USA > Illinois > Winnebago County > Rockford > History of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois, from the first settlement in 1834 to the civil war > Part 15
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EXCLUSION OF DR. KERR.
weeks, under the appointment of its chairman, George H. Stuart. His commission was signed as secretary by B. F. Jacobs, the famous Sunday-school worker. Upon his return Dr. Kerr raised several hundred dollars, by popular lectures on his observations at the front, for the benefit of the Christian Commission fund. Dr. Kerr's official reports were highly complimented by Chair- man Stuart. These appointments of clergymen were always for a short time, in order that a large number might be invited to serve, and because such appointees were usually in charge of their own local fields.
Dr. Kerr's first Rockford pastorate closed November 1, 1866, when he was called to Hannibal, Missouri. After a brief pastorate by Rev. James Lick, D. D., Dr. Kerr was again called to his old charge in Rockford, and he began his second pastorate July 11, 1869. His discourses were not considered evangelical, and he was charged with not preaching Baptist doctrines. Dr. Kerr tendered his resignation August 28, 1870. In October the church called a council. This council met on the 14th, deposed Dr. Kerr from the Baptist ministry, and advised the church to exclude him from membership. Upon this advice, Dr. Kerr and forty-eight members were excluded, who, though owning the larger part of its property, left the church undisturbed in its title to, and possession of it. With his friends, Dr. Kerr organized the Church of the Christian Union, upon a basis of lib- eral religious thought. It is now the oldest independent church of its kind in the country ; and preceded by five years a similar movement led by the late Prof. David Swing, in Chicago. Dr. Kerr, with a slight intermission, has preached in Rockford nearly forty years. American church history records compar- tively few parallels of such long service in one community. The career of Dr. Kerr after his radical departure and of his church belongs to a later period of local history.
Dr. Kerr is a commanding figure and a strong personality. His presentations of religious thought, though not expressed in evangelical terms, are inspirational, restful and spiritual; and enkindle a spirit of reverence in responsive hearts. The question as to whether essential Christianity can be permanently maintained in the hearts of men, apart from the historic and personal Christ, is the fundamental point at issue between evan- gelical and liberal Christianity; and upon this question the latter is on trial for its life.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
VILLAGE INCORPORATED .- LAND SALE .- FIRST TEMPERANCE CLUB.
FARLY in 1839 the little village aspired to the dignity of an incorporated town. The generallaw of 1831 provided that "whenever the white males over the age of twenty-one years, being residents of any town in this state, containing not less than one hundred and fifty inhabitants, shall wish to become incorporated for the better regulation of their internal police," it should be lawful for them to do so. The ambition of the village was sustained by the required population.
A meeting of the citizens of Rockford was held, pursuant to public notice, at the Rockford House, April 1, 1839. David Goodrich was called to the chair, and James Mitchell was chosen clerk. It was resolved that the two villages of Rockford, cast and west sides of Rock river, be incorporated into one town. Committees were appointed to ascertain the number of inhabi- tants within the prescribed boundaries of Rockford ; to draft an act of incorporation for the town; and to confer with Mr. Brinckerhoff concerning free ferriage for the citizens of the county.
An adjourned meeting was held April 3d, but no business was transacted. A second adjourned meeting was held on the following evening. The committee on census reported that the number of inhabitants was two hundred and thirty-five. The committee appointed to confer with Mr. Brinckerhoff made a report to the effect that he would furnish free ferriage to the citizens of the county on condition that the trustees of the town would remunerate him, at the close of each year, with such sum as a committee of three should determine, after ascertaining the receipts and expenses of the ferriage. One member of the committee was to be chosen by the trustees, another by Mr. Brinckerhoff, and these two were to appoint a third. At this meeting, by a two-thirds vote, as required by law, the town was incorporated. An election for five trustees was held April 10th. There were chosen Dr. Goodhue, Daniel S. Haight, Sam- uel Little, Ephraim Wyman and Isaiah Lyon.
149
THE TOWN ONE MILE SQUARE.
