History of Grundy County, Illinois, Part 37

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 506

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now, generally drying up in the hot months of the summer and assuming a short-lived importance in the spring or on the occasion of a freshet. Their early history, however, was not quite so tame, when from various causes, the water passed off less readily, and swollen with the spring freshet, these streams overflowed their low banks, unit- ing their waters and giving a large part of the township the appearance of' a lake from six inches to two feet deep. The timber was originally found along these streams, the principal bodies being known as Wan- ponsee Grove, Jolinny Grove, and Owen's Spring, on section 24. The farmers give the most of their attention to raising corn, though this is alternated largely with stock- raising, as the corn market proves more or less profitable. There is a gradual increase in the amount of corn fed from year to year, and many of the best farmers believe this to be the most profitable disposition to make of the corn crop. Dairying is becoming a more marked feature here also, the cream- ery established in Mazon giving quite an impetus to this branch of farming industry.

The first settlement of the township was begun in 1833 by A. K. Owen, who, in company with Dr. L. S. Robbins, John Hogoboom and others, came into the pres- ent territory of Grundy County on a pros- pecting expedition. To this party of ex- plorers the southern portion of the county

* By J. H. Battle.

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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

is principally indebted for its early settle- ment, and it will doubtless be found inter- esting to learn something of the history of the leader of this party and at the same time gain some knowledge of the content- poraneous history of the northern part of the State.

Mr. Owen has left an autobiography from which the following is taken: "My first visit to Illinois was in the summer of 1819. I made my way from Syracuse, N. Y., which then contained a population of one family engaged in publie eutertain- ment. The next town of any note was Buffalo, which was then being rebuilt after the burning by the Indians and Canadians during the war of 1812-15. The next town was Cleveland, composed of one store, three or four mechanical shops and eight or ten families; next was Columbus, Ohio, containing 300 inhabitants. The first mill was then being built on the Scioto River. The next town was Dayton, composed of abont a dozen families; next Eaton, of six or eight families; Conersville, of one fam- ily ; then two days' journey to Terre Hante, through a wilderness, guided by a blazed trail, but where no wagon had ever passed. The population of Terre Haute consisted of about a dozen families, and here two flat- boats had been launched and loaded with goods for trade lower down on the river. From Terre Haute the ronte lay to Ed- wardsville, Ill., where a population of 250 or 300 was found. Here I attended a trial for murder-People v. Edwards-for the killing of Daniel D. Smith, the U. S. land agent. After a three days' trial, in which the acensed was ably defended by Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, Edwards was ac- qnitted, and Grundy, mounting his horse,

took his fee, in shape of a thousand dollar negress, behind him on his horse and paced off for home.

"North and west from Edwardsville there were no settlements whatever. My object had been to hunt up two quarter sections of land upon the bounty traet, but the land agent having been killed and his place not yet supplied, all I could do was to take on a full cargo of fever and ague and return to New York.

" My next visit to Illinois was in the spring of 1827 or 1828. I journeyed from Hazlegreen, Alabama, on horseback to Quincy, Ill. It was a very wet season, and I had creeks to swim more or less every day, carrying my saddle bags on my shoulders. I ferried the Mississippi at Golcondee, six miles from the mouth ot the Illinois, there being very little settle- ment thereabouts. The whole of the mili- tary tract was then included in Pike County. Some fifteen or twenty miles above the month of the Illinois, under the Mississippi bluff, was a little town called Atlas, settled by two Ross families. From there to Quincy were two families, Harrison and Thomas. At Quincy were also two fami- lies, Woods and Keys, and one single man, H. II. Snow. The first county election took place a few days after my arrival. Snow was elected circuit and county clerk, recorder and justice of the peaee; Wood and Keys held the balance of the offiees with the exception of sheriff' and constable, which were bestowed upon me. In An- gust of the same year I accompanied the first wagon from Quiney to Galena. The Sac and Fox Indians inhabited Rock Island with two military companies on the island. There were no other whites on the route.

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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

At Galena there were two small trading posts, a few miners, but not a white woman . above Quincy. In August of the next year I was again in company with the first wagon from Galena to Chicago, crossing Roek River above Rockford. The popula- tion of Chicago was then abont 900, with two companies of troops at Fort Dearborn.

