USA > Illinois > Kendall County > History of Kendall county, Illinois, from the earliest discoveries to the present time > Part 11
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Mr. Sargent lived where John Seeley does now. Clark W. Wormley bought his present place of Wendell King, of Aurora. George W. Kellogg passed through our county on his way to Peoria, from Rutland, Ver- mont, in the fall of 1835. Stopped over night at Platt- ville, where was only a log house and a few acres of sod corn. In the spring of 1836 he returned and settled on George Parker's place, opposite Oswego. Went to Na- au-say in 1846.
MRS. MARY YOUNG,
still living in Na-au-say, says: "My husband, William Young, and myself came to Chicago in the fall of 1835. We were from England. He found work in a wagon shop during the winter, and there Isaac Townsend, being in Chicago, happened to meet him, and asked him if he would like to go out into the country. Mr. Young said yes, for he had the ague very hard in Chicago. So we came out here in February, 1836. Mr. Townsend lived with Major Davis, and when we arrived, the wife of an Irishman who was keeping house for them said to me, ' O, I am glad to see a woman, for I have not seen one for three months.' Well, thinks I, we have got into
173
NEW COUNTY IN RHYME.
a wilderness now, sure enough. However, we stood it better than I had feared, though we did have some times that were pretty hard. We moved into a large log house, twenty-by-thirty, built by John Hough, and there, February 20th, 1837, my son, Richard Young, was born, the first white child born in the town of Na- au-say." In
SEWARD
John Davis settled on the lower Aux Sable, on the Hen- derson place, and Mr. Sidebotham settled a mile above him, on the Thomas Fielding place. Mr. Sidebotham took up a large tract of land, but died the following year. He was a brother-in-law of Alanson Milks, who had just bought out Mr. Davis, and opened a tavern, well known afterwards as the Patrick stand, and there Mr. Sidebotham was buried.
The first school was begun in Aurora that season, 1836, in a log school house covered with bark. Mrs. Spaulding was the first teacher.
KANE COUNTY
was organized out of LaSalle, the line running through Kendall and cutting off our eastern townships, making Oswego, Bristol and Little Rock to be in Kane county.
Following is an extract from an effort of a local poet enshrining the advantages of the new county in rhyme : " The timber here is very good. The forest dense of sturdy wood,
The maple tree its sweets affords, And walnut it is sawn to boards, The giant oak the axman hails, Its massive trunk is torn to rails ; And game is plenty in the State, Which makes the hunters' chances great ; The prairie wolf infests the land, And the wild-cats all bristling stand."
174
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
There is nothing said about town sites, corner lots, unlimited water privileges and prospective railroads, which made up a large share of the hopes of 1836. In the State of Illinois one thousand miles of railroad had been projected by the State Committees on Internal Im- provements, besides extensive improvements in navigable rivers. Several of the roads had to pass over govern- ment lands where there were scarce settlers' cabins enough to mark the stations. In the entire county of LaSalle the land tax for 1835 was but $76.29-less than hundreds of single farms now pay. The railroads, how- ever, came to nothing, though the river improvements were many of them made. There is one subject, how- ever, which our fathers must be praised for, viz : their enterprise and forethought on the subject of
EDUCATION.
They felt the necessity of some system of public schools, and this more largely after an influx of eastern emigra- tion. The want of teachers was deeply felt, and the fol- lowing extracts are from the Senate report of 1836, proposing to establish county seminaries for teachers. Read and remember them and be thankful for our school houses :
Mr. Gatewood said :
" Ours is a government of laws and rights which, to to be appreciated, must be understood. The distinctions in society so much and so often complained of are to be attributed more to the different degrees of intelligence among men, than to wealth, or rank, or any other cause. If in our own community a certain portion of the people be permitted to remain in ignorance, that portion will be better fitted for the use of the other than they will be to
175
MR. GATEWOOD ON EDUCATION.
