USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. > Part 48
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HUGH FITZPATRICK, farmer, Van Orin, Bureau county, was born in the province of Ulster, Ireland, April 1823. He was the eldest of three children. His parents were James and Mary (MeBride) Fitz- patrick. The former died in 1848, the latter in 1835. His sister Ann came to New York in 1845 with some neighbors. She was married in Pennsylvania to John Keefer, who is dead. She is now living in Chi- cago. The subject of this article landed in New Orleans January 8, 1847. He remained there a few months, and then went to the State of New York. He was three years there and seven in Pennsylvania engaged in railroad construction. Most of this time he was a foreman. He next appeared in May township. He first bought eighty acres from John Dement, on Sec. 19. He now owns the south half of this section. The east half of his farm he bought in 1875, from C. H. Chandler, an early settler, who obtained this land from the government. Mr. Fitz- patrick was married in the fall of 1850 to Ann DeLacy. Of their two sons, James, born October 1850, is living; Bernard, born January 1857, died an infant. The only brother of Hugh came to New York in 1848, and lived there and in Pennsylvania till 1862, when he enlisted in the 16th N. Y. Heavy Art. He died about three months later at
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
or near Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, from siekness. Mr. Fitzpat- rick has held several offices in the town of May. He is a Roman Catholic, and a greenbaeker in politics.
PATRICK McMAHON, farmer, Amboy, was born in the county of Limerick, province of Munster, Ireland, in 1818. His father, Thomas MeMahon, was a farmer, and for many years held a very respectable position as collector of certain publie charges. His wife was Mary O'Brien, by whom he had three children. He died when they were young. Patrick McMahon obtained a good common school education. In July, 1841, he came to Rochester, New York, and worked in a to- bacco factory till October 1846. He then went to St. Louis, and lived there till 1849, doing the same work. From St. Louis he went over- land to California, returning in 1852 by way of Aspinwall. While west he engaged in mining. In 1853 he came to La Salle, and began a grocery business. In 1856 he removed to Amboy and continued in the same till 1866. At this latter date Mr. McMahon bought from A. G. Moore, of New York, for $2,000, 120 acres of land, the E. ¿ of N. W. } and the N. W. 4 of N.W. ¿ Sec. 2, town of May, and began farming. This farm has been much improved since he came onto it. He was married while in St. Louis, in 1847, to Ann Clancey. Of their issue eight are living : Charles, born November 1848; Mary Jane, October 1853; Thomas, March 1855; William, January 1861; Alice, October 1862; Joseph, November 1866; James, November 1868; Maurice, October 1870. Charles and Thomas are living in Marshalltown, Iowa, the former married; and Mary is the wife of William Edwards, Amboy township. Mr. McMahon is a Roman Catholic. He has assessed the town of May since 1875, and previously served two terms as commis- sioner of highways. He is well educated, and possesses good business qualifications ; to this he adds a manner and bearing singularly pleas- ing and courteous.
WILLIAM CULLEN, farmer, Amboy, was born in Wexford county, province of Leinster, Ireland. His parents were Francis and Mary (Lawlass) Cullen, whose family consisted of six children, all of whom have come at different times to this country to live. In 1868 two sis- ters and a brother came to Utica, Oneida county, New York. The next year the father and William eamne out to them, and in 1870 the mother and eldest son came. In 1876 William Cullen came to the town of May, Lee county, and bought the E. ¿ of N. W. ¿ Sec. 16. It was unimproved land, there being a fenee only on two sides of it. He was married in 1855, to Ellen Converse. Their family are: Mary, Ellen, Delia, Maggie, Johanna, Sarah, and Francis. Kate died about seven years ago, aged thirteen years. Mr. Cullen is sparing no pains to educate his family, and seems fully to realize the importance of such a
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MAY TOWNSHIP.
course. He used to vote the whig ticket, but is now a democrat, though non-partisan in his views of publie matters. The family are Catholics. The mother and father of William Cullen both died in Maytown.
MICHAEL BARRON, farmer, Amboy, was born in Ireland about 1825. He was the youngest but one in a family of nine children. Early in 1865 he came to the city of New York, where he lived about two years. From there he came to Lee county and worked around in May and Amboy townships till 1875. He then bought the N. ¿ of N. W. } Sec. 16 from John Cullen. On this place he is now living. He was never married, and belongs to the Catholic church. Mr. Barron is a remarkably good-natured man. His parents were Michael and Mar- garet (Whalen) Barron.
