History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., Part 69

Author: Hill, H.H. (Chicago) pbl
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, H.H. Hill
Number of Pages: 910

USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. > Part 69

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These are the remains of an American elephant, and are more rare than those of the mastodon. The monstrous animal, when living, had evidently been mired in the quicksand bed of the slough. A better idea of his immense size may be formed by comparison with large animals of the present day. Elephants in Asia or Africa, where only they are found now in native state, are about ten feet high, fifteen or sixteen feet long, and weigh from three to five tons each, when full grown. But the elephant whose bones were here exhumed, when he roamed over these prairies, long ages ago, was twenty-two feet long, and sixteen feet high, according to the estimates of Dr. M. H. Everett, of Troy Grove, and his brother, who made a long and careful investi- gation. The animal's foot was twenty inches long, and as large as a kerosene barrel. When alive it probably fed chiefly on grass.

EAST PAW PAW.

William Rogers was the first settler and built the first house, which was used for a hotel. The date of his arrival is not definitely known, but it was not later, probably, than 1836. He was endowed with . great bodily strength, and had a fondness for gambling, which he grati- fied without restraint. He obtained a large part of the Ogee reserva- tion and sold it out piecemeal. From here he went to Dixon, was proprietor of the Western Hotel some time, and finally drifted to Cali- fornia. He was everywhere known, particularly on the river between here and New Orleans, being a man of much energy and practical experience. His reappearance in these parts recently is mentioned. In 1877 John Wentworth and other old residents of Chicago got up a banquet for Rogers. He died a year or two ago.

Charles Morgan, from Virginia, settled just west of here, on land

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WYOMING TOWNSHIP.

now owned by Mrs. Criswell, as early as 1836. His notable character- istic was his great physical strength, he being accounted the most powerful man in all this country. He lived here till about 1850. One Mead, whose given name is lost, came in 1838, located in the grove south of this village, and took a claim reaching to the county line on the east, and to the Chicago road on the northi, on which the site of the town partly is. Job Alcott, who came in 1836, had his im- provement adjoining Morgan on the east ; in a few years he sold to a man named Mussulman, who built the Hollow House.

Bailey Breese emigrated from Morristown, New Jersey, in the fall of 1840, bought a quarter-section next the county line, and north of the Chicago road, from William Rogers, and the following summer, being joined by his family, began to improve it. A part of the village was afterward platted on his land, and his house, built where Mrs. Eliza- beth Rosette lives, was the second on the site of East Paw Paw. At a subsequent time, having $400 in ready cash, a tender of forty acres of land lying on Lake street, in Chicago, near the " Bull's Head " tavern, where all the drovers put up in that day, was made him for this sum of money. He got two weeks' refusal and came home. Rogers, want- ing to sell, persuaded Breese to buy more land from him, and the money was invested at East Paw Paw; showing how this dull little village of to-day - at one time, by the way, a stirring, thriving place - was once, and not many years ago, to be preferred to a city in many respects now the most marvelous in the history of the world. Mr. Breese was a cousin to Sidney Breese, once senator from this state, and afterward member of the supreme bench. With a robust consti- tution, not a gray hair, not a tooth missing, and eyesight unimpaired, he was a type of health. He was an active business man all his life, and his public-spirited usefulness raised his character and memory high in popular judgment. He died in 1859 at the ripe age of seventy- seven.

Jacob Wirick eame about 1842 or 1843 and bought out William Rogers ; a tavern was on the place and he was landlord there awhile. Later we find him living over the county line in the present southeast quarter of the village. Wirick was converted to Mormonism in Ohio ; removed to Nauvoo, Illinois, and thence with his brethren of the faith to Missouri, where, after successive removals and hardships, he became dispossessed of most of his property, of which he had a competency. To escape the wandering condition of his sect, and the persecutions which chased it like avenging fate, he sought his individual fortune, as many of the " saints " did, by dispersing themselves in all directions, and came to this place, where he became well off again, and died just before the war.