discharge the duties imposed upon them by their coun- try. The nations of the old world are not now adapted to free institutions like ours. Even England and France, enlightened as they are, are probably as happy under their own monarchies as they would be under a republic ; not because there is a want of intelligence among cer- tain classes, but because there is a want of intelligence among the people. In some portions of our country the schools have been left almost entirely to individual exer- tion. In these portions many persons are found who are unable to read. The same may be said of States where schools for the poor are established by law. 'Let the rich educate themselves,' they say, 'and we will edu- cate the poor.' Now whether this principle of regarding education as an act of charity be right or wrong, its operation will at least show that it would be impractica- ble to adopt it here, for where it has prevailed-accord- ing to the best information that can be obtained-one- third of the whole people are unable to read. But in every State where free schools have long prevailed, it is very difficult to find a single person who is unable to read and write. Where free schools prevail, the State exacts of its people what they may have to give-of the rich man, his money ; of the poor man, his children. There is one evil not yet provided for, and that is the lamentable want of qualified teachers. It is well known that in many set- tlements the people are obliged to depend upon the wan- dering refugees of other States, and such transient per- sons as may happen to come along, to teach their schools. The evil, however, is not without a remedy-by erecting county seminaries, in which the Latin and Greek lan- guages, and the higher branches of an English education, may be taught. We must have education. So popular is the subject of education now in this State, that it is advocated in every newspaper and its praises are sung on every 'stump.' The public mind may be convulsed in discussions concerning the State Bank or the Canal,
176
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
but such matters are as the dust in the balance when compared to a subject like this. In the day of small things let us plant the tree under whose branches mil- lions of the future inhabitants of this great Valley will repose in security and peace."
These are words worthy to be framed in every school room in the land.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE YEAR OF THE PANIC.
E NOW enter upon the year 1837. The United States public debt had been paid, and there was besides a surplus in the treasury, which was refunded to the States. And yet in the face of this seeming prosperity, a stringency in commercial affairs spread over the entire nation, as a cloud shadows the landscape on a sunny day, and involved business enterprises of all kinds in one common ruin. The banks throughout the United States, with few exceptions, in the spring of this year suspended specie payments ; yet by virtue of energy and a good deal of credit, most of the Illinois internal improvements still went on. The first railroad in the
177
FIRST RAILROAD IN STATE.
State was opened this year, just forty years ago. It was in Morgan county, between Meredosia, on the Illinois river, and Jacksonville, about twenty-five miles. It was laid with flat " strap rails," and at first a locomotive was put on, but this was afterward superseded by horse and mule power.
March 4th, Chicago, having a population of four thou- sand, was incorporated and became a city, although its future commerce was so far future that its merchants were obliged to import flour from Ohio to supply their customers. The weather seemed in sympathy with the money market, for the spring was backward, and it was late before the crops were in the ground.
On May 22d, there was a snow-storm, and quite an amount of snow fell, which, though it remained but a few hours, was yet a phenomenon unusual enough to be remembered. In
BIG GROVE, *
Luman Preston, from Middlebury, Vermont, made a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, probably the pre- vious summer, on the prairie east of Newark, where his widow still lives. He, too, was a prairie pioneer, and was laughed at by his grove neighbors, who believed he could not make a cabin stay there. He had been living in Jacksonville two years, and Josiah Seymour came from that place with him and took a claim on the hill west of Mr. Harrington's. He is now in Nebraska. Mrs. Preston kept an interesting diary during the nine weeks' journey from Vermont, and for some time after- wards. She says : " Wherever we stopped, we were surrounded with people, anxious to know where we were
178
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
from and whither going. While passing through York State, one old man accosted us with : 'What part you from ?' 'Middlebury, Vermont,' we replied. 'Var- mount, Varmount,' he answered; 'I've heern tell o' that place. Let's see-what State is that in ?' We came to Jacksonville in 1834. The next year a com- pany came up in a lumber wagon, taking their own pro- visions, and prospected through to Chicago. They thought the region around Georgetown the finest they saw ; indeed, quite the heart of the country ; so we all decided to move up here. For the first few years we saw hard times. We were often in danger of being burnt out by prairie fires, and had to plow furrows and burn spaces around us for our protection. Our first stovepipe I made myself out of oak boards, after soak- ing them well in salt water to make them incombustible. It lasted a month or two. Once, while we were waiting for Jackson's mill to be finished, we ran out of flour and meal. Some of the neighbors did not taste bread for weeks. Ephraim Mott and family lived with us, and we made corn meal with a grater and jack-plane, and lived like kings." John Hough, from New York, claimed next south, now David Gunsul's farm, and his brother, Jerry Hough, came next, on S. C. Sleezer's place. Both are dead. Other settlers were : George D. Barrows, New York ; Harlow G. Wilcox, Madison county, New York ; Ephraim Mott, William Haymond, Ohio; and Capt. Van Meter, now in Minnesota. He opened a brick-yard near Lott Scofield's. There was a brick-yard also at
NEWARK,
on the edge of the prairie, between the grove and John
179
DROWNED IN FOX RIVER.
