USA > Illinois > Winnebago County > Rockford > History of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois, from the first settlement in 1834 to the civil war > Part 21
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Matters continued in this unsettled condition until 1843. In the meantime the land office had been removed to Dixon, through the influence of John Dixon, who settled there in 1830, and after whom the town wasnamed. In 1840 Mr. Dixon went to Washington, and through the influence of General Scott and other army officers, who were his personal friends, he secured the removal of the government land office from Galena to Dixon. The settlers in Rockford and Rockton could not procure pat- ents of the lands which they had occupied for some years. The attention of congress was repeatedly called to the situation. The settlers addressed petitions to that body until their grievance received attention. The Polish agent had forfeited his claim in not selecting his lands in three adjacent townships. The exiles had also forfeited their rights in not making an actual settle- ment on the lands. Congress therefore, April 14, 1842, passed another act, authorizing the entry and sale of these lands in these two townships. This relief was due in large measure to the efforts of Hon. O. H. Smith, of Indiana, Hon. Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, and Hon. Richard M. Young, of this state, senators in congress.
213
LAND SALE AT DIXON.
When the settlers had been finally delivered from their dilemma by a special act of congress, they began to make prep- arations to perfect their titles to their lands. The inhabitants petitioned the president for a public sale. Fifteen months elapsed before their petition wasgranted, and October 30, 1843, the land in these townships was offered for sale, and was sold November 3d. It was the most notable land sale that ever occurred in the district. Rockford had been incorporated as a town four years before. Daniel S. Haight had platted the East side, north of State asfar east as Longwood, and south of State east to Kishwaukee. A portion of this had been platted as early as 1836; and Mr. Haight had sold the lots to the settlers and given them quit-claim deeds to the same several years before he had obtained his own patent from the government. When the land was finally offered for sale at the land office, Mr. Haight was authorized to go to Dixon and bid in the entire tract for the settlers. A committee, appointed for this purpose, prepared a list of names to whom the deeds should be given after the sale. This committee consisted of Willard Wheeler, David S. Penfield, E. H. Potter, of Rockford, and Nathaniel Crosby, of Belvidere. This committee was in session several days, passed upon every lot in the town on the East side, and decided quite a number of disputed claims. Mr. Crosby was not present, but it was understood that a majority should have power to act. Thus a number of the first settlers of East Rock- ford purchased their land twice. The first purchase, of town lots, was from Mr. Haight; the second was made through Mr. Haight as agent, from the general government. Inasmuch, however, as the land office took no notice of the fact that the land had been platted, it was sold at the usual price of a dollar and a quarter per acre. The second purchase was therefore more of a formality than an additional burden. With the land sold in bulk, at a dollar and a quarter per aere, the second pur- chase of a town lot, from the government, was at a nominal price, merely its relative value to an unplatted acre of land. This second purchase, however, perfected the title.
At this point it may be necessary to state that Mr. Haight's first sales of land were perfectly legitimate transactions. The purchasers knew at the time that a second purchase would be necessary to procure a perfect title. There was recently found among some old papers of the late Francis Burnap a list of the town lots in East Rockford and the names of the persons to
214
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
whom the deeds should be given after the land sale. The docu- ment comprises seventeen pages of legal cap, and is perfectly preserved. At the same sale at Dixon the land on the west side of the river was bid in for the settlers by Ephraim Wyman. The West side committee was composed of G. A. Sanford, Derastus Harper, and George Haskell. The certificates of title were turned over to Mr. Wyman by the committee. When Mr. Wyman went to California, about 1850, these certificates were left in a trunk, in charge of G. A. Sanford. During Mr. Wyman's absence they were totally destroyed by rodents; and these facts are set forth with grave precision by Mr. Wyman, in a certificate, duplicates of which are on file in the abstract offices of the city.
Thus for a period of nine years from Mr. Kent's settlement were the early residents of Rockford and Rockton unable to obtain titles to the lands which they had selected and improved, by reason of the illegal intrusion of an exiled Polish count. The sequel is one of those facts that is stranger than fiction. Only one of those exiles ever subsequently appeared in Rockford or Winnebago county. He was employed for a time as a cook, in 1837, by Henry Thurston, the landlord of the old Rockford House. The later history of the exiles is unknown. /1
Mr. Haight's plat of East Rockford was filed for record November 7, 1843, four days after the land sale. The east part of the original town of Rockford, west of Rock river, included all that part of the city lying south of a line drawn from the Beattie residence west to the Horsman estate, and east of a line drawn from the latter point to the west end of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad bridge. It was platted by Duncan Ferguson, November 9, 1843, and filed for record by Ephraim Wyman, November 28, 1843.
