USA > Illinois > Grundy County > History of Grundy County, Illinois > Part 38
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The Methodist church was the earliest religious organization to gain a foothold in this community. Missionary agents of the Congregational society were early in the township, especially in the southern part, but for various reasons their efforts did not result in any marked permanent achieve- ment. In William and Charles Royal, who came into Mazon abont 1847, the Methodist organization had zealons work- ers, and a society was formed which erected a place of worship at Old Mazon, about 1851. When the new town sprung up, this building was sold, and now serves as a granary, not far from its former site. The present neat, wooden structure at Mazon,
was erected abont 1877, at a cost of $2,400, and is the only one in the village.
The Wanponsee Grove Congregational Church is a society in the northwestern corner of the township. This church was organized May 6, 1864, with seventeen members, among whom were H. B. Good- rich, William Hotchkiss, F. T. Benton, Ab- bott Barker, John Sample, and their wives. Rev. James Longhead, of Morris, had been holding Sabbath services here before this, and continued to supply this point and another neighborhood with alternate serv- ices. In 1868, a resident pastor was se- cured, the church holding its services in the school-house in the meanwhile. May 27, 1869, a site was selected, and one acre of land donated for the erection of a church building, and being the jubilee year, the effort to secure a church home was greatly assisted by the enthusiasm evinced by the Congregational membership at large. Memorial offerings were received from varions persons and churches abroad, to which was added the enthusiasm of the ladies of the society here, who pledged a thousand dollars toward its erection. The building was erected, dedicated June 3, 1871, and in March of the following year, the church voted itself self-sustaining, hav- ing received aid from the American Home Missionary Society since its organization. It has now a membership of some sixty- two members, and a Sunday school of about 106 attendants.
The earliest school-house was probably on section 24, and was built in 1837. In its time it was the finest cabin in the set- tlement. It was a square structure, built of logs, with windows made of six panes of glass placed in a single horizontal line in an
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
enlarged eraek between the logs. Against the log just below this window, supported by pegs driven into the side of the struet- ure, was a rough puncheon which by conrt- esy was called the desk. Before this, on rude slab benches, the scholars sat and faced abont as they copied the epigram- matic wisdom which adorned the top line of the copy-books of a quarter century ago. This cabin had a floor of riven planks, trimmed to lay reasonably still when trod upon, and was the admiration of the com-
munity. Mr. Axtell was the first wielder of the birehen scepter.
No trace of these primitive times now greet the eye; the men and women of that early day, with all their toil and privations, have gone and made no sign; they labored, and the present generation has entered in- to their labors; the present stands upon the shoulders of the past; and, if manfully meeting the duties of the present honr, we lift the world higher by the full stature of a man, the pioneers of this land will not have toiled in vain.
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CHAPTER XIX .*
VIENNA TOWNSHIP-PIONEERS OF THE PRAIRIE-THE CHANGES OF FIFTY YEARS-ILLI- NOIS CITY-VERONA-THE CHURCH AND SCHOOL.
TN following the arbitrary distinctions of township lines, the historian of the early settlement finds himself placed in an unnatural position. The events to which this county was indebted for its first in- habitants, recognized no such limitations. The broad expanse of prairie, radiant with the beauty of the early summer's flowers, or brown with the ripened food for a thou- sand herds, was unmarked to the pioneer, save by distant groves that indicated the water-courses. The adventurous settler, attracted by the flattering report of friends, or lured on by his love of frontier life and adventure, placed his family and goods in a wagon, and casting off his moorings, be- came a wanderer, knowing no home but the canvas that served him as shelter by night. His choice of land was dictated by caprice, and generally resulted in an nn- fortunate selection, though it often took years of sickness, and even bereavement by death itself to convince him of his error. The points of timber were generally chosen, or some spring of water, both of which, ex- perience has proven to be the most insalu- brious locations open to choice. But here, patiently enduring toil and privation, the pioneer surmounted the difficulties of his situation, and has left an enduring monn- ment to his memory in these fruitful fields
and thriving towns. There seem to have been few indications in that early day as to the points to which subsequent growth would accrue with the greatest advantage. Choice was determined by the most frivo- Jons ehance; expectation was at a dead level. This situation was not inconsistent with an almost feverish excitement over the effect which the construction of the canal was ex- pected to have on this whole region. The great consideration which "puzzled the will," was where the " bonanza's " lightning would strike. It is not strange, therefore, that the early settlement of this county, molded by such motives and influences, should be characterized by no definable method. Bnt the later growth of society has long since modified these early tradi- tions. Years of association in the capacity of a political precinct have given rise to a community of interests, out of which have sprung policies and practices plainly ap- parent even to the stranger, and town- ship lines now bind the country population with as strong a tie as national bonnda- ries.
