USA > Illinois > Winnebago County > Rockford > History of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois, from the first settlement in 1834 to the civil war > Part 6
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Benjamin Kilburn was born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, August 8, 1808. He settled permanently in Rockford in 1837. He had visited the county the preceding year, selected a place for a home, procured lumber for a house, engaged a man to build it, and then went back to Massachusetts to adjust his affairs. Upon his return to Rockford he was accompanied by Mrs. Kilburn's brother, Henry Maynard. Mr. Kilburn's first house was on the site of the Hotel Nelson, where it stood until 1891. Mr. Kilburn subsequently purchased a quarter-section in the northwestern part of the city. Mr. and Mrs. Kilburn had seven children. Five died in infancy or early youth. Edward B., a son, enlisted in the Seventy-fourth Illinois Volunteers, and died in the hospital at Murfreesborough, in 1863. Mr. Kilburn opened a stone quarry on his place, which proved valuable, and is still operated by his son-in-law, T. W. Carrico. Kilburn avenue was named in honor of Mr. Kilburn. He died in 1860. Some years later Mrs. Kilburn married Mr. Fales. She died in the summer of 1899.
John Miller, with his wife and three sons, Jacob B., Thomas and George, arrived about the middle of May. Jacob was better known as "Old Jake." He was the second resident lawyer, and as a forcible speaker he was in great demand by the Whigs of this section in the exciting campaign of 1840.
Among other settlers in the county during the year were: Isaac Toms, William Twogood, Elisha A. Kirk, William Jones, William Peters, Richard S. Stiles, Eli Hall, Levi Taft, Hiram Richardson, Simeon Harmon, Lewis Keith, P. S. Doolittle, Joseph Hayes, Seth Palmer, and his daughter, Mrs. William Conick, who has resided in the county sixty-two years.
The late Judge Church is authority for the statement that the population of the county in June, 1837, was 1,086.
CHAPTER XI.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY .- THE FIRST ELECTION.
IN the summer and autumn of 1835 the settlers in this section - began to agitate the question of local government. This matter was promptly brought to the attention of the state legislature.
The counties organized in northern Illinois prior to 1835 were much larger than they are at present. At that time Cook. La Salle and Jo Daviess counties extended from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river. Jo Davies was organized in 1827. It then extended east of Rock river, and included the territory now comprised in nine counties. This singular name for the county was not given by the citizens. The name designated in the original bill was Ludlow, in honor of the naval hero of that name. A member of the legislature moved to strike out the word Ludlow, and insert the name Daviess, in honor of Colonel Jo Daviess, who fell at Tippecanoe. Another member facetiously moved to amend the amendment by inserting before Daviess the word "Jo." The reason assigned was the fact that there was a member of the house by the name of Davis, and that the peo- ple might think the honor was intended for him; and that it would be indelicate for the house, by any act, to transmit his name to posterity, as a precedent. This motion prevailed ; the senate concurred in the amendment, and thus the county officially received the name of Jo Daviess. This immense traet of wild, unpopulated country extended eastward to the third principal meridian, and has been reduced in size by the organ- ization of eight other counties.
Cook and La Salle counties were organized in 1831. It was the evident intention at that time to subdivide these counties at a later day, to meet the demands of an increased popula- tion. A map of Illinois, printed in 1835, owned by the late
52
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
Hon. Ephraim Sumner, and now in possession of his son, Hon. E. B. Sumner, represents Cook county with territory attached on the north for judicial purposes. La Salle has northern terri- tory annexed for the same purpose, corresponding to portions of McHenry, Kane, Winnebago and Ogle counties, and all of Boone and DeKalb, as at present organized. Jo Daviess is shown with annexed territory on the east and south. The distinction between Cook and La Salle counties proper, and their annexed portions, appears to have been in the fact that the former were surveyed, while the latter were not. Although Jo Daviess county was organized eight years before Mr. Sumner's map was printed, the map does not even represent the county as sur- veved. The conditions, however, in Jo Daviess were peculiar. The country near Galena included a mining camp, with quite a considerable population, and thus required a local government. Hence the organization of the county preceded by several years the government survey of the land.
