USA > Illinois > McHenry County > History of McHenry County, Illinois : together with sketches of its cities, villages and towns : educational, religious, civil, military, and political history : portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, also a condensed History of Illinois > Part 67
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
727
HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
good man's life, and the verdict of his many friends is and always has been, "His heart was the throne of honor, and his brow the witness of manly integrity." In 1825 he was married to Miss Harriet Billings, who was also a native of Franklin County, Mass., and a woman of more than ordinary ability. Without a murmur she left the enticing scenes of her childhood and youth and accom- panied her husband to the then far West. She gave this town Hebron) the name it bears, being the first white woman to settle within its limits. A party was gathered at her house when the subject of naming the town was proposed. They had been sing- ing, and the words of that grand old hymn seemed so appropriate to her own case that she requested them to call the town ' Hebron." The appropriateness of her selection can be better understood by a reference to the hymn itself. She always enjoyed relating to her friends the varied incidents of her Western life, which were many and interesting, but most she cherished the memories of her log- cabin home. She never quite recovered from the shock caused by her husband's death. Although he lingered for days under the best medical treatment the family could procure, to her the blow was sudden, and many times she remarked to her friends that she "forgot, when beside him, that he was only mortal."
Mrs. Tryon was a woman whose natural abilities marked her as a leader in society. Keenly alive to whatever would entertain and advance lier associates, her home was the center of hospitality and good cheer. But those scenes of early years are sleeping in the sepulcher of the past ; and they who loved in youth, toiled side by side through the changes of maturer years, have left the fields of their labor, and the marble shaft and billowed earth at its base tell us they have reached that farther shore against whose golden sands the great wave of humanity is forever surging.
Charles Hopkins Tryon, whose name heads this sketch, is the eldest son and last surviving member of the family. He was born June 2, 1826, at South Deerfield, Franklin Co., Mass., and came with his parents to Illinois when only ten years of age. He re- ceived his education in the public schools of his new home, and at an academy in Kenosha, Wis. Being eager to learn, and possess- ing a retentive memory, his mind soon became stored with a gen- eral knowledge of the passing events of life. Good books were his constant companions, and their influence was very marked. Trans- planted from the scenes of refinement, the home of schools and churches, to the almost uninhabited section of the West, he was
728 HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
thrilled with a boy's enthusiasm at the novelty of his surroundings. The belts of woodland, the prairies waving verdure and bloom, where Indians roamcd and wild birds sang, where decr sported and wolves made their lairs, growing up amid scenes of rapid and extensive progress, his mind became as untrammeled as the wind that swept the broad prairies of his Western home. He could draw no sectional lines anywhere; humanity was his kindred, the world his home. At the age of twenty-one he took his father's place as Justice of the Peace and a short time after was elected Supervisor. In 1848 he married Laura A. Hodge, who died in 1876 leaving two children-Jessie M., who is still living, and Bela H., who died in 1877. In the opening of a promising manhood Bela fell a victim to consumption and his young head lies pillowed beneath the blooms of a world that had yielded him much of joy and more of sorrow. In 1862 Mr. Tryon raised a company of volunteers of which he was Captain; his company belonged to the Ninety-fifth Illinois Infantry. In 1882 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-third Gen- eral Assembly, and assigned to thie committees on agriculture, horticulture, dairying, drainage and State institutions. Of his career in the Legislature the Illinois State Journal of June, 1883, says:
" Among the quiet, unobtrusive members of the General Assem- bly during the recent session, there has been none who looked more faithfully or conscientiously after the interests of his con- stituents and the people of the State generally than Hon. Charles H. Tryon, Representative from the Eighth District. Mr. Tryon resides on a farm in the vicinity of Richmond, McHenry County, and is identified in interest and vocation with the agricultural class of Northwestern Illinois. Though an infreqnent speaker and seldom calling attention to himself on the floor, his industry and close attention to business secured for him a degree of influence exerted by few members on either side of the House. He was par- ticularly influential in securing the passage through the House of two measures-one a bill providing for the more certain convic- tion and effective punishment of persons guilty of burglary, forgery, etc .; and the other an act authorizing the erection of private tele- graph and telephone lines and protecting the same-of much im- portance to suburban and farming communities. It is doubtful if any man leaves the General Assembly with more earnest friends on both sides of the House, while the respect and confidence won by his high character for honesty and fair dealing have placed
729
HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
him in a position to serve his constituents even more efficiently in the future than in the past." He is a most inveterate hater of any kind of shamming in politics or religion, believing that an un- principled politician is the most authentic type of human depravity. He still lives where he located forty-six years ago, in one of the finest farm residences in the county, justly enjoying the confidence and respect of all who know him. In person he is tall, has light complexion, very fine wavy hair and a true Grecian nose, and wears no beard except a mustache. His eyes do not so much sparkle as beam on you a full sun-glow of integrity and honor, sheltered by a lofty and over-arching brow. The face expresses gravity, good sense, collectedness and discretion, in physical out- line less distinguished for beauty than for its moral fire and quality of character. He is a Master Mason. Has been a Repub- lican since the organization of that party; prior to that he was a Whig. In theology he is a Universalist, but tolerant to all other denominations. Being convinced that life itself suggests a higher good than life itself can yield, he does not presume to dictate by what path, thorny at best, humanity shall reach the goal of its hopes. After carefully studying the relation of man to his Maker, and both to the Universe, he comes to the conclusion for himself that
" Life is ever Lord of Death, And Love will never loose his own."
