USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a record of its settlement, organization, and three-quarters of a century of progress > Part 10
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In May, 1836, a young man from the east arrived in Stephenson County, who was destined to be a man of deeds and influence in the history of the county and State of Illinois. His name was T. J. Turner. He was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, but moved with his father's family to Butler County, Pennsylvania. He was a young man of spirit and ambition, and at the age of 18 heard the call of the great west and started for the much talked of lead mine district of Illinois and Wisconsin. He stopped in Chicago a time and spent three years in La Porte County, Indiana. He then went on to the lead mines and earned a livelihood, constructing bellows for the furnaces. He then fell in with the ebb tide that brought so many easterners back to Stephen- son County after an experience in the lead mines. Young Turner had learned the trade of a millwright and going into Rock Run Township, built a mill near Farwell's Ferry on the Pecatonica near the mouth of Rock Run. Nearby with
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
Julius Smith and B. Thatcher, he built a cabin home. His life here was not a little like that of Lincoln, for when not busy at his work in the mill, he was studying and laying the foundation of a self gained education.
Mr. Turner's first visit to Freeport was in search of food. Provisions were scarce and he and his associates for days had nothing more to eat than boiled corn. This became too monotonous a diet and Turner set out for Galena for supplies. He traveled along the Pecatonica till he came to Baker's cabin at Freeport. He attracted attention by the usual frontier shouts and soon a boy appeared and ferried him across the river in a canoe. Mr. Baker had gone on a trip to Peoria for supplies. Mrs. Baker and the family greeted him in true western manner and offered him the hospitality of the home. Having gone without his regulation diet of boiled corn, Turner was hungry and asked for food. But the larder was almost empty at the Baker home. Mrs. Baker freely offered him what was left-two small corn dodgers, and what was left of a catfish. Turner declined, hungry as he was, to finish the last of the family's pro- visions and only on the assurance and insistence of Mrs. Baker that her hus- band would return during the night with provisions from Peoria, did he sat- isfy the gnawing of a long empty stomach. The barking of dogs during the night signalled the return of Baker and Turner slept well with the prospect of a good breakfast in sight. Next morning, after a hearty meal, he went on his way to Galena, impressed by the generous hospitality of Freeport. He worked a while at Galena and returned to the mill with supplies.
In .1841 Turner went to Freeport and his life was bound up in the history of that city till his death. Such was the early life of a man who built the first county courthouse, was justice of the peace, lawyer, states attorney, member of the State Legislature and a Constitutional Convention, a member of Congress, and a colonel in the United States army in the Civil War. If conditions were hard, they had, at least, fashioned a great character.
The county was making headway in 1836. Farms were opened up. These were small clearings around the cabins and that accounts for the small crops and the scanty supply of provisions. Blacksmith shops, rude affairs indeed, were set up. The people had come to stay. There were no roads, no bridges, few fer- ries, and it was a long journey to Peoria or Galena for supplies. Thomas Lott had begun the work of setting up a sawmill at Winslow, and William Kirk- patrick had begun one on Yellow Creek, while Turner had set one up in Rock Rin. There were no grist mills north of the Illinois River and Kirkpatrick set up a corn-cracking machine at his mill on Yellow Creek. It was a crude mill, doing coarse work cracking corn and wheat, but it had to serve the purpose for a time.
A number of men settlers arrived in 1837. Dr. Van Valsah, the forerunner of a vast concourse of Pennsylvania Dutch, came into the county and settled on a claim near Cedarville, purchased from John Goddard. Other arrivals were Nel- son Martin, Joseph Musser, Isaac Develey, Thomas and Samuel Chambers, Wil- liam Wallace, a Mr. Moore, Joseph Osborn, Daniel Guyer, Pat Giblin, Miles O'Brien, a Mr. Corcoran, Hiram Hill, John Howe, I. Forbes, John Milburn, a Mr. Reed, Stewart Reynolds, Sanford Miles, John Tharp, Jackson Richart, Saferns Snyder, Joseph Green, Charles MaComber, Rev. Philo Judson, Cornelius
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
Judson, S. F. M. Fretville, Alfred Gaylord, Rev. Asa Ballinger, Phillip and War- ner Wells, Henry Johnson, Oliver and John R. Brewster, Isaac Kleckner, Ezra Gillett, Joab Martin, James Turnbull, Father Ballinger, H. C. Haight, Jacob Gable, Valorus Thomas, George W. Babbitt, John Edwards, Levi Lewis, John Lewis, Rezin and Levi Wilcoxen, Caleb Thompkins, the Farwell Brothers, the Brace family, Garrett Lloyd, Harvey and Jeremiah Webster, Sybil Ann Price, Samuel F. Dodds, Robert T. Perry, Robert and Wm. LaShell, James and Oliver Thompson, Jacob Burbridge, Samuel and Marshall Bailey, Martin Howard, John Harmon, a Mr. Graham, Alonzo Fowler, Major John Howe and others.