WILLIAM DOLAN, farmer, Amboy, was born in the county of Long- ford, Leinster province, Ireland, April 27, 1810. His parents were Michael and Ellen (Fenny) Dolan, of whose family of six he was the eldest. His great-grandfather's property was confiscated and turned over to a Scotchman named Fatherston, who allowed the Dolans to retain the use of twenty acres of the estate as a freehold. William Dolan received a common school education. In 1828 he was a signer of the British emancipation bill. In April, 1832, he landed in New York, having left his native country on a charge of disloyalty that greater trouble might not befall his father's family. In September he went to Boston, and thence to Lowell, and bound himself out to learn wool spinning. While here he was married to Mary McKenna; he also obtained his naturalization papers through the agency of Ben But- ler, then a young legal student in Lowell. In September, 1837, Mr. Dolan arrived in Chicago with nearly $1,000. He went to laying stone on the canal, and taught school in the winter. In 1840 he came to Lee county and claimed a 160 acres on the E. ¿ of Sec. 14, Maytown. He built on Sandy Hill, Sec. 3, and boarded laborers on the Old Illinois Central road. In 1846 he rented his farm and went to work as foreman in a woolen factory at Lockport, under his previous employer, Mr. Madison, afterward governor of Illinois. In 1850 he returned to his farm, where he has since lived. He has held the office of justice of the peace for many years; was supervisor of May twenty terms. Mr. Dolan is a man of wide information and is known by many eminent men in the State of Illinois. His family are : Edward A., born October 1840; John, October 1842; Mary, April 16, 1847 (wife of Mr. McGuire, died April 1875, in May township) ; Micheal, September 1849; besides two children who died young. John enlished in Co. F, 75th Ill. Inf., as 2d sergeant. In the battle of Perryville he became greatly fatigued and was mustered out April
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
1863, because of physical disability. Edward entered the service in 1862, and was with Gen. Shields till that officer resigned, in 1863. .
MARION TOWNSHIP.
In 1854 a petition was presented to the board of supervisors of Lee county to organize a new township, which at that time composed a part of Amboy and Hamilton. The petition, to which a large number of names was attached, was voted upon and carried, and upon the new township was conferred the historic name of Marion.
The first town meeting was held in April 1855.
The first supervisor was Alford Wolcott ; first assessor Sherman W. Caldwell ; first justices, Abram Morrison and A. S. Phillips ; first town clerk, Simon Dykman ; first collector, David Morrison.
The first permanent settler in Marion township was David Welty, who had formerly been a merchant in Buffalo, New York. Being in poor health, his physicians advised him to come west, and in 1838 he came to Lee county and located on Sec. 34, in what was then Ham- ilton township, and now Marion.
In the same year came W. H. Blair, who located on Se. 24.
In 1841 J. C. Haly, a native of Pennsylvania, located on Sec. 13.
In 1846 R. Scott, a native of Scotland, settled on Sec. 15.
When the question of voting bonds to the railroad came before the people of Marion, it was carried in the negative by an almost unan- imous vote.
In 1876, through the efforts of Messrs. Conderman, Jones and McCrystal, a station was located in the central part of the town, which is now known as Walton. This station is composed of one large eleva- tor, one store, one blacksmith and wagon shop.
In the early part of January, 1870, one Spangler shot and killed Timothy Kane. Both were farmers and residents of Marion. The trouble between them arose from a dispute about some cattle. Kane's cattle had broken into Spangler's field, and the latter had shut them up in a lot, where they had been but a short time when Kane came and demanded their release. High words passed between the men, and Kane finally attempted to drive the cattle ont of the lot, whereupon Spangler seized a gun secreted near at hand and shot and killed him. Spangler was afterward tried in Dixon, and acquitted on the ground of self defense.
The soil of Marion township is a sandy loam, and is as productive as any in the country. The land is mostly level or gently rolling.
The log cabins and board shanties of the early settlers have mostly disappeared, and in their stead are seen pleasant and tasty dwellings.
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MARION TOWNSHIP.
School buildings are numerous, and the rising generation of the town- ship have as good educational advantages as could be desired.
The population of Marion is largely Irish, and politically is demo- cratic.