J. W. Leavitt's town plat included all that part of West Rockford situated between Wyman's plat on the east, and Kent's creek on the west and south. This plat was made August 17, 1844, and filed for record October 5, 1844.
CHAPTER XLII.
PIONEERS IN LOCAL JOURNALISM.
T THE first newspaper published in the county was the Rock River Express. Its publication began in Rockford May 5, 1840, by B. J. Gray. In politics it was Whig of the most radi- cal type. There was a scarcity of local news. In a village of per- haps three hundred inhabitants, there was very little of a local nature that could be published. The primary purpose of the paper's existence seems to have been to promote the election of William Henry Harrison to the presidency. Its ambition was satisfied; but after it had been published one year, the press and printing material were sold and removed from the village. A file of this paper, nearly complete, has been preserved in the public library.
The Rockford Star was founded in the autumn of 1840, as a Democratic paper. The printing material was owned by Dan- iel S. Haight, Daniel Howell, and Adam Keith. The office was located on the southeast corner of Madison and Market streets, in the building erected by Mr. Haight, for religious, court and other purposes. This old building still shelters one of the craft, William G. Conick, on North First street. The editor, Philan- der Knappen, was simply a tenant. J. H. Thurston was the "devil" in the office, a role which, according to his own state- ment, he was eminently qualified to fill. He also became quite an expert compositor. Mr. Thurston subsequently obtained employment on John Wentworth's paper, the Chicago Demo- crat, on the strength of a letter of Mr. Knappen, to the effect that he'was a rapid compositor, could set a clean proof, and could sometimes make sense from Knappen's own manuscript.
April 28, 1841, the editor of the Star was married to Miss Eliza Simons, of Harlem. Mr. Knappen extended a general invitation to his friends through his paper to attend a social party in the evening at the Rockford House. This unique invi- tation was in part as follows: "To all our friends, without respect to political sentiments. . . We anticipate the pleasure and honor of meeting a respectable representation of our friends, both Whig and Democrat (for there are no party prin-
216
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
ciples involved in matrimony), from Newburg, Belvidere, Kish- waukee, Harlem, Winnebago, Roscoe, Pekatonik, Beloit and all the surrounding vicinity. We had intended to issue a card on this occasion, but on more mature reflection we thought it pos- sible that some persons might be overlooked, and thus we have the appearance of making flesh of one and fish of another. As we are no 'respector of persons,' and wish the notice and invi- tation to be general, we have chosen to give notice through both the Express and Star." Mr. Knappen had sent a special invitation to "Long John" Wentworth to be present. Mr. Wentworth had already started on one of his frequent trips to Rockford; and he expressed his congratulations by following the bride and groom all the evening with a tallow dip in his extended band, which reached nearly to the ceiling.
Mr. Knappen had been in Rockford but a short time when the Driscoll tragedy occurred. He did not understand the tem- per of the people ; and his strong denunciation of the summary execution of the outlaws aroused intense indignation. The cit- izens proceeded to punish the editor. Soon after the issue of the paper the office of the Star was entered in the night and the type reduced to pi. When the editor beheld this "wreck of matter," he stirred the pi with a stove shovel, and mixed the fonts of type in every case in the office. Mr. Knappen turned over the subscription list to Mr. Howell, of the Rockford House, where the office force boarded, and abandoned journalism in this unappreciative village. Mr. Howell did not realize anything from the assets placed in his hands. Thirty years later Mr. Thurston divulged the fact that D. S. Haight, Charles Latimer and Adam Keith were the perpetrators of this mischief. The Democratic luminary had been side-tracked in its orbit.
The Rockford Pilot began its brief career July 22, 1841. Mr. Thurston says he helped distribute the Star pi, and with this material assisted in issuing the first four numbers of its successor. The Pilot was published as a Democratic paper until October, 1842; it could no longer steer clear of the rocks. The editor, John A. Brown, had been defeated for representa- tive; the Democrats had sustained a local defeat of their entire ticket; and on the 30th of October he published the following requiem : "With this number the Pilot dies. Its death is a nat- ural and quiet one. No violence from enemies or overburdening by friends has hastened its dissolution. It dies from the want of proper support. In a land groaning under the burthens of
217
J. AMBROSE WIGHT.
superabundant harvests, and smiling in the light of the richest blessings of a bounteous Providence, it died of want. . . Grief is not wordy, and its requiem must bechanted by others. Tothe friends who assisted it in life we tender our heart-warm thanks. We are not conscious that it had any enemies; if it had, in its name we forgive them all."
