USA > Illinois > Kendall County > History of Kendall county, Illinois, from the earliest discoveries to the present time > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
Eight Justices of the Peace were elected, viz : Lance- lot Rood, D. E. Davis, Solomon Wells, Albert Bush, S. G. Collins, George B. Hollenback, 'T. L. Broughton and S. B. Craw. Almon B. Ives was elected Probate Justice ; Norman Dodge, Titus Howe, and Royal Bullard after- wards filled the office in succession.
" Among the arrivals that year, were Nelson Platt, J.
224
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
N. Austin, Godfrey Stevenson, old Mr. and Mrs. Mis- ner, and Israel L. Rogers. The latter is now one of our wealthiest farmers ; owns a thousand acres of land and is worth $100,000. Mr. Austin was County Surveyor for a time. But perhaps the most illustrious family among the settlers that year was that of
HORATIO FOWLER.
He was a Canadian, and being concerned in the rebellion of '37, had spent two years in prison, and was finally liberated through the able intercession of his wife. She was a very smart and talented woman. He was a rela- tive of Lyman Smith and came to Newark in search of a new home, finding which, he sent for his family. He lived a while on Thuneman's corner, and then bought a piece of land of Mr. Stowell, on the creek, and built a rude dwelling there. He afterward built his house on the hill, now occupied by Isaac Lott. Huldah, the old- est daughter, died after they had been here a year. Two brothers and one sister remained. Henry became a phy- sician, and is now somewhere west. Fowler Institute is named after him. Charles studied for the ministry; was a pastor several years, then President of Evanston Univer- tity, now editor of the New York Christian Advocate, and is a leading spirit in the Methodist denomination. Jane married Rev. W. C. Willing, and is herself acquir- ing a national reputation as a speaker and writer. A prominent characteristic of the entire family is " push," and they have pushed themselves from the little cabin by the creek, where the floor was overflowed at every freshet, up to positions of honor and usefulness.
225
FIRST TERM OF COURT.
The first public record in the new county of Kendall was a sale of land from John Gilman to Clark B. Alford, April 15th, 1841. In June, Archibald Sears, county surveyor, laid off ten acres in Yorkville for a court house square. The land was owned by Rulief S. Duryea and Henry Carrington. Before the final transfer was made, in August, Mr. Carrington disposed of his right to Jas. S. Cornell, and by the latter and Mr. Duryea it was deeded to the county. The first term of Court was held in May. Following is the list of the grand jurors : Daniel Ashley, L. C. Gorton, Daniel Hubbard, Joel Warner, James Stafford, Benj. C. Burns, Horace Moore, H. S. Misner, Wm. Burns, R. W. Carns, John Litsey, J. W. Mason, Geo. Van Emmon, Archibald Sears, C. B. Ware, Lancelot Rood, H. W. Williams, Abbott Bush, F. F. Winchell, Jas. McClellan, R. S. Duryea, Lyman Bristol, and Richard Drury.
The following additional names were either new set- tlers or had been here some time : Big Grove-George Bushnell, Oscar Barstow, Robert Rowe, J. S. Witting- ton ; Seward-George E. Harrison ; Oswego-Samuel Pyatt, David and Reed Ferris, Peter J. Lestourgeon, Edward Simons; Kendall-Joshua Hallock ; Fox- Joseph B. Lyon, Samuel Morse, J. S. Van Kleut ; Bris- tol-Chas. Lake; Little Rock-Frederick Rush, Andrew Shonts. The
LONG GROVE SCHOOL
started in 1841. The first house was built by each neighbor putting in from three to five logs each. Jehiel McCrary was the first teacher ; then Thomas Ervin, Hannah Moore, Ebenezer Scofield, Mr. Davis, Amanda
226
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
Luce, Robert McIntyre, Sarah and Caroline Ives, Miss Wilcox and Cyne Misner.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
DARK DAYS.