"In 1829, we obtained permission to or- ganize a county. At a meeting held for this purpose the name of Daviess was sug- gested for the new county, but it was ob- jeeted that there was then a county by that name in the State. At this, John Arm- strong jumped up and suggested Jo Da- viess, which was accepted. I remained at Galena until the fall of 1830, when I took what was called " the sueker shoot;" went down the river to winter, which was a very common thing with the winers. I put up for winter quarters on Faney Creek, eight iniles north of Springfield, which then eon- tained just four families and a tread-mill for grinding corn.

" In the spring of 1831, I found myself the wealthy owner of two horses and har- ness, but no wagon, so I ent a couple of poles for thills, put eross pieces behind the horse, set on my elothes trunk, hitched my other horse in front, and then, whip and single line in hand, set my face north- ward to seek my fortune. The first good fortune I met was in the person of Chloe, only daughter of Ezekiel Stacey, living on Oxbow prairie. Just there and then we made a life-long contraet, got consent of her parents, and next morning I proceeded on my northward journey to locate and prepare a home. That night I reaelied the eabin of a Mr. Long, three miles south of Ottawa on Coville Creek. Mrs. Long

was very low with dyspepsia and had to be fed every half hour. IIer husband being exhausted by his unremitting attention, I volunteered to care for her through the night and did so, and the next morning while harnessing my horses, George Walk- er, the first sheriff of La Salle County, summoned me to appear forthwith to serve on the grand jury, it being the first session of the eirenit court of this county. Of course I pleaded non-residence, but the sheriff informed me that he had summoned every eligible man in the county and still lacked one, and I must serve. So I went to Ottawa and was appointed foreman of the jury. For want of a better place we held onr deliberations under two maple trees on the bank of the river, situated about ten yards apart. Our constable was Moses Booth, and he was kept busy run- ning from one tree to the other to keep the hogs ont of hearing distance of our deliber- ations. The only complaint before the jury was for breach of promise, but the jury brought in no bill. On presentation of this report, the judge complimented the good people of the county as a law-abiding community, from the fact that they had nothing for the grand jury to do. At din- ner time we sent the constable to David Walker's, the only cabin in the place, to en- gage our dinners, and got answer that he had but two rooms, one for the court and one for the kitchen, and that the judge and attorneys had monopolized these aecommo- dations. We got some crackers and cheese, however, at a little trading post kept by George Walker, and was allowed to enjoy this frugal meal only through the indefati- gable energy of our constable who kept the hogs at bay. Ou being dismissed from the

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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

grand jury, I returned to Mr. Long's, and at his earnest solicitation bought his claim, giving him one of my horses and two months' work.

"On the 17th of July, 1831, I bor- rowed a horse and six dollars in cash from Mr. Long, and went to Oxbow prairie and redeemed my vow; then returned and paid my two months' work due on my elaim, and on the first of October following, went after my wife. I borrowed a yoke of oxen and wagon of Mrs. Armstrong, living near the month of Coville Creek, attached a rope to the horn of the 'near ox,' and went to Oxbow prairie, returning soon af- ter with my wife and little household ef- feets, and set np housekeeping on Coville Creek. The next spring the Black Hawk War broke out, and at its close, I sold my claim, and in the following spring came on an exploring expedition to Sulphur Springs." This party made their head: quarters at Johnny's Grove, and elaims were made in what are now the townships of Vienna, Braceville and Mazon. Owen was the only one who settled in Mazon, choosing a site on the West Fork of the Mazon Creek, a little below old Mazon Village. This was in the spring or sum- mer of 1833. By the help of one man he suceeeded in ereeting a log eabin fourteen feet square, into which he moved the fol- lowing May, and began housekeeping with- out door, window or floor. For a short time his most accessible neighbors were one family at Ottawa, one at Pontiac, and one at Joliet, each from twenty-six to thirty miles away. But this state of af- fairs continued but a short time. In this year quite a number of settlers came into Wanponsce and other townships of the

county. None came to Mazon until the following spring, when James McCarty moved from Ottawa and took up his abode upon Wauponsee's little corn patch of three or four acres on section five. He was a bachelor, had served in the campaign against Black Hawk, and found no trouble in eamping out while he put in his first crop of eorn. This he did with a hoe, and in the fall the stalks furnished him the ma- terial with which he built his winter quar- ters. In June of 1835, he bought his land at the " land sale " and lived here until 1845, when he died and was buried in the Clay- . pool burying ground, the first one to oe- cupy it. Following MeCarty late in the fall eame Jesse Newport. from Belmont County, Ohio. Hle settled on the south- west corner of section six, seenred his land at the public sale in 1835, and improved his place until 1839, when he rented it to Mr. Dewey, an English immigrant, and went to Hennepin where he died in 1840. In the same fall, James C. Spores built a cabin on the east halt of the southwest quarter of seetion five, and improved his elaim here for three or four years when he sold out to John L. Pickering, and moved to the " far West."

