USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > History of La Salle County, Illinois > Part 32
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Major D. Wallace, from Orange County, Ver- mont, in 1837; the only physician here for ten years : left two sons, Charles married the widow Scott, owned the Wallace House; George mar - ried Miss White.
James Wood, from New York in 1840 ; he died 1853; settled on S. 6; four children: Peter, David : Lovina married James Wallace ; Elisha.
Miles Rouse, came from New York, in 1834; died in 1860; Ellen, married Mr. Lynn; Eliza, married ; Martha, married Allen McGregor.
George Rogerson came from Brockville, Can- ada, in 1838.
Edward Cook came in 1835 : died in California.
Russel Bliss, came from North Adams to Ohio, and from there here, in 1837.
James M. Philips, came from Pennsylvania. in 1836; he had a difficulty regarding a disputed claim with his neighbor, Moss, and unfortunate- ly killed him; he was tried for murder and con- victed of manslaughter, but was discharged, from a defect in the law. It is due to Mr. Philips to state, that his neighbors all agree that he led a blameless life afterward ; had a large family of children who are much respected. He sent five sons to the war.
Mr. Mcss, who was killed by Philips, was from Vermont ; he was making a farm prepara- tory to moving his family, when he met his fate.
Abram Foster, and wife. Millie White, came from Bradford County, Pennsylvania. in 1836; settled one mile north of Earlville, on the creek ; seven children : Betsey, married Conrad Smith, of Northville; Millie, married Frederick Smith, of Northville : Elisha, is deceased ; Alfred. went to California ; William died here: Willard went west ; Abram went to Colorado.
Amzi Foster, grandson of Abram, came from Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in 1837 : he. married Mary J. App : had three children.
Samuel T. Stilson, born in Connecticut, came from Chautauqua County, New York, in 1839; was a farmer, merchant. grain dealer. and banker. His first wife was Ellen Wood, who died in 1852: his second wife was Sarah Lukins. Had five children by first marriage: Mrs. A. McKinny : Samuel and David served in the Re- bellion ; Talbert. Second marriage : Mrs.
Ella McDonald and Mrs. Charles Hoss.
SERENA.
Robert Beresford, a native of Derry, Ireland. came to America, and with his wife. Mary Desert. and family, came first to Peoria. and, with Jesse Walker, to Ottawa in 1825; assisted Walker in establishing his mission at Mission Point. and in 1829 settled at Holderman's Grove. He removed to Indian Creek in 1831 ; he built a saw-mill on the creek, and resided in that locality till his death in 1851. Mrs. Beres-
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ford died in 1843. He left three children : John, married, went to Fremont, Nebraska; Mary Ann, married William Cullen, of Ottawa-Mr. Cullen was Sheriff, many years editor of the Ottawa Republican and Representative in Con- gress ; Lovina, married Mr. Wykoff ; James, was killed by Indians while scouting in 1832.
Daniel Warren, Jr., came from Madison Coun- ty, New York, in 1830, and settled in Indian Creek in 1832. His wife was Lucy Skeels, from Putnam County. He died in April, 1867. His widow married Peter Dick, and lived on section 17. He left six children: Elizabeth, married Anthony Hoar; Ardilla, married Henry Hoar ; Luther, married Catharine Cristler, at Streator ; Huron, went to Nebraska ; Ruden, married Char- lotte Wright, of Serena; Louis S., married Eliza McClure, of Serena.
Nathan Warren came from Madison County, New York, in 1830, and settled on section 8. His first wife was Lydia Baxter ; second wife, Maria Lester. He had seven children : William ; Fanny, married Mr. Wariner, of Paw Paw ; Lucien. Second wife's children are: Mary, married George Bristol, near Amboy ; Emma ; Florence.
Ezekiel Warren married Susan Sargent and settled on section 17. He and Daniel Warren built a saw-mill on section 8, and moved to Mor- ris, and died there in 1847.
Samuel Warren, from Madison County, New York, came on the creek with his brothers; died single.
The four Warren brothers were children of Daniel Warren, and came with their father from Madison County, New York, in 1830, by wagon to Bailey's Point, now Vermillion. The father died near Ottawa in 1832. His widow mar- ried the father of Horace and George Sprague ; she died in 1836.
