USA > Illinois > Grundy County > History of Grundy County, Illinois > Part 35
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Game consisted principally of wild hogs and wolves. There were some deer to be found in the timber, and smaller game such as squirrels, woodeheks and prairie chickens on the prairie, but the first named
animals furnished the principal sport. Wild hogs were such as had wandered off from the older settlements and gone wild in the course of nature. They were of a long- legged, gaunt species, and kept the timber pretty closely. They were no particular damage or annoyance to the early settlers, but furnished capital hunting sport. though of not very long duration. The wolves were of the coyote speeies and hannted the open prairies. These were of more annoyance to the settlements, and a bounty was early offered by the county for their scalps, and is still paid when claimed by hunters. They were a small undersized breed, and would make the night dismal with their howling, though they never attacked full- sized animals or persons. There were no sheep in the township, but young ealves often fell an easy vietim to these insatiable beasts, and young pigs when alone or ae- companied only by the mother sow were often captured. They were linnted with dogs, and when run down would fall on their baeks and fight very much like a eat. On frozen ground and when filled by a recent meal they were run down without much difficulty on horseback, as they seemed to avoid the timber and would risk capture rather than go into it. An in- stanee is related where a wolf was thus run down and suddenly seized by the hinder leg as he lay on the ground ready to fight, was whirled about the hunter's head and killed by bringing him forcibly on the ground. Their nature of late years, how- ever, seems to have undergone a decided change. They now attain a much larger size and inhabit the timber almost exclu- sively. Occasionally one is still shot and exhibited as quite a curiosity. Prairie
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
chickens are still found, though in decreas- ing numbers, and serve to attract sports- inen from less favored localities.
Wauponsee was in the line of carly trav- el-one of the principal traveled routes passing through its territory-and the old hotel on the Mazon was for some time a point of considerable importance. But the regulation of the roads, the building of railroads and the location of the county seat so near at hand, have all conspired to discourage the growth of any village withi- in its borders. Its only centers of attrac- tion are the school-houses and a church building, situated rather southeast of the center of the township. There was occa- sional preaching in the cabins by passing ministers as early as '34 or '35, but the first regnlar services were held in Wanponsee Grove, just over the township line, in 1837 or 'S, by a Rev. Mr. Rogers, of the South Ottawa circuit. In 1839, Harvey Had- ley, of the same circuit, officiated, fol- lowed by Jno. F. Devore, who was the means of a great revival in 1842 or '3.
The Mormons were also early in the field, and had their preachers ont quite regularly until 1844. Elder Pratt is especially re- membered as one of these Evangelists of the Latter Day Saints. They made several converts to their peculiar doctrines, some of whom left for Nanvoo, but the majority lost their faith and "slid back." The first church organization in the township, however, was the Wanponsee Methodist Episcopal Church. J. W. and J. P. Riding, though of Congregational proclivities, were prom- inent in its early organization, but subse- quently withdrew. For nearly ten years it held its meetings in the cabins around un- til about 1872, when, under the lead of Mr.
Morgan Button, an effort was put forth for a regular place of worship. The result of these efforts is the neat wooden edifice in which the church now worships. It was dedicated in Angust, 1873, and cost some $3,000.
Schools were not established until after the formation of the county. The com- munity was small, and there were but few scholars to attend if such had been started. But in 1843 a school was opened in a log eabin erected in the center of section 20, and was kept by Amanda Pickering. This was not a public school, but supported by the patrons, who " swapped " pork, corn, etc., with a little money, for the less ma- terialistic benefit received by their children. This was one of the earliest schools in the county, and the cabin is still pointed ont. The second school-house, which was known as the "Satterly School House," was con- structed of logs on the east line of seetion 15, about 1848, where its site is now marked by a modern structure, in which the chil- dren of to-day go to school. This old school- house was for years used as town hall for' the regular town meetings and occasional religious services. But since then how marked the change! Neat school-honses are found in every quarter of the township, where advanced methods and improved means unite to fit the rich and poor alike for the duties and dangers of life.