Irish Grove in Rock Run and "Dublin" in Erin townships were settled in 1837. Both were progressive settlements and were among the first in the county to es- tablish churches.
In 1837, Nelson Martin opened a school in Freeport. William Waddams, Thomas Crain, James Timms and others had hired private teachers, a school was begun in Ransomberg in 1836 and thus by 1837, education was making a beginning in the county.
In 1837, many new arrivals of unusual worth strengthened the county's settle- ments. Among these were Isaac Stoneman, Daniel Eobrust, Richard Earl, John A. McDowell, Major John Howe, Michael Red, Luther and Charles Hall, Richard Howe, Chancellor Martin, Richard Hunt, a Mr. Davis, Abraham Johnson, Wil- liam Stewart and L. W. Guiteau settled in Freeport.
Mr. Guiteau was a native of New York. He came west and was in the mer- cantile business at Ann Arbor. In October, 1838, he came to Freeport and en- tered the mercantile business on the banks of the Pecatonica where the Illinois Central depot now stands. In 1840, he was made postmaster by President Har- rison. This office he held several years. Later he held positions as clerk of the circuit court, cashier and one of the directors of the Second National Bank, com- missioner of schools, and police magistrate.
June 6, 1837, the county commissioners granted Hiram Eads a license to keep a tavern, charging him a fee of $12.00.
June 5, 1837, the county commissioners established the following tolls for ferrying across the Pecatonica :
Four horse wagon and horses. $ .75
Two horse wagon and horses. .50
One horse wagon and horse .25
Three or more yoke of cattle. 1.00
Wagon with one yoke of cattle or more.
.75
Footman
.061/4
Man and horse.
.121/2
Head of cattle.
.061/2
Hog or sheep. .02
September 5, 1837, the county commissioners voted to ask for bids on county jail and county court house.
The contract between the commissioners and Thomas J. Turner for the county jail reads as follows: "Said jail shall be 20 ft. x 24 ft. squair, and stand on a stone wall, three feet thick and three feet high, and laid in lime mortar. To be hewn oak logs, fourteen inches squair and the lower floor to be laid with sleepers
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
hewn on three sides, six inches thick, closely laid and covered with a floor of three inches Plank Spiked down with large Iron Spikes. The upper floor is to be of sub- stantial joist and a suitable distance apart and covered with inch and one-half plank, doubled across each other, well spiked down. The second story to be nine feet high, to be covered with good substantial roof with shingles eighteen inches long, laid five inches to the weather. Width rafters to be of oak, not more than two feet apart. The gable end to be studded with four inch studding and weather-boarded with black walnut siding, an outside Stairway to be of white oak and a door in the senter of the gable, said door to be of good oak plank doubled and well spiked with Iron Spikes and a good strong lock attached to the same. There are to be two windows, 14 inches squair, Barred with inch squair. There is to be a trap-door in the upper floor, three foot squair, hung with good substantial Iron Hinges and an Iron Bar reaching across with Strong Strap and Lock attached. The logs are to be doweled together and the work to be done in a neat and workman-like manner." For building the jail Mr. Turner was to re- ceive $1,000 in good and lawful money, the jail to be completed in 18 months.
The organization of Stephenson County and the election of county officers in $120.00. On this lot the jail was built.
Page 104 of the County Records of Stephenson County shows a contract to build the jail according to specifications, signed by Charles Truax and H. W. Hol- lenbeck. Why Mr. Turner gave up the contract, has not been discovered. The records show receipts by Truax & Hollenbeck for building the jail. William Baker went on their bond December 22,. 1838.
STEPHENSON COUNTY-1837-1850.
The commissioners bought the lot where the first ward school stands for 1837 began a new pericd of county history. The county commissioners, Lemuel W. Streator, Isaac Forbes and Julius Smith, on December 5, 1837, contracted with Thomas J. Turner for the erection of a frame courthouse and a log jail; the lum- ber and logs were prepared during the winter. The courthouse was completed in 1840 and served its purpose till 1870 when it was torn down and the present building erected. Twice the old courthouse was struck by lightning. The build- ing of the courthouse was delayed because of the hard times and because county orders were bringing only thirty cents on the dollar.
At the election held in 1838, Mr. L. O. Crocker who opened the first store in Freeport, was elected assessor and Hubbard Graves, tax collector. Both men were well fitted for their work. All kinds of personal property were listed for tax- ation. Assessments were made as high as the law permitted. A cheap watch cost its owner 614c and three of the wealthier men in the county paid $2.00 tax each on their watches. The rate was 45c on the $100.00 and Collector Graves col- lected $96 and some cents which would give the assessed valuation in 1838 as $21,333.