During a portion of this time the Better Covenant, a Uni- versalist paper, was printed at the Pilot office. Its editor was William Rounseville.
February 17, 1843, J. Ambrose Wight began the publica- tion of the Winnebago Forum, a Whig paper, with material which had been used in printing the Rockford Star. Mr. Wight came from New York. He attended the academy at Benning- ton, Vermont; and among his classmates were Henry Ward Beecher, and Rev. E. H. Chapin, the eminent Universalist divine. Mr. Wight was graduated from Williams college in 1836, and immediately thereafter he removed to Illinois. His first visit to Winnebago county was December 11, 1836, in company with Timothy Wight, of Chicago. Mr. Wight thus refers in a letter to that time: "Rockford had not arrived. I remember that there was a beginning of the 'Rockford House,' but the building had gone no further than a cellar, and some timbers hewed and lying on the ground." Mr. Wight proceeded to Rockton, where he was interested in a general store until 1840, when he engaged in farming for a time. Mr. Wight says of his life in that village: "I had not gotten to be very rich in goods at Rockton; but Idid get a wife there. . . She was the oldest daughter of Rev. William M. Adams, who died in March, 1842, at Mineral Point." In 1841 Mr. Wight came to Rockford, and read law with his brother, James M. Wight; in the summer of 1842 he was admitted to the bar and began practice. He served a short time as deputy postmaster under S. M. Church, in 1842.
Mr. Wight retired from the Forum August 18, 1843, when he sold the paper to Mr. Colton. The terms were easy. Mr. Wight said : "He asked me my price. I told him if he would take it off my hands, we would be square." In April, 1844, Mr. Wight removed to Chicago, and became editor of the Prairie Farmer. The paper during his management of thirteen years achieved great success. In 1849 he was also associated with William Bross, in the editorial management of the Herald of the Prairie, the western organ of the Presbyterian and Congre- gational churches. He purchased Mr. Bross' interest in 1851,
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218
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
and two years later he sold his own interest. In 1856 Mr. Wight entered the ministry, and became pastor of the Presbyterian church at Olivet, Michigan. He remained in this pastorate until forced by ill health to resign, in 1863. The next year he was an editorial writer on the Chicago Tribune. In 1865 he accepted a call from the First Presbyterian church of Bay City, Michigan, where he remained until 1888. Mr. Wight was an able minister and a brilliant newspaper correspondent. His alma mater conferred upon him the title of Doctor of Divinity in 1871. Mr. Wight died November 14, 1889, at Bay City, at the age of seventy-eight years.
Austin Colton was more successful than his predecessor in the management of the Forum. He was a native of Northamp- ton, Massachusetts. He had learned the printer's trade in the office of the Massachusetts Spy, and was subsequently employed for a time in Harpers' publishing house in New York. Mr. Col- ton came west in April, 1839, and arrived in Rockford in the following month. He was employed in the pioneer's vocation of log-building, fencing, and farming about four years, when he "purchased" the Forum. Mr. Colton continued the paper under the old name until the close of the first volume in February, 1844, when he re-christened it the Rockford Forum. Under his management the Forum became the first successful newspaper in Rockford. Its circulation increased from two hundred to six hundred. After Mr. Colton had "written for glory and printed on trust" for ten years he concluded to retire from the business. In December of that year he sold his plant to E. W. Blaisdell, Jr. Mr. Colton became a farmer, and continued in this vocation until his retirement from active life. This veteran editor died November 2,1893, at the age of seventy-six years. Mrs. Colton still resides in Rockford. A. Lincoln, Albert L. and Royal F. Colton are sons. Miss Miriam Colton is a daughter.
Mr. Blaisdell took his brother, Richard P. Blaisdell, into partnership. The Republican was published until 1862, when it was purchased by Elias C. Daugherty, and merged into the Rockford Register, of which he was proprietor.