John Hupp, from Licking County, Ohio, came through by wagon, and settled on section 23; went to California in 1850. His children are: Sedgwick; Wilson, was drowned in Columbia River ; Havilah; Jane, married James Moore; Cemantha, married Ira Bayley, of Grundy County ; Stephen; George; Riley; Louisa, mar- ried Joseph McKim.
Kinne Newcomb came from Plattsburg, New York, in 1833; married Jerusha Lyman. He died in 1840.
Hiram Brown, and wife, Olive Niles. came from Shaftsbury, Vermont, in 1833.
Alva O. Smith, from North Haven, Connecti- cut, in 1833 ; arrived in Ottawa in 1834. He married Olive Warren and settled on S. 18. T. 35. R. 4. in December, 1835. In company with James Day, bought the saw-mill of Ezekiel
Warren. Mr. Smith died in 1870, leaving eight children ; James, married Margaret Barker ; Levi C .; Lois L., married William M. Curyea ; Mary, married Isaac Pool ; Sarah E., married William T. Jones; Alva O .; Olive, married George W. Curyea ; Sidney ; Eunice O.
John Hoxie, from Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, came in 1836. and set- tled on section 25. He married Elizabeth Beem. His children are: Henrietta, Fremont, Lincoln, and Fanny. Henry was killed at the battle of Mission Ridge.
Daniel Blake, born in Maine, removed to Ohio, and from there here in 1833 ; lived a short time under the hospitable roof of Robert Beres- ford, and settled on section 34 ; removed to Otta- wa in 1868; served as Sheriff from 1871 to I873. His children were: Joshua M .; James A .; George, a lawyer ; Mary J., married Havilah Hupp, in Serena ; Hattie M., is the wife of Irvin Niles, of Livingston County, and Susie A.
Ezra Dominy was born at East Hampton, Long . Island, 1786-with his wife, Rhoda Smith, and family, came from Plattsburg, New York, in 1835, with a wagon, by the Lake shore, to Illi- nois, being six weeks on the road ; settled on S. 28. The Dominy family, descendants of Ezra, with their wives and husbands, held a reunion in September, 1873; there were one hundred pres- ent, including children, grandchildren, and great- grand children. His children were: Rebecca, who married Robert Greenless; Nathaniel, mar- ried Philinda Finch ; John Belinda, married Mar- tin Lewis : Sally, died single: Lorenzo; Ezra A. married Ann Eliza Pool : Gilbert, married Mary E. Pool; Betsey, married Jacob Peterson, in Serena : Anna, married Matthias Pool, in Se- rena. Mrs. Dominy died in 1873, aged eighty- seven.
Amos St. Clair, from Kentucky to Jackson- ville, in 1830, and here 1835; he settled on S. 32: he died 1839, aged forty-nine-his widow, Elizabeth Watkins, died in 1868.
Watson St. Clair, son of Amos, came at the same time and settled on section 32. His wife was Laura J. Beckwith. His children are : Martha E., and Laura E.
William St. Clair, also son of Amos, came at . the same time. His wife was Susan Miller. His children were: Eugene and Lucretia.
St. Clair sisters, daughters of Amos, were: Mary Ann, who married H. P. Harvey ; Rachel, married Urial Miller ; Eliza Jane, married Sam- uel B. Flint, of California ; Sarah E .. married L. Clifford.
John St. Clair, also son of Amos, came from the same place and settled on section 32 in 1834. Rev. John St. Clair, brother of Amos, came
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from Kentucky in 1834; a Methodist preacher and presiding elder ; he was prominent in his denomination, an able, enterprising and useful man. He died in Evanston in 1861. Settled in1 Rutland.
William Beardsley, from Williamstown, Massachusetts, came in 1837, and settled on sec . ton 27; Julia, died in the fall of 1838; Lyman; Harriet, married Dyson Miller.
Henry Beardsley, half-brother of William, from Williamstown, Massachusetts, came in the fall of 1837. His children are: Lovina Blake; one son, William; Chester, married Miss Wheeler.