Election day in 1838 was a kind of holiday in the precincts over the county. In Ridott the election was held at Daniel Wooten's home. John Hoag and Wil- liam Everts were judges and Horatio Hunt and H. P. Waters were clerks. The other voters were seven in number: D. W. C. Mallory, Philo Hammond, Giles
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
Pierce, Zebulon Dimmick, William Barlow, Pat Fronne and S. Forbes. Wooten had a barrel of whiskey at the house and that added to the joy of the occasion. Most of the men had a capacity for liquor that would admit frequent attacks on the barrel without losing their equilibrium. One of the men, however, had in- dulged beyond reason and was scarcely able to navigate. He crossed the river safely but had trouble getting up the hillside that was made slippery by the down- pour of rain, the usual election day rain. Bravely the elector charged up the steep and slippery slope, but down he tumbled again to the foot of the hill. His friends laughed as he assaulted the hill time and again, only to roll in the mud back to the starting point. Finally his neighbors went to his rescue, aided him up the hill and to his home.
In the year 1838 Freeport gave its first Fourth of July celebration. Eads had completed his hotel and invited the country around to take dinner with him. Rev. F. C. Winslow, O. H. Wright, Benjamin Goddard, Isaac Stoneman, Allen Wiley, ' William Baker and the Truax boys constituted a kind of committee on arrange- ments. Rev. Winslow trained a singing class and they sang Revolutionary ballads and a national ode. The class consisted of Miss Cornelia Russel (Hazlett), Eliza Hunt, Marion Snow, Mrs. Amelia Webb (Jewell) and others. The audience was delighted with the singing. The exercises were held in Benjamin Goddard's barn, where the Declaration of Independence was read and O. H. Wright delivered the address of the day. After the dinner, the exercises closed with dancing. For years, this sane Fourth was one of the bright spots in the county's early history.
In 1837 Demison and Van Zart who had settled at McConnell and built a mill in 1836, laid out a town there. In 1838 Robert McConnell drove a number of cattle into the county, bought the prospective town and named the place McConnell Grove. The place has also been called "Bobtown" and "New Pennsylvania."
H. G. Eads, in 1838, built a tavern at what is now the corner of Stephenson and Liberty streets. The contractor was Julius Smith and the new tavern was called the "City Hotel." In the fall Mr. Benjamin Goddard built the "Mansion House" which was used as a hotel. It had nine rooms but was one of the won- ders of the county at that day. The house was used for years as a pop factory by Galloway and Shooks and stood diagonally on what is now the Y. M. C. A. tennis court lot, on Walnut Street. The same year John Montgomery and A. Wiley built a house on the ground now occupied by the L. L. Munn building. This building was later used as a hotel. In 1838, the ferry which had been estab- lished by Baker was moved to the foot of Stephenson Street and was conducted by H. G. Eads and others till a bridge was built. The first location of the ferry was near Goddard's Mill. A new store was opened by Elijah Barrett. Richard Hunt erected a frame building on Van Buren Street and also one on the corner of Van Buren and Spring Streets, and Michael Red built a house. Many farms were opened in the county and production largely increased.
In 1838 a stage line was opened between Freeport and Chicago by J. B. Win- ters. At Freeport connection was made with Frink and Walker's line to Galena. The next year Winters went out of business and Frink and Walker ran the line through from Chicago to Galena. The clumsy stage came into Freeport three times a week. To make the trip from Chicago to Freeport required two days and a half and the fare was $5.00. Mrs. Oscar Taylor, who came from Chicago
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
in the stage in 1839 says, "The stage was a commodious affair, and left Chicago at two o'clock in the morning. There were ten passengers. At daybreak we reached a country tavern where we breakfasted on Rio coffee, fried fat pork, potatoes and hot saleratus biscuits. We crossed the ferry at Rockford at midnight. We had to get out and climb the sand bank after crossing the river." The stage driver of that day was in a class by himself. He was engineer, just as much so as the man who holds the throttle over the Omaha Limited. He was an expert in handling the reins, the whip and several varieties of profanity. The stage, slow as it was, was yet an important factor in building up Stephenson County. It brought new settlers, supplied a kind of express and carried the mail. It served its purpose till the railroad took its place.
AN EARLY SUICIDE.
The suicide of one of the early settlers in 1838 caused considerable excitement in the county. The unfortunate person was a member of the Lott family in what is now Oneco Township. The man in question inherited a form of insanity and was subject to constantly recurring moods. He was watched closely by the family but in 1838 he evaded them. When his absence was noted, the neighbors and rela- tives got up a searching party and set out to find the missing man, fearful of the result. After considerable searching, he was found hanging to a tree and when cut down by Alonzo Denio, he was almost dead. All efforts made to revive his life ended in failure. He hanged himself about 11/2 miles from the village of Oneco, and the spot has had about it much mystery and superstition.