N 1842 came Andrew Brodie into Fox township; Mr. Lyons, Byron E. and David H. Shonts to Little Rock ; Thom- as Greenfield, John Chapman, Samuel and Thomas Hopkins, Dr. Clemmons, E. D. Bradley and George Bradley to Oswego; C. R. Cook, David Springer, Mr. Young, C. H. Raymond, Dr. Pierre, A. Allaire, and Leonard Mabbott to Bristol ; Arken Baker, Dennis Dougherty, Solon and Augustus Worthing, to Seward. Lewis Rickard came from New York with several of the Montgomery county boys, who wanted to view the coun- try, but the others went back and saw Illinois no more.
The following names, most of them not mentioned before, are copied from
AN OLD STORE BOOK
of Geo. D. Richardson & Co., through the courtesy of E. S. L. Richardson. They, with many others, traded with Messrs. Richardson & Co. during 1841 : James P.
227
NAMES FROM A STORE BOOK.
Lamb, John B. Ball, Lyman Howard, Joseph Pratt, Sterling Beecher, James S. Jones, Alex. NcGregor, F. F. Elgin, John Gates, Joseph Boyce, Larnal Wilson, Anne Leighton, Dr. Pierre, A. Allaire, W. B. Smith, W. L. Shaw, James B. Lowry, Royal Bell, Waldo Marsh, Eric Nelson, J. N. Tolman, Russell Ball, Hiram Austin, J. R. Byerly, J. Starke Burroughs, Paul Lamb, George Ross, J. E. Ament, Peter Cook, Zenas Dunbar, Horatio Johnson, H. H. Williams, George H. Rogers, Sullivan Cone, Samuel Pope, Dexter Howard, Charles R. Noble, John L. Gale, Elihu Sutton, John Lott, Daniel Crandall, Smith Shaw, Mrs. Browning, D. D. Munger, N. A. Parkhurst, Jason Parmenter, Edward Moore, William Rogers, Sabian Tustanson, Peter Innis, J. McCrary, Nelson Howe, Simeon Ives, Moses Sweet, Robert Cook, G. Cleveland, Mahlon Coombs. W. Kearnes, J. Burbee, Edwin Howe, C. K. Carr, Henry Stone, William Harrison, G. W. Bradley, Charles N. Macubin, I. G. Potter, William H. Eddy, Joseph L. Clarke, B. Douglas, A. Olmstead, T. J. Smith, J. D. Gardner, Alanson King, James Bond, Ruth Kennedy, Raphael Beecher. E. Hill, Dennison Burroughs, D. Winchell, John Inscho, John Reed, Thomas Abbey, Apollos King, Hervey King, Horace Scott, Benjamin Fosgate, Otis Ashley, G. C. Carr, William Boss, Mr. Graver, M. M. Clarke, J. Bennett, Garrett L. Collins, Mr. Lincoln, Jno. Pearson, Lester M. Burroughs, Wil- liam Kimball, Mr. Boughton, F. Winchell, J. Kennedy, Catharine Barstow.
Besides those one hundred names are the names of many well known settlers of that day, making about one
228
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
hundred and fifty in all. The list probably includes nearly all the families then living within a radius of six or eight miles of Bristol. The Congregationalists bought the old store, now standing on the hill by the mouth of Blackberry creek, and used it for meetings and schools.
The feeling consequent upon the
FORMATION OF THE COUNTY
had not subsided, and so late as December 30th, 1842, a remonstrance was sent to the Legislature from citizens of LaSalle county, remonstrating against their being set off into Kendall. It was presented by Rev. Elisha Bib- bins, who, on some disaffection between the political par- ties, had been elected Representative from LaSalle, as a union candidate. But as an off-set, he presented at the same time a petition from the citizens praying for a con- tinuance of the county as it had been organized.
The historian still meets with but few names of new settlers, and the fact is clearly stated by Gov. Carlin in a message to the Senate :
"Owing to our
ACCUMULATED MISFORTUNES
the tides of emigration and wealth have ceased to flow into the State. All the channels of trade are completely obstructed, and the vitality of business seems almost extinct. The produce of the country is reduced to its lowest price, and in many places cash cannot be realized for it at all. It will be difficult, if not impossible, for the people to procure current funds for the payment of taxes. Cash cannot at present be realized from the sale of pub- lic lands owned by the State."