Boyen's, worked by Pat Cunningham. Henry Shad- ley, from Ottawa, worked there. He was drowned in Fox river, in June, and his was the third grave in the Millington and Newark cemetery. A. D. Newton helped dig it. The second one buried was Miss Heath, from over the river.
The second store in Newark was opened by Mr. Booth on the site of Erwin's blacksmith shop. It still stands, as good as ever, and is Mr. Erwin's dwelling house. Charles McNeil bought George Hollenback's second building, and Tilton place. The Newark precinct house was built during the summer, and used not only for elections, but for schools and meetings. Miss Diantha Gleason was the first teacher. Before that, school was kept over Hollenback's store, by Mr. Neese, and in a log cabin in the grove, near Gridley's, by Mrs. Sloan.
HOLLENBACK'S SCHOOL HOUSE
was built in the centre of that grove during the fall, and Henry Bosworth, now living on Lester Taylor's place, was the first teacher. The following are among the early teachers in that district :
Henry Bosworth, Benjamin Beach Fellows, Eleazer H. Austin, Joseph B. Lyon, Perry A. Armstrong, James H. Lyon, Miss Sirilda Pyeatt, James Butter, Orange Potter, Hallet Bemis, Sanford Washburn, Irus Coy.
In 1845 the district was divided, but the original house still stands in all its primitive glory, and is used as a dwelling by William Stone, about two miles west of Pavilion, on the road leading to Newark.
Col. Aaron Brown had a claim on the north side of the river, embracing the farms of Mr. Ballou and Mr.
180
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
Brodie. His dwelling was a little log house, part of which still stands, in the bottom opposite Mr. Brodie's. In 1837 he sold to
JOHN ALDRICH,
from Orleans county, New York. Mr. Aldrich had a family of five children, and in 1856 removed to Iowa. Wilber White had the only house on the prairie, on what is now Moses White's place. Thomas Pike was at the mouth of Rock creek, where Post's Mill now is, and owned a very large claim on the west side of the creek. A daughter is now Mrs. Willet Murray, of Ottawa. Samuel Finch lived where Mr. Wilder does. His son, Darius Finch, was here before. On the south side of the river Alanson Robinson settled on Daniel Bagwell's place, and Thomas Serrine on Matthew Budd's place. They were brothers-in-law, and both from Dutchess county. New York. James H. Whitney, son- in-law of James Southworth, was on the Charles Krouse farm. He bought part of his claim of Mr. Montgom- ery. Ole Oleson owned what is now John Boyen's and Isaac Lott's. It was the first claimed by William Brooks, who sold to Oleson, and who still lives and resides at Sandwich.
In Big Grove Mr. Coombs built a shanty in Stowell's timber lot, chinking the crevices with leaves and earth. Mr. Stowell came upon it one day and notified the neigh- bors, who nearly all belonged to the "claim society." They assembled on an appointed day, and chopped the logs of the shanty into firewood just as Coombs arrived with his family. They admonished him, and sent him back in peace.
181
BURIED IN A WELL.
REV. JEPTHAH BRAINARD,
William Paddock and John Gardner, and families, George Paddock and Cole Gardner, single men, came in a body from Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and settled in the town of Fox. The families came over- land, but sent their goods around by water. From Oswego, New York, to Ithaca, they were hauled on a horse railroad-wooden rails, capped with strap iron. Mr. Paddock settled on the present Paddock place, a mile from Newark, and Mr. Brainard settled at first on the Sweetland place, south of Newark, but soon after
bought the farm now owned by John Phillips.
While
digging a well on that place in the fall of 1837, after he had sunk it in the sand some thirty feet, it caved in on him, filling up a foot above his head. His boys uncov- ered his head and ran for help, and notwithstanding the sparse population, there was soon gathered a large com- pany of people, some of whom came several miles. A number were waiting at Jackson's saw mill, and were on the spot in a few minutes. Two hogsheads were first lowered, as a curbing against the sand, and a neighbor happening along with a load of twelve feet boards, these were also used. While they were digging, the sand caved in again worse than before, and yet the imprisoned man was not killed. The work went on all the after- noon, amid the most intense excitement, and Mr. Brain- ard was pulled out at last uninjured. So tightly was the sand packed that when he was uncovered to his boot- tops he still could not get out. It is unnecessary to say that he abandoned that well and used good curbing for the next one. The incident made a deep impression
182
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
at the time, and is vividly remembered yet by all old settlers.
