manville, mail agent.
L. C. Clark, life insurance agent. Clarence Bradly, clerk. Henry Boyer, Jr., clerk.
D. Ahern, salesman.
John Mc Williams, salesman.
Dr. A. Colton, physician, etc. John E. West, music teacher. N. Allen.
C. K. Saunders.
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
PUBLICATIONS.
The Fruit and Flower Grower and Vegetable Gardener, published quarterly, three numbers in one, by John C. Neltner, Turner Junction, Ill
Turner Junction News, published weekly, by J. Russell Smith.
WINFIELD.
This town grew up as a station on the old Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, which passed through the place in 1849, and John Hodges was the first station agent. A store was soon after opened at the place, by Andrew Vandusen, who also kept a tavern. January 25, 1853, a plat of the village, made by James P. Doe, was recorded as the village of Frede- ricksburg, situate upon Sections 12 and 13, Town 39, Range 9. The present depot was built in 1854, at which time there was an ex- tensive brewery at the place, and a lumber yard-the latter kept by John Collins. Much freight at that time came to and from the place, to and from Naperville, it being their nearest railroad point. Gilbert S. Higgins is the pres- ent Postmaster ; Adalbert Jewell, station agent, and the following are the names of the present business firms, etc. :
General stores, George Fehrman & Son ; M. Hills.
Tavern, John Casper.
Insurance agent and Notary Public, Jacob Miller.
Tailor, Nicholas Berker.
Blacksmith, Henry Hamschmidt.
Carpenter, William Hastert.
Wagon-maker, Valentine Weinrich.
Boot and shoe-maker, Anton Schmitt.
Winfield Creamery, consumes 6,000 pounds of milk, manufactures 120 pounds of butter and 425 pounds of cheese daily on an average.
Parish priest, Rev. John Wiedenhold.
Church of St John the Baptist .- This church was built in 1867 by the people of Winfield. It was first attended to by one of the Benedictine Fathers, from St. Joseph's Church, Chicago, until 1869, March 1. After this date, Rev. Father John Wiederhold was appointed as pas- tor of this church, who keeps the pulpit there up to this time. The parish numbered, at its beginning, about thirty families, but at present the number is about eighty-five. In course of time, the church, being only 45x30 feet long and twenty-seven feet high, became too small for the still growing congregation, and in 1879 they found it necessary to enlarge the church to the extension of 100 feet. In February, 1880, it was completed, and duly blessed on the 2d of that month by Very Rev. J. McMullen.
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