229
STATE FINANCIAL ADVERSITY.
Governor Ford in his inaugural said: "Two causes have operated to prevent an increase of population for a year or two past. One is the prevalent fear of exor- bitant taxes ; the other the reproach to which we are subject abroad."
In the preamble to resolutions against repudiation, adopted a few days after, it is said : “Under our former policy public works were begun and prosecuted, and vast schemes of internal improvement adopted alto- gether disproportionate to our means. These measures had their origin in the delusions incident to one of those periodical excitements which in Europe as well as this country have led States and individuals into inordinate speculations, uniformly terminating in bankruptcy and ruin. Under the influence of this delusion former Legis- latures have contracted debts in times of great apparent prosperity which we are now in a period of financial adversity utterly unable to liquidate. But X- we fully recognize the legal and moral obligations of discharging every debt, and the revenues of the State shall be appropriated for that purpose as soon as they can be made available without impoverishing and oppress- ing the people.
It was, perhaps, the darkest time in the history of our State, and in many a household the pinching of poverty was extreme. But in the midst of the gloom there were yet many things to be thankful for, and by the Gov- ernor's proclamation, December 29th, 1842, was set apart as a public Thanksgiving Day. The prayers offered up were heard, for times began to be better, and two years thereafter emigration began to pour in as of old, and
230
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
money, the life blood of the community, began to circu- late through the channels of trade.
In December, the
LAND OFFICE
was opened for the district embracing Kane county and our three northern townships formerly in Kane, and in these the same troubles were experienced and the same precautionary measures taken as in the southern part of the county before. Marcus Steward, James McClellan and Daniel S. Gray were among those who did the bid- ding for their several localities. In Little Rock, a Claim Association was formed, with J. M. Kennedy for captain, and James Phillips lieutenant, who marched to Chicago to see that the settlers had their rights. The plan gen- erally followed was to let any one bid who wished, and as high as they wished, and often a man's farm, with all its improvements, would be knocked down to a specula- tor who had never seen it, or to an avaricious neighbor who coveted it. But the lockout would come the next morning when the purchaser, gleeful over a good bar- gain, appeared with his money, and could not pass the guard until the appointed hour had passed, and the tract of land had been called again and knocked down to the real owner at government price. The officers were in understanding with the settlers in the matter, and were silent partners in the agreement; for though not the letter of the law, it was certainly the honest wish of the government that every actual settler should keep his own farm ; and it was surely difficult enough to do this even at the lowest prices, and many who are now weal-
231
EXPERIENCES OF PIONEERS.
thy were then unable to raise the money at all. Follow- ing is a part of the
PIONEER EXPERIENCES
of D. H. Shonts, Esq. : Three miles above Plano, on the Big Rock creek, is the mill site where in 1836 a saw mill was erected by Elisha Pearce and Wm. Wilson, of Oswego. They also got out the frame for a grist mill, but it was never put up. In 1838 the property was traded to Eber M. Shonts, and in 1842 to his brother, David H. Shonts, the present owner. The latter came with his family from Herkimer county, New York, with a capital of $58, and saved but one dollar to begin life with in Illinois. To make times still harder, the ague waited for him and boarded with him all winter ; had the misfortune to cut his foot in the spring; was taken down with bilious fever in June, and had a relapse of fever in August. He was barely recovered when his father died, and ten weeks afterwards his brother Eber's wife also died, her husband following the ensuing year. In the year 1846 there were two other deaths in the family.