July 4, 1877, he was married to Marion E. Sherman, a native of Oswego, N. Y. She is well educated, and in her younger days a teacher. Like her husband, she occasionally writes for different county papers.
George F. Tryon .- Among the early settlers of McHenry County there was not a better man than George F. Tryon. Socially and financially he ranked with the first, and while always freely asserting his convictions on any subject and never lowering his independence as a man, he died without an enemy, and in his death McHenry County lost a citizen whose every ambition was identified with its interests. He was an agriculturist from choice, and found unbounded pleasure in waving fields of grain, quiet grazing herds, and orchards laden with their ripening fruits. He was a good musician and possessed a strong love for the beautiful in nature and art; and the manly acts of his life were but an index of the pure aud generous soul within. In 1852 he was married to Jane Amelia Downs who six years later, with the name of her idolized husband trembling on her lips, passed to that
G
730 HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
"other world" from all that made her heaven of this. Their children-Hattie A., C. Fred and Ira B .- still live in Hebron. Several years after the death of his first wife he married Sarah Rood, who with their two children, Frank G. and Luella, still survives him. Although having little to do with politics and caring less for its favors, he was a strong Republican, and always ready to discharge whatever duties devolved upon him as a citizen and a man. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity. His daily life gave expression to his religious creed. He died Nov. 5, 1868, just at the close of a lovely autumn day. But the shadows of night that gathered around him were not so dark as the shadows that fell across the lives of those who loved him. He had no sisters and only one brother, Charles H., whose name appears in this chapter, and in the old home of his boyhood "Charley" was his idol. And the unusual attachment between them can perhaps be no better described than by a few extracts from a poem written by the surviving brother entitled, "Fare Thee Well."
" How oft with dimmed and weary eyes I seek thee in the living throng, While memory gilds again those hours Of kindred feeling shared so long.
" Fame's temple gleamed before us high, And soul to soul, as hand to hand, We longed to stand beneath those domes, Where stood the honored of our land.
" In virtues path did hope to win The laurel wreath ambition weaves; Nor deemed the unseen hand of fate, Would wreathe fair hopes with cypress leaves
" "Tis past! Oh, these thy titles are; A heart did others sufferings feel; A soul from which dishonor fled, As flies the breath from burning steel.
" Oh, fare thee well; no words can breathe How close, how dear the mystic spell, That bound our lives in one strong bond; My noble brother, fare thee well."
August Walters was born in Ortenberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Ger- many, May 9, 1828. When he was two years of age his parents died, and he was reared by an uncle, Fredrick Stoffel, who afterward came to America and died at the home of our subject. He received a good education in his native country, attending school eight years continuously. When he reached manhood he resolved to
,
731
HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
come to America, and although with limited means persuaded his betrothed, Wilhelmine Nogel, to accompany him. They landed in New York, Sept. 30, 1849, and were married there May 8, 1850, and then came to McHenry County, Ill., and had but $3 in money, but went to work with a determination to make themselves a home. He found employment at $8 a month, and after working two years earned enough to send to Germany for his wife's mother and brother, who are now residents of Hebron Township. He was prosperous from the beginning, but in July, 1855, lost his young wife and companion of his home in a strange land. To them had been born three children-Harry, Kate, and an infant, deceased. Three years later he married Catherine Hoffman, a native of his home in Germany. To them have been born seven children, five now living-Fred, Emma, August and Belinda (twins), and Edna. George died aged three years and one died in infancy. In 1858 he made his first purchase of land, which is a part of the farm where he now lives. Every improvement has been made by him, and he has added to his original purchase, till he now owns 115 acres of the choicest land. In 1884 he purchased eighty acres adjoining at a cost of $5,000, for his son. In 1872 Mr. Walters visited Germany, bnt was glad to return to his American home. Although so poor that all his possessions were in a trunk when he came to this country, he is now one of the most substantial citizens of the township and has a beautiful home surrounded by all that makes life pleasant.