Elijah Whittier Blaisdell was born July 18, 1826, in Mont- pelier, Vermont, where he resided until the removal of the family to Middlebury. Later his father, who was a printer, removed to Vergennes, where he published the Vergennes Vermonter, which was founded by Rufus W. Griswold, whose "Poets and Poetry of America" is well known. The son succeeded the father
219
E. W. BLAISDELL.
as editor of the Vermonter; and while editing that paper, he was appointed postmaster of Vergennes by President Zachary Taylor. Mr. Blaisdell held this office four years. He came to Rockford in the latter part of 1853, and about January, 1854, he began his journalistic career in this city as editor of the Forum, and changed the name of the paper to the Republican. Mr. Blaisdell attended the meeting in Bloomington May 29, 1856, at which the Republican party was organized in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln addressed the convention ; and Mr. Blaisdell then became convinced that Mr. Lincoln would lead the new party asits candidate for the presidency. General Palmer, in his book, The Bench and Bar of Illinois, says the Republican was the first paper to support Mr. Lincoln for the office in which he won immortal fame. Mr. Blaisdell was elected a member of the leg- islature in 1858, and voted for Mr. Lincoln for United States senator. After serving his term he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced for many years. Since his retirement from active life Mr. Blaisdell has given attention to literary pursuits. He has written The Hidden Record, a novel; The Rajah, a political burlesque; and a drama, Eva, the General's Daughter, founded on incidents of the Black Hawk war. He is now editing a volume of miscellaneous poems, of three hundred pages. Mr. Blaisdell has been twice married. His first wife, Frances Robinson, died soon after he came to Illinois. His present wife was a daughter of Judge Ville Lawrence, of Ver- mont, and sister of the late Chief-Justice Lawrence, of Illinois. Another daughter of Judge Lawrence married John Pierpont, who was chief-justice of the supreme court of Vermont. Mr. Blaisdell has five sons: Byron Richard, of Chicago; Elijah Warde, an artist residing in New York City ; Henry, George, and Shelley Pierpont, of Rockford.
In September, 1848, Henry W. De Puy established the Rock- ford Free Press, as a Free Soil or Barnburner organ. It was published until February, 1850, when it was discontinued for want of patronage.
The Rock River Democrat was founded in June, 1852, as a Democratic paper, by Benjamin Holt. David T. Dickson after- ward purchased an interest. In 1855 Rhenodyne A. Bird pur- chased Mr. Holt's interest. The paper was published by Dickson & Bird until May 1, 1864. It was then purchased by Isaiah S. Hyatt, who continued its publication until June 12, 1865, when the plant was sold to the Register Company.
220
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
Elias C. Daugherty founded the Rockford Register in Feb- ruary, 1855, as a Republican paper, and a strong opponent of the extension of slavery. Mr. Daugherty continued its publica- tion until June 12, 1865, when the business and that of the Rock River Democrat were purchased by a stock company, known as the Rockford Register Company, by whom the paper was published for many years.
The Rockford Wesleyan Seminary Reporter was begun as a monthly publication in October, 1857. Only four numbers of this paper were issued. It was published by Rev. W. F. Stew- art, in the interest of the proposed Wesleyan seminary.
The Democratic Standard was founded October 30, 1858, by Springsteen & Parks, as a Democratic organ. After about a month the Standard was published by Henry Parks alone, until February 5, 1859, when David G. Croly became proprie- tor. On the 18th of May following the proprietorship was changed to D. G. Croly & Co. The company was John H. Grove. On the suspension of the News, April 30, 1860, and the retirement of Mr. Croly, the publication of the Standard was continued by John H. Gove and James S. Ticknor for a few months. The paper was then sold to James E. and Joseph H. Fox, who established the Daily News. It was a Republican paper, and the first number was issued December 1860. A few weeks later they began the publication of the Weekly News, which was continued until September 21, 1861. The plant was then sold to E. C. Daugherty, and its publication was discon- tinued.
The first Daily News was established by David G. Croly, February 8, 1859. The paper was neutral in politics. Its publication was continued until April 30, 1860, when it was suspended for want of patronage.
Mr. and Mrs. Croly won national reputations in journalism and letters after their departure from Rockford. David Good- man Croly was born in New York City November 3, 1829. He was a professor of phonography, and a reporter for the New York Evening Post and Herald before he came to Rockford. After his retirement from the Rockford News Mr. Croly became city editor of the New York World, and later was its managing editor. Mr. Croly's active journalistic career closed in 1878, when he retired from the editorship of the New York Graphic. He was the author of biographies of Seymour and Blair, History of Reconstruction, and a Primer of Positivism. He died in 1889.