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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

Wiram Gates arrived in 1845, bought out Meade, and lived where Charles Pierce, who came the same year, now does. He was a cele- brated character, familiarly called " Bogus" Gates, from a kind of money unknown to the law elsewhere than in its penal provisions. Gates denied ever having handled counterfeit coin, but in the face of people's observations his denial was a travesty on truth. He had been a circus proprietor, and in such capacity became educated in the crook- edness of the world. There is no doubt that he entertained and assisted the numerous horse-thieves who regularly pursued their occupation. Gates owned a good deal of property, at one time about 600 acres of land, and people said if he had been honest he would have become wealthy ; but while setting traps for others, by a piece of sarcastic justice he was himself trapped. Gates built finely, even lavishly, for the time and place; he had so many costly buildings that his home was unsalable except at great sacrifice; suddenly his fine Gothic residence, erected at a cost of $3,000, burned down ; but he failed to collect the insurance. He was also a tradesman in East Paw Paw, and one of his notable operations was the bringing from New York of a stock of goods selected and bought on credit for $12,000 by his son, with the evident intention of defrauding the creditors. The plan did not succeed. Before the arrival of the goods an agent waited on him and required him, and another son who had means, to indorse for the purchasing son. Failing to meet the obligation at maturity, his stock was seized, he was broken up, and the career of "Bogus " Gates was practically at an end in this part of the country.

Jacob Wirick and Bailey Breese sold the first village lots, the former owning east and the latter west of the county line. The first store, a little west of here, was opened by Charles Howard in 1847; possibly his brother George had an interest with him. At this period the nearest trading points abroad were Dixon, Ottawa and La Salle. The Howard stock of goods was afterward moved to "East Corners " (East Paw Paw) and sold to Sherborn Gates. In 1849 S. B. Warren bought this store and associated James Little with him as partner. Near the same time Wiram Gates, and a tradesman named Davenport, also began selling goods. A post-office was established in 1850, with Andrew Breese as postmaster. The present incumbent is Henry Van Riper. About 1855 the Teachers' Institute and Classical Seminary was erected with funds subscribed for the purpose. A union church has existed in the place since 1868. The original pastors were the Rev. Layenbee, Methodist, and the Rev. Breed, Congregationalist. Rev. Stover, of the Methodist church, is ministering to the congregation at this time. He preached in this section of country over thirty years ago. A man of fine talent.

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WYOMING TOWNSHIP.

Once this was a point where a large trade was carried on; but the signs of activity, abundant years ago, have departed, and the town gracefully accepts the fate with which the railroads have darkened its experience. The school is an institution of acknowledged merit, whose reputation is sufficient to maintain its thrift and usefulness.

Eleazer Darby Le Moyne, now living in the village, and for many years formerly a traveling temperance lecturer, settled here prior to 1845.

Spartan Lodge, No. 272, I.O.O.F., was organized at East Paw Paw March 31, 1859, by the deputy grand master, Lee, and worked under dispensation until chartered, October 9. The charter members and first elective officers were H. P. Moore, N.G .; B. B. Griffith, V.G .; James Lansing, R.S .; John Clark, T., and E. D. Wilcox. At the date of organization Lanson Hubbell and William Rosette were ad- mitted by card, and D. R. Fuller, John Patrick and John Miekly were initiated. For a number of years the lodge was located on the other side of the county line, but consent having been obtained it was moved into Lee county. Its history, like that of most fraternal organ- izations, is checkered with trials; but it has done a beneficent work, and is the veteran parent of five other lodges, namely : Shabbona, of Earlville; Anchor, of Paw Paw; Fidelia, of Steward; Fertile, of Shabbona, and Triumph, of Malugin's Grove. The first three are alive and prosperously at work. Spartan lodge is in a flourishing condition, with a membership of forty-one. The present elective officers are George Firkins, N.G .; Elmer Day, V.G. ; Nelson Morris, R.S .; James Ketchum, P.S .; Oren Marble, T., and Benjamin Frantz, C.

SOUTH PAW PAW.

This hamlet is pleasantly situated on the county line at the south side of Paw Paw Grove and lies partly in both counties. It contains a school-house, Methodist church, [creamery, cemetery, and about a dozen private houses. The first settler here was John Ploss, in the spring of 1835. Eber St. John bought his claim and then sold it to Deacon Orlando Boardman, who arrived in 1840. Deacon Israel Hal- lock came the same year, and has lived on his present homestead since that time. The former, now dead, was prominent in organizing the Baptist society, and in erecting the church which once stood here, and was afterward removed to Paw Paw. Ralph Atherton, originally from Massachusetts, but later from Pennsylvania, came to this place in 1844, and is still living here. He was a fancy craftsman of the awl and last, and gladly received by the misses and others whose aspirations began to demand something more tasteful than "cowhides." Dr. George S. Hunt, the first regular physician at the grove and in Wyoming township, located here in practice in the spring of 1844. Deacon

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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

Daniel Pinc, now in his ninety-fourth year, came in 1845, and settled on the Bacon farm. David R. Town, native of Waterbury, Vermont, moved with his father, Russell Town, to Ohio at the age of five, and in 1835, when ten years old, came to Paw Paw Grove. He went from here across the plains in the government service in the spring of 1848. Timothy Goble came here is 1843 from the Wyoming valley, in Penn- sylvania, where the rest of the family of that name had lived, and located on the county line where Mott Goble resides. For some years he has been at this place. In 1847 the parents, Ezekiel and Margaret, moved from the east, and have since died. Years ago a graded school was here, at which many of the people now residing around were educated, and of which they speak in most commendatory terms. Edward Butterfield, the original settler of Wyoming township, and his wife, Polly, are buried in the cemetery at this place. The Rev. Nor- man Warriner, pioneer Baptist preacher, is also interred here.