The statute provided that the boundaries of a town incor- porated under its provisions should notexceed one mile square. The trustees restricted the limits as thus prescribed by the law. They organized by the election of Daniel S. Haight, president ; Anson Barnum, clerk; John C. Kemble, attorney. Isaiah Lyon was elected collector and treasurer; Henry Thurston, assessor for the first district; John Haskell, for the second ; Nathaniel Wilder for the third ; S. D. Preston, for the fourth.
Rockford continued its simple municipal life under this sys- tem until January, 1852. These years were quite uneventful, so far as municipal affairs were concerned. The complete rec- ords of the proceedings of the board of trustees for those twelve years are contained in a single small volume. This book is well preserved, in the office of the city clerk. Routine business occu- pied the almost exclusive attention of the board ; and frequently less than a page is required to record its proceedings.
The lands in Winnebago county did not come into market until the autumn of 1839. The lands in Rockford and Rockton townships were not offered for sale until 1843, by reason of the famous "Polish claims," which will be considered in detail in a subsequent chapter. The land office for this district in 1839 was at Galena. The opening of the lands to sale and entry in that year was an interesting event to the settlers of Winnebago county. Some of them had their farms well under cultivation, and had raised a sufficient surplus, so that they were able to secure their farms when the sale began. The uniform govern- ment price for land was ten shillings an acre. Speculators were always around the land office on days of sale, waiting for the first chance to make a claim. A common interest bound the settlers together, and they usually maintained their rights in equity against the sharp practices of the land sharks.
Many of thesettlers, however, did not possess ready money. Stock and grain had become plenty by this time, but they could not be sold for cash. Money at one time commanded thirty per cent. Some of the farmers had their claims bid in on shares. Lands were also bid in by men who had money, on condition that their advances should double in three years- thirty-three and one-third per cent. interest ; the money-loaner furnished the money, and gave a bond to the claimant to redeem at the expiration of three years, if the money should be paid on or before that day. The money-loaner supposed his
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HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
title was good, as it was entered in his own name, and paid for in full with his money. It was decided otherwise, however, by the supreme court, which treated it as a mortgage. There was much litigation on this point.
The Aberdeen Bank of Scotland purchased large tracts of land in 1839, in McHenry, Winnebago and Boone counties. There were purchased four thousand six hundred and forty acres in Boone county alone. Mr. Taylor, theagent of the bank, a short time after he made the entry, went down the Mississippi river on the steamboat "War Eagle," and when near St. Louis, he was drowned by falling from the boat. It has been said he leaped into the river; but there is no known reason to justify a suspic- ion of suicide.
Reference was made in a preceding chapter to the organiza- tion of a temperance society, July 4, 1837. H. B. Potter was chosen president, and M. W. Allen, secretary. The first annual meeting was held July 4, 1838, at Winnebago. Rev. Hiram Foote delivered an address. E. H. Potter was chosen president, and Horace Foote, secretary. The second annual meeting was held in West Rockford, July 4, 1839. Praver was offered by Rev. John Morrill, and an address was given by Rev. Cyrus L. Watson. The pledge was circulated and sixty-one names were secured, which made the total membership one hundred and sixty-eight. Among the members during the first three years were H. B. Potter, Germanicus Kent, Samuel Haskell, Israel Morrill, I. P. Bartlett, Samuel Gregory, I. M. Johnson, George Haskell, John Emerson, James M. Wight, Dr. J. C. Goodhue.
February 22, 1840, it was resolved : "That this society has learned with concern, and deep regret, that several distilleries are about being erected in this and the neighboring counties, by means of which we are led to fear and believe a large proportion of our surplus produce is to be rendered worse than useless; that the kindest gifts of Providence will by this means be trans- formed into the worst of evils."
The records of this first temperance society are preserved in good condition, in possession of Mrs. Harriott Wight Sher- ratt. The last entry was made in April, 1842, by James M. Wight, secretary.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ROCKFORD CEMETERIES.