The first preaching in Newark was by Rev. Royal Bullard, in Hollenback's store loft, in 1837, the preacher standing behind a chair for a pulpit. But when the precinct house was built, as it was common property, preachers of all denominations followed each other, just as they did in most of the early school houses through- out the county. The practice made cosmopolitan hearers. It enabled the community to judge of the relative merits of preachers and distinguishing characteristics of denom- inations. It trained the powers of criticism so that the youngest could tell to what denomination a preacher belonged, by some peculiarity of manner, which long hearkening to the shrewd observations of their elders had enabled them to detect. In those days, "nothing to wear" kept no one at home. When it was announced that there would be
PREACHING IN THE SCHOOL HOUSE
at " half-past ten," or "at early candle light," the wife went in her calico dress and her husband in his Ken- tucky jeans, hickory shirt and straw hat. The boys wore suspenders of unbleached shirting, and were bare- foot, while the lively young man donned a starched shirt, unmarred by a vest, and the spacious bosom to best advantage displayed as he sat upon one of the scholar's desks to save room, the admiration and envy of the little boys.
But the past is gone. The parents have laid down the weapons of their warfare, and the weather-stained marble marks the place where they " sleep in the val-
183
DAYS OF OLD, FAREWELL.
ley." The spinning-wheel is in the garret, the grain cradle, with rusted edge and broken fingers, is in a cor- ner of the barn loft, and the hub rings of the wagon that the oxen drew to meeting arc at the bottom of the waste iron box. The young man who sat on the desk has gray hairs, and his family, one by one, are leaving him. and in the dusk of the evening he thinks of the time when he, too, shall pass away. and his white memo- rial stone shall rise by the side of the brown ones in the graveyard. The little boys are active men, and other little boys are going to school, but there are no schools like the old. The hazel brush patch has long since been cut down, and play-houses must be built of vulgar boards, and the creek where the minnows sped away, frightened at bare-legged boys, is dry. Days of old, farewell !
CHAPTER XXVII.
DEPARTURE OF THE INDIANS.
LIEZER and Warren Moore came to Lis- bon in 1837. Warren is now in Otta- wa; Eliezer is dead, and his widow still lives in Lisbon. The
FIRST LISBON SCHOOL
was opened in a log granary owned by Levi Hills, and was taught by Elizabeth Bushnell, now Mrs. A. J. Ford, of Chebanse. The school-room was warmed by a stove Mr. Bushnell brought from New York. William and Samuel McCloud settled a mile east of Plattville. At Platt's, Rev. Mr. Lumry held occasional preaching service. Chester House, the pioneer of the town of Seward, died that season of con- sumption, brought on by exposure. Two of the present settlers of that town-Daniel Gleason and J. L. Van Cleve-came in at the same time. Both were young men. William Gleason came in two years after.
Millington was added to by the removal there of Fletcher Misner, who left the Newark business to Mr. Messenger, and built a shop where Mr. Van Osdel's house now stands. Work on the grist mill also went on
185
NAMING OF MILBROOK.
with all speed. Geo. B. Hollenback and Mr. Elderding built a saw and grist mill at
MILLBROOK,
and ran it four years. In 1841 they sold to Greeley and Gale, of St. Louis.
The saw mill was built first, with a twenty-four foot overshot wheel, and the grist mill not for some time after- wards. William Whitfield took it in 1844, but the water ran low and finally the old mill was sold piecemeal. The course of the race can be traced yet, a little above the Millbrook ford. All our streams are lower to-day than when the country was first settled. About the time they were building the mill, the lady who was to name the future village was on her way west. It was Mrs. Ra-
chel Blanding. Her husband, Dr. Blanding, was in poor health, and as a restorative, they entered, in com- pany with an aunt, on a western tour. Going down the Ohio river to its mouth, they passed up the Mississippi to the head of navigation; then back to the mouth of the Illinois river and up to LaSalle, and thence by teams to the homes of their friends, Rev. Royal Bullard and Wm. Vernon. While here, Mrs. Blanding named Mr. Bul- lard's place Millbrook farm. Several years after, she left, by will, one hundred dollars to help build a meeting house there, two conditions being attached, viz : It was to be near Millbrook farm, and was to be called Mill- brook church.
Mr. Bullard was a leader in every good work, and a Sunday school was held in his house for several sum- mers.