William H. Woodbury, section 18, Hebron Township, is a native of Massachusetts, a son of John and Lucrctia (Herrington) Woodbury. When he was an infant his parents moved to Ver- mont and there he was reared and educated. In the fall of 1844 he came West on a prospecting tour; returned home the same fall, and in February, 1845, was married to Allury Bains, a native of Vermont, and soon after again came West and lived in Ringwood one summer. The next fall he moved to Hebron Township, where he had entered a tract of land from the Government. He went to work to improve his land and now has one of the finest farms of 160 acres in the township. He also owns ninety acres in another tract, forty acres of it lying in Alden Township. He has a pleasant residence and substantial farm buildings. Mr. and Mrs. Wood- bury have four sons-Andrew J., George E., John M. and Charles F., the latter being the only one at home. They are members of the Presbyterian church and among its most liberal supporters.
46
732
HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
H. W. Mead is one of the wealthiest and most energetic busi- ness men of McHenry County. From the time of his coming to the present he has been actively engaged in agriculture, mercan- tile and other pursuits, and probably no man in the county has done more to advance the business interests of the neighborhood in which he has resided so many years. He was born in Oswego County, N. Y., May 10, 1823, and came to McHenry County in October, 1844. His parents, Jeremiah and Annie (Cline) Mead, were natives of Berkshire County, Mass., of English descent, being lineal descendants of a family that came over in the Mayflower. They were the parents of eleven children, eight of whom are liv- ing-Emily, wife of D. P. Conklin, of Hebron; Daniel P., of Oswego County, N. Y., married Hannah Snyder; H. W., our sub_ ject; Jesse H., married Miss Ormsby, and resides in Waupaca, Wis .; Cyrus L., of Hebron, married Finette A. Carman; Jeremiah C., married Lucinda Spurling; Stephen P .; George H., of Oswego County, N. Y., married Maria Hoffstetter. The early life of our subject was interspersed with many incidents of a thrilling nature. The county being new everything was bent toward helping to develop the fertile lands. His first purchase of land was made near Sheboygan, in the fall of 1845; the second, near Bloomfield, in 1848. In 1853, with his brother, he purchased 450 acres of land where the village of Hebron is now located. In 1860 he had it surveyed and platted, and M. S. Goodsell erected the first house and store. In 1850 lie, in company with Barnett Burdick, Ed. Purdy and Charles McConnell, started overland for California, reaching Placerville, Aug. 14. He engaged in mining eigliteen months with Mr. Burdick, in which they were prosperous. The return journey was by water. He walked across the Isthmus from Panama to Gargona, and from there to Chagres in a bungalow, when they again boarded a steamer. After the completion of the railroad he erected the present depot. and for eighteen years was agent, although he was also engaged in the general mercantile and lumber business. He has built up a large trade, his sales now averaging $45,000 per annum. In 1858 Mr. Mead was elected Town Clerk, and served continuously till 1881. He has served as Justice of the Peace since 1860, Township Treasurer since 1863, Supervisor a number of years and Notary Public. He is one of the charter members of Hebron Lodge, No. 604, F. & A. M., and is a member of Woodstock Chapter, No. 36, R. A. M., and Calvary ommandery, No. 25, K. T. Politically he is a Republican. In
733
HISTORY OF MC HENRY COUNTY.