NOTE .-- The Cicada, or Seventeen-year Locust, has been a visitant of this country, as elsewhere, and since first noticed has been regular in its coming. It was first noticed in 1837, and in June of that year began to attract very general attention. They came out of the ground about the last of May, and by the middle of June seemed to have taken possession of the country. A sudden jar on a small bush would put to flight as many as could be put into an ordinary
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
pil, and during the middle part of the day their noise would drown the tones of a cow-bell a hundred yards away. They took every green thing in their way, and it was estimated that fully one-third of the leaf-bearing twigs on the oak timber on the eastern banks of the Mazon was destroyed by their "prod- ding" to deposit eggs.
In 1854 the locusts began to appear about the 28th of May. They came out of the ground a large bug, which fastened itself to a twig for an hour or two, when its encasing shell parting along the central line of the back, disclosed the ravaging locust. In a few days the country began to resound with their noise, but a heavy rain early in June seemed to destroy large numbers. By the middle of June they began to deposit their eggs, and becoming fat and enerva-
ted by their gorging, fell an easy prey to the birds, which destroyed large numbers. They went away as rapidly as they came, and by July Ist nothing but dried fragments of the insect coukl be discovered.
In 1871 farmers were expecting the return of the locust invasion, and kept a keen watch for the first appearance of the scourge. On the 20th of May the bug was plowed up, and by the 25th they had be- come quite numerous above ground. On June 7 these insects killed sirty apple trees for L. W. Clay- pool, though they had been planted three years. By July 2nd there could be heard now and then one in the woods, but all the rest had gone. In the later visits the locusts were much less numerous than in 1837.
CHAPTER XVI .*
FELIX TOWNSIIIP-ITS TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES-PIONEERS-FLOODS-SICKNESS-JUG- TOWN-THE SILENT CITY.
66 "W IIAT'S in a name?" Certainly, not very much when it stands for a designating mark only; as country hos- tlers are wont to chalk numbers on vehicles to identify them in the payment of the reekoning. "Infelix" would have been more suggestive of impressions derived from an early experience in this section of Grundy County; but the early "powers" held Felix Grundy, Tennessee's brilliant advocate, in high esteem, and this precinct, the youngest of the fourteen, was selected to bear the Christian name of him whom the county honored. There was little ap- propriateness in this selection and the name serves rather to emphasize the unpleasant peenliarities of the precinct than to do honor to its namesake. This township lies in the eastern tier of the county; is bound- ed on the north by the Illinois River, on the east by Will County, on the south by Brace- ville Township, and on the west by the meandering line of the Mazon River and Wauponsee Township. Its outline is quite irregular, and measures seven miles in its widest part, and from the most northerly point on the river to the southern boundary, it stretches out some seven and a half miles. The general surface is low. In the north- east corner the high land abuts upon the river. and from this point gradually recedes,
forming bottom lands, nearly two miles in width in some places; the road which fol- lows the general course of the river. mark- ing the general line of the high lands. Im- mediately south of this line the land sinks somewhat into what was originally low wet meadows, marked by broken outeroppings of limerock and bowlders. On the north- ern half of sections 9, 10, and 11, is Goose Lake, a relic, probably, of the great water- course that onee overflowed this region and carried the waters of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. This body of water is a sedgy lake of swampy tendeneies, measuring some three miles from east to west, and little more than a half mile wide. In seasons of high water this lake finds an outlet into the Kankakce. South of this is a ridge extending east and west through the central part of the township, originally covered with a considerable growth of tim- ber; and again, south of this. another space of swamp land succeeds, which in turn is bounded on the south by a sand ridge. Clay- pool Run drained this swamp into the Ma- zon, and more recent cultivation has length- ened this run and improved the lands. The natural drainage is slight, the various runs finding their way into the Mazon from the western end of Goose Lake, and the swamp lands, in the southeast corner, and another draining the eastern middle portions of the township into the Kankakee River. These
*By I. II. Battle.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
runs are but sluggish streams, and searcely do more than to mark the lowest portion of the low grounds. The soil is principally a low wet clay, a deposit near the western end of the lake proving admirable material for the manufacture of coarse pottery. While a considerable part of the township is un ler a good degree of cultivation, the greater part is devoted to grazing, Mr. Holderman giving especial attention to stock raising.