As near as can be ascertained it was in the year 1838 when the Rev. Caleb Morris, Nancy, Caleb and Isachar Robinson, Betsey and Lydia Town, organized a Methodist class here, and named it the Paw Paw class. Caleb Robinson was appointed leader and steward and acted in these capacities till 1858, when he moved away and was suc- eceded by Samuel A. Abbott. Although the number of paying mem- bers for several years did not exceed five, yet it has had regular preaching once in two weeks, and since 1878 every Sabbath. The church edifice was erected in the year 1867. It is about 36×60, sur- mounted by an eighty-foot spire, and is a neat and commodious house of worship.

The South Paw Paw Union Sabbath-school was organized in the school-honse at that place in 1843, with C. M. Dickinson as superin- tendent. When the Baptist church was moved to Paw Paw the school was transferred from that house to the Methodist.

Friendship Grange, No. 143, was organized at South Paw Paw, where it continues to hold its meetings, in April 1873. The charter members were J. W. Clark, F. B. Hallock, G. Wirick; W. Campbell, D. C. IIoag, II. Butterfield. H. Burch, B. J. Warren, D. Chapman, J. G. Jones, Robert Hampton, W. P. Hampton, S. Butterfield, J. E. Ketchum, and W. Atherton. Robert Hampton and D. C. Hoag were the first master and sceretary respectively. Present membership, twenty-five.

Sunnyside Lodge of Good Templars was instituted at South Paw Paw in April 1877. Prominent members were Orlando Boardman and wife, Mrs. Louisa Hunt, D. C. Hoag, Solomon Butterfield, Edward Butterfield, Charles Ketchum, and Harry Warren. Augustus Ricker was lodge deputy. Meetings have not been held the present year.

THE NEW YORK

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WYOMING TOWNSHIP.

On the petition of thirty-four legal voters and tax-payers of Wyo- ming, John Harding, clerk of the township, issued a call for a special town meeting, to be held September 22, 1869, to vote on the question of the township's subscribing $50,000 to the capital stock of the Chi- cago & Rock River Railroad Company. The conditions were that the bonds, if authorized, should not be issued or draw interest or be deliv- ered until the road should be completed through the township, and cars running over it; that the road should be constructed within 100 rods of the main street of Paw Paw, and a depot located within the same distance of the village, and that on the delivery of the bonds to the company the township should receive in exchange a like amount of stock. At the election 142 votes were cast in favor of the proposi- tion to 62 against it.

The proposed termini were Calumet and Rock Falls, and the ad- vantage to be secured was an independent line to connect with the eastern trunk roads without entering Chicago to pay the arbitrary tolls and exactions of the warehouse system. The road was not built ac- cording to the representations made to the people; instead of extend- ing it to Calumet it was diverted to Shabbona, where a junction was formed with the Chicago & Iowa railroad. The deflection in the course was made at Paw Paw, to which point the line was finished from the west on Wednesday, June 19, 1872, on which occasion the citizens banqueted the contractor, Isaac Edwards, and his men in hearty fashion. The route was at once leased to the Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy Railroad Company, and it now forms a part of their extensive system.

The township officers at first hesitated to issue the bonds, but as it was apparent that the conditions which the township had made had been fully complied with, as attested by the record, they at length exe- ented the obligation. Fifty bonds of $1,000 each, to run ten years from July 1, 1871, drawing interest at ten per cent, with the first cou- pon detached, were delivered. The people were restive under the injustice of which they were victims, and appealed to the courts to re- strain collections on this outstanding debt, but without success. In 1880 judgment for two years' unpaid interest on $40,000 held in Cin- cinnati, amounting to $8,400, was obtained against Wyoming. Upon maturity of the old bonds the present year new ones to the amount of $59,000, bearing six per cent interest, were sold to pay them off. In placing this issue $510 above their face value was realized, being the . accrued interest and nearly one-half of one per cent premium. A plan of gradual payment was provided for, and the principal and interest fall due in the amounts and years following : 1882-principal $500, amount $4,040; 1883-principal $2,000, amount $5,510; 1884-prin-