GEORGE KEITH, farmer, Dixon, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scot- land, May 7, 1818. His parents were George and Mary (Mills) Keith. Young George came to America and landed in Halifax, May 1841, on his birthday, which event he inaugurated by getting "how-come-you- so," through the machinations of some of the sailors on board. He worked in Halifax some three years at gardening, and was married to Miss Ann Eddie April 1844. She was also a native of Scotland, and died in this township in 1875, at about sixty years of age. Mr. Keith moved to York state from Halifax, then to Michigan, and to Illi- nois in 1845, working a number of years in the nursery business at Rockford, when, after losing several thousand dollars by an unscri- pulous party, he left and finally located in Marion township in the winter of 1861-2, and after paying his board to Mr. Brooks he had the magnificent sum of four cents in his pocket with which to support a wife and eight children. To cap his misfortunes, the second day after his arrival his children were taken sick with intermittent fever, lasting several weeks, he having been their attending physician. By his ministering care he landed them safely from the sick bed to health, and they are all living and well to-day. By his indomitable energy he has come out of his misfortunes and now has under cultivation a 240- acre tract. The children are as follows : Mary Ann, George, William, Margaret, Ellen, Frank, Fred, and Jemima.
ARTHUR MOCRYSTAL, Walton, son of William and Ann McCrystal, was born in connty Tyrone, Ireland, in 1837. In 1842 he came with his father to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, district of Richmond, and there received his education. In 1855 he came with his father to Lee county. His father bonght land in N. E. ¿ of Sec. 22, in Marion town- ship. Arthur was supervisor two years, and in 1877 was the greenback candidate for sheriff, and received 890 votes. Mr. McCrystal was mar- ried in 1868, to Miss Bridget Sheridan, also a native of Ireland. He is a prosperous farmer and also quite a prominent politician.
BENJAMIN BROOKS, Dixon, son of Asa and Dorcas Brooks, was born in Tolland county, Connecticut, where he resided until forty-five years of age. During his residence there he was engaged in farming and lumbering. In 1840 Mr. Brooks was elected to the legislature from his district, which position he held for one year. In the spring of 1856 he came to Lee county and bought W. ¿ of N.W. ¿ of Sec. 9. Since that time he has been a prominent citizen of Marion town- ship. He served several terms as supervisor, and during the rebellion
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
took an active part in raising troops to aid in the suppression of the rebellion, besides contributing largely ont of his private funds. Mr. Brooks was married in 1829, to Miss Martha Wilbur, by whom he had eight children, of which two only are living.
CHARLES E. ABELL, Walton. The subject of this sketch is the son of Jabez L. and Sarah Abell, and was born in Middlesex county, Connecticut, in 1849. He resided there until seven years of age, when he moved with his father's family to De Kalb county, Illinois, and remained ten years. At the end of that time he came to Marion town- ship and bought land in Sec. 11. In the fall of 1874 Mr. Abell moved to the village of Harmon, where he spent three years in teaching school. In 1877 he returned to Marion township and engaged in the dry-goods and grocery business at Walton Station, and is also buying grain at that place. He was married in 1873, to Miss Lydia A. Rathburn, a native of Lee county.
JAMES R. HAWKINS, Amboy, son of John R. and Lucretia Hawkins, was born in Lorain county, Ohio, in 1840. He remained there until eight years of age, when he came with his father to Lee county. His father purchased land in Secs. 8 and 10, in East Grove township, where he made his home until his death, which occurred in 1855. On March 3, 1865, Mr. Hawkins enlisted in Co. E, 7th Ill. Cav., and was dis- charged November 7 of the same year, and since that time has been engaged in farming in East Grove township.
FRANKLIN H. CHURCH, Walton, son of Elisha and Rhoda Church,. was born in Broome county, New York, in 1825. He resided in his native county until twenty-nine years of age. In 1854 he came to Dixon and engaged in a store as clerk, in which position he continued for eight months, and afterward engaged at various pursuits during his residence of two years in Dixon. In 1856 he came to Marion town- ship and bought land in Sec. 2, where he has since that time resided. Mr. Church was married in 1852, to Miss Hannah Waters, also a native of New York.
PALMYRA TOWNSHIP.