What is known as the first wedding ceremony performed by a preacher oc- curred in 1838. The contracting parties were Thomas Chambers and Rebecca Moore of Rock Grove township. The marriage was solemnized at the home of the bride's father, John Moore, the Rev. James McKean, officiating. The cabin was the usual one room log house, 20 feet square, but it is said that forty guests witnessed the ceremony. People had come 18 miles to attend the wedding.
In 1838 larger crops were cultivated. Larger fields had been cleared about the cabins and increased production was the result. The struggle for a living was yet a little too tense for people to indulge to any great extent in politics. The murder of Lovejoy at Alton stirred the settlements, but otherwise the people were inclined to be interested more in local than national affairs.
Many new settlers came in 1838. Many came from Pennsylvania following close in the footsteps of Dr. Van Valzah who had located at Cedarville. Among the newcomers in 1838 were: John Walsh, Robert Sisson, H. G. Davis, John and Thomas Warren, Isaac Scott, Samuel Liebshitz, Christian Strocky and two sons, Chauncey Stebbins, F. Rosenstiel, P. L. Wright, William Preston, Louis Preston, Mathew Bredendall, Lewis Gitchell, David Gitchell, Philo Hammond, Ezekial and Jacob Forsythe, John Floyd, Putnam Perley, Ezekial Brown, John Brazee, Chris- tian Clay, J. D. Fowler, James McGhu, Adrian Lucas, Newcomb Kinney, Charles A. Gore, Hiram Gaylord, Cornelius and Johnathan Cavan, Alex Allen, John Bradford, Thomas Loring, Columbus and Ichabod Thompson and Elias and Ed- ward Hunt. About this time, Thomas Carter, Isaac Rand, Samuel Bogenrief, L.
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
L. Pitcher, a man named Lathrop and others settled in Kent. This year the first house was built in Rock Grove village. Irish Grove in Rock Run and "Dublin" in Erin townships were settled in 1837 and received several additions in 1838.
By the close of 1838, the settlements in the county had been extended and there was general feeling that the country had a good future ahead. The value of claims advanced with the increase of settlers and with the building of mills, the stage line and the presence of stores. The store of O. H. Wright in Freeport was at this time the largest and busiest in the county.
In the year 1839 the county made about the same progress as in 1838. This year a building was put up on Lyman Montague's farm in West Point township, to be used exclusively for school purposes. The courthouse though not entirely completed was in service. The log jail yet unfinished was doing duty, with citizens on guard to keep the lawbreakers within.
In the spring of 1839 a Norwegian colony came across the Atlantic and made its way into this county, settling in Rock Run township. The location had been selected by an advance agent of the colony, who had looked over a considerable part of the country only to decide on Stephenson County as best of all. Many of the Norwegians were farmers and at once set to work opening up farms. Some were tradesmen and began to work at their trades. They were frugal and in- dustrious and they and their countrymen who have followed have added to the high character of the people of Stephenson County.
A man who was to influence very largely the history of Stephenson County character. He was educated in part, at the Academy at Fredonia, New York, arrived in Freeport in 1839. He was a native of New York state and while his parents were poor, they gave him a training in childhood that made his a strong where he made his own way through school by hard work. The desire to be a merchant was strong in him. He was forced to begin in a small way, and started west on a peddling trip in 1838, arriving in Freeport in 1839. Here he opened up a general store and was successful. In 1842 he bought goods in New York and established his credit in New York and Chicago. In 1843 he bought the land which is now known as Knowlton's Addition. He was twelve years a director in the Chicago, Galena and Union Railroad.
Before 1840 the settlers did not understand the wealth that lay in the prairies. The settlements had been made along the streams in the groves. This was for the double purpose of being near the water and near the timber, to make build- ing convenient. A drive in any direction over Stephenson County today will show the beautiful pictures of prosperous homes in the groves that follow the winding streams. The prairies were then unfenced and stock roamed at will, feeding on the wild grasses of the lowlands. Breaking the tough prairie sod was a hard proposition. It was usually done with a wheel in front and lever to gauge the depth. Five or six yoke of oxen were necessary to pull the plow. It cut a fur- row 20 inches wide and from 3 to 5 inches deep. The blade of the plowshare had to be kept sharp by grinding and filing at the end of almost every row. When a farm was once broken this way its value was greatly increased.
In 1840 Freeport contained about forty houses. The growth of the town was" slow, because largely of lack of a convenient market. There were two or three hotels, three stores : O. H. Wright, L. W. Guiteau's, corner of Liberty and South
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
* Galena Avenue; and D. A. Knowlton's at the corner of Galena and Van Buren Streets. There were no banