History of Iroquois County, together with Historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources, Part 52

Author: Beckwith, H. W. (Hiram Williams), 1833-1903
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > Illinois > Iroquois County > History of Iroquois County, together with Historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 52

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HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.

ing upon the Niagara limestone formation, and therefore not underlaid with coal, but with that which is much more valuable, pure water, which can be obtained through artesian wells anywhere in these towns.

The first white settlers of this locality found the timber and groves clear of undergrowth, set with grass and presenting a park-like appear- ance. The prairies and timber abounded in game, and the streams were well stocked with fish.

That this locality was a favorite resort of the aborigines of the country we have evidence, the most ancient of which is that left by the "Mound Bnilders." There is an Indian mound about thirty feet in diameter on the Ezekiel Hutchinson Farm, and near the N.E. corner of the N.W. ¿ S.W. ¿ of Sec. 31, T. 27 N., R. 12 W., and in the orchard on said farm. There is also a mound of about the same dimension on the S.E. ¿ N.W. ¿ of Sec. 20, T. 26 N., R. 12 W., now owned by William Pentzer, and on the west side of Sugar creek and near Woodland. These mnounds, with those found on John Lane's farm, near Milford, and also one or two on the state line, south and near the Iroquois river, and the large number strnng along the east bank of the Iroquois river, between Plato and the mouth of Pike creek, as noted in the general history of the county, are all the mounds, so far as the writer has been able to learn, that are found in the county. There is an Indian burying-ground on the north bluff of the Iroquois river and near a large spring, in the N.E. } of Sec. 29, T. 27 N., R. 12 W., now owned by the writer, and about one mile north of Watseka. This was also the site of a Pottawatomie village, within the recollection of the "oldest inhabitant." Many stone imple- ments and arrow-heads have been found on the site of this village, and about the mounds mentioned ; a fine specimen of a hatchet being now in the possession of Mr. H. O. Van Meter, who resides east of the river, near Plato. Indian burying-grounds always indicate the sites of Indian villages, as it has been the Indian custom to locate them at their villages. Their maize patches, or "squaw-fields," were also located at their villages. That it may be the better understood what constituted an Indian village, at least in this locality, we here give a description of them as furnished by Col. Gurdon S. Hubbard, in which he says: "The villages were none of them permanent, and were moved from place to place to suit the convenience of the inhabitants. Sometimes a village would not exist in the same location more than a year, when the Indians would move the wigwams and all to another point, the wigwams being built of poles set in a circular form, meeting in a common center at the top, and being covered with skins could be almost as easily moved as a large military tent."

MIDDLEPORT AND BELMONT TOWNSHIPS.

As there has been some controversy as to whether or not Sugar creek and Spring creek had Indian names, the writer has interviewed both Col. Hubbard and Mr. Noel Le Vasseur upon that point, and both concur in the statement that neither of those streams had an Indian name. But, on the contrary, M. B. Beaubien, of Silver lake, Kansas, chief of the Pottawatomies, in answer to an inquiry made by Col. M. H. Peters, of the " Iroquois County Times," upon this point, writes him that : "Sugar creek, in Pottawatomie, is Cis-paw-co-to-con," and that " Sepa is river or creek." Yet, it may be that the chief intended only by this to give the translation or rendering of the Eng- lish name into the Pottawatomie tongue, as it would be very strange if Hubbard and Vasseur should both be in error on this point, after their long residence among the Indians on these streams. It is there- fore probable that none of the streams in this locality had Indian names, except the Iroquois river, the name "Iroquois " being derived from the Indians of that name, and who frequently raided this locality, as will be seen by reference to another part of this work.

FIRST EXPLORATION.

It is not known by whom this locality was first explored. A copy, now in the hands of Mr. M. H. Messer, of Onarga, in this county, of a part of a map made in 1684, from records and maps kept by La Salle and others, of the country they had explored, shows the Iroquois river correctly delineated as far south as Watseka, where the turn is made from the east. In answer to an inquiry made by the writer of Col. Hubbard, he says that he has no knowledge, from Indian tradition or otherwise, that any white man visited or located in this region before he came; but he thinks it very likely, as when the French controlled the fur trade of the West, Chabarre and others had trading-posts all over this country. On the point between Woodland and Sugar creek, on N.E. ¿ of Sec. 29, T. 26 N., R. 12 W., is evidence of an ancient clearing and habitation, and of which the oldest " settler " can tell us nothing, and near by, from the site occupied by the creamery owned by Hon. Samuel Williams, a sugar tree was removed, which was found to have been hacked or cut with an ax by some one, as evidenced by the growths covering the cut, about 100 years ago. An ounce ball was also taken from a tree cut near the month of Spring creek, last fall, by employés of Mr. Henry A. Butzow, our county clerk, covered by the growths of a century. These traces may possibly have been left by Indians, but it is more probable that they are evidences of occupa- tion by whites.