Vienna lies just west of Mazon, and in its topography and early history is closely related. It is rather of a higher elevation, parts of it being considerably broken and all of it somewhat rolling. It is traversed diagonally in a northeasterly direction, by five nnimportant streams, Hog and Bills'
* By J. H. Battle.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
Runs flowing into Norman, the Waupecan and a nameless stream passing into Mazon, and Thunder Creek joining Johnny Run in the latter township. The character of these water-courses, of the soil and timber is similar to those noted in Mazon. The pur- suit of the farmers is similar, save that Mr. Harford, who has given considerable atten- tion to cattle raising, is now turning his effort to breeding horses of the Norman blood.
The first claim made in this township was in 1833. In that year Edwin Shaw and Sheldon Bartholomew came to this section with A. K. Owen, who settled in Mazon. These men selected farms at the point now known as " Parer's Grove," but beyond naming the place "Spring Grove" from a large spring found at one end or it, no attempt was made by them to take permanent possession of it. Not long after the visit of these persons an English family by the name of Grove, took up a elaim on section 4 at Hog's Point. IIere they built a cabin and cultivated thei ground until the fall of 1836, when Jonah C. Newport, a native of Belmont County, Ohio, bought them ont. About 1834, or perhaps a year earlier, George W. Arm- strong settled on the northwest quarter of section 6, where he resided two years. Ile then moved to Wauponsee, from whence he subsequently returned, and bought the northeast quarter of section 1, township 33, range 5 (now in La Salle County), where he built a cabin and where his modern res- idence now is. About the same season, Charles Parer, from Ottawa, came to this region, made a claim near the present res- idence of Mr. Harford at " Spring Grove."
He cnt considerable hay for his stock, and built his eabin, but unfortunately the fire caught in the dry prairie grass and con- sumed the hay, cabin and fixtures. It is not clear how this accident occurred. It is said, however, that the whole family had gone to Ottawa and in their absence the contlagration took place. On Mr. Parer's return, finding nothing left but blackened ruins, he abandoned the place, his family never coming back to the township. This was the extent of the population in this community until the coming of John Dewey in 1841.
Mr. Dewey was an English mechanic, and attracted by the reports from friends who lived at Vermillion, sent his wife and two children to his American relatives, to spy out the land while he kept his situation. They came in 1837, and sent back so favor- able a report, that he came in the follow- ing year and decided to east in his for- tunes with this new prairie country. He eame to Jesse Newport's in Wanponsee that year and rented the place, bringing his family forward the year following Here he stayed until 1841, when he came to Vienna and rented the ,farm of Jonal Newport at Hog Point. Three years later he came to "Parer's Grove." About the same time with Dewey, came John B. Moore, and settled on the southeast cor- ner of section 5. Ile came from Philadel- phia with a young family, made a home here but moved away some years since. Abont 1845, Henry Hyslop settled on sec- tion 22, and his was the pioneer cabin on the prairie. He was soon followed by the Wilks, Curtis and Antis families. The canal also made its contribution to this set-
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
tlement in the person of Anthony Maloney, who settled on seetion 7, where he lived many years.