At the land sale in '42, he was unable to raise the money to pay for his farm, and arranged to borrow it of Barnabas Eldredge, who, in turn expected to procure it of Thomas Swift. But the latter discovered what it was for, and was minded to make something for himself, if any- thing was to be made; whereupon Mr. Shonts applied to Mr. Tuttle, of Chicago, who, though hard pressed in his own business, loaned his friend the money at twenty- five per cent interest, taking the Government duplicate of land as security. After three years, Mr. Tuttle de- sired a settlement, and Mr. Shonts deeded his farm to
232
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
Moses Booth for money to pay Tuttle, and then to J. L. Adams, of Ottawa, for money to pay Booth-all the time paying twenty-five per cent. At last, in '47, he obtained the deed of his farm from Adams. After escap- ing the jaws of the speculators at Chicago, there were difficulties among neighbors to settle. One was known as the " Hummel and Hubbel case," in which one of the parties refused to re-deed to the other, according to mu- tual contract. The reason was, he would lose a larger slice than he would gain. After all fair means had been tried, the neighbors were notified and they met on an appointed day to the number of one hundred and fifty, resolved to enforce obedience to the law. All the young bloods in the country were there, eager for "fun," but enough of the sober element were present to control the proceedings. A deputation was first sent to the house of the accused, but met with no success, and they left him with the words: "We have done what we could, sir, and you must bear the consequences." It was then resolved to take down and remove the logs of his house, but soon a messenger came, announcing his willingness to deed the patch of land, and so the matter was settled without recourse to violence.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CLAIM FIGHTS.
N Seward, among the settlers of 1843, were R. Bellfield and Edward Jones ; in Na-au- say, R. M. Wheeler, O. C. Johnson, Geo. Bellfield, Henry Pulver, Mr. Bingham, Mr. Avery, James Brady, Mr. Merritt, Mr. Gould, Charles Suydam, Edward Fogarty, Peter and John VanDyke. The Wheeler family now own one-eighteenth of the town of Na-au-say. Mr. Johnson is a son-in-law. Both he and A. K. Wheeler have been to the Legislature. His first house was a board shanty near the site of his pres- ent residence, and there he was obliged to leave his wife and little family while he went to Chicago. Every day the cows had to be fetched from the almost boundless prairie, and every night the wolves drearily howled all about them.
Mr. Jones was direct from Wales, with nothing Amer- ican about him-not even the language. He met Mr. Milks in Chicago with a load of grain, and rode out with him, and that was how it came about that his lot was cast in Kendall county. A bachelor by the name of
16
234
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
Harrison owned the place on which the Bronk school- house now stands, and died that year.
The old cemetery on the Austin farm, then Sullivan's, was begun in 1843. Several graves still remain there. Mrs. John Merritt was the first buried there. In the town of Kendall settled S. W. Brown, John Dunn and Chris. Johnson. The latter was from Norway, and the first Norweigan on the prairie where now there are so many hundreds. In Little Rock, Henry Persons, Wil- liam Hardy and W. S. Faxon ; in Oswego, Cyrus Cass, John Collins, H. Minard, George Wooley ; in Bristol, William Grimwood, J. C. Scofield ; Lisbon, N. W. Sher- rill, G. C. Gaylord, Kirkland and Baker Knox, and Deacon Beebe. The latter brought out what was at least one of the first pianos in the county, if not the very first. It is an antiquated but sweet sounding little thing, though more valuable for its history and associa- tions than its music, and is now owned by John Codner, of Lisbon.
In Big Grove, David Barrows, Michael Brown, Deacon Gridley and Lot Preshur. Mr. Barrows exchanged property with J. J. Hunt, of Naperville, and lived there two years, but the rest of the time he lived here. Mr. Brown was brought out from Chicago by Josiah Sey- mour, and on arriving here had but very little money left. He lived for a time on the Isaac Anderson place with Albert P. Brewster, now in Kansas, and Josiah Fosgate, now in Lee county. He hired out at once to go with a threshing machine, and after working a month met with an accident by which he lost a limb. He suc-
235
MR. MURPHY'S FLY BILL.
ceeded, however, in securing a good farm, and has raised a large and enterprising family.
Mr. Gridley bought his place of Lewis Robinson, a tailor, and the shop in which he worked is still a part of the dwelling house on the farm. Lot Preshur built Mrs. H. L. Warner's house in Newark. He was a ma- chinist, and soon became well known as a reaper inventor and manufacturer.