1868 Mr. Mead built a factory for the benefit of the dairy farmers of the neighborhood and now produces an average of 1,300 pounds of cheese per day. Jan. 22, 1862, he was married to Ann M. Turner, who was born in Hamburg, Erie Co., N. Y., Dec. 7, 1828. They have had three children-Frank, Minnie and Emma C., the latter the only one living. Aug. 22, 1884, Mrs. Mead died, after a lingering illness, during which she was an uncomplaining sufferer, and although all that money and skill could accomplish was done nothing availed to relieve her sufferings. She was buried in Hebron Cemetery. Mr. Mead is always the first to aid any work of interest to the county, withholding neither money nor influence where either is required. He is in religious faith a Methodist, and is one of the church's most liberal supporters.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MARENGO TOWNSHIP.
SITUATION RICH IN SOIL AND IMPROVEMENTS .-- DESCRIPTION .- STONE QUARRY .- RAILROAD .- SETTLEMENT .- EARLY SETTLERS .- NAME GIVEN .- EARLY EVENTS .- FIRST ELECTION .- FIRST AND PRESENT OFFICERS. - SCHOOL STATISTICS .- CEMETERIES. - FIRST GRIST- MILL .- MARENGO VILLAGE .- LOCATION .- DESCRIPTION .- A TEM- PERANCE TOWN .- DATE OF SETTLEMENT .- TOWN ADDITIONS .- FIRST EVENTS .- DATE OF INCORPORATION .- FIRST AND PRESENT OFFICERS. ---- CHURCHES. -- SOCIETIES .-- GRADED SCHOOL .-- POST- OFFICE .-- OPERA HOUSE .- BANKS .- MANUFACTURES. - BUSINES DIRECTORY .- BIOGRAPHICAL.
This township is situated in the west tier of townships in the county. It is bounded on the west by Boone County, on the east by Seneca, on the north by Dunham, and on the south by Riley Township. It is township 44, range 5.
This township is surpassed by none for its rich lands and splen- did improvements. Go where you will and nothing but beautiful farms under the highest state of agriculture greets the eye, together with the finest of residences and farm buildings. Nowhere in all the country do we see such marked evidence that enterprise has kept perfect pace with time and all its wondrous changes and improvements, and rapid strides in the interests of civilization. The township consists chiefly of prairie land which is so well drained by Nature's own provision that every foot is tillable and productive. For grain and stock raising the township is equally well adapted. The dairying business has grown to be quite an industry here, while thousands of bushels of grain are yearly raised. The township is scarce of timber, except along the branches of streams where some small timber is found, it being more plenty in early times than at present. Kishwaukee Creek crosses sections 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, and is joined on the east by Rush Creek. This is the only township in the county that can boast of a stone quarry. It is situated on section 31, and has proved to be a marked
(734)
E. g. Wells
735
HISTORY OF MC HENRY COUNTY.
benefit. From it was taken the stone to build the school-houses at Marengo and Union. Near the southern line the railroad trav- erses the township from east to west, and the location of the depot at the village of Marengo makes an advantageous point for ship- ping the products of adjoining townships.
SETTLEMENT.
Calvin Spencer was the first man to take np a claim in Marengo Township. He came from Seneca County, Ohio, in the spring of 1835, accompanied by his sister, who was the first white woman who ever kept house in the township. At the time of Mr. Spen- cer's settlement his nearest neighbor was Joseph Boyington, whose residence was ten miles distant. Soon after coming to Marengo, Mr. Spencer married Miss Mary Ann Hance. They had a family of eight children. Her death occurred in the year 1875. In the fall of 1835 Moses Spencer, father of Calvin Spencer, located in Marengo Township. In November of the same year he buricd his wife. This is said to be the first death that occurred in the town- ship. The next settler was Ward Burley, who came to Marengo during the winter of 1835 and '36. He purchased a piece of land east of the present village site, which he afterward traded to Frank Safford for a stock of dry-goods, and carried on the dry-goods busi- ness for a time in connection with his practice of medicine. He was the first physician to locate in the place, and here he remained in practice till his death, which occurred July, 1847. John Spon- able came here in 1836 and made his claim in Garden Prairie, Boone County, where he remained but a short time, when he came to Marengo, where he remained till his deathi, which occurred in 1846. Among the very earliest settlers of Marengo Township was Richard B. Simpkins, who came in September, 1835, and made his claim where William Sponable afterward resided. He afterward located in Coral Township. He came from Bradford County, Pa. In 1838 he married Eveline Ames, of Boone County, who made his home a happy one till her death, which occurred in 1860. He died in 1884, leaving a family of seven children.