Among those earliest identified with the interests of this township, was Peter Lamp- sett. lle was a "character" in his way and was a relic of that large and at one t me influential elass of pioneers, the Cana- dian voyageur. He trapped through this country as early as 1820, and this location especially suiting his pursuits, attracted and held him here long after the rest of his class had moved further north. He was known among the earliest settlers as " Specie," a name given him by the resi- dents of the county, beanse he invariably refused to accept paper money in his deal- ings. He seems to have accepted this name good-naturedly, and his descendants, still found in this region, have adopted it as their surname. " Specie Grove" in DeKalb County was named for him, and is likely to prove his most enduring monument. He lived on the Mazon, but never owned any land there, maintaining a homestead by right of his squatter sovereignty, and cultivating only a small patch for garden- ing purposes. Ile first discovered coal in the county and picking out such as showed itself where the Mazon uncovered it, sold it to the blacksmiths of the vicinity. W. A. Holloway came into the township from Wauponsee in 1835, bought land on section 12 near where the wooden bridge was put
across the Mazon. He was not satisfied with the country here, however, and in 1840 left this county for Bloomington, Wis. Mr. Abram Holderman bought land in the northern part of the township about 1835. Ile placed his son Henry on the farm, but he stayed only a year or two when he became tired of the place and went further west. Then another sou, Bar- ton, took possession, but in a short time he left for Missouri in search of brighter for- tunes, and in 1847 or 1848 Samnel Holder- man took possession. He found here the materials for building up a fine fortune, and gradually added more land to his place until he owned some five thousand acres on which he pastured droves of some of the finest eattle in the country. This large farm has but recently been sold to Mr. Jerry Collins. In 1839, Abram White, from the Fox River settlements, Mr. Kelso and Mar- tin Luther, eame to the township.
Among the earliest settlers of the county, though not so early in Felix, was John Beard. He was a southerner by birth and early emigrated from Maryland to Pennsyl- vania, thence to Indiana, and later to the month of the An Sable. He was a man of abont fifty-five years of age when he came to this country, and was probably in- duced to come here by the bright prospeet for speculation which the canal lands prom- ised. To these early pioneers the lands along the route of the proposed canal of- fered inducements similar to the western lands which now lie along the rapidly con- strueting railroads in the west. The gov- ernment sections were no sooner in the market than they were taken up by settlers and speculators, and real estate in this re- gion carly rose to fabulous prices for the
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
time and place. The lands were known far and near among moneyed men and many who had means and a taste for pioneer life, put both funds and personal comfort into the speeulation. Mr. Beard had a large family, several of his children being mar- ried, and though there were few considera- tions urging him at his age to take npon himself the further privations of frontier life, he could not resist the temptation to try his fortune here. He came overland in a three-horse wagon, without incident, and settled at the mouth of the Au Sable River about 1833. Here he remained one or two years, when he conceived the idea of founding a city at the head of the Illinois between the Desplaines and Kankakee Riv- ers. This it was hoped would be the head of navigation, and here, situated on a hill with admirable natural advantages, was destined to grow a bubble similar in kind to the South Sea and Great Mississippi schemes. In the meantime Mr. Beard had been joined at the month of the Au Sable by his son-in-law, James McKean, with his family. They came from Penn- sylvania with a wagon drawn by three yoke of oxen, and driving several cows and 150 hogs. The progress of such a caravan was necessarily slow, making about fifteen miles per day. The Indians were found in large numbers all along their journey, but always friendly and frequently render- ing valuable assistance in getting the herd of swine out of the bushes. As it was, some forty were lost on the journey, and it is probable that while the "noble red man" would not steal a hog before the eyes of the owner, these estrays generally turned up in an Indian eamp, and furnished a sat- i-factory meal to the savages. After living
at the mouth of the Au Sable for several years, MeKean joined his father-in-law on the Kankakee. Here about 1839, the uni- ted families put up a large saw-mill, the machinery for which was bought in New York, shipped to Chicago and brought thenee with infinite trouble to its destined location.
