USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. > Part 30
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The subjoined list of township officers does not include the whole number, but the principal ones that can be made out from the records and other sources with certainty :
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SUPERVISOR.
1850. David Searles. David Searles. 1851. 1852. Moses Lathe. 1853. F. R. Dutcher. 1854. 1855. Simon Badger. J. B. Appleton. 1856. H. Wasson.
TOWN CLERK. J. B. Appleton. J. B. Appleton. J. B. Appleton. James Andruss. J. B. Appleton. J. M. Davis.
ASSESSOR.
Martin Wright. Cyrus Bridgman. Lot Chadwick. E. M. Blair. A. H. Thompson. Stephen Stone.
COLLECTOR. A. H. Thompson. A. H. Thompson. A. H. Thompson. A. H. Thompson. Zanthe Reed. Julius Hale.
W. B. Andruss.
1858. H. E. Badger.
1859. H. E. Badger.
1860. H. E. Badger. J. M. Davis.
1861. 1862.
Josiah Little.
Josiah Little.
1863. 1864. H. E. Badger.
C. D. Vaughan. C. D. Vaughan. W. B. Andruss. W. B. Andruss. W. B. Andruss. W. B. Andruss.
W. B. Andruss.
David Crocker.
E. P. Walker.
1868. Isaac Edwards.
Chas. P. Ives.
Lee Cronkrite.
Chas. W. Bell.
1869.
Isaac Edwards. F. R. Dutcher. Chester Badger. F. R. Dutcher. Chester Badger.
J. T. Tait.
D. H. Crocker.
J. R. Patterson.
J. T. Tait.
D. H. Crocker.
O. F. Warriner.
1874.
Chester Badger.
C. E. Ives.
D. H. Crocker.
M. Carroll.
1875. Chester Badger.
C. E. Ives.
D. H. Crocker.
Ira Smith.
1876.
Chester Badger. Chester Badger.
W. P. Barnes.
Lee Cronkrite. Lee Cronkrite.
Isaac Edwards.
1878. Isaac Edwards.
D. F. Strickland.
Lee Cronkrite.
Oscar Spangler.
1879. Isaac Edwards.
L. L. Staup.
Lee Cronkrite.
Ira Smith.
1880. Isaac Edwards.
James Mead.
Lee Cronkrite.
N. B. Koontz.
1881. Isaac Edwards.
Geo. Kiefer.
Lee Cronkrite.
W. J. Edwards.
Badger and Ives resigned in December 1874, and Chauncy D. Sears and James T. Tait were appointed to the respective vacancies. Again in April following they resigned their offices. In both cases these resignations were owing to complications of the township arising from certain outstanding railroad bonds.
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.
The first road laid through the township connected Grand de Tour and Peru; the second one ran from Inlet Grove to Prophetstown, Binghamton and Rocky Ford lying on the route. Main street in Amboy is identical with it, and the large cottonwood trees which flank it to the right and left of the Congregational church were planted by the hand of Joseph Farwell to mark its course.
The old Central railroad, on which the state in a crazy freak squan- dered over a million dollars, was surveyed and partly built through this township. The charter was first granted to Darius B. Holbrook, but be- fore he had organized a company the legislature repealed it, and included
J. M. Davis.
W. B. Andruss. C. D. Sears. Isaac Edwards.
D. H. Crocker.
C. D. Sears.
J. E. Whiting.
C. D. Sears.
J. C. Church.
C. D. Sears.
Isaac Edwards.
1866. H. E. Badger.
J. C. Church.
J. S. Baker.
1867. H. E. Badger.
Chas. P. Ives.
Lee Cronkrite.
E. E. Chase.
Chas. P. Ives.
D. H. Crocker.
Michael Carroll.
1870. 1871. 1872.
1873.
C. E. Ives.
D. H. Crocker.
M. Carroll.
E. E. Chase.
1877.
1865. H. E. Badger.
Josiah Little. C. D. Vaughan. C. D. Vaughan. C. D. Vaughan.
1857. H. E. Badger.
Cyrus Bridgman. Cyrus Bridgman.
J. M. Davis.
W. B. Andruss. W. B. Andruss.
Simon Badger.