Late in the fall of 1835 came William Sponable and purchased part of the Simpkins claim, and made his home with Warren Blakesley, who had preceded Sponable's coming by several months. Blakesley soon afterward moved to Nebraska, where he is still a resident. Mr. Sponable soon afterward sold his land and moved to Seneca Township. In the fall of 1835 L. Bache came from
736
HISTORY OF MC HENRY COUNTY.
Pennsylvania, and bought a claim upon which he resided till 1840 when he returned to Pennsylvania, where he still resides. Amos B. Coon came to Marengo, October, 1835, from Bradford, Pa., and after spending a short time here went South, where he re- mained till 1837. He is still a resident of Marengo, and has the honor of being the oldest practicing attorney in McHenry County.
Theophilus Renwick settled in Marengo in 1836. He came from New York State, and took up the Vail farm, and after a short time moved to Elgin, and from thence to California. M. B. Bailey came from Vermont and located in Marengo in 1837, where he started a small store which he ran for a time. His death occurred in 1882. George Bennett became a citizen of the place in 1837. Geo. R. Page came to Marengo in 1836 and remained till his death in 1853. J. A. Davis came in 1837 and afterward moved to Cali- fornia where he died. William Barnes, wife and son Charles came to Marengo in September, 1839, and remained here till his death, Feb. 26, 1864. He was born in Litchfield, N. H., June 5, 1797. His wife died in 1882. Their son Charles died at the age of fifteen years. Another son, Charles H., died in Chicago in September, 1884, and left a widow, son, and daughter, residents of Marengo. Timothy McNamara came to Marengo in November, 1839, and was followed the next spring by his wife and three chil- dren. He entered the Joel Smith farm. His wife, who was Phoebe Barnes, died May 10, 1851, and he the 10th of the follow- ing August. Their children have all moved from McHenry County. This comprises chiefly the early settlers of Marengo though scores settled here in 1837-'9.
NAME GIVEN.
This township was called Pleasant Grove by its inhabitants from the time of its first settlement till the establishment of the post- office, which was called Marengo, and for convenience sake the township received the same name.
EARLY EVENTS.
It is a disputed point as to who was the first white child born in the township, but since we find none of the older inhabitants willing to dispute the positive statement of a few of the first settlers that a son of Dr. Ward Burley was the person, we give him the credit. This child only lived to the age of two years.
G
737
HISTORY OF MO HENRY COUNTY.
The first death, as stated before, was that of Calvin Spencer's mother.
The first marriage occurred Jan. 14, 1838, the contracting parties being M. B. Bailey and Miss Lydia Hance; ceremony performed by M. B. Spencer, J. P.
The first school was taught by O. P. Rogers in a small log school-house nearly opposite Calvin Spencer's present place of residence. The first school taught by a lady was in 1839, Caroline Cobb being the teacher. The school was hield in a small log house built for a shoe shop and her pupils numbercd nine in all.
The first house built for educational purposes was the log one in which Mr. Rogers taught the first school. The building was erected by private parties at their own expense. The first frame school-house was erected in 1841-'42. It stood on the site of the present fine school building of Marengo Village. It served its purpose many years when it was supplanted by a fine stone building to which was afterward added a stone wing, the whole covering the same space as the present building. This structure was burned in 1882. The following ycar the present grand com- modious and costly educational edifice was erected.
The first religious services held in the township werc at the house of Calvin Spencer, in March, 1836, by Rev. Southworth, .who afterward settled in New Orleans.
First election held after the organization of the township was upon the 2d day of April, 1850. The following is a list of officers then elected: A. B. Coon, Supervisor; Geo. R. Page, Assessor; H. H. Chapman, Town Clerk; David Barron, Collector; Christian Sponable, Overseer of the Poor; Ephraim Smith, Thomas Lilla- bridge and Marcus White, Commissioners of Highways; Chiarles E. Pulver and Daniel Stewart, Justices of the Peace; Thos. J. Richards and L. D. Spencer, Constables. The following is a list of present township officers: Ira R. Curtiss, Supervisor; T. J. Belden, Clerk; G. D. Belden, Assessor; H. M. Fillmore, Collector; C. H. Pease, Patterson Pringle and T. W. Porter, Commissioners of Highways; Wm. Shearer and A. Norton, School Trustees.
The first grist-mill built in the township was erected in 1846, about one and a half miles northwest of Marengo. It has been out of use for many years, and long since fell into decay. The dim outlines of the old race are the only land-marks of its past ex- istence.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.