James P. Ewing came to Mazon in the spring of 1835, bailding his eabin on the west half of the northeast quarter of sec- tion six. The land here was very wet, and greatly discouraged his efforts at making a home. Ile lived here two or three years, following at times his trade of shoemaker. Ile finally sold ont to Jesse Newport, though not before he had lost a child by the ravages of the miasmatic climate. Pickering, who bought ont Spores, was of Quaker extraction, and came from Belmont

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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

County, Ohio. He was one of the early county officers and lived here for many years, but subsequently moved to Bloom- ington in this State. The marriage of his daughter Sarah to Gales Austin, by Jacob Claypool, J. P., was probably the first wed- ding in the township.

About the same time with Ewing came John Ridgway, who bought land on the northwest quarter of seetion five, and built his cabin there. IIe improved this place until about 1837, when he sold out to Nicholas Summers and went to Indiana. · David Spencer became a settler here about this time also, built his cabin just above Pickering, and subsequently married a daughter of Mr. Summers and went to In- diana. In the fall of 1835, Augustus II. Owen, a lawyer, came from New York and took up his residence in the Hogoboom eabin. This was the first lawyer in Gran- dy County, but he soon discovered that he was considerably in advance of his age, and finding no demand for his legal abili- ties, he moved in 1836 to Ottawa, where he followed his profession for a year or two and was subsequently drowned in Roek River.

In the summer of 1835, J. C. Murray came to Mazon from Oswego County, New York. He was a brother-in-law of A. K. Owen, and being desirous of getting more land where his growing family could find opportunity of seeuring homes for them- selves, he was induced to come to Mazon on the representations of Mr. Owen. He came with his family by the lakes to Chi- cago, and was just forty-nine days on the water. He brought with his household ef- fects two new wagons, but of course, no teams, and leaving his family at Chicago

he came to Owen's on foot. The latter at onee returned to Chicago with his brother- in-law, taking his own team and hiring another to bring the Murray family to their new home. Owen went to Hennepin subsequently, and Murray rented the farm for awhile, in the meantime looking up an eligible site for a permanent home. He then bought land on the old Chicago and Bloomington trail near the Murray sluice on seetion 33. His eabin was called the " Half Way House," it being situated about an equal distance-sixty-eight miles -from either terminus of the road. This cabin was one of the earliest in the town- ship to be built out on the prairie. The family was moved in before completed, and a blanket for some time served to close the doorway. There was no floor save the earth, and the only board to be got was finally sawed and spliced so as to furnish a suitable door.

Mr. Murray was drowned in Johnny Run in June of 1844, an accident which affords a striking incident in the life of the early times. Mr. Murray was then on the grand jury, which was in session at Mor- ris, and was a guest of Mr. Armstrong, the pioneer hotel keeper of that place. There had been quite a freshet, and from various causes the landlord found himself out of meat for the morning meal. Murray, who had several pieces of smoked mneat at home, volunteered to go in the night and get them to supply the deficiency. He started out on horseback and got home safely, but on his way baek to Morris, he missed the ford and was drowned.

James McKeen, an early settler in the county and identified with the early history of several townships, was also an early res-

William Stephens

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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

ident of this township. He first moved to the month of the Au Sable, thence to the old " Kankakee eity," and later to the old Clover Place near the through trail. Here he kept hotel for awhile, when about 1840, he located on seetion 23, near the old village of Mazon. Hiram Fuller, a relative of A. K. Owen, came from New York about 1839 and settled in Mazon. In 1840 or 41, the Gibson family came to Mazon from Wau- ponsee township ; the family consisting of Robert and Silas, and two sisters, Ann and Bathsheba, eame to Norman township about 1837 or 8. The boys were coopers by trade and found the quality and quantity of speculators' timber a profitable source of supply .. The sisters married and Silas died before Robert came into Mazon. He first settled in Wauponsee Grove, but subse- quently bought land in seetions 10 and 11, on Johnny Run, where he improved a large farm.