FOUR sites have been used in West Rockford for the purpose of a cemetery. The first burial in the village of Rockford was that of Henry Harmon, who was drowned at the ferry in Rock river April 7, 1837, on block thirty-five of J. W. Leavitt's plat of the original town of West Rockford. The Commercial Hotel, South Church street, is on the southeast corner of this block. The second interment was of the body of Sarah Kent, a daughter of Germanicus Kent, upon the same block, in 1837. These were followed by the burials of Addison Phillips, who accidentally shot himself in March, 1839, and John Haskell, a brother of Dr. George Haskell, also in that year. Mrs. James Mitchell and some others were buried upon block thirty-five, which was the only place of interment on the west side of the river until about 1840. The proprietors of that portion of the town west of the section line dividing sections twenty-two and twenty-three, then gave to the citizens of West Rockford a plat of ground for cemetery purposes corresponding to block fifty- three in Morgan and Horsman's Addition to the city of Rock- ford, on the south side of State street. This block now includes the estate of Dr. C. H. Richings. Mrs. Montague, wife of Rich- ard Montague, was the first person buried in this ground. She died February 17, 1842. From that time this plat of ground continued to be the place of burial until 1844. The original proprietors of the town, by an agreement with the citizens, exchanged this place of burial for a site corresponding to what would have been blocks thirty-seven and forty-eight of the original plat, on the north bank of Kent's creek. This tract corresponds with the switch-yards, roundhouse and stock- yards of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad. The bodies were removed from the cemetery near State street and reburied in the new grounds. In the year 1844 the citizens, after several meetings, organized an association, and in February, 1845, they obtained a charter incorporating the Rockford Cemetery Association. Under this charter they elected their trustees and
152
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
other officers, and kept up the organization in accordance with all the provisions of the act. The first trustees named in this charter were John W. Taylor, Ephraim Wyman, Cyrus F. Miller, Richard Montague and Benjamin Kilburn.
From 1844 to 1852 this site remained the place of burial for the Rockford Cemetery Association. During this time the number of graves had increased to about one hundred and seventy-five. The bodies that had been buried on block thirty- five remained there until 1852.
The extension of the Galena & Chicago Union railroad to West Rockford again made it necessary for the Association to remove its cemetery, as the grounds had been selected by the railroad company as the site for its depot. A portion of this tract was condemned by the company for this purpose. The Association thereupon made arrangements with the railroad company for the sale of the entire property, except seventy feet fronting on Cedar street. The company paid the Association one thousand and nine hundred dollars. The frontage of seventy feet on Cedar street was subdivided into twelve lots, and sold to different persons for three thousand eight hundred and twelve dollars and twelve cents.
In April, 1852, the trustees took measures to procure a new charter for their more extended needs. In the following May the Association purchased of Charles Reed, George Haskell and Nathaniel Wilder, the present cemetery grounds. This tract contained thirty-three acres, for which the Association paid twelve hundred dollars. On the 29th of May, 1852, the Asso- ciation made a contract with David D. Alling to remove all the bodies in the original place of burial on block thirty-five, and those in the later cemetery.
At the special session of the legislature in June, 1852, the Association obtained a new act of incorporation. The sum realized from the sale of its former property left a good margin after the later purchase. Quite extensive improvements were made with a portion of this reserve. This cemetery is a beau- ful spot in summer, well kept, and contains many splendid monuments. One of the most noticeable is the plain granite shaft over the grave of Hon. Ephraim Sumner. The granite was quarried at Barre, Vermont. The height of the base and shaft is forty feet, and the weight is twenty tons. This monu- ment was put up in 1894.
At an early date Daniel S. Haight appropriated an acre of
153
CEDAR BLUFF CEMETERY.
ground for a cemetery on the East side. It was situated on the east side of Longwood street, about ten rods north of State. The ground was open prairie. There was no shade from the summer sun, and the wintry winds intensified its desolation.
An act approved February 18, 1847, provided for the incor- poration of the Cedar Bluff Cemetery Association. E. H. Potter, Willard Wheeler, Bela Shaw, Selden M. Church, Hollis H. Holmes and Lucius Clark and their successors were made a body politic and corporate for this purpose. The Association was not fully organized, however, until November 28, 1851. Twelve acres in section twenty-three were purchased from Bela Shaw, for four hundred dollars, subject to the dower of Rebecca Shaw. The tract was surveyed by Duncan Ferguson, April 3, 1853. It remained the only burying-ground on the East side until the organization of the Scandinavian Cemetery Association.