C. E. Ives.
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
this work in the system of public improvements undertaken by the state in 1836-7. After the public eredit failed he obtained a renewal of his charter, with a grant of all the work that had been done. Dr. Harri- son, of Peru, took a contract to build part of the line, and sent a force of laborers here in the fall of 1841 to renew the grading which had been begun four or five years before and worked upon at intervals after- ward. He started a bank in Peru and issued circulation ; but one day somebody went down and demanded specie for his paper, and was re- fused. When news of this reached the gang of men up here they dropped their tools, and the sun never rose on a resumption of the work. Harrison's paper was in the hands of people in this section, where it has remained so long that its "staying qualities " are fully and forever established. It was known as "Bangs' railroad money," and is a reminiscence of "wildcat" banking, and of the old Central " wildcat" improvement. Remains of the old work are yet visible.
The only resemblance ever borne by the present Central railroad to the former was in the name. Stephen A. Douglas procured the re- lease of Holbrook's charter, and was the author of the measure which brought this grand enterprise into successful existence. Congress passed the bill in 1850, and the next winter the Illinois legislature in- corporated the company. The survey was completed in 1851, and the succeeding year construction began. The division from Mendota to Freeport was formally opened for traffic February 1, 1855. The first train reached Amboy early in November 1854.
The construction of the Chicago, Amboy & Upper Mississippi railroad was loudly agitated at one time; a charter was procured and the survey direct from Amboy to Chicago made in 1856, under the direction of Col. R. B. Mason. No stock was taken and the under- taking failed. But direct communication with Chicago was an object having many attractions, and was sure some time to furnish the triumphant argument for a road. The situation was improved when, at the session of 1868-9, Alonzo Kinyon, a member of the legislature from Lee county, obtained from that body a charter for the Chicago & Rock River railroad, which was to extend east from Rock Falls and intersect the Central at Calumet. On the organization of the company in May 1869, Mr. Kinyon was elected president. Ainboy township was asked to take stock in the road to the amount of $100,000, and on July 26, 1869; voted to do so, polling 517 votes in favor of the proposition, to 92 against it. On March 30, 1870, the contract for building the road was awarded to a New York company. It was to be finished by the 1st of January following ; but on July 28, the work having made little headway, the contractor was relieved at his own request, and the construction relet to Hinckley & Co. Still little was
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AMBOY TOWNSHIP.
done, and in September it was announced that Messrs. Wicker, Mick- lin & Co., of Chicago, had contracted to complete the road within a year, from Calumet to Rock Falls, and within two years from Amboy to Bureau Junction. The last rail was laid between Amboy and Rock Falls January 4, 1872; and on Wednesday, June 19, the road was finished to Paw Paw. Some of the towns between Amboy and Rock Falls that had voted to take stock failed, when that division of the road was built, to transfer their bonds; and on the election of the new board in January, the contractors, holding the larger amount of stock, were able to reorganize the board of directors to suit their purposes. This board, in June, sold the first mortgage bonds to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. In July it was decided to extend the time for the completion of the road one year, and in the meantime to make temporary connection with the Chicago & Iowa railroad at Shabbona. To the people of Amboy this was the certain knell of all their hopes, for it told in action, which is said to speak plainer than words, that the road was a failure, that it would not be completed as originally proposed. But Amboy had shouldered the elephant by delivering the bonds. She enjoyed a season of great ex- pectations, thinking that the headquarters of the company would be established here, and dreaming of machine shops, and how Amboy was to become a city of furnaces and forges; for all this had been guaranteed in the language of the most eloquent promises. The pic- ture was dazzling.
The first regular passenger train went over the road Wednesday, October 16, 1872. The road now connects with the trunk line at Sandwich.
SCHOOLS.