The state legislature at that time held its sessions at Vandalia. An act, approved and in force January 16, 1836, provided for the organization of McHenry, Winnebago, Kane, Ogle and Whiteside counties, and the reorganization of Jo Daviess. Section two of the law created Winnebago county, with boundaries as follows: "Commencing at the southeast corner of township number forty-three, range number four, east of the third principal meridian, and running thence west to the said meridian; thence north along the line of said meridian, to the southeast corner of township number twenty-six, in range number eleven, east of the fourth principal meridian; thence west to the dividing line between ranges number seven and eight ; thence north along said line to the northern boundary of the state; thence east along said boundary line to the north- east corner of range number four, east of the third principal meridian ; thence south to the place of beginning."
Winnebago was thus formed from the attached portions of Jo Daviess and La Salle counties. That part of the county east of the third principal meridian was taken from La Salle; the portion west of this meridian was detached from Jo Daviess. As at first organized, Winnebago county was almost exactly double its present size, and included all of Boone county, and the eastern two township ranges of what is now Stephenson county. Winnebago has never been enlarged or reduced from its original form on its northern or southern boundary.
53
THE FIRST CENSUS.
Section nine of the law to establish the county ordered an election to be held at the house of Germanicus Kent, on the first Monday in May, for sheriff, coroner, recorder, surveyor, and three county commissioners, who should hold their offices until the next succeeding general election, and until their successors were qualified. The election, however, was not held until the next August.
No county created by this act was to be organized, and an election held, until a majority of the voters of the prospective county had addressed a petition for the same to the judge of the sixth judicial circuit, or, in his absence, to another circuit judge. The voters were also required to give sufficient, proof that the proposed county contained not less than three hun- dred and fifty white inhabitants. This task was undertaken by Dr. Daniel H. Whitney, who had settled at Belvidere. As the first census enumerator, Dr. Whitney diligently spied out the land, and discovered the requisite number of "white inhab- itants."
These facts were communicated to Judge Thomas H. Ford. He thereupon issued an order, dated July 15, 1836, for an election to be held at the house of Daniel S. Haight, on the first Monday in August. The ninth section of the statute had des- ignated an earlier date and another place for this election ; but inasmuch as the organization of the county depended upon a prescribed population, a subsequent section of the law necessa- rily referred the time and place of such election to the presiding judge of the circuit. Under the first constitution of Illinois, all elections for state and county officers were held the first Monday in August. The time of these elections was changed by the sec- ond constitution, in 1847, to the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November. Germanicus Kent, Joseph P. Griggs and Robert J. Cross were chosen judges of election. Judge Ford's order has been framed, and is preserved in the office of Captain Lewis F. Lake, the circuit clerk, as an interesting relic of those early days.
It has been said that politics and religion are the chief concerns of men. The "iron pen of history" must record the fact that politics then had the right of way for the time. The prospective election awakened intense enthusiasm. The electors were to vote also for a member of congress and two representatives in the state legislature. But the special interest centered in the selection of three candidates for county commis-
54
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
sioners. Kentville and Haightville, as the West and the East side settlements were respectively called, had already become strong rivals. The Guelphs and Ghibellines, in the mediæval Florentine republic, did not more earnestly strive for suprem- acy. No caucus or convention was called, and the factions informally divided the honors. Simon P. Doty, who had settled in Belvidere in 1835, was the candidate for commissioner for that part of the county. Thomas B. Talcott was the northern candidate. Mr. Haight was anxious to have the third elected from this bailiwick, but he was obliged to yield this point to his West side rival, who placed William E. Dunbar in the field.
The election was held on Monday, August 1st, in a decidedly primitive manner. Written or printed ballots had not then been introduced into Illinois. Under the old constitution, all votes were to be given vive voce until otherwise provided by the gen- eral assembly; and up to this time no change had been made. This method kept the interest at a high pitch, and enabled the voters to tell at any moment the relative strength of the several candidates. It is a gigantic stride from the vive voce vote of 1836 to the Australian ballot of today. At that time there was not a copy of the Illinois statutes in the county to direct the judges of election in the discharge of their duties. Mr. Kent, however, knew something of the election laws of Virginia and Alabama, Robert J. Cross was familiar with those of New York and Michigan, and Mr. Griggs was acquainted with the laws of Ohio. The election, therefore, was not allowed to go by default for so slight a cause as ignorance of the laws of their adopted state. D. A. Spaulding had some acquaintance with the laws of Illinois, and he was made one of the clerks of election, and entrusted with the duty of making the poll-books. Simon P. Doty, Thomas B. Talcott and William E. Dunbar were elected county commissioners; Daniel S. Haight, sheriff; Daniel H. Whitney, recorder; Eliphalet Gregory, coroner; and D. A. Spaulding, surveyor. The results of the election for member of congress and representatives in the general assembly are given in a subsequent chapter devoted to this subject.