This township is situated in the extreme northwest of Lee county, being bounded on the west by Whitesides county, on the north by Ogle county, on the east by Dixon township, and on the south by Rock river. It embraces the southern & of T. 22 N., and the N. W. } of T. 21 N., R. 8 E. of the 4th P. M. Beginning at the northwest corner of the county the boundary line runs east on the county line between Ogle and Lee counties, to the line between ranges 8 and 9 east; and thence south on said line to its junction with Rock river ; thence down said
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PALMYRA TOWNSHIP.
river, southwest to the county line between Whitesides and Lee coun- ties ; thence north on said line to the place of beginning; making the township six miles wide from west to east, while the irregularity of the southern boundary on the river, from the northeast to the southwest, contracts the eastern boundary to four and a half miles, and extends the western line to near nine miles in length; embracing an area of about 4,640 acres.
A topographical description of this township is introduced by one of her citizens, who dashes off like a laughing school-boy on a cold De- cember morning, as follows: "Connect not the name with visions of shady groves of waving palms, with bubbling fountains and breezes laden with the scent of the myrtle and orange, the lime and the almond ; none such are to be found in the place whose history I am recording, and such visions would soon fade before the furious blasts of our north- ern winters, with the air filled with snowflakes, and the leafless trees swaying under fierce assaults of Boreas. No warlike Zenobia leads us on to victory, but in her stead we follow the milder divinities, Ceres, Pomona, and Flora. Think not, however, because we can boast of none of these things in which lie the beauty of ancient Palmyra, the modern has no charms of her own. These are to be found in her broad, fertile plains, once covered with a profusion of jnicy grasses and flowers of every brilliant hue, in her stately groves of maple and walnut, of ash and oak, in the impetuous rush of the crystal Rock river, rolling her tide to join the Father of Waters, her surface broken with the sportive gambols of bass and perch, the leaping sturgeon and rushing pike-and even in the silver thread of Sugar creek, which once could boast of turning a saw-mill."
The physical geography of the township is not of special interest, apart from its attractions to the agriculturist who seeks a home on fertile soil and in a salubrious atmosphere. The face of the country is gently rolling, and in places presents to the eye the appearance of the swell- ing and receding of the great waves of the ocean. Along the Rock river it becomes bluffy, and in places rugged ; but not so grand and precipitous as on the Ohio river, or the streams of the northwest.
The drainage is good, presenting the land in the most favorable condition for cultivation, embracing almost every acre of her soil. The greatest portion of the township is drained by Sugar creek, which enters on the north, meandering southward to the central portion of the township, passing through Sugar Grove, then westward- emerging from the township three miles south of the northwest corner of the county. This stream drains the northern, central, and western portion of the township, and supplies running water to the many cattle that graze upon its banks on the beautiful farms through which it flows.
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
The eastern and southern portion of the township is drained by Roek river and small tributaries that mingle their waters with those of that stream.
Palmyra township was well supplied with timber, maple, sugar and soft wood, oak of different species, black walnut, ash and poplar. The southeast quarter of the township bordering on the river is covered with forest, while Sugar Grove covers three or four sections northwest of the township. The timber supply in the days of pioneer history of the country was of much importance; indeed, it was a necessity, as there was no means of access to coal supply as fuel or means of transportation of lumber but by teams across the prairie from Chicago, as it was eon- veyed for some of the first frame buildings in Dixon. The first settle- ments were along the borders of the forest groves. This natural provision in Palmyra induced many of the first emigrants to the county to settle within her borders in preference to the prairie town- ships. The soil of Palmyra is adapted to a variety of agricultural prodnets, wheat, corn, rye, oats, among the staple grains; clover and timothy grasses furnishing good pasturage and fodder. Garden prod- ucts grow luxuriantly and of the finest quality. The geological deposits of the township are valuable to the mechanics and arts of the country. The finest building-stones are found along the river, those most valued being in the neighborhood of " Hazelwood Farm," formerly owned by "Gov." Charters, three miles above Dixon. Besides the valuable quarries which furnish stone for building purposes and quiek- lime manufacture are found gravel-pits along the river, most valuable for macadamizing improvements. The attractions of Palmyra are many to lovers of a rural home. The broad, rolling prairies, shady groves and running brooks of her interior, and her rounded hills and forest- covered bluffs along river borders, furnish great attractions for a country home.
EARLY HISTORY.