It will be noticed that that part of Grun- dy County not lying contiguous to the canal, settled very slowly during the first ten years. This is to be accounted for, not so much because of its less desirable character as of the action of speculators. Most of the earliest elaims were made on the margin of the river, and the claimants were on the ground to purchase their land at the public sale in 1830. After this sale, specn- lators bought large traets in the interior of the county, especially the timbered por- tion. The price was at once raised above government prices and of course found but little sale. There were here and there sec- tions which were supposed to be less de- sirable or had been overlooked by gen- eral land buyers, and these were gradually pieked up. As soon as the settlement grew large enough (and the legal require- ments were not severe) a township or pre- einet organization was effeeted and after the five years of release, taxes were laid as to force non-resident land owners to pay at least their full share. Their timber was considered free plunder and so little sympathy was felt in any settlement for this class of property holders, that it be- came unpopular for any one to assist in lo- eating lands for them. This policy, main- tained for several years, soon convinced cap- italists that the land was not a good in- vestment, and becoming tired of paying comparatively exorbitant taxes, and get- ting very little protection for what they did pay, they were glad to put the land in the market, getting merely enough to reim- burse them for their outlay, and not always
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getting off so well as that. The result was that up to abont 1850, the county was only sparsely settled, but subsequently filled up with remarkable rapidity.
Another feature of the settlement here in contrast with the experience of pioneers of Ohio and the Middle States, may be noted: there seems to have been far less demand here for that invention which is the offspring of necessity. Machinery for mills, though transported over long dis- tances, could be seenred; in the older States they were rudely manutactured on the spot. Here the larger part of personal apparel was purchased at stores twenty or thirty miles distant; there everything, from the hat to the shoe, was manufactured at home. Here, though timber was scarce and the country sparsely settled, glass windows were the rule, house hardware not difficult to obtain, and "frame " dwellings early ap- peared; there these things were the mark of wealth and distinction, and appeared only after the settlement had considerably grown. But history, in early settlements, does not exactly repeat itself. Experience must be taken into the account, and what one generation achieves must aeerne to the advantage of its successor. The pioneer experience of the Pilgrims was unique and could not be reproduced in a later day; that of the Middle States modified the early settlement of this western land, and the far West of to- day resem bles more the " roy- al road to fortune " than the " hard road to travel," which the pioneers of other genera- tions found.
But with all this modification of the stern experience of pioneer life, the trials of the first settlers were anything but easy to be borne. The community settled here
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
found the only accessible mills at Vermil- lionville, Wilmington and Dayton. Here the soil was found to yield fine crops of winter wheat, and flour was not so great a luxury. Fruit did finely, especially peaches, and there was no dearth of or- chards, though apples, taking longer to mnature, did not yield early, and the change of late years has never made apples so prominent in the county. The severe win- ter of 1853 or 1854 killed the larger part of the peach trees, and fruit interests have languished here ever since. The ready taet of the pioneer housewives and the unpam- pered tastes of that early day found a good substitute for fruit in the pumpkin. When frozen they were prepared and stewed down to a syrup, which furnished the sweeten- ing for most of the culinary purposes of the cabin, and mixed with fresh stewed pumpkin formed the coveted sweetmeat. They were planted in large numbers and stored in a vault constructed underneath the hay-stacks to be fed to the cattle during the winter. Well may this " fruit loved of boyhood," be apostrophized by the poet and be honorably placed in a State's coat- of-arms. There was but little weaving done by the women of this township, not a single loom to be found here and only one field of flax. Mrs. Dewey did try to raise silk-worms, and succeeded in seenring some return for her efforts, but it was pur- sued more as a pastime than a means of profit and was soon abandoned. In her early efforts to assist her husband she learned, in Vermillionville, the tailor's trade, and became quite noted in a small eirele. In this way she acquired considera- ble stoek. Cattle were cheap, and when a settler was able to have Sunday clothes he
was glad to trade off a heifer or yearling for the making of a coat. The other parts of the suit could be made at home, but the onter garment required more skill, and Mrs. Dewey turned her ability to good ae- count.