About 1838, William White with two sons, J. L. and William, came from Mari- etta, Ohio, and settled in Felix. Mr. White was a soldier in the war of 1812, and now draws a pension. He is still a vigor- ons old veteran of ninety-four years of age.
The early settlers in this township came into elose relations with the Indians, who were here in considerable numbers. The abundance of game attracted them, and the settlers finding them well disposed, encour- aged their stay by numberless little courte- sies. The earliest families would have found it quite diffieult, if not impossible, to put up their log cabins if it had not been for the help of these natives. When hogs or cattle strayed, the Indians could always be trusted to give reliable informa- tion concerning them, and would frequent- ly go long distances to bring them back to a favorite white man. MeKean seems to have been especially favored in this way. It is related that one day he missed some fifty of his large herd of swine. On in- quiry of the Indians he learned where they were. Finding the hogs were his, the na- tives proposed to go and get them, but wishing to identify them himself, they ac- companied him and helped to drive the an- imals home, for which assistance MeKean gave them one of the animals. Subse- quently, when the final treaty was made with them, and before their removal, Me-
.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
Kean's cabin was thronged with Indians, to whom his wife furnished breakfast every morning as regularly as to her own family. At the payment of the sum stipulated in the treaty, the Indians urged MeKean to present his bill for their entertainment, but, being satisfied with the return they had made him, he refused altogether. Mar- quis, of Wauponsee, was more willing to do this, and preferred a claim of 8500, which the Indians, who disliked him very much, refused to acknowledge, saying they had paid him for everything they got, and so the commissioners allowed him nothing.
Deer, squirrels, otter, raccoons, musk- rats, inhabited the woods and marshes, while prairie chickens, quails and wolves were found in the open country. Deer were unusually plentiful here, and men go- ing ont after their cows and taking their guns, seldom failed to bring back the hams of a fine animal as trophies of their marks- manship. It very early became the habit of the pioneers to take only the hams of venison, leaving the rest of the careass to the wolves and dogs, and it was no unusual thing to see twenty-five hams curing in the smoking-house at onee. This abun- dance of game was a great relief to many of the pioncers. Easy as hogs were kept, and numerous as they became in later years, MeKean, who kept a large herd, found ample market for all he could raise among the farmers in this region. Many who could not buy, lived on this abundant game, though it soon became tiresome to the taste and proved a poor substitute for beef and pork.
But there was something to be done be- side hunt. This would sustain life, but would not subdue the wilderness nor bring
in the happy reign of civilization. The earliest effort was made to get a crop of eorn. The first crop was planted by cutting a gash in the inverted sod with an axe, drop- ping the corn and closing it by another blow beside the first. Or it was dropped in every third furrow and the sod turned on it; if the corn was so placed as to find the space between the furrows, it would find day- light; if not, the result of the planting was extremely doubtful. Of course cultivation in this case was impossible, and if the squirrels and erows gave the erop an oppor- tunity to mature, it generally proved a sat- isfactory return. At first there was no market for the surplus product, and there was only the household and the limited amount of stock to provide for. Wheat was not cultivated here to any extent; the location was not suited to it, and farmers preferred to buy what they needed for their own use, while giving their whole attention to grazing and corn. The lack of milling facilities was another inconvenience that amounted to a hardship. The nearest place where eorn or wheat could be ground was at Green's mill, in Dayton. Here, when the roads were passable, the people brought their corn or wheat, and waited with such patience as they could command until they could be served. This waiting frequently consumed a weck, and customers of this mill always went prepared to stay until they got their " grist," as the journey hither was not one to be undertaken lightly. But more discouraging than these were the annual floods which regularly visited this township, and brought in their train de- struction and disease, harder to bear than any amount of difficulties which energy and pluck might surmount.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
Life, in a new country, is everywhere subjected to the misery of malarions dis- eases. The clearing off of timber or the breaking up of prairie sod, involving the rapid decay of large quantities of vegeta- ble matter, gave rise to the inevitable mni- asma, which wrought its sure work upon the human system. "Such sickness was generally confined to the last of the sum- mer and fall. There was but little sick- ness in winter except a few lingering fall cases that hal become chronic; there were but few cases after severe frosts, and the spring and early summer were perfectly healthy. It was commonly remarked that when the bloom of the resin weed and other yellow flowers appeared it was time to look for the ague. The first spring flowers on the prairie were mostly pink and white, then followed purple and blue, and about the middle of August yellow predominated.