In a letter to the "Dixon Sun," afterward published in the " His- tory of Dixon and Palmyra," the writer says: "The first settlers in the town of Palmyra were the Morgan family, old Mr. Morgan and his sons Harvey and John, with whom came Benjamin Stewart. This was in the spring of 1834, two years after the war with the Sacs and Foxes. The only white man in this part of the county was Mr. John Dixon, settled at Dixon's Ferry. Numbers of Indians, principally Winnebagoes, still remained here, hunting in bands through the country, having their headquarters at Prophetstown and Freeport. They were, however, quite peaceable, though occasionally stealing a few potatoes or some corn. The Morgans and Stewart settled on the south side of Sugar Grove, and in the autumn of the same year and early in 1835
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PALMYRA TOWNSHIP.
several others came in, Wright and Tomlin, of the present Myers' farm; Capt. Oliver Hubbard ; John H. Page and Fellows; Absalom Fender with a large family, and W. W. Bethea ; Daniel Obrist and Mr. Thummel, a brother of the C. B. Thummel; Harris; Keplinger; Nathan Morehouse; Sales; Thomas, with his two sons, Enoch and Noalı, who settled in the southwest corner of the town, in Walnut Grove; two brothers, Sandy and Elkanah Bush, and Martin Richard- son. Of all these early settlers there only remain at present, living in the town, Mrs. Tilton, the widow of Capt. Hubbard, and W. W. Bethea. E. B. Bush and Tomlin were the first justices of the peace. Bush, however, never qualified. They were succeeded by Harvey Morgan and W. W. Bethea. 'Squire Morgan remained for many years the factotum of the town, serving as justice of the peace, probate justice and town clerk. The first teaching of the young idea, not how to shoot, for that was learned readily enough, but of the mysteries of the alphabet, was given by Mrs. Hubbard, but no regular school was established until 1838, when a frame building, never finished, was put up. In order to accommodate the greater number this was built in the center of Sugar Grove, about a mile and a half from any dwelling. Here for two winters 'Squire Bethea birched the boys and coaxed the girls.
" E. B. Bush was the first postmaster. I suppose his duties in the wilderness were not very onerous. He had, however, a deputy by the name of Kellogg at Buffalo Grove. Martin Richardson told me that on one occasion Bush was going to settle with his deputy, and, said he, ' As he thought old man Kellogg was kind of ugly and might cut up rough, he would have me go 'long with him, and said I must carry a pistol. I never felt so mean in my life. I kept a rammin' the thing into my pocket, but it would keep a pokin' out, and I thought everyone I met would see what I was carrying.' However, old man Kellogg did not cut up rough, and they had no occasion to use the pistol. This Richardson was a most favorable specimen of the western pioneer, an excellent farmer, the best of neighbors, and the most liberal of men, yet he dearly loved a free fight, where everyone was at liberty to 'go in.' I remember on one occasion, when he was no longer young, a young fellow by the name of Heickus commenced blackguarding him while he was engaged in pulling a ferry-boat, thinking himself safe, as Richard- SOII was some distance from the shore. The old man jumped into the river, waded ashore, ran down Heickus, and seizing him by his flowing hair administered several hearty kicks. Sued before the squire he was fined $5. 'This,' said Heickus, as he put the money in his pocket, 'will buy my wife a new dress.' 'Yes,' said Richardson, 'and, by ginger ! the next time I tell you I will clothe the whole family.'
" Our infant settlement, in spite of an occasional scrimmage, the
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
greatest cordiality prevailed among the few inhabitants of the town. Old settlers always look back with fondness to the good old times when such universal friendly feeling existed. The prairie once broken, the crops grew almost without labor, as there were so few weeds and the land so fertile. What few supplies they needed, or could afford, such as flour or groceries, were hauled by ox teams from Peoria, and their own produce brought a high price among the miners in Galena. Some of the new-comers brought nothing with them but mouths to feed. Of such was Sales, of Sales' Spring. To buy a bushel of corn he had to split one hundred rails. Taking his corn home he cut a hole in a log, over which he fastened a spring pole with an iron wedge in- serted in the end of it. Working the pole up and down, he mashed the corn; then sifting it, the finer portions he used for meal and the coarser for hominy. He was a great hunter, and as game was very abundant, the river full of fish and covered with ducks and geese, he and his family suffered no lack. There was no grist-mill nearer than Peoria, until Joseph Wilson, an old Brandywine miller, came to settle on the .Elkhorn creek, when the settlers turned out in a body and put up a log mill on the Elkhorn a short distance above the present mill. It was a rough looking structure, but I have never tasted finer flour than Joe Wilson made from the splendid winter wheat of those days. Until flouring-mills were erected in Dixon, however, owing to the dry- ness of the creeks in summer we were often obliged to go as far as Aurora, on the Fox river, to get wheat ground.
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