Game was found here in the usual abun- dance. Deer passing from one point to another have been counted traveling in sin- gle file to the number of one or two hun- dred, while lynxes and wolves, especially the latter, were " too numerous to mention." An ineident is related of the latter animal which, though it occurred outside of the limits of this township, is vouched for by present residents as having happened " just across the river." A country dance liad called a knight of the bow some distance from his home and detained him till the early hours of the morning. On his return he heard the hungry howling of the wolves, which seemed to be following on his trail and coming unpleasantly nearer him. Soon convinced that he was in danger, hie scram- bled, fiddle box in hand, into a tree which stood near by, and was soon surrounded by those misereants of the prairie. Safe, but annoyed at his detention, the weary musi- eian whiled away the time and " soothed thie savage breast" with strains that had served a pleasanter occasion earlier in the night. The dawn released him. If this be true, it is not less strongly anthenticated that this was the only case of such boldness on the part of the prairie wolves of this region. They were found troublesome in the de- struetion of young stoek, but otherwise quite harmless. Prairie chickens were found in great abundance, and furnished rare sport as well as a generous supply for the larder. But these, with the deer, have
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
pretty generally disappeared. Many bc- lieve the latter left the country about 1845, when it is said vast herds migrated across the Mississippi.
Vienna was rather out of the principal line of through travel, and had little in the circumstances of her business activity or location to encourage the growth of a vil- lage, but the mania for founding cities seized a Mr. Bullock, and in 1836 he laid out Illinois City, north of the Wanpecan, with a great public square, and streets enough to satisfy a very thriving village. Its only remains is the worn-out plat in records of the county. Verona was an outgrowth of the Pekin, Chicago and St. Louis railroad. It was laid ont near the center of section 26, by Martin Finch and Ambrose Kinley. The ground was platted in February, 1877, and in about a year grew to its present dignity. There is really no demand for a large village here, and even now has the appearance of being overgrown. Three or four stores are now doing more or less busi- ness, which, with the usual blacksmith and wagon shop, two churches, and some hun- dred dwelling houses, constitute the village of Verona. Its name may have found its suggestion in the title of the play, as its founders may not inappropriately now be called the " two gentlemen of Verona."
Schools played an early part in this town- ship. Mrs. Dewey was a woman of con- siderable education, and anxious to turn her various accomplishments to a money account in aid of her husband, began teach- ing school during her temporary stay at Vermillionville. On coming into Vienna, she opened up in her cabin the first board- ing school in the county. She had but a few pupils, and proposed only to teach the
rudiments, but children were then so few that they came from five miles away. They stayed during the week, going home Saturday to stay over the Sunday and holi- day. This school was not long maintained. The first school-house was soon built near Ilog Run, and the pioneer school taught by A. Warnock.
The efforts of the church on the frontier were generally almost as early as the first pioneer. The Methodist church had a sta- tion on the Fox River, and no sooner were two or three families gathered in each other's vicinity than a missionary itinerant discovered and preached to them. The size of the audience did not seem to detract from the interest of the occasion, and many an effective sermon has been delivered in a little cabin before two or three auditors. The earliest of these preachers were many times quite illiterate, and others, though scarcely less so, were remarkably success- fnl. The Mormons were here early, but found the people possessed of an independ- ent judgment which was not to be swayed by a latter day revelation. The earliest organization effected, however, was by the Baptist denomination, in 1850. The Fell- ingham family were among the settlers of this time, and were carnest members of this church. Mr. W. M. Fellingham was a minister, and served the Ebenezer Bap- tist Society in this capacity until his death, his brothers, George and John, acting as deacons. Until abont 1862, services were held in the school-honse, but at this time a modest frame building was erected on the northwest corner of section 25, at a cost of about eight hundred dollars. The mem- bership does not now exceed ten members, and services are held only once a month.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
The Presbyterian Church of Vienna was organized February 27, 1858, by the Rev. S. H. Loss, a missionary agent of this church, with some fourteen members. For some years they held their services in a school-house, but in 1870 a good frame building was erected as a place of worship. The edifice cost about $3,300, and was placed on the northwest corner of section 36. In 1877, when the town of Verona sprang up, the building was removed to the village, where it now stands. The church
has suffered severely from removals, so that it now numbers only some fifteen or six- teen members.