Love that survives the tomb has been called the purest attribute of the soul. This love finds an expression in the mon- uments erected over the graves of the dead. Moreover, the cemeteries of a people are in a measure an index of their relig- ious hope. The funerals of today have less of the gruesomeness that characterized such occasions thirty years ago. Likewise, our cemeteries have been made more beautiful by the cultiva- tion of the artistic sense, and by a deeper realization of the truth that death is but the doorway to a "freer air and a broader view," and an infinite expansion of sanctified power. The cemeteries of Rockford are worthy of the character of its people.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR OVER THE SITE OF THE COUNTY SEAT.
T' "HE attempt in 1836 to locate the county seat had proven a failure. The county business had been transacted in the meantime in various places in the village. The proprietors of Winnebago did not consider the refusal of their deed of cession to the county, noted in Chapter XII., as a finality. On that very day began the famous controversy over the location of the county seat, which was continued for seven years with great spirit, and not a little bitterness on all sides. The proprietors of Winnebago had expended considerable money in their town plat, and they were anxious to have the county buildings com- menced at once, and thus settle the question. A favorable decision would insure increased value and ready sales of their town lots. On the other hand, the county commissioners opposed the site of Winnebago, and placed every obstacle in the way of such location. Various propositions were made by the proprietors during this and the succeeding year to induce the commissioners to take some action that would secure them in the location that had been previously made. All these over- tures were either refused or evaded. The persistent refusal of the county commissioners led to state legislation.
By an act of the general assembly, approved March 2, 1839, the question was submitted to a popular vote. It was made the duty of the clerk of the county commissioners' court to give notice of an election to be held on the first Monday in May, 1839. The law provided that if it should appear that within one hundred of a majority of all the votes cast were in favor of the town of Winnebago, that town should remain the perma- nent county seat. But if any other place, after the first election, should receive a majority of all the votes given, such place should be the seat of justice. If more than two places received votes, and no one place received a majority, there should be an election held on the first Monday of each succeeding month, dropping off at each election, the place receiving the smallest number of votes, until some one place should receive a majority of all the votes polled.
155
SIX ASPIRANTS FOR COURT HOUSE.
These provisions gave Winnebago a decided advantage; but even then the town was unable to win the prize. At the election six aspirants received votes, as follows : Rockford, three hundred and twenty; Winnebago, seventy-five; Roscoe, two; Willow Creek, five; Pecatonica, one; Scipio, one. Total vote cast, four hundred and four, of which Rockford had a majority over all of two hundred and thirty-six. In commenting on this election, the late Judge Church said : "Whether there was any Osawattomie [evidently another form of the word Pottawat- omie] voting at thatelection, I am unable to say, but one thing is certain : there were two hundred more votes polled than at the general election in August following."
The prospective village of Winnebago reached the highest point of all its greatness on the day when its ambitious claims were rejected by the county commissioners' court. Like Cardi- nal Wolsey, it fell like a bright exhalation in the evening. From that time it began to decline. In April, 1844, many of the lots were sold by the sheriff to satisfy delinquent taxes ; and in 1847 the plat was vacated by a special act of the legislature.
Some years later Mrs. Campbell, widow of Major Campbell, by her attorney, appeared in Rockford, and made a claim for dower interest, on the ground that when her husband took the benefit of the bankrupt law, he assigned his interest in the Winnebago village property without her consent. Some were intimidated into paying these claims; and others successfully contested them.
Charles Reed was an excellent judge of land, and traveled from Fox river to Apple river, selecting and making claims. Mr. Reed was a native of Virginia. He served in the war of 1812, and was taken prisoner at Detroit, when Hull surren- dered. He again enlisted, and was in the battle of the Thames, when Tecumseh was killed. Mr. Reed first settled in Illinois at Joliet. He was one of the commissioners to locate the county seat of Ogle county in 1836. Mr. Reed was influential in secur- ing the passage of the act for the organization of Winnebago county. From Winnebago village he removed to Rockton, where he died August 26, 1863, at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. Reed was highly esteemed as a citizen, neighbor and friend.