In the winter of 1821-2, the American Fur Company (John Jacob

HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.

Astor & Co.), having learned through their agents at Mackinaw, from the representations of a chief of the Pottawatomies, who had visited that point, of the great wealth of furs on the Kankakee and Iroquois rivers, dispatched Gurdon S. Hubbard, who was then in their employ, to these rivers, for the purpose of opening up trade with the Pottawat- omies. Noel Le Vasseur was then in Hubbard's employ and accom- panied him. They came with presents and Indian goods in a boat, by way of the west coast of lake Michigan, the Chicago and DesPlaines rivers, ascended the Kankakee and Iroquois rivers and landed at the Pottawatomie village, heretofore mentioned, on what is now the N.E. ¿ of Sec. 29, T. 27 N., R. 12 W. Here they were kindly received and well treated, and after spending some time in distributing their gifts among the Indians, cementing their friendships and learning the Pot- tawatomie tongue, they built a trading-house and erected a fur press, just above and near the mouth of Sugar creek, on the south bank of the Iroquois river. The site occupied by this trading-post is covered by block 52 in Middleport, and is now owned by Mrs. Catherine Peachen. The remains of this trading-house and fur press were still visible when the writer first caine to ·Middleport, in 1853, and for some time after. They remained at this post about three years, as will be seen here- after, and then abandoned it and established a new post at " Buncombe," now known as Concord, in this county. The Pottawatomie chiefs with whom Hubbard and Vasseur formed intimate relations here, were Tamin (strawberry), Shemargar (soldier), Raquitor (lawyer), and Washkuk. · The territory east of Spring creek was occupied by the Pottawatomies. ~ There was a Kickapoo village at Oliver's Grove, occupied by a detached band, whose chief was Black Hawk, but who were under the immediate leadership of Kanakuk. Hubbard secured the trade of this band, as well as that of the Pottawatomies. There were no white settlements nearer than the Wabash on the south, and Chicago on the north. The government Indian agencies were at Logansport, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois.

In regard to his location in Illinois as an Indian trader, Col. Gur- don S. Hubbard, in a letter to B. F. Shankland, Esq., dated October 21, 1878, says: " The winter of 1821 and 1822 I was an Indian trader, located on the Iroquois river below 'Bunkum,' reaching that point from Mackinaw, in a small batteau (boat) of about ten tons burthen, coasting lake Michigan, drawing it overland from Chicago river to the DesPlaines, descending it and ascending the Kankakee and Iroquois rivers. From my trading-house I made frequent excursions to the Indian hunting-grounds as far south as the Little Wabash, using Indian pack-horses, which was the commencement of my trail. I was then

MIDDLEPORT AND BELMONT TOWNSHIPS.

in the employ of the American Fur Company (John Jacob Astor & Co.), having engaged my services to them in the spring of 1818, for a term of five years, on a salary of $120 per annum. The fall of 1825, not liking the location I built a new post about a half mile north of the town of 'Bunkum,' being then free to exercise my own discre- tion. I left my boats at Chicago and bought Indian horses to convey my goods, now largely increased. From there by a new trail, with loaded pack-horses, I struck at Sugar creek, at or near Watseka, the trail-or, as you call it, 'trace'-intersecting there the one I had before used. That fall I established quite a number of trading-posts south, and one north of Iroquois, making the latter my headquarters, visiting, as occasion required, my posts. At the Iroquois I opened a farm which I preëmpted, so that by the inclosing and cultivating over eighty acres, with a nice hewed log farm house near my trading-post, I was the first to cultivate in Iroquois county, and also in Cook county, except Mr. Kinzie and Mr. Clayton, who at that time had small patches, about twenty acres each, in the present limits of Chicago. Mr. Baxter Allen was my farmer, and who, after the first year, got mar- ried in Indiana, his wife being the first white woman, I think, in the territory now embraced in your county. I continued my Indian trade south of Danville up to 1832, when I withdrew, still continuing to keep an assortment of Indian goods, but mostly for whites, at Danville and trading-post at Iroquois, withdrawing from both places wholly in 1834, so that my entire business was at Chicago."