Peter Ennis was a tailor in Bristol. Other settlers
13
186
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
there were, Solomon Heustis, Lyman Lane, G. W. Lane, M. W. Lane, W. W. Marsh, J. Pratt. At Yorkville, Mr. Duryea built a blacksmith shop and a cabinet shop. Robert Casler, from New York, and now residing in Little Rock, worked the former ; and Isaac Fouch occupied the latter. Other settlers of this year about Long Grove, were Palmer Sherman, John Boyd, John Parker, Joab Austin, D. C. Shepherd, F. A. Emmons, W. M. Hal- lock. In Na-au-say, Ralph Gates, Dr. T. Seeley, Edmund Seeley, Francis Foulston.
In Little Rock, A. McLeary, Matthew Patterson, Solomon Stebbins, Nathan C. Mighell, Edward Lewis, Isaac Hatch, Mr. Scott, John Shonts, Amer Cook, Daniel Burroughs, Morris Hadden, William Ryan, Thomas Lye. The two latter came together. The senior Cook was an old Revolutionary soldier, and though more than eighty years old, was often seen with a gun on his shoulder, meandering up Little Rock creek after game. Patterson and Stebbins were the first on Blackberry creek. The claim made by the latter is now Levi Gorton's farm. A notable event this year was
MOVING THE INDIANS.
William Mulkey reports his share in it as follows : "The contract to move them was advertised for by gov- ernment, and given to Christopher Dobson as the lowest bidder. William Rogers, of Paw Paw, known as ' Black- leg Bill,' had the contract to feed them while on the road. I hired to him at $2.50 a day, out and back. He put in five teams. The farmers in different parts were hired first to bring them in to Chicago, and from there we started for the Platte purchase on Platte river, seven
187
MOVING THE INDIANS.
hundred miles west. At Shabbona Grove we made a halt, and paid the Indians their annuities. It was known that we were going to do so, and some parties from Princeton were soon in sight with the inevitable load of whisky. They did not dare to come within the limits of the reserve, but camped outside and showed the whisky to an Indian. He told the others, and in a little while they were all yelling drunk, and the whisky sellers were taking in the silver half dollars in a stream. The contractors saw it was going to delay their march until the Indians' money was all gone, and Bill Rogers went out boldly with an axe and stove in all the barrels. We thought that was the end of it, but when we were a little past Princeton the sheriff's posse overtook us with a warrant to arrest Bill. A petty chief, by the name of Leflambeaux was with us, a French half-breed. He raised the war cry, and such a whooping and yelling and brandishing of hatchets as followed was enough to curdle a white man's blood. They drove the sheriff and his men back to town, and Bill escaped arrest. We were nearly two months on the outward journey. There were sixteen wagons altogether in the company, some of them belonging to the wealthy Indians, who were allowed the same pay by the government as was given to the rest of us. We carried the women and children and their household furniture, while the men walked. We crossed the river where Kansas City now is, and then the tribe separated, part going to the Osage and part to the Platte. When we arrived at our journey's end we set the In- dians out on the open ground, unloaded their traps alongside, and came away and left them there. I was gone three months."
188
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
In Oswego, Mrs. Pease, L. B. Judson's mother, kept tavern. Mr. Osborn kept store, and Ezra Smith opened the first shoe shop. He was a fine performer on the tenor drum, and was a manufacturer of drums. Many were sold during the war. G. W. Wormley, Daniel Cooney and Henry A. Clarke came in and took up claims. The latter settled, at first, on the place where William and John Pearce now live. He opened one of the first dry goods stores in Oswego, and continued in the business twenty years.
Mr. Sutton was a transient settler who used to sell claims. A great claim fight occurred this year near Oswego, between the friends of H. A. Clarke and Thomas Strobridge. On an appointed day, about thirty on a side met, and weapons and bad language were used, and such a moral dust raised as did not settle for years.
This season, the Oswego postoffice was established, and the first school was opened in a log building on the hill above where the brewery stands. George Kellogg was the first teacher ; then Mr. King. The next season a frame building was put up on the same lot with the store. The studdings were hewed out of rails. It was the first frame in Oswego, and is now a part of Albert Snook's residence. It was made for a store, but school was held in it. Adaline Warner, sister of Mrs. George Parker, was the first teacher. Four of the village lot owners, L. B. Judson, L. F. Arnold, Mr. Green and Dr. Trow- bridge, voted for a name for the new post-office, and the result was that " Lodi" and " Hudson" became Oswego by two majority. Mr. Green and one or two others
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