Nathaniel Perley, and wife, Eliza Stevens, from Massachusetts to Ottawa, and from there to the creek in 1839. Mrs. Perley met her death by her clothes taking fire. Mr. Perley went west.
William Haskell, and wife. Martha Batchel- ler, first came to Ottawa in 1837, and to the creek in 1839. Perley & Haskell built Curyea's mill in: 1839. He died in Streator.
John R. Hobbs, came from New York, in 1835 : settled on S. 26. Daruria, died ; Alfred, married, and lived in Serena.
Phineas Perley, came from Massachusetts, in 1833; married William Beardsley's widow : one daughter, Almira. He died about 1857.
Martin Lewis, came from Plattsburg, New York, in 1834; settled on S. 28, and died in 1837.
EAGLE.
John Coleman, came from Richland County, Ohio, in the fall of 1831 ; he settled on S. 22, lived there till 1847, and went to Missouri for two years, and then returned to the old farm. His wives were: Ist, Anna Cramer ; 2d, Rox- ena Cowgill; 3d, Hester Kelley; 4th. Lutitia Griffith. Of his children : Julia Ann, married Mr. Ploger, of Ottawa; Hester Ann, married Josiah Roberts, of Streator; James, William, Lilla.
Henry Cramer, came from Richland County, Ohio, in 1831 ; he died in 1832. His daughters married John Coleman, James McKernan, George McKee, and Daniel Barrackman.
John Holderman, and wife, Hannah Young, came from Richland County, Ohio, in the spring of 1831 : the first settler in the town ; he settled on S. 27. He died about 1842. He had five children : Jacob, married Rachel Gannet, of Streator ; Allen : Sarah, married Elisha Nar- amoor ; Martha, married Barney O'Neill; Eliza, married George Tillsbury.
John Wood came from Richland County, Ohio,
in June, 1833; settled on S. 22; he died in 1840. His widow married George Basore : Only son, Peter.
Daniel Barrackman, came from Licking County, Ohio, in 1831; his wife was Rachel Cramer. He had three sons: Charles and Daniel ; Benjamin, went to Iowa.
David Reader, and wife, Sarah Whitaker, from Hamilton County, Ohio, to Tazewell County, 1829, and settled on S. 16, T. 31, R. 3, in the spring of 1835 ; a good farmer, and useful citizen. He held the office of County Commis- sioner ; he died April, 1853, leaving five children : James Newton, married in Tazewell County, set- tled near his father in 1836, moved to Troy Grove in 1837, moved to Livingston County ; Mitchell, married Malvina Gum; Joseph, married Miss Johnson, in Livingston County ; Rebecca, married Rees Morgan : Jacob, married Elizabeth Jane Lord.
Jacob Goff, and wife, from Pennsylvania to Tazewell County, in fall of 1835, and soon after settled on S. 17. Mr. Goff died in 1840. His children, Alif, Samuel, Janet, and William, all moved to Kansas about 1856.
Thomas, John, Elza, and James Downey, four brothers from Painesville, Ohio, in 1834; settled on sections 15 and 16; Thomas served as Justice of the Peace; he died about 1850. John and Elza removed to Magnolia, Putnam County ; James left, after a short residence here.
Charles Clifford, from Ireland to Michigan, in 1834, and settled on S. 13, T. 31, R. 2, in 1837.
Samuel Galloway, and wife, Catharine Mc- Clure, of Scotch descent, from near London- derry, in the north of Ireland; emigrated to America, and settled in Lexington, Greene County, New York, about 1806-his wife died in 1815; his second wife was Lydia Moore, who died 1833. He removed to La Salle County, Illinois, June, 1837, with all his children ; he first located near where Tonica now is, and in 1840 moved on to S. 6, T. 31, R. 3-known as the Galloway farm, and the location of the Galloway postoffice. He died July 24, 1840. His children by his first wife were: Catharine, who married Joseph T. Bullock, and lived near Tonica : Samuel C., died single, August 24, 1840; Francis, married Elizabeth J. A. Galloway, and settled on S. I. T. 31, R. 2-he died on July 24, 1869: Mary, married John Briley and lived on S. I, T. 31, R. 2. She died December 25, 1876. The children of the second wife are: Elijah M., who married Elizabeth Halcott, daughter of Colonel Thomas Halcott, from Green County, New York. Elijah was Postmaster and Justice of the Peace for several years ; moved to Monroe City, Missouri ; Lydia M., married Henry Slater ;
FAREVILLE
-
High Schee
Fordring Ill.