The first school-house in Amboy township was built of logs in the year 1839, and situated on the Sublette road, just south of the railroad crossing. Lucy Ann Church was the first teacher. Men were employed in winter and women in summer. Leonard Pratt, John Carey, Ira Hale, David Hale and Charlotte Doan taught in this house. After the Wasson school-house, the second in the township, and a frame building, was erected in 1845, the former was moved farther south and put up near the Lewis homestead. Here Roena Badger and Roxy Wasson tanght for many years, and they seemed, in fact, to be the principal dependence of the community for summer teachers. John Scott, an able pedagogue, who died afterward in California, taught first in the Wasson district. The Misses Badger and Wasson, H. E. Badger and Lyman C. Wheat were also early teachers in the same place. John C. Church, who was a director, tells an anecdote on himself with considerable relish. He had hired Wheat to teach, and the latter, as a matter of course, invited
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
him to visit the school. Church replied in his positive way : "I hired you to keep the school, and now I want you to do it." But, passing one afternoon on his way home from Binghampton, he thought he would drop in to see how teacher and pupils were getting on. The grammar class was called, and a book was politely handed him. Now, Mr. Church never studied grammar but half a day in his whole life; but he made immense progress in that short time. It used to be the case that the less one had studied grammar the more positive he was that it was of no utility, and in order to respect his positiveness he had to convince himself that he knew a good deal on the subject. But not so with a ready learner like Mr. Church. That half-day's ramble with Lindley Murray among nouns and pronouns and their fellows of speech had disclosed imponderable mysteries to his view ; but he still has a lurk- ing recollection that the subject was "dry." The teacher and the class got into a protracted dispute involving some question on the lesson, and to settle it the former appealed to Mr. Church, whose diplomatic answer was, " You are correct ; that is the way it should be parsed." This response killed the controversy " as dead as a door nail." That night he told Wheat of his shrewd escape, and was complimented no less for his foresight in avoiding the part of principal in the argu- ment than for his ability to use all that he had learned in half a day's study of grammar.
In an early day an irregular select school was kept at Rocky Ford. Amboy township now comprises ten districts, and in 1879 the total school expenditures were $8,284.
RELIGIOUS.
The frontier itinerant was a truly divine laborer. Courage and industry were the preeminent virtues of his activity. His circuit embraced what would now seem an incredible extent of country, and he did well if he served all his appointments once every month. To defy distance and weather was a regular habit. He usually traveled on horseback, carrying, in capacious saddle-bags, a small bible, a hymn book, and a homely luncheon. Often he would ride thirty miles to preach a funeral sermon, and forty or fifty to marry a couple for three dollars. But he did not scorn privations and overcome obstacles for money ; it was a pleasure to be about his Master's work. He grew strong in view of the great field and the waiting harvest, and his soul was animated by the simple joy and hearty salutations which the warm hearts of the people always expressed at his coming. But before cir- cuits were formed the zealous messengers of the truth rode through the wilderness visiting the scattered settlements and carrying the heal- ing news of the Good Shepherd. His arrival was the signal for word
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AMBOY TOWNSHIP.
to go forth like a swift joy in every direction to summon together the hungry sonls. Meetings were held in the cabins, and in God's first temples, the groves. On these occasions full hearts rendered thanks to God for the preservation of life and health of the minister of peace, and the hardy settlers from the abounding dangers of the exposed frontier, and appealed in earnest invocations for his continued grace and precious mercy, and deliverance from the distemper of the soul - sin. Then, with the service over, he departed on his rugged journey, refreshed with the hospitality of his full-souled entertainers, and laden with the provisions which the thoughtful housewife had prepared for his comfort, bearing on his head their blessings, and followed by silent prayers for his safety and return.
The first minister around whom the early settlers gathered for gospel instruction was Father Gorbus, a Methodist preacher well ad- vanced in years, who came from Indian creek. At this early period denominations exerted no influence; congregations were composed of every sect and those who represented no sect, all feeling and acknowl- edging a common necessity for worship. Father Gorbus received his pay in provisions, such as potatoes, and meat, and flour.
Money was not plentiful. It was a commodity little seen, and for many years commanded an annual rate not less than twenty-five per cent.
As an instance of the dearness of money and the cheapness of stock, produce, and labor, F. H. Northway says he tried to redeem his note for $3.75, in the hands of a neighbor, by offering a yearling steer, two shoats weighing 125 pounds each, and two days' work. This was declined, and he was sned.