" High water in spring, flooding the bottoms and filling the lagoons and low places along the streams, and then dry- ing off with the hot sun of July and An- gust, was a fruitful cause of disease, and in such localities it was often qnite sickly, while the high prairie was comparatively exempt." * Felix was especially exposed to these inundations, and hardly a year passed without an extensive overflow. The one of 1837 is especially remembered. In the early spring of this year, a sudden flood broke up the ice, which, forming a gorge, held back the waters until their weight made the ice give way, and the flood of water and ice made its way down the Illi- nois, submerging the islands in its conrse and flooding its banks until even the high-
lands were reached, threatening destruc- tion to homes and stock which were sup- posed to be out of the reach of anything save another deluge. IInge masses of ice were lodged upon the banks in every con- ceivable shape, which, gradually melting in the spring suns, kept the soaked earth sat- urated until the middle of summer, when the hot stifling weather of August gave rise to an unusual amount of sickness all along the river. "That season, exagger- ated and fearful stories were sent over the country in relation to the sickness. A cor- respondent of an Eastern paper stated that he saw in a cemetery at La Salle, 300 graves that had never been rained on, and that in a new country where a settlement was but just commenced. This might have been true, but the cemetery belonged to the Catholics, and was the only one this side of Chicago, and thousands of men were there at work on the canal, and they nearly all came to La Salle for burial; and this was late in the fall when there had been no rain for nearly six months." *
Although there was but little to attract emigration to Felix, and later years have demonstrated its ineligibility as a site for a city, yet two very considerable towns have found a place and varied ex- perience within its limits. Jugtown was what its name implies, a place where pot- tery interests centered. A bed of good potter's clay was found near the western end of Goose Lake, and in 1853, William White, of Chicago, put up the necessary buildings and machinery for the manufact- ure of drain tile especially for the Chicago market. Such clay was not to be found
*Hist. of La Salle County-Baldwin.
* Baldwin.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
. readily, and there seemed to be a bright prospect for the enterprise. The business expanded, some forty or fifty men were employed, and gathering about the works with their families made quite a town of their settlement. A great difficulty was miet at the very outset in the lack of ship- ping facilities. The roads were poor at best, and the product of the works had to be hauled to Morris for shipment, though considerable effort was made to utilize the Kankakee fecder to obviate this distance. This did not prove successful, and the en- terprise gradually went to decay, and with the business went the town, leaving little but the searred earth to mark its site.
Kankakee City was a more pretentious aggregation of honses, though hardly so well established in faet. The projected canal was the subject of the most absurd speculations. Its leading advocate in Con- gress, Daniel P. Cook, deelared in a doc- ument addressed to his constituents, " that in less than thirty years it would relieve the people from the payment of taxes, and even leave a surplus to be applied to other works of publie utility." Such estimates were industriously circulated by the friends of this great seheme among the capitalists of the East, and so little experience was had in such matters then, and so prone were people to believe in the existence of an "El Dorado " in the little known West, that capital forgot its traditional eaution, and seemed to struggle to reach its fate. When the government put up its share of these lands for sale there was an excited struggle between the actual settlers and the speenlators, which resulted in the victory of the settlers who secured the land which they had improved, and what they eould
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