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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

cipal $2,000, amount $5,390; 1885-principal $2,000, amount $5,270 ; 1886-principal $2,000, amount $5,150; 1887-principal $2,000, amount $5,030; 1888-principal $2,500, amount $5,410; 1889- principal $2,500, amount $5,260; 1890-principal $3,000, amount $5,610; 1891-principal $3,000, amount $5,430; 1892-principal $3,000, amount $5,250; 1893-principal $3,500, amount $5,570; 1894-principal $3,500, amount $5,360; 1895-principal $3,500, amount $5,150; 1896-principal $4,000, amount $5,440; 1897- principal $4,000, amount $5,200; 1898-principal $4,000, amount $4,960; 1899-principal $4,500, amount $5,220; 1900-principal $4,500, amount $4,950; 1901-principal $3,000, amount $3,180. Aggregate amount $102,380.

The Joliet, Rockford & Northern railroad, to be built by the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, is under contract and located between Paw Paw and Sheridan, intersecting the branch of the latter road at the former place, and is to be extended from Paw Paw both ways to Joliet and Rockford. Grading, just begun (Octo- ber 1881) at Paw Paw, is to be rapidly completed between the present termini.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

JOHN COLVILL, postmaster, Paw Paw Grove, is a native of Camp- bellton, Argyleshire, Scotland. His father and brothers were iron or hardware dealers, and at the age of twelve our subject showed such ability for mathematics and accounts that he was placed in the count- ing-room. A little before majority he emigrated with his brother-in- law, John Smith, to this country, and for some years made his home with that family. He made a claim of what is now the Smith Pulver farm, on the north side of the grove, but without improving it sold to Matthew Atchinson. For several years he and Jacob Rogers were making shingles together, and when William H. Robinson started in business for himself on Peru street Mr. Colvill became his clerk. About this time, 1850, he took charge of the post-office, and continued as deputy until the accession of President Lincoln, in 1861, when he was appointed postmaster. When Mr. Robinson removed his store to Earlville Mr. Colvill went with him to that place, and excepting his two years' residence there he has been the incumbent of the post-office of Paw Paw Grove since his first appointment. On his return he went into trade in the old Robinson stand, and in 1875 sold out his business to William Merrill & Co., but retained the post-office. In 1863 he erected the Flagg & Baker clothing store, and in 1872 the Colvill building. As a business man he has been among the most useful and best respected in town. For many years he was almost the sole con-

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WYOMING TOWNSHIP.

veyancer on whom the people relied to draft their papers when trans- ferring property. At one time he was elected justice of the peace, but being postmaster was ineligible. He has filled the office of town clerk, and at different dates that of supervisor, and since 1863 that of township treasurer ; and all his trusts have been discharged with fidelity and satisfaction to the public. Mr. Colvill was accidentally deprived of one eye while in the cradle, and the other has always been affected with near-sightedness ; but notwithstanding his defective sight he has been a prudent and extensive reader, and has stored his mind well from the best current literature. On his table may be found the daily newspaper, the semi-weekly New York "Tribune," two county papers, and nearly half a dozen of the leading English magazines, "Blackwood's" receiving his preference. At the date of his return from Earlville, 1854, he contracted marriage with the relict of William Thompson, to whom she was united in wedlock November 2, 1840. Her husband died in 1848, and James Thompson is the only surviving child. Her maiden name was Nancy Harding, and she was born in Exeter, Lu- zerne county, Pennsylvania. Her brothers, Lester and Isaac, are lead- ing men of Wyoming county, in that state, and the Hon. Garrard Harding is president judge of Luzerne county. Mrs. Thompson set- tled in Paw Paw in 1852, and taught school in this vicinity until her second marriage. She was greatly respected for her success in this profession, but not more than for her exalted virtues as a woman. The ceremony of marriage between her and Mr. Colvill took place Septem- ber 26, 1854. Like her husband she was a great lover of reading, and in her he had a congenial and estimable companion, whose departure to rest April 18, 1881, was a loss to kindred and friends which can never more be supplied. Mr. Colvill's memory is a repository of early history, upon which, with his kind permission, we have drawn with a free hand.