The only other church in Vienna is the Methodist Episcopal. This was organized in 1876, and in the following year erected their present place of worship at a cost of about $2,800. The leading spirits of this church were I. C. Tilden, M. Dix, and J. Kendall. Its membership now reaches about fifty.
CHAPTER XX .*
BRACEVILLE TOWNSHIP-COAL MEASURES-EARLY SETTLEMENT-THE OPEN PRAIRIE.
B RACEVILLE lies just east of Mazon township, and continuing the gradual rise of land in the eastern part of that precinct, becomes quite broken and pictur- esque along the branch of the Mazon creek. East of this stream the land gradually sub- sides to a generally level character, and stretches out along the eastern part in an expanse of wild prairie. The trend of the water-courses indicates an elevation in the central part, though it is but slight, and of the character of a plateau. The Mazon Creek enters from the south, a little east of the middle line of the township, and, cir- cling to the west and north, follows the gen- eral direction of the western boundary, passing into Mazon and between Waupon- see and Felix at the northwest corner. The soil along the river is good farming land, but in the interior and eastern parts the light covering of sod rests upon a nearly pure, sandy soil, which is profitably available for little more than grazing. The eastern portion, however, is richly underlaid with coal, which more than compensates for the ineager productiveness of the sur- face. This deposit, extending into the ad- joining counties of Will and Kankakee, has given rise to considerable business activity in this vicinity, and a number of brisk mining villages have sprung up within some six miles of each other.
The earliest development of coal was made in the counties east of Grundy, but about 1858 some miners opened a co-oper- ative shaft on land belonging to N. Cotton. Water proved a great hindrance and ex- pense here, and the project was abont to fail, when some others were induced to give the enterprise assistance. They brought to the work more enthusiasm than capital, however, and the effort was about to prove an entire failure, when Mr. Mehan was en- listed in the work and the shaft pushed down to the coal. At this point Mr. Boyer bought the shaft, and did some mining. Some four or five years later, Mr. Augns- tine put down a shaft on his land, but the business, crippled by the lack of capital, langnished until about 1880, when foreign capital took up the matter and has made this part of the county a busy, thriv- ing section. The principal coal lands are owned and worked by large corporations, of which the Wilmington Coal Mining & Manufacturing Company and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company are the leading ones. The Chicago Trib- une last year gave an interesting sketch of these coal-fields in December of 1881, from which the following extract is taken: "The finest and richest of these coal- fields are now being worked with all the inost improved facilities which unrestricted capital can supply. Strange as it may ap- pear, the best veins lie nearest the surface,
. * By J. H. Battle.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
in marked contrast with the vannted coal- fields of England, where none of the mines are less than 500 feet, and some as low as 3,800 feet below the surface. The coal here is in veins of three feet thickness, much of it not over fifty feet below the surface, and of nexcelled quality; in many respects, excepting for gas and coke purposes, per- haps, excelling the famons Pittsburgh bitn- minous coal. Here the mineral is found free of clinkers, sulphur and iron, making a charming grate coal, and, for blacksmithing purposes, without equal.
"I began my inspection with the Fair- banks mine in Essex township, of Kankakee Connty. This mine is twenty miles west of Kankakee, four miles southeast of Gard- ner, and five miles south of Braceville. At Fairbanks, I found a party of surveyors engaged in running ont a line for a railroad from Buckingham to Braidwood, a distance of fifteen miles. At Buckingham this road will connect with the Southwestern Branch of the Illinois Central Railroad, thence crossing the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Rail- way, the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacifie, the Kankakee & Seneca, and the Chicago, Al- ton & St. Louis, making three direct lines to Chicago, and three east and west. The name of the new road is the Wilmington Coal-fields Railroad, with which it is de- signed to form a belt around the coal-fields. It is the intention of the managers of the enterprise to construct this road in a first- elass manner, and when it is completed, to transport coal, farm prodnets and passen- gers.
"The lands owned by the Wilmington Coal-fields Company comprise some 2,600 acres in Grundy and Kankakee Counties. At the invitation of the mining boss I de-
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