One hundred and twenty votes were cast at this election. The names of the voters were as follows: David Caswell. George Caswell, David Barnes, P. P. Burnham, Thomas Crane, Thatcher Blake, Seth Scott, Joshua Fawcett, John Barrett, Jeremiah Frame, John F. Thayer, William Randall, John Welch, Joshua Cromer, John Slavins, David Blake, William Barlow, Joseph
55
THE FIRST VOTERS.
B. Baker, Daniel Fairchild, Livingston Robins, Alfred Shattuck, Alva Trask, William Smith, Ira Haskins, John Bunts, Simon P. Doty, Milton S. Mason, Timothy Caswell, Charles H. Pane, Royal Briggs, Solomon Watson, Abram Watson, Ralzimond Gardner, Mason Sherburne, John K. Towner, John G. Lock- ridge, John Allen, John Lovesse, A. E. Courtright, Henry Enoch, Ephraim Sumner, S. Brown, A. R. Dimmick, Samuel Hicks, H. M. Wattles, T. R. J. English, Oliver Robins, J. P. Griggs, Aaron V. Taylor, Luke Joslin, William Sumner, David D. Elliott, John Handy, Jacob Pettyjohn, Daniel S. Haight, Jacob Keyt, John Lefonton, John Kelsoe, William R. Wheeler, M. Ewing, Charles Works, Sidney Twogood, Phineas Churchill, Thomas B. Talcott. Austin Andrews, Thomas Lake, Benjamin McConnell, Benjamin DePue, Lewis Haskins, Aaron B. Davis, Joel Pike, R. M. Waller, Julius Trask, William Carey, Ephraim Wyman. P. D. Taylor, William Brayton, Israel Morrill, Harlyn Shattuck, David De- Witt, James B. Young, Abel Thurston, John Kaudler, John Adams, Milton Kilburn, Richard H. Enoch, Joseph Chadwick. Daniel Piper, John Hance, Henry Enoch, Jr., Peter Moore, Sylvester Sutton, V. B. Rexford, William G. Blair, Daniel H. Whitney, James Jackson. Isaac Adams, Isaac Harrell, E. A. Nixon, John Wood, William Mead, Joseph Rogers, A. C. Glea- son, Henry Hicks, John Brink, E. Gregory, L. C. Waller, James Thomas, G. Kent, Chauncey Mead, George Randall, W. H. Talcott, William E. Dunbar, S. A. Lee, Charles Reed, Carles Sayres, Robert J. Cross, D. A. Spaulding, Benjamin White, Jacob Enoch. The votes of two men, John Langdon and Thomas Williams, were rejected. Not a single voter of this list is now living. The last survivor was Harlyn Shattuck, who died in 1899, near Belvidere.
On Wednesday, August 3d, the county commissioners-elect met in special session at the house of Daniel S. Haight, for the transaction of business necessary to complete the local govern- ment. Each commissioner administered the oath of office to the other. Lots were drawn for the terms of one year, and two and three years respectively. D. A. Spaulding was elected clerk of the county commissioners' court; and Robert J. Cross was chosen treasurer. William E. Dunbar was sent to Vandalia, the capital of the state, with the election returns. The term court might seem to imply that this body possessed judicial powers, but such was not the fact. Under the constitution of 1818, three commissioners were elected in each county for the
56
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
transaction of all its business. This court performed the duties and exercised powers corresponding in a general way to those entrusted under the present law to the board of supervisors.