EARLVILLE HIGH SCHOOL.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.
Her second husband was W. Holly, who died in California.
Jacob Dice, from New York, about 1837 ; set- tled on S. 6; he sold to Charles Hoffmann. He married the widow Hays, and soon returned to New York.
Stephen Faro, and wife, Sally Dakin, from Schoharie County, New York, came in 1837 or 8 : a cooper and farmer,; he settled on S. 5, and died about 1841. His widow married Ard Button.
Isaac Thorp, and wife, Lydia Dakin, came from New York, with Faro; the two married sisters ; settled in 1838 on S. 7, near the Ver- million timber. They both, with three children, died of milk sickness ; one child survived, and was sent to its friends at the east.
Campbell settled on S. 31 in 1835; he sold to Myers, and left.
Hiram Divine, and wife, Betsey Torrey, came from Green County, Pennsylvania, in 1839; set- tled in the town of Eagle, on section 12; was a farmer and nurseryman; he died in 1871; his wife died in 1847. Emma, lived in Champaign County; Luther went to Iowa; Charlotte, mar- ried E. B. Darling, of Streator; Mary; Alvin; Celia and Elma. Second wife's children Clemens and Lucien.
Chester Naramoor, from Goshen, Vermont, and wife, Louisa Dickinson, from Goshen, Con- necticut, came from New York to Michigan in 1832 and to La Salle County in 1839, stopping at Bailey's Grove, where Mrs. Naramoor died ; Mr. Naramoor died in 1847. They had one son and four daughters, three of the daughters died. Louisa T. married Abram Groom; Elisha married Sarah B. Holderman and settled on S. 15, T. 31, R. 3.
Jacob Moon, and wife, Leah Reese, came from Ohio, first to Bailey's Point, and in 1833 settled at Moon's Point, on the edge of Liv- ingston County, where he spent the remainder of his life. Of his children, Albert married Eliza- beth Boyle, of Ox Bow Prairie; Jane married Solomon Brock; Thomas married Mary Bar- rackman : Reese married Miss Baker ; Ellen mar- ried James Barrackman.
BROOKFIELD.
George W. Armstrong, the first settler in Brookfield, came from Licking County, Ohio, with his mother, Mrs. Elsa Strawn Armstrong, in 1831 ; he made a claim on S. 28, T. 33, R. 3 : but John Hogaboom jumped it and finally bought it for $28. Armstrong made a claim on S. I, . T. 32, R. 5. and moved on it in the fall of 1833;
was encamped there when the starts fell, Novem- ber 13th, of that year; made a farm and has resided there, except when a contractor on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Mr. Armstrong was prominent as a politician; Town Supervisor. and Chairman of the Board several years, and served five terins in the Legislature. He mar- ried Anna Green, of Jacksonville, Illinois, and had nine children : John G., married Nellie McCann; William, went to Colorado; Julius C., married Hattie Goodrich, and became a Congre- gational minister; Eliza M., married William Crotty, went to Kansas; Joseph; Marshall, a lawyer; Susan married Robert Laughlin; E. James, Principal Englewood High School; Charles G.
John Drain came from Licking County, Ohio, in 1833. He died at Abraham Trumbo's in 1835.
Dr. Frederick Graham, from Westchester County, New York, first to Ottawa, and then settled on section 8, in 1836; a practicing physi- cian for many years.
Levi Jennings, and wife, from Fairfield County, Connecticut, to Oneida County, New York, and from there to Illinois, with a large family, in 1834; he made a farm on the Illinois bottom, on section 19, just east of James Gallo- way.
Levi Jennings, Jr., a native of Connecticut, when seventeen years old, went to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and while there his father moved to Illinois. He married Emily Allis, and moved to Illinois in 1835, and first settled near his father, then on S. 8. T. 32. R. 5. He died in 1852, aged sixty. His children are: Matthew, married Clara Ferguson; Mary, married Richard Gage; Henry, the first child born in Brookfield; Frederick, married Lucy Bishop; Lucy Ann; Catharine Louisa, married Reuben Smalley, of Allen; Julia, married John J. Ford, of Brookfield : Emily Jane, married George S. Beach, a Congregational minister, in Ohio.