When Col. Hubbard came among the Indians on the Iroquois, he soon saw the necessity, as a matter of protection and safety, to form more intimate relations with them than that of mere trade, and there- fore, in the course of time, married-according to the Indian custom- an Indian woman by the name of "Watch-e-kee," who was the niece of the Pottawatomie chief, Tamin, whose village was then on the present site of Concord (" Buncombe"). In answer to an inquiry made by the writer as to this matter, Col. Hubbard says : "I have no wish to deny the fact of her being my wife, given me by her uncle (the chief) when she was about ten, in the place of his own grown daugh- ter whom he presented to me, and whom I declined. This little girl was to take her place, and was, under my pledge to make her my wife, brought to me by her mother at the age of fourteen or fifteen. She bore me a daughter who died at about eight months old. I lived with this Indian woman about two years in harmony. Our separation was by mutual agreement, in perfect friendship, and because I was about to abandon the Indian trade, and of course my connection with her tribe. Both thought each other's happiness would be promoted by

HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.

separation, as it doubtless was." The names of the father and mother of Watch-e-kee, or " Watseka," as she was called by the whites, appears to have been unknown to both Hubbard and Vasseur, as they so state to the writer. Watseka was born at the Indian village at the site of " Buncombe," about the year 1810. She is said to have been a hand- some, intelligent and superior Indian woman. After her separation from Col. Hubbard, according to the Indian custom, and his retiring from "Buncombe," she, in 1828, married Noel Le Vasseur, who had

COL. GURDON S. HUBBARD.

been left in charge of the post. Her tribe, except a remnant, were removed west after the treaty of October, 1833, and she and Vasseur then removed to Bourbonnais Grove, on the Kankakee river. She bore him several children, some of whom are still living in Kansas. She went west in 1837 with the remnant of her tribe, and located near Council Bluffs, and there married a Frenchman by the name of Ber- geron. When she went west Mr. Vasseur took her in a carriage as far as the Mississippi river, and it is said made ample provision for her, and that she was in comfortable circumstances until her death. About the year 1863 she returned on a visit to Mr. Vasseur, at Bourbonnais Grove, and from there she plodded her weary way afoot and alone to the scenes of her childhood, and visited the graves of her kindred and tribe, near

MIDDLEPORT AND BELMONT TOWNSHIPS.

Middleport and " Buncombe." Sadly she left, as the last Pottawatomie to set foot upon the soil of Iroquois county, and returned to Kansas, and about the year 1878, in the Pottawatomie Reservation in Kansas, passed to "the happy hunting-grounds." Noel Le Vasseur died at his residence in Bourbonnais Grove, on Friday night, December 15, 1879. Col. Gurdon S. Hubbard is still living, at the ripe old age of nearly eighty years, at 243 White street, Chicago, highly honored and respected by all who know him.

We have devoted this much space to " Watseka" for the reason that the city of Watseka has been named for her, and as her name will therefore be perpetuated in history, it becomes a matter of interest to have her biography. In the " Historic Notes of the Northwest," by Mr. Beckwith, at page 114 of this work, it is stated that there was an Indian tradition that the custom of perpetuating the name of " Wat- seka " originated in a conflict between the Iroquois and Illinois tribes of Indians, which took place on the Iroquois river, a few miles below Middleport, about two hundred years ago. As the heroine of this conflict belonged to the Illinois tribe, and the conflict must have occurred, if at all, at least one hundred years before the Pottawatomies occupied this territory, and as the last named tribe and the Illinois were always inveterate enemies, the Pottawatomies could have had no desire to perpetuate a remembrance of this conflict. The "tradition," there- fore, becomes mythical, and is evidently more poetic than truthful. Mr. Noel Le Vasseur, in an interview with him before his death, in- formed the writer that there was no significance whatever in the name of " Watseka."

FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN BELMONT.

The first emigrants to T. 26 N., R. 12 W. were John S. Moore and wife (Nancy) and their family : Jesse Moore and wife, Foster Moore, William S., Foreman, John B., Aaron, Joseph, Rebecca, Cath- arine, Mary and Nancy Moore. They all came from Adams county, Ohio,-some in the spring and others in the fall of 1831,-and located at what has since been known as "Moore's Point," on lands in sec- tions 14 and 15. Mary married Jolin Crowl, about the year 1837, and located near " Buncombe." She died a few years ago, leaving five children. Mr. Crowl is still living, and resides on his old homestead. Rebecca married, January 1, 1833, Hon. Micajah Stanley, and they located near Milford, but afterward, in 1835, removed to the place where they now reside, in the limits of Watseka. Catharine married Samuel Fleming, and they located on liis farin in section 30, where he died a few years ago. She is still living. Nancy married Reuben Carman, and settled in the northern part of the town. The sons all

HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.

married and located in the neighborhood. Foreman and John B. have since died and left families in the town. John S. Moore died July 10, 1843, and afterward his wife resided with her daughter, Mrs. Stanley, until July 5, 1853, when she died while on a visit to her daughter, Mrs. Crowl. The Moore family were Methodists, and John S., in 1835, built a log church, 25×30 feet, with clap-board roof and puncheon floor, and furnished with hewed bench-seats, for the use of the church. This was the first church in the county, and Moore's was the preacher's home. What ministers occupied this church the writer has not been able to learn.

Alexander Wilson came in 1833, and laid a claim on land in section 10; sold out to Aaron H. James, and June 4, 1834, entered the N.E. ¿ of Sec. 5, and built a hewed log house on it and removed to it. A few years after he established a tannery, and resided on the place until he sold out to Alfred Beckett, November 7, 1847. Beckett came from Perrysville, Indiana, and with him Benjamin F. Raney, who located on part of section 4. Raney and Beckett both died several years ago. Beckett sold to Hon. John Chamberlain, July 28, 1856. This land is in the present limits of Watseka. When Wilson sold out he removed to the west side of Sugar creek, where he still resides.

John Hudson, Sr., and family came from Kent county, Delaware, July 4, 1834. His family consisted of his wife (Mary) and children : John, Jonathan, Henry and Deborah. Deborah afterward married James Longshore. John, Sr., died November 12, 1834, and his widow, March 13, 1835. They were both buried in the cemetery on the land where they located, in section 4, and which liad been donated by them for burial purposes. They were each about sixty years of age wlien they died. Jonathan was accidentally drowned in Sugar creek, June 6, 1835. John was married to Sarah Longshore, and Deborah to James Longshore, both the same day, in December, 1835. They were married by Alexander Wilson, who was thien a justice of the peace. John, Henry and Deborah are still living west of the creek. Mrs. Sarah Longshore, James, William and wife, and Mahlon Longshore came in the spring of 1835, and all settled west of the creek. Jolın Longshore came two or three years after. The Longshores all died several years ago. They built the first house on the west side of the creek. Jesse Oppy and Samuel Oppy came in 1835. Jesse located on lands in section 23, where he and family still reside. Samuel Oppy removed to Iowa in 1866. Henry Barna, known also by the name of Barnhouse (German), with his two sons, located on the N.E. ¿ S.E. + of Sec. 20, in 1832 or 1833. He was a carpenter by trade, and made some of the furniture first used in the offices of the county. He sold his land to Robert L. Williams, in 1835, and left.

MIDDLEPORT AND BELMONT TOWNSHIPS.

John Strean located on N.W. ¿ of Sec. 22 in 1834 or 1835. He married Jane Vennum, daughter of Col. Thomas Vennum. They are both still living, but have no children. They are highly respected people. Aaron Hoel and family came from Ohio in 1834, and settled on W. ¿ S.W. ¿ of Sec. 27. He died several years ago, and the family are scattered. Jeremiah Hoel came in 1837. He was a brick-maker, and burned the brick for the old court-house. He and family removed several years ago to Union county, Illinois. John Wamsley and fam- ily came from Adams county, Olio, in 1834, and located on S. ¿ S.W. } of Sec. 28. He sold out in 1836 and returned to Ohio. Eli Murray and family caine from Ohio in 1834, and located on W. ¿ N.E. ¿ of Sec. 29. He died many years ago. Lemuel and William John and families located in section 32 in 1834. Leinnel has been dead some years. Hozea T., Elijah and Thomas Kendall came from Indiana in 1835, all locating in sections 10, 11 and 14. All died several years ago. Peter Hardenbrook and family came from Ohio in 1835 ; settled on E. ¿ S.E. { of Sec. 29, and died many years ago. Samnel Keene canie from Indiana in 1836; located on S.W. ¿ S.W. ¿ of Sec. 5. He followed hunting and trapping, as well as farming. He and family still reside- on the premises. Oliver Smith and family, from Ohio, located on lands in section 22 in 1836. He died there many years ago.