A German Baptist, Father Hetchler, came very early, perhaps was next to Father Gorbus. It is thought that Rev. Curtis Lathrop, a Methodist, was the third, and that Father White, another Methodist, was the fourth ; but regarding order we do not profess any certainty. Elder De Wolf was an educated Episcopalian, who settled on the Chi- cago road, between Dixon and Inlet Grove, but after a few years re- turned to the east. In 1843 the Rev. Donaldson, from Dover, who preached here at times, assisted in organizing the first Congregational church in Lee county, at the house of Deacon Moses Crombie. This was called the "Congregational Church of Palestine Grove," and the members worshiped several years at the Wasson school-house. The Rev. John Morrell, the first pastor, was followed by the Rev. Inger- soll (father of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll), and he was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph Gardiner and the Rev. Mr. Pierson. About 1849 this congregation removed its place of worship to Lee Center, and changed the name of the society to that of the new locality. From this the present Amboy society has descended. What is known of the first
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
Methodist society is recorded in the sketch of Binghamton. Another very early organization was the Palestine Grove Baptist church, but we are not able to state what year it took regular form. The Rev. Charles Cross, now living in Amboy township, became the regular pastor in 1847, and filled the pulpit some time. The membership was located on both sides of the grove, and when Amboy and Sublette were built the society naturally broke in two, and the parts gravitated to these towns. The records were retained by the Sublette division.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints obtained a foot- hold and a large membership at an early date. The first preacher to come was William Anderson, who got permission to preach in John Hook's house. Traveling preachers came along at intervals, and some- thing of a band was formed, which grew to considerable proportions in a short while. Any reference to this sect will lead us to tell the story of the prophet's arrest in this township. His wife, before marriage, was Emma Hale, sister to Alva Hale, of Sublette, and David Hale and Mrs. Benjamin Wasson, of Amboy. In the community were acquaint- ances of Smith's boyhood, and one at least, Uncle Asa Searles, had been a school-fellow. Occasionally Smith visited his friends in the vicinity of Palestine Grove, and the presence of his followers, who numbered some of the most respectable families, made his journeys here doublý pleasurable. At such times he always preached, and the people came to the log school-house situated on the Sublette road, a few rods south of where the railroad is, to listen to his vehement oratory. It is more than probable that his visits were prompted by other motives than pleasure and duty, for when the saints were driven in vengeance from Missouri, the leaders, including the prophet, were tried before a drum-head court-martial and sentenced to be shot for treason, but were saved from this mobbish proceeding by the humane intervention of Gen. Doniphan, who afterward became justly celebrated for his brilliant achievements during the Mexican war. These men were held in custody for trial, on charges of theft, arson, treason and murder, but escaped and came to Nauvoo. In the autumn of 1841 the governor of Missouri made a requisition on Gov. Carlin, of this state, for the deliv- ery of the fugitives. A writ was issued, but being soon after returned unexecuted, Gov. Carlin again placed it in the hands of an officer, and Smith was this time arrested. He was taken before Judge Douglas, who was then sitting on the supreme bench, and discharged upon a writ of habeas corpus, " upon the ground that the writ upon which he had been arrested had been once returned before it was executed, and was functus officio." The next year the governor issued a new writ, and "Smith was arrested again, and was either rescued by his followers or discharged by the municipal court [a Mormon tribunal] on a writ of
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AMBOY TOWNSHIP.
habeas corpus." In his " History of Illinois," Gov. Ford has given a circumstantial relation of these arrests, and we follow his account, in- jecting such further particulars as we have reason to believe are authen- tie. In June, 1843, the governor of Missouri renewed his demand for the arrest and surrender of Smith, and accordingly "a new warrant, in pursuance of the constitution of the United States, was issued, and placed in the hands of a constable in Hancock. This constable and the Missouri agent hastened to Nauvoo to make the arrest, where they ascertained that Joe Smith was on a visit to Rock river. They pursued him thither, and succeeded in arresting him in Palestine Grove, in the county of Lee." Mrs. Smith was here visiting her relations, and the prophet, as was natural for him to do, had joined her, and had spoken once at the log school-house, in a Sunday discussion with a Methodist preacher named Headly, regarding the authenticity of the "Book of Mormon." The next day he was called upon by these two men, and on being told that they had a warrant for him, he forcibly undertook to contest their ability to make him prisoner. " He was full six feet high, strongly built, and uncommonly well muscled," and with the two united against him the struggle that followed was a desperate one. He was at length overpowered, but not till all had re- ceived bruises enough to show that each had been in the 'thickest of the fight.'"
This episode occasioned the wildest excitement; the people sus- peeted the legality of the arrest, and were not sure that it was not a ruse to get him away where he could be made the victim of insult and violence. A crowd followed to Dixon to insure fair play, and finally consented for the captors to depart with their prisoner without oppo- sition. "The constable immediately delivered his prisoner to the Missouri agent, and returned his warrant as having been executed. The agent started with his prisoner in the direction of Missouri, but on the road was met by a number of armed Mormons, who captured the whole party, and conducted them in the direction of Nauvoo. Further on they were met by hundreds of the Mormons, coming to the rescue of their prophet, who conducted him in grand triumph to his own city." A writ of habeas corpus was sued out of the municipal court " composed of Joe Smith's tools and particular friends," and by this court he was discharged. A year later he and his brother Hiram were basely murdered by an infuriated and cowardly mob ; and as soon as the twelve apostles who were absent on missionary work, could return, they, with Brigham Young at their head, usurped the govern- ment of the church. Numbers of Smith's followers had become dis- affected before his death ; the ranks of these were now augmented by considerable accessions, and a schism of no little importance was the
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
result. Many of those who withdrew had to make their escape secret- ly to save their property, and they formed the nucleus of the reorgan- ized church, which abjures polygamy. By these the elaim is made that the prophet was not a patron of spiritual wifeism, but this is not to be at once admitted.