Of the early experiences of this settle- ment there is nothing peculiar to this town- ship to be noted. The nearest post-office was at Ottawa, then Dresden, and later at Morris. The nearest mills were those at Dayton, Wilmington, and Milford, or Mill- ington. In some respects the community in Mazon were less favorably situated than some others in the county. The number of streams across the surface of the township indicates the slow natural drainage, and it was no unusual occurrence for these to join by overflowing their banks. Under these eireumstances all traveling was out of tlie question. Mr. A. O. Murray relates, on such an occasion, his father's family found themselves with a very slender supply of provisions in the house. A man had been engaged to go to mill at Dayton, but the

sudden rise of water had cut off his re- turn. The neighbors who were accessible were in nearly as bad a plight, and there was no resort save to take account of stock and wait for the subsidence of the waters. They found their whole stock consisted of some beans and salt, and on these, of which there was no great supply, the family prepared to subsist for an indefinite time. Fortunately they had a new-mileh heifer which supplied the family with milk and butter, the latter serving to render more palatable the slip- pery elm bark which was fried to eke out the meager store. A sharp freeze whiell rendered a passage through the submerged territory more difficult, protracted this ex- perience for three weeks. This difficulty in getting to inill was felt to be a serions drawbaek in this section for years, and was not obviated until the county was formed, and bridges built across the principal streams. Mr. Charles Huston relates a tedious experience of this sort as late as 1845. The community in the southern part of the township had been travel-bound for some time, and while each farmer had plenty of wheat and corn, their families were using boiled wheat or grated eorn as a substitute for flour. Huston, a new- comer, had neither, and proposed to earn some flour by taking a load to mill for the community. Ilis wagon was soon filled with wheat, and he set out on his journey. He found but little difficulty in getting across streams by ferry or ford, but the fre- quent sloughs that blocked his way were not so easily surmounted. Four times eael way he was obliged to unload his wagon and carry its contents around, while his team used their utmost powers to drag the empty wagon through the quagmires. On

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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

his return, his team worn out with the tedious journey, he was obliged to get as- sistance to get liis empty wagon ont of one of these places.

There was but little stock in the township save the horses and oxen which served as teams to the farmers. A few cows and hogs were kept, but there was little market 'or them, and a good cow eonld be bought for six or eight dollars. The abundance of game relieved the settler of the necessity of buy- ing meat or of using sueh animals as they had, save for a change or steady supply. Deer, prairie chickens, and wolves were found in great numbers. The latter some- times proved troublesome to yonng stock, but the price which the county paid for their sealps more than compensated for their depredations.

The through trail which passed along the southeastern corner of this town- ship gave this seetion some prestige. A great deal of teaming was done on this trail from as far south as Springfield, while considerable stoek was driven along this route to Chicago. The teamsters as a rule were a rongh elass. They slept under their wagons at night, brought their own pro- visions and did their own cooking. Their teams were generally turned into the near- est corn-patch, a liberty which settlers learned not to resent. The eorn was of but little value, and unless the owner was of a musenlar build and willing to take his pay "out of the hide " of the offender there was little ehance of redress. Thus the pro- fessional teamster, though he got compar- atively very little pay, continued to make his trip to Chicago from the south with wheat, and return loaded with salt and

store goods, a favorable trip consuming from two to three weeks.

Mr. Huston relates a trip to Chicago, which illustrates a common experience of the time. Some drovers had found it nee- essary to slaughter some hogs which were unable to travel further, and engaged Mr. Huston to take a load to Chicago for twelve dollars. It was in January, and in com- pany with another team he started on his trip by way of Morris. As they crossed the ice on the river at this place, the rain began to fall with the temperature. The roads gradually became heavier, and little more than half way to the city it was found necessary to leave a part of each load, buried in a hay stack, to prevent the pork from thawing out, and proceed to the city with half a load, which was accomplished only after almost 'superhuman exertion. On discharging their load, the teams were obliged to get the remainder, and deliver it in Chicago. In the meanwhile the mud of the roads was gradually getting deeper until the last trip was made with the wheels sinking to the linb most of the way. The return trip Mr. Huston utilized by bring- ing a thousand feet of pine lumber for his building then going up at Mazon. As fre- quently occurs in an open winter, the weather changed to a cooler temperature as suddenly as it had warmed to a thaw, and the return trip was made through mud, gradually stiffening with the cold. which greatly retarded the progress homeward. On arriving at Morris, the river was found banks full and impassable, and to save time the wagons were loaded with coal from Good Ridge, and taken to Kendall County where it was disposed of to blacksmiths. On

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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

their return the river was found still im- passable. Ice had formed in the center of the river, but at either margin was a space of running water which defied passage. After waiting some time and becoming impatient with delay, Mr. Huston con- eeived a plan to cross the stream. Using his Inmber to bridge the margins on either side and after testing the strength of the iee by pushing his wagon on it by hand, and subsequently leading a horse on, he pro- eeeded to eross. Hitching one horse on the end of the tongue of the wagon, and leading the other in the rear, the weight was so distributed as to promise a safe pas- sage. Unfortunately the bridge on the south margin proved defective, and wagon and horses were precipitated into the freez- ing water. The leading horse proved true, and swam out, bringing the wagon on to solid ground. Thic led horse, however, re- fused to swim, and it was only with great exertion and the strength of the other an- imal, that he was brought to shore. In the meanwhile Mr. Huston had spent an hour or two, waist deep in water getting his team in shape and saving his hard earned lumber. The latter he piled up in a safe place on the bank and reached home nearly frozen after just three weeks' absence.

The early traffic on the Bloomington and Chicago road was very large and seemed to warrant the belief that the canal would not greatly interfere with it. Mr. Charles Hus- ton who had come from Syraense, N. Y., in 1845, had kept hotel there and doubtless could see no good reason with such advantage as the trail afforded, why a city should not grow up here as readily as elsewhere. At any rate in 1848, urged by a Mr. Hall of Ottawa, who agreed to

open a store, he bought land of MeKeen and laid out forty aeres in streets, squares and lots.

The store was started but subsequently was sold out to Win. B. Royal. As the country developed all enterprises based on the permaneney of trail traffic failed. The railroad and canal put an end to teaming and " droving," and the store here langnished. A co-operative store was inaugurated, but this finally failed, passing into private hands and being eventually elosed out by fire about 1854. Some years later a temper- anee society put up a building, renting the under part for a store, but the railroad put a finishing stroke to the declining prosperity of the town and the metropolis was trans- ferred to the "center." The building of the Pekin, St. Louis & Chicago railroad gave a new impetus to the village growthi of the township, but transferred it to the location of the depot. A store was begun here about 1875, by MeAfee, who was sue- ceeded by Gifford and later by M. Isham. A church, a school-house, a half dozen stores two grain clevators, and a eluster of rather new looking wooden buildings, represent a village of some 500 inhabitants, which is known by the post-office and railroad an- thorities as Mazon, but is popularly desig- nated by the addition of "New town" in parenthesis, to distinguish it from old Mazon.

An enterprise which does much to build up the village is a ereamery which was established at the Miller cheese factory in 1880. In the following winter it was brought to the village and now occupies a building devoted exclusively to its pur- poses. The project was conceived and put in force by T. Rankin, who found it impos-

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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

sible to profitably handle farmer's butter, which he bought in the course of his bus- iness. In starting the creamery he revolu- tionized the cheese business which had a fair start here, and greatly extended the business of his general store. Nine teams are maintained, each of which makes a daily circuit of twenty-five or thirty miles, skimming the milk of patrons and bring- ing in the cream to the factory, at the same time taking orders and delivering goods from his store to any who may de- sire them. The cream is bought by the inch; the milk being placed in cans of a foot in diameter, the thickness of the cream is noted through a graduated glass inserted in the side of the can. An inch of cream is calculated to make a pound of butter, and varies in the price paid with the gen- eral changes of the butter market. The capacity of the factory is 1,100 pounds of butter per day, and at certain seasons of the year is crowded to its full capacity, in_ volving an annual ontlay of from $25,000 to $35,000 for cream alone.

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History of Grundy County, Illinois, Part 37

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin Number of Pages: 506

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 506