During the previous winter a petition was sent to the Legislature, praying that the name of Georgetown might be changed to
NEWARK,
as there was another Georgetown in Vermillion county. The petition was presented by Alfred E. Ames, of Boone county, and the Act making the change was passed Feb- ruary 16th, 1843. On January 28th, preceding, a peti- tion was presented by Mr. Bibbins, praying the incor- poration of "Newark Academy," but it was referred without reading to the Committee on Banks and Cor- porations, Murphy, of Cook, chairman, and was there lost. Kendall county had no Representative, but a peti- tion was sent in praying an Act enabling them to elect one. But Mr. Murphy, though he frowned on the Academy, had time to introduce a bill of his own for " An Act to incorporate a joint stock association whose charter shall be irrepealable for five hundred years, and whose duties it shall be to prevent flies from infesting our dairies, defiling our butter, and drowning themselves in our buttermilk," which was read the first and second times by its title, and referred to the Committee on Banks and Corporations.
236
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
THE NEWARK CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
was organized April 9th, by Rev. Alvah Day, with
twenty-one members. Among them were T. J. Phillips, Josiah Seymour, Lyman Preston and A. F. Southwick, and their wives. Ole Oleson and Horace Day and wife joined soon after. The pastors succeeding Mr. Day were L. Rood, Romulus Barnes, C. L. Bartlett, James Taylor, George Bassett, Robert Budd, R. Markham, L. Farnham, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Burns and C. B. Curtis. The first meetings were held over Murray's store, in Mrs. Niblo's building, then owned by Mr. Gardner. A gravel meeting house was finished in 1849, which, after eight years' service, was burned down by an accident happening to a traveling exhibition which had been allowed the use of the house for an entertainment. A new house was built and dedicated in 1861. W. C. Willing and wife, then Miss Jennie Fowler, and her brothers Henry and Charles, were members of the church, afterward uniting with the Methodists. Warren F. Day went out from it, now pastor of the Congregational Church at Union City, Michigan.
August 31st an association was formed for the better care of the
NEWARK AND MILFORD BURYING GROUND,
at a public meeting held on the ground. Jesse Jackson, Henry A. Misner and Nathan Aldrich were chosen trustees, and Levi Brainard treasurer and secretary. A movement for the sale of lots to raise money for fencing, had been started in the June previous, and one hundred and sixty-one persons subscribed from fifty cents to two
237
NEWARK AND MILFORD BURIAL GROUND.
dollars each. But the sums were not all paid for a long time. The price of a lot and the digging of a grave had for years been one dollar and a half, but after the organ- ization it was raised to two dollars and a half, which many in that day thought a very high price.
The following year the contract for fencing was finally let to Samuel Jackson for seventy dollars, and three years after the sexton's tool house was built at a cost of thirty-five dollars. There are at the present time three hundred lot owners whose names are recorded, and there are in the cemetery more than eight hundred distin- guishable graves, besides many that have long since been obliterated. Six hundred of the graves are marked by headstones, and five by large monuments.
A burying ground has been a sacred spot ever since Abraham, who could do without a permanent home for himself, but wanted a permanent home for his dead. It is a symbol of christianity which cares for the dust of our mortality, and calmly opposes the gush of modern religionists about the worthlessness of the body and the beauty of cremation furnaces.
Three schools date from here. The Millington school had for its first teachers : Miss Courtright, Miss Loug- head, Miss Ingalls, Annie Sherman, John Todd, Mary Scott, Miss Martindale, Delia Fuller, and Jane Fowler. The first is now Mrs. T. J. Phillips, the last Mrs. W. C. Willing.
The Boomer school, in Bristol, was also built in 1843, the second school house being built in 1855. First teachers : Ann Lowry, Carlton Hunt, Polly Lowry, Gil- bert Lester, Rhoda Shaver, Emily Dyer, Aaron Alford,
238
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
Benj. Gifford, Mr. Sullivan, John Young, James Keel- er, and Mr. Moore.