David Jennings, brother of Levi, Jr., died single.
Stephen Jennings, brother of Levi, Jr., mar- ried Mary Elizabeth Holden.
Daughters of Levi Jennings, by his first wife : Hannah, married G. W. Jackson; Mary, married George Macy ; another daughter married a Mr. Goodell; and one married Eldridge G. Clark ..
Daughters of Levi Jennings, by his second wife: Julia, married Daniel Ward; Aphelia, married Gershom Burr.
Eldridge Gerry Clark came with the Jennings family from New York ; died here soon after.
William H. Goddard came from Boston in 1836; disgusted with farming after four years'
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trial, went to Louisville, Kentucky, and pursued his profession of a dentist.
Richard Edgecomb. from New Providence, West Indies, came in 1835.
Rev. George Marsh was born in Norfolk County, Massachusetts ; when five years old re- moved to Sutton, Worcester County; when twenty years of age, removed to State of New York; lived there until thirty-eight years of age -the last ten years in the city. Came to Illinois with his wife in 1835, bought a part of section 4, and subsequently settled on section 16. He officiated as a Presbyterian clergyman for a third of a century, and although his field of labor was a humble one in the sparsely settled outskirts of the county, he led a pure life. He had a family of three children; the oldest, George G., is a Government clerk at Washington; John James, and Mary E. A.
Asa Lewis, from Troy, New York, came in 1837, remained four or five years, and went to Wisconsin. His son, Cyrus B., married Mary C., daughter of Christopher Champlin, and lived at Marseilles.
Isaac Gage, from New Hampshire, came in 1837, and settled on section 8. He married Lucy Little, daughter of James Little, of Eden Mr. Gage was a wealthy farmer. He had four children : Louisa, married S. T. Osgood, and lived at Marseilles; Harriet E., Ida A., and Benjamin Frank.
Gershom Burr, from Fall River, Massachu- setts, and wife, Mary E. Norris, from Bristol, Rhode Island, came in 1836. Married Ophelia Jennings-his second wife-and settled on sec- tion 20, afterwards called Burr's Grove. He removed to Ottawa, in 1844, and engaged in merchandising until his death. His children are: Sellick, married Miss Newton; Gershom; Mary; Ophelia, married Dr. Farley ; Charles.
Reese Ridgeway, from Licking County, Ken- tucky, in 1834, and settled on S. 4, T. 33, R. 5. Stephen G. Hicks settled on S. 30, T. 33, R. 5, opposite Marseilles.
A Mr. Stevens bought the place of David Jennings, sold to Levi in 1834, and was supposed to have been killed in Chicago in 1835, for his money.
Peter Consols and John Wilcox settled on S. 30, T. 33, R. 5, in 1834.
Guy Dudley settled on section 25, in 1833. Captain Tylee settled here in 1838. One daughter married William Seeley, and another married Samuel Seeley.
Oliver H. Sigler settled in the town about 1840.
Silas Austin came in 1836.
GRAND RAPIDS.
Henry Hibbard came from Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1827, and made a claim on S. 5, in 1829, 011 what has been called the Ebersol farm. John McKernan bought the claim of Disney, in 1831, who must have purchased of Hibbard. Mc- Kernan settled there in 1831, and sold to Eber- sol in 1834.
Joseph Ebersol, with Elizabeth Shuey. his wife, and family, came from Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania, and in August, 1834, purchased of Mrs. McKernan, her claim on S. 5, and made that his home, till he died in 1873. His wife died in 1870. He was a blacksmith by trade, though a farmer most of his life; he brought his anvil and other tools to Illinois. Improvement was made on his farm in 1828; orchard set in 1830. He left seven children: A. M .; Daniel; Albert; Catharine, married Michael Budd; Louisa, married George H. Rugg: Helen, mar- ried Edward Reed, of Grand Rapids; Samuel was thrown from a horse, and killed, when thirty-three years old.