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221
"JENNIE JUNE."
Jane Cunningham Croly, more familiarly known as "Jennie June," was born in Market Harborough, England, December 13. 1831. Her father came to the United States when she was ten years old, and settled at Poughkeepsie, New York. She married David G. Croly in 1857. In 1860 Mrs. Croly became editor of Demorest's Quarterly Mirror of Fashion, and when that peri- odical and the New York Weekly Illustrated News wereincorpo- rated into Demorest's Illustrated Monthly, she became editor of the new journal, and retained this position until 1887. Mrs. Croly has also been editorially connected with several other New York papers. Mrs. Croly's pen name of "Jennie June" was derived from a little poem written by Benjamin F. Taylor, sent to her when she was about twelve years old by her pastor at Poughkeepsie, with the name underlined, because, he said, "you are the Juniest littlegirl I know." Among Mrs. Croly's books are : Talks on Women's Topics, For Better or Worse, A Cookery Book for Young Housekeepers, Knitting and Crochet, Letters and Monograms. In 1856 Mrs. Croly called the first woman's con- gress ; also the second, in 1869. In 1868 she founded the Sorosis, and was its president until 1870, and again from 1876 to 1886.
The Daily Register was started by E. C. Daugherty, June 1, 1859, as a Republican paper; but it was discontinued at the end of three months. Its publication was resumed in 1877.
The Rock River Mirror was established September 6, 1859, by Allen Gibson. It was neutral in politics, and was printed at the Register office.
The Spirit Advocate, published in 1854-56, was noted in the chapter devoted to Dr. George Haskell.
The Rockton Gazette was started in 1857, by Funk & Phelps. Soon after its first issue Mr. Fuuk retired, and its pub- lication was continued about a year by H. W. Phelps. The paper was not well sustained, and the printing material was removed to Burlington, Wisconsin.
The Pecatonica Independent was established in May, 1859, by J. E. Duncan. Its publication was continued a little more than a year, when the plant was removed to Darlington, Wis- consin.
CHAPTER XLIII.
THE FIRST DAM .- THE WATER-POWER .- HIGH WATER OF 1844.
T "HE attempt to utilize the water-power was the first step in the transition of Rockford from a hamlet to a manufact- uring city. February 28, 1843, an act of the legislature was approved, to improve the navigation of the rapids in Rock river at Rockford, and to incorporate the Rockford Hydraulic and Manufacturing Company. The corporation was given power to construct a dam across the river, which should raise the water not more than seven feet. The company was also required to erect and maintain such locks as might be necessary for the passage of steamboats drawing three feet of water. At that time the navigation of Rock river was an open question, and the government might assert its control of the river as a navigable stream. A dam would obstruct navigation; hence the company was required to construct locks for the passage of boats, whenever they should become necessary. The law specified the rates of toll which the company should be entitled to collect for the passage of boats through the locks; and it was given power to detain such craft until the toll should be paid. Daniel S. Haight, Germanicus Kent, Samuel D. Preston, Laomi Peake, Charles I. Horsman, George Haskell and J. C. Goodhue were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions to the stock. The capital stock was placed at fifty thousand dollars, divided into five hundred shares of one hundred dollars each. The corporation was given power to increase its capital stock to any sum not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The law expressly provided that the state might, at any time after the construction of the dam and locks, assume the ownership of the same; the state, however, was to keep them in good repair. All the hydraulic power was to remain absolutely the property of the company. July 22, 1843, books were opened for subscriptions to the capital stock. By an act
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THE HYDRAULIC COMPANY.
of the legislature, approved February 11, 1845, the law of 1843 was amended.
In the spring of 1844 the Rockford Hydraulic Company was fully organized. The dam was located a few rods above the present water-works. Directly above, the main channel of the stream shifted abruptly from the east to the west shore. On the east side, at the site of the dam, the water for two-thirds the width of the stream, was about three feet deep in summer, with eight or nine feet in the channel .. This site for the dam was chosen because it was generally believed that if the dam were located at the head of the rapids, the town would be built there. Had the dam been built at the ford, on the rock bottom, it would have required a larger outlay of cash. This article was scarce, while timber, brush, stone and earth were abundant.
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