The Albee school, Oswego, was rebuilt in 1858. Early teachers : Annie Stowell, Henry Chapman, Howell Moffatt, Minnie Graham, Mary Barr, James Coe, Mary A. Thornton, Jane Rosier, Wiltby Thayer, Mary Bruce, and Henry Titsworth. Miss Stowell taught her school in a spare room in Walter Selvey's house, before the school house was built, beginning in 1841.
An extensive
CLAIM FIGHT
that raged in 1841 may be given here. The main points were about as follows : Mr. Hutton made his claim where J. J. Griswold's farm now is, near the Rob Roy creek, and after a while left it. Rogers and Eldredge, supposing the claim vacated, went on it; but Hutton by-and-by sold for a trifle to John Boyd, and he, too, moved on it. Then there was war. There was, perhaps, blame on both sides, but the people generally regarded Boyd as in the wrong, and on the complaint of the other parties took active measures against him. Mr. Griswold was on one quarter, and they put the crops in by a bee, in opposition to Boyd. The latter then moved on the next quarter, which was all timber land, and most of which was claimed by John Wheeler. He was Swiss, and not naturalized, and could not hold in his own name, so Hiram Brown was put on with him. The contest waxed hot. Mr. Boyd's son-in-law, Mr. Throck- morton, a large, muscular man, took an active part in it. His side began cutting timber, whereupon a day was appointed and nearly one hundred men assembled
239
THE MILLERITE EXCITEMENT.
to cut opposition timber. That was a day long remem- bered. Bad words were used and threats made, but no blood was shed. Mr. Boyd instituted a suit against twenty-one of the opposition, which ran through the Kane county courts for years, and was known as the " Twenty-one suit."
During the early part of 1843 the Miller excitement in regard to the end of the world was at its height. William Miller had fixed on April, 1843, as the time of the end, and there were many believers in his arithmetic in this county. It is no doubt a fact that some of them had their white robes ready made for the occasion, from a wrong interpretation of Rev. 7:9. The clothing of heaven is holiness, spiritual in texture, and not cloth from the Georgia cotton fields. Christ is coming again, " in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven"; but he, himself, was careful to teach us that "of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven." And if still we are curious to know, we have his rebuke, that "it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power." " Watch, for ye know not when the Master cometh."
A great excitement was created at the close of the year 1843 by the
RYDER MURDER CASE.
Ansel Ryder owned the farm afterward owned by Joel Warner, and now by Elijah Pricket, half a mile south of the village. He and others were in Smith's tav- ern, in the Barnett block, Newark, when Owen Haymond passed a joke which offended Ryder. He went home
240
HISTORY OF KENDALL COUNTY.
for his rifle and shot Haymond in the door of the tavern, not, however, seriously wounding him. Riding back, he barricaded himself in his house. The neighbors from all about assembled, but he held them at bay most of the night. Finally, Charles McNeil, while unfastening a window, was also shot, which so enraged the crowd that they broke in the door with a log, and arrested him before he could reload his rifle. Mr. McNeil was shot through the chest, so that a silk handkerchief could be drawn through ; he died in a few days. J. S. Cornell was Sheriff, and kept the prisoner up stairs in his house -the yellow house still standing just west of the court house in Yorkville. It was not a very secure jail, and Ryder, thinking he could escape, leaped from the front window and broke his leg. The trial came on at the fol- lowing spring term of court. Judge Dickey was his lead- ing counsel, and B. F. Fridley prosecuting attorney ; and as the prisoner refused to plead, a plea of "not guilty " was entered for him. At the fall term of court, for some reason, Mr. Fridley refused to prosecute, and the pris- oner was discharged, but was again arrested ; and so the case dragged along for three years. The result was that Ryder escaped punishment, went to California, returned, and died in Joliet ; and Judge Dickey took the farm for his fees. From such scenes, it is pleasant to turn to the fact that 1843 was rendered memorable by a powerful revival of religion among the churches, which increased the membership fully one-third. It was a union of utter depression in business, with the most glorious salvation of souls.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.