In pursuance of the popular vote in favor of Rockford, the county commissioners, on June 8, 1839, selected the public square on the east side of the river as the site for the court house. Anson Barnum and Daniel S. Haight were authorized
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HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
to accept stone and other building material. A large quantity of brick and lumber was contributed by the citizens. This material remained on the public square for a long time, because the county had no money to continue the work. At a special session held June 17, the court selected the southeast corner of block nine as a site for a jail. This is the site now occupied by the Rockford Gas Light and Coke Company. No jail, however, was built upon that location.
At the session of September 28, 1841, a proposition was submitted to the commissioners' court, to furnish a suitable jail and quarters for the county offices in West Rockford until permanent buildings could be constructed. This proposal was signed by Messrs. George Haskell, Charles I. Horsman, Abiram Morgan, John W. Taylor, David D. Alling, Nathaniel Loomis, Ephraim Wyman, Horatio Nelson, Derastus Harper and Isaiah Lyon. Upon executing a bond in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, this proposition was accepted. Decem- ber 11th these gentlemen reported to the commissioners' court that the building for the county offices was ready for use, and the same was accepted by the court. This was a frame struct- ure on the southwest corner of Main and Chestnut streets, opposite the Hotel Nelson. This building was occupied by the court until a court house was built, and only recently torn down to make room for a brick block. The donors, at this December session, were given an extension of five months to complete the jail. This was a log structure, about twelve feet square, with plank door, and window barred with irons set into the logs above and below. It stood east of the present court house, in the same block. Whenever a desperate character was confined therein it was necessary to station a guard. Previous to the erection of this primitive prison, the nearest jail was at Galena. When I. N. Cunningham was sheriff, he owned a substantially built house a short distance from town, and his brother Willian once prevented a prisoner from escaping at night by fastening one end of a chain to his ankle and the other to the ankle of the prisoner, and both were secured to the strong puncheon floor. Sixty years ago William Cunningham was a dangerous man to resist. The old log jail did duty after a fashion until the brick jail was completed.
About this time a controversy arose concerning the precise meaning of the statute under which the election of May, 1839, had been held. That portion of the third section of the law
1
157
OPINIONS OF THE ROCKFORD BAR.
enclosed in parenthesis was ambiguous. The point at issue was whether the law actually authorized an election to select a seat of justice, or merely to decide the general question of reno- val. This question was before the commissioners' court at its September session in 1841. Each commissioner held a different opinion. William Hulin held that the county seat had been removed from Winnebago, but had never been relocated. Ezra S. Cable maintained that all the provisions of the law had not been complied with, and therefore the county seat remained as originally located. William E. Dunbar believed the county seat had been actually removed to Rockford. This deadlock must be broken before progress was possible. May 10, 1842, the commissioners' court requested the bar of the city to submit opinions in writing concerning the legal effect of the popular vote. Opinions were prepared by Anson S. Miller, Francis Bur- nap, Thomas D). Robertson, James M. Wight and Jason Marsh. Mr. Miller's opinion was quite elaborate. The attorneys were unanimous in the opinion that the county seat had been changed from Winnebago to Rockford, in accordance with the evident intent of the law. At the session of July, 1842, the commis- sioners' court authorized the judges of election in the several precincts to take the sense of the voters at the August election on the question whether the county buildings should be perma- nently located in East or West Rockford. Several precincts did not vote on the question ; but the general result was favorable to the West side, inasmuch as the temporary location of the county offices on that side had already given it a degree of prestige. This vote had no legal effect, however, because the law had given the commissioners' court full power in the prem- ises. But it did have a certain persuasive influence.
In April, 1843, Daniel S. Haight, E. H. Potter, Hollis H. Holmes, Laomi Peake, Daniel Howell and John A. Brown, of the East side, submitted a proposition to the county commis- sioners to build a court house and jail, to cost four thousand dollars. This proposal was considered, but complications pre- vented its acceptance. A few days later, April 22d, citizens of West Rockford made a similar proposition. On condition that the commissioners select the site on the West side, the citizens agreed to erect such buildings as the county commissioners should direct, and according to such plan and finish as the com- missioners should furnish for a court house, county offices and jail, the said buildings to be commenced before the first day of
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