Eleazar Hibbard, came from Cincinnati, mar- ried a sister of Darius Reed, and settled on S. 6. He separated from his wife, and either aban- doned. or sold his claim and went to Putnam County.
Benjamin B. Reynolds, and wife, Elma Scofield, from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1835 ; settled on S. 6. His father, Judge David Reynolds, came with him and assisted in open- ing his farm, and then returned to Pennsylvania. His children were: Mary A., David, Pasca- lena, Eleanora, John P., Sarah E., James C., Benjamin B., Jr., and Washington.
Luke Rugg, with his wife, Salome Patch, and family, from Lancaster, Worcester County, Massachusetts, settled on S. 23, in 1839. He was one of the Worcester colony, started by George W. Lee, John D. Thurston, Pyam Jacobs, and others. Mr. Rugg, at the time of settlement, was four miles from timber and three miles from neighbors, and after a residence of ten years neither timber nor neighbors had ap- proached any nearer, except a grove of locust about his place, known over the county as Rugg's Grove.
Sick of seclusion from society, and despairing of the settlement of that region, Mr. Rugg moved to Ottawa in 1849, where he died. His children were: Lewis, who came with his father's family in 1839; married Sophia Dim- mick; lived a few years in Ottawa, and then in Pontiac. George H., lived with his father, till he moved to Ottawa, in 1849. He invented
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PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.
and manufactured Rugg's Harvester, for sev- eral years a popular and successful machine. He claimed that McCormick stole his ideas and became a millionaire while he remained a poor man unable to secure his rights. Charles went to Iowa.
John Anderson, a native of Ireland, came from Clinton County, New York, here in 1837; settled with a family, on S. 6. In 1849 he mysteriously disappeared, and was never heard from afterward.
The prairie region of Grand Rapids, after 1850, rapidly settled, and the region so long occupied by Mr. Rugg, and him alone, was, soon after he left it, teeming with an active and well-to-do population. It is related that the settlement of that town commenced at the north end and progressed south. The town was soon made a school district, and a schoolhouse built in the northwest corner. Soon after, that dis- trict was limited to four sections, named No. I, and the remainder made district No. 2, and a good house built; that district was then limited to four sections in the northeast corner, and the balance of the town made district No. 3, which at once voted a tax to build a school- house. This process was continued till the last four sections in the southeast corner of the town, having helped build all the schoolhouses in the other eight districts, had to build their own without outside help. The houses were all very fine ones. They were built by a tax on the real estate in the district, and by a vote of the people who lived in all those instances mostly in the four sections, which in the end com- posed the district, and as the remainder of the territory taxed was nearly all owned by specu- lators, with no one residing on it, the voters were very generous in voting a tax, or as some called it, "salting the speculators."
One of those speculators who owned three sections in the last district, complained of being legally fleeced. He said, "I have paid a liberal tax to build nine different schoolhouses, better ones than are usually seen in older sections of the country, and now three men settled on the one section I do not own, vote a tax of ten or twelve hundred dollars, three-fourths of which I have to pay. These western men are ardent supporters of education." This last state- ment of the building of schoolhouses may have been an exaggeration in this instance, but simi- lar cases did occur, and forcibly show the nature of the contest waged between the settlers and those called land speculators. And where the settlers made the laws and executed them, they frequently had the advantage.
ADAMS.
Mordecai Dinsey, and son-in-law, Sprague, settled on S. 27, in 1836, on the east side of Little Indian Creek, and were the first in the town; they claimed all the country, and sold claims to all that came; they left in a year or two, probably to repeat the same speculation elsewhere.
Nathan Townsend, from Sullivan County, New York, in 1836; came through by wagon, stopped at Ottawa for the winter, and settled on S. 27, in the spring of 1837. He died in 1857. His children were: Charles; John, and Alva; Mary Ann, married John Nichols, she died 1841; Olive, married Charlton Hall, she died 1853-(Elder Batchelor married them, and attended both the funerals) ; Margaret, married Edwin Beardsley; Deborah, married Reuben Bronson; Phebe, married James Stoutenbury ; George, and James; Perry, was murdered at Pike's Peak.
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