At this first session of the court the commissioners divided the county into seven precincts, asfollows : Yellow River, which included the towns of Silver Creek, Ridot, Freeport, Lancaster, and the south half of Rock River, in Stephenson county ; Rock Grove, which included the north half of Rock River, all of Buck Eye, Rock Grove, and the east half of Oneco, in Stephenson county, and Laona and Howard (now Durand) in Winnebago; Peeketolika, corresponding to the towns of Seward, Lysander (now Pecatonica) and Burritt; Kishwaukee, now the townships of Cherry Valley, New Milford, and part of Rockford township; Rockford, which included the present townships of Winnebago, Guilford, the larger part of Rockford, and the south half of Owen and Harlem; Rock River, including the townships of Shirland, Harrison, Rockton, Roscoe, north half of Owen and Harlem, and Manchester in Boone county; Belvidere, which included all of Boone county except Manchester township. This precinct contained two hundred and fifty-two square miles'; yet at the first presidential election in 1836, it could poll only twenty-three votes. Rock River precinct was twenty-four miles in length, and from six to twelve in width, and included six townships. At the presidential election previously mentioned this immense territory could poll but twenty votes. The number of precincts was subsequently increased to ten.
At this session of the court an order was issued, which fixed the time and place of holding an election in each precinct, for justices of the peace and constables. The date chosen was August 27. In only three of these precincts, however, were elections held on that day. In Belvidere John K. Towner and John S. King were elected justices of the peace, and Abel Thurs- ton and Mason Sherburne, constables. In Rock River, Sylvester Talcott and Robert J. Cross were elected justices of the peace, and John P. Parsons and D. A. Blake, constables. In Peeke- tolika, Ephraim Sumner and Isaac Hance were chosen justices, and William Sumner and Thomas Hance, constables. These justices were the first judicial officers in the county. A second election for the four remaining precincts was ordered to be held October 14th. Upon the election of these officers at this time the county organization was completed. There was as yet no county seat. The act to establish the county, however, had
57
FIRST CLAIMS ALLOWED.
provided that until public buildings should be erected for the purpose, the courts should be held at the house of Daniel S. Haight or Germanicus Kent, as the county commissioners should direct.
The first claims against the county were presented at this session. Germanicus Kent, Robert J. Cross and J. P. Griggs, as judges of election, and D. A. Spaulding and S. A. Lee, as clerks, were allowed one dollar each. D. A. Spaulding was allowed fifty cents for stationery furnished for poll-books.
CHAPTER XII.
LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT AT WINNEBAGO.
T 'HE law establishing Winnebago county designated Robert
Stephens and Rezin Zarley, of Cook county, and John Phelps, of Jo Daviess, as commissioners, to locate the perma- ment seat of justice. These commissioners, or a majority of them, were authorized to meet on the first Monday in May, 1836, or as soon thereafter as may be, at the house of Daniel S. Haight, for the discharge of their duty. John Phelps never made his appearance. The other two commissioners met July 14th, at the place specified by law, for the selection of a site for the county buildings.
At the county commissioners' court on Thursday, August 4, 1836, the report of the special commissioners was presented. The reader will avoid confusion by noting the distinction be- tween the three county commissioners elected by popular vote, and the special commissioners designated by the statute to locate the county seat. The latter reported that on the 14th day of July they had met at the house of Daniel S. Haight, and that two days later they had selected a site on lands owned by Nicholas Boilvin & Co., on condition that the proprietors should execute a warranty deed to the county of thirty acres of land, so long as it should remain the seat of justice. On the same day Charles Reed presented to the county commissioners a deed of twelve blocks, containing two and one-half acres each, situated about two miles up the river from the ferry crossing.
The law was very specific concerning the location of a site. It provided that if the site chosen should be the property of individuals, instead of government land, the owners thereof should make a deed in fee simple of not less than twenty acres of said tract to the county ; or in lieu thereof they should pay the county three thousand dollars, to be used in the erection of county buildings. Mr. Reed may have presented his deed in
59
THE FIRST CONVEYANCE OF LAND.
good faith, but it was not accepted because it contained an objectionable clause to the effect that the county should hold the property "so long as it should remain the seat of justice." This reservation defeated his scheme.
This tract of land came into possession of Nicholas Boilvin about one year previous. Mr. Boilvin was at one time a gov- ernment agent for the Winnebago Indians. The several transfers of this property form an interesting chapter of local history. It was noted in Chapter III. that by the treaty negotiated at Prairie du Chien, August 1, 1829, between the United States and the Winnebagoes, grants of land were made to certain descendants of this tribe. Catherine Myott, a half-breed Indian woman, was one of the two who had received two sections each. Previous to this contest over the county seat, one of these two unlocated sections had been sold to Henry Gratiot. By a deed executed August 25, 1835, Catherine Myott conveyed the other unlocated section to Nicholas Boilvin for eight hundred dollars. This was the first individual conveyance of land in Winnebago county. This deed was filed for record in Cook county, September 3, 1835, and recorded by Daniel H. Whitney, recorder of Winne- bago county, September 8, 1836. This instrument was the first filed for record in this county. The tract located for Mr. Boilvin, by virtue of the treaty of 1829, is the east half of section fourteen and all that part of section thirteen west of Rock river, in Rockford township, and contains six hundred and thirty-seven acres. At the time Mr. Reed made the offer of his deed to the county commissioners, the property belonged to Nicholas Boilvin, of Chicago, Charles Reed, of Joliet, and Major Campbell.