WILLIAM McMAHAN is the county surveyor and the supervisor of Wyoming, and resides on his farm, Sec. 27. He was born January 17, 1829, in Montour connty, Pennsylvania. His father's name was Ben- jamin, and his mother's Esther J. (Brearley). His grandfather was. with the brave Gen. Wayne in the army of the American revolution, and served through the whole of that war. . William was educated at Danville Academy, in his native county, and learned surveying. At the early age of seventeen he taught school in winter, did satisfactory work as a surveyor through the summer, and helped his father in farm- ing the rest of the year. This course he followed till 1854, when he came west and taught school at Franklin Grove. The next spring he went to Minnesota, where for five years he was employed in surveying for the government, by contract. Returning thence he married Sarah

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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

A., daughter of John Clark, of Trumbull county, Ohio, and the follow- ing spring they emigrated to their present home in Wyoming. The compass was laid away, and he gave his attention to farming, hoping he would thus be allowed to enjoy life in the companionship of his family. But competent surveyors were needed; and when such men could not be secured, in some cases, unskillful persons ran the lines wrong and caused trouble. But it was found that when Mr. McMahan could be induced to set the boundaries they were accurate and sure. So much confidence came to be reposed in his ability that the owners of different lands at Paw Paw Grove and the village united in select- ing him to make anew the lines that had been doubtful, agreeing to abide by his decision. The result was what they anticipated. Besides Paw Paw, he laid out Compton, Carnahan, Brooklyn, Shaw, Walton, and Hammon. Finally, in 1867, he was appointed the county sur- veyor, and has been continned in that service ever since. During his term as supervisor in 1869, at his suggestion, the county procured a copy of the government field notes, which contain the original surveys of the whole county. This is kept at Dixon ; but Mr. McMahan has made a duplicate copy of the work, and added to it the accumulated surveys of Mr. Crawford and himself, so that this body of valuable records are now conveniently accessible at his office. Five times he has been elected supervisor, and seven times assessor. He has three children living: Hattie E., John C. and William B. His } Sec. of land is furnished with excellent buildings. One item of his crops in 1879 was 176 bushels of clover seed.

DEACON ISRAEL F. HALLOCK, farmer, La Clair, with his excellent wife, are among the few who survive of those who settled in Wyoming prior to 1841. Mr. Hallock is of the eighth generation from England, the son of Joseph Hallock, an Orange county farmer, and was born June 16, 1818. Leaving the Empire State in his seventeenth year, he spent four years in Pennsylvania. Married Persis P. M. Boardman, daughter of Deacon Orlando Boardman, in 1839. In 1840 emigrated to Illinois, and that fall bought the claim where David Thomas now lives, on the south side of Paw Paw Grove. Next year he sold this and took up a prairie claim one mile south of the grove, on the town- ship line, where to-day, on the Earlville road, may be seen as fine a grove as eye ever beheld. This grove is of hard and soft maple, partly fringed with tamarack and cedar. Mr. Hallock set the hard maples about 1850, and the soft about 1862. On this "Maple Grove Farm " Mr. and Mrs. Hallock lived thirty-seven years. In 1879 he sold to his son-in-law, Steven A. Tarr, and moved to the Boardman farm at " South Side," where they now reside. Mrs. Hallock is one of the thirteen who organized the Paw Paw Baptist church, in 1841. Mr.

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WYOMING TOWNSHIP.

Hallock was the second member received ; he united in 1842, and was appointed deacon about 1850. They have two children, Mrs. Jane E. Tarr, on " Maple Grove Farm," and William H., on a farm of his father's in Stark county. When Mr. and Mrs. Hallock came as pio- neers, they were six weeks and five days on the road, and besides the few things brought in their one-horse wagon they had three dollars left after buying a cow. Now, when forty-one years have elapsed, they appear to be young in social joys and virtues, and blessed with an abundance of whatever enters in to complete a successful life.

JOHN ROSENBERGER, station agent of the Rock Falls branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, was born at Hatfield, Mont- gomery county, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1846. His parents' names were David and Elizabeth. His mother died when he was quite young. His early education was limited to attendance at a com- mon school six months in the year, but he made good use of that. At the age of fourteen he became a clerk in a produce store in Philadel- phia. Besides his service here, he assisted his father on his farm at intervals, and before he was twenty-one had also learned cigar-making. For several years afterward he worked at his trade in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. While residing at Aurora he improved his evenings to learn telegraphing, and found this knowledge of great use afterward. He then mastered the details of railroad accounts and management, so far as he had opportunity, and was employed in railroad work in several offices, gaining much valuable experience. Jannary 13, 1873, he was appointed to take charge of this station. In December of that year he married Miss C. J. Vanhorn, of Paw Paw, formerly of Northumber- land county, Pennsylvania. They have two children, Fay Wilson and Georgie Floy.

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History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., Part 69

Author: Hill, H.H. (Chicago) pbl Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, H.H. Hill Number of Pages: 910

Author: Hill, H.H. (Chicago) pbl
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, H.H. Hill
Number of Pages: 910