Aaron Hook, who had lived at Nauvoo and been ordained an elder, returned to Rocky Ford to take up his residence; he sometimes preached, and was an influential man among those of his faith. About the time of the hegira to Salt Lake, William Smith, a brother to the prophet, came among the saints at the Ford and organized a branch. He claimed to be a representative of the younger Joseph, son of the prophet and a mere lad, and that it was his duty to rule and direct the people until the latter should assume the first place, or prophetship, in the church. Smith remained here awhile preaching and extending his congregation until it numbered no fewer than sixty souls. The com- pany was swelled by arrivals from Ohio and other places. Aaron Hook fitted up his house with a hall which was used for their services. They laid out a town on the ridge north of Rocky Ford, and at one time there was talk of building a temple, but the conception was never carried out. In course of time Smith got into bad odor with outsiders, and was once arrested for bigamy, but was not convicted, and in a little while he removed to other parts. The branch he had established lost its energy after his departure. Besides the Hooks, Edwin Cadwell who came to the township in 1848, and is still living here, has been a leading and respected Mormon. Wentworth Blair, Stephen Stone and his father, and David L. Doan belong to the same category.
The further history of the sect in this place is uneventful until the year 1860, when, on April 6, the anniversary of the founding of the church, the annual conference assembled in Amboy, with representa- tives from the different branches in Iowa, Michigan, and this state ; and Joseph Smith, jr., of Plano, was solemnly installed prophet and high priest in the old Mechanics' hall. Two conferences are held annnally ; for several years the spring gathering met at Amboy and the autumnal meeting in Iowa. Conversions and additions to the church have been made at different times, and the society has a mem- bership of about forty. Joseph Smith, jr., who is a highly respected man, resides at Plano, where the headquarters of the church are established and the publications issued. Removal to Iowa is decided upon for this year.
BINGHAMTON.
This town was laid out in the S.E. ¿ of See. 14, T. 21 N., R. 10 E. of the 4th P.M., in April 1848, by the proprietor, Asa B. Searles, and named in honor of the city of that name, county seat of Broome county,
LEWIS CLAPP
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2 1170,'
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS B
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AMBOY TOWNSHIP.
New York, from which county a large number of the first settlers in this vicinity emigrated. Some lots were at the same time laid off on the S. W. 4 of Sec. 13 for Warren Badger as part of the town. Mr. Searles built and kept the Binghamton House, and also erected a store and took Edward Waters into partnership. Henry Porter bought them out, and he in turn sold to the Union Company, a cooperative concern run on the stock principle and conducted by James H. Preston. While Mr. Searles was keeping publie house, Robert G. Ingersoll, the now celebrated orator and infidel, then about sixteen years of age, was his man-of-all-work on the premises a full year. The Ingersoll family lived in the neighborhood three years from about 1846; the father was Congregational minister, and he and the boys, John, Ebon and Bob, farmed some on rented land. The latter, we are told, was a live boy, full of fun and stories. In 1844 a flouring-mill, the first built in Lee county, was raised here by John Dexter and the Badger brothers, Warren and Palmer. The latter was crushed and killed by a bank of earth falling upon him, and his place in the partnership was taken by Chester Badger. In 1858 he (Chester) and his brother Henry pur- chased the property, and in the following winter introduced steam power. On Thursday night, July 18, 1872, it was burned to the ground, and the proprietors sustained a loss of $6,000, the sum of $8,000 being covered by insurance. It was at once rebuilt, and Chester Badger sold his interest to H. E. Badger & Son, who operated it until its late destruction. It was struck and set on fire by lightning in the evening of July 21, 1881; the value of mill and stoek was $16,000, with an insurance of $6,000. This mill was furnished with all the modern improvements, was run both by water and steam, and its de- struetion was not only a heavy loss to the owners, but a serious one also to the community.
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