As soon as the organization of the county began to be agitated, Boilvin and his associates determined to secure the location of the county seat on their site. The entire tract was platted September 14, 1836. It was known as Nicholas Boilvin's plat of the town of Winnebago, and the plat was filed for record September 17, 1836. Reed appeared as the principal manager. There were two hundred and fifty-one blocks, and these were subdivided into two thousand four hundred and thirty-six lots. The streets were uniformly eighty-two and one-half feet wide, and bore north and south, east and west. The lots were forty- nine and one-half feet front, and one hundred and thirteen feet and nine inches deep, except the lots in the water blocks, which ran back from Water street to low-water mark. The alleys
1
60
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
were twenty feet wide. The town was christened Winnebago. Reed built a two-story house, to be used as a hotel and store, which is still standing a few rods above John H. Sherratt's new residence. A free ferry was established; a lime-kiln and a blacksmith shop were built; and a road opened through the timber east from Winnebago, to meet the state road from Chicago to Galena, at a point on Beaver creek. Nothing was left undone to secure the county seat; but the decision of the commissioners, like the law of the Medes and Persians, could not be changed.
Notwithstanding the fact that the special commissioners were given full power by the statute to locate the county seat, their selection was arbitrarily set aside by the commissioners' court. This rejection, however, was based upon a reason which would have been considered valid by any court. The question did not again come before the people until 1839. Pending the location of the county seat, the commissioners ordered that the circuit and county commissioners' courts should be held at the house of Mr. Haight.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE FERRY .- EARLY STATE AND COUNTY ROADS.
7 "HE ferry was the first mode of transit across the river.
Ferries were established by special acts of the legislature, with regular charters, in territory not under county organiza- tion. The issue of licenses for conducting ferries came under the jurisdiction of the commissioners' courts in organized counties. In 1836, at the September session of this court for Winnebago county, Germanicus Kent was authorized to establish a ferry at Rockford, at what is now State street. He was required to pay a license of ten dollars for one year. Rates of ferriage were established as follows : For each carriage, wagon or cart, drawn by two horses, oxen or mules, sixty-two and one-half cents ; the same drawn by one horse, thirty-seven and one-half cents; for each additional horse, twelve and one-half cents; for man and horse, twenty-five cents; each horse, mule, or head of cattle, twelve and one-half cents; hogs, sheep and goats per score, fifty cents; each footman, six and one-quarter cents. These terms were for transients. Farmers were given a yearly rate. Free ferriage was given to the citizens of the county after the village became incorporated. The proprietors were reim- bursed from the village treasury.
At the same session of the court Vance & Andrews were authorized to establish a ferry at Winnebago, on the same terms for license and ferriage as given Mr. Kent. C. Doolittle, by his agent, H. M. Wattles, was granted the privilege of establishing a ferry where the line between Rockford and Owen townships crosses Rock river, on the same terms. In the spring of 1836, Harvey Lowe and Nelson H. Salisbury, who had made claims in Howard in the preceding antumn, returned with their families. May 18th they crossed the river at the point now spanned by Trask's bridge. They were the first to cross in the boat which had been launched that day. They had been detained there about a week, and during that time they had assisted in building the boat. This ferry, which was established through the agency of Love and Salisbury, to enable them to cross their
62
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
claims, subsequently became the thoroughfare in the direction of Mineral Point, and formed a convenient crossing for all emigrants to the country north of the Pecatonica.
In 1837 the ferry licenses of Kent and Vance were extended another year, at the same rates. Mr. Kent conducted the ferry at Rockford from 1836 to 1838. In the latter year a license was issued to Kent & Brinckerhoff. The rates of ferriage were changed and the license fee raised to twenty dollars. These gentlemen were succeeded by Selden M. Church, who continued the business until the first bridge was built.
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