Samuel B. Swim and his sons, Samuel and Isaac, came from Adams. county, Ohio, in 1837, and settled on lands in section 3. Samuel B. long since died. Samuel now resides at Onarga. Isaac removed to Iowa. Charles and John Shields and families came about the same time as did the Longshores, and settled in the same locality. They are both dead. Henry Fortig (German) came from Ohio about 1836, and located on the E. ¿ of Lot 2, N.E. ¿ of Sec. 4. He lived with his widowed mother until she died, a few years after. His brothers, Jolın and George, also lived with them. They all removed west many years ago. John Paul came from Pennsylvania in 1839. He married one of Jonathan Wright's daughters, and they settled on the S.W. ¿ of Sec. 26. Several years ago he sold out and removed to Watseka and engaged in buying and selling grain. A few years ago he removed to Denver, Colorado, where he and family now reside. William, Austin, John and Joshna Sherrill, settled near Lister's Point in 1847. They are all dead, but some of their descendants still reside in the neighborhood. Benjamin Raymond came about the same time. He married a Sher- rill. Reuben, Aaron and Sarah Carman, with their father, came abont 1850. Their father died here two or three years after. The others. settled on lands in section 3. Sarah married Henry Fortig, and they, with Aaron, went west. Reuben married Nancy Moore, and a few

HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.

years ago sold his farm to A. J. Gillfillan, removed to Fairbury, Illi- nois, and from thence to Missouri.

David McClanahan came from Tennessee about 1841, married Alex. Wilson's daughter (Mary) and located west of the creek. They removed to Kansas in 1864 or 1865. Abram Troxell and family came in 1840, and located west of the creek. He died several years ago. His two sons, Jolin and Christopher, were both drowned in the creek in 1840, by accident, while getting cattle out during a freshet. Alfred C. Johnson came from Ohio several years ago, married here, and set- tled on lands in section 19, west of the creek, where he and family now reside. David McGill came to Belmont when a youth, in 1838, and was for several years in the employ of John Strean. He married in that town, and by energy and economy has acquired a large amount of lands and property. He is vice-president of the First National Bank of Watseka, and now resides in that city.

Hon. Samuel Williams, with his father, Thomas Williams, and mother (Elizabeth) and brothers and sisters, John, Melissa, William, Josiah, Susan, Mary and Harvey, came to the county in 1845. He located in Belmont in 1847. His father died there in 1855. He is highly respected and a man of prominence in the county ; has- been judge of the county court, and is now the president of the First National Bank of Watseka, but still resides in Belmont. He was married in 1849 to Catherine Body, of that town. He was formerly from Adains county, Ohio.

The first child born within the limits of Belmont, was Marion Francis Moore, son of Jesse and Leticia Moore, born in the summer of 1831. The first marriage was Hon. Micajah Stanley to Rebecca Moore; and the first death was John Hudson, Sr., who died November 12, 1834. ,

The first settlers of Belmont had to endure the hardships usual to a new country. John Strean had a little store on Coon creek, where he sold a few necessaries brought by teams from La Fayette, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois, and which places were the nearest markets. The post-office was at Driftwood, northwest of Milford, on Sugar creek, where a " semi-occasional " mail was received on the mail route from Joliet to Danville. The nearest mills (except a " corn-cracker " run by horse-power, by William Pickrell, where Milford now is), were on Pine creek and the Big Shawnee, in Indiana, and at Wilmington, on the Kankakee river, about fifty miles away, and the nearest towns and physicians were at Williamsport and La Fayette.

The first schools taught in the town, so far as the writer has been able to learn, were by Benjamin Raymond, on the east side of the

MIDDLEPORT AND BELMONT TOWNSHIPS.

town, and by Mahlon Boyd on the west side of Sugar creek. The first preaching was by Revs. Mr. Springer and Hooper Crews, of the M. E. church, and by John Hoobler and the Kenoyers of the United Brethren church.

The town was first organized embracing town 26 north, ranges 12 and 13 west. Town 26 north, range 13 west, was organized as the town of Crescent a few years ago. The Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad runs through this town, on which, and in the S.E. ¿ of Sec. 20 and N.E. ¿ of Sec. 29, the village of

WOODLAND

Is located. This village was laid off by Russell Search, Samuel Will- iams and John L. Donovan, April 17, 1876. It is a station on the

WILLIAMS & SONS' CREAMERY.

railroad, four miles south of Watseka ; las a post-office, lumber yard, steam mill, several stores, etc., and does considerable trade. At this village is located one of the best regulated and constructed creameries in the country, owned by Hon. Samuel Williams & Sons.

The Poor Farm of the county is located principally in section 3, and was purchased of Henry B. Coberly, January 31, 1857. This town has two iron bridges across Sugar creek, one near the residence of Samuel Keene, built a few years ago, costing $6,500, and one lately built at Woodland, costing $3,200. Part of the corporate limits of the city of Watseka is within the town.

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History of Iroquois County, together with Historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources, Part 52

Author: Beckwith, H. W. (Hiram Williams), 1833-1903 Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Beckwith, H. W. (Hiram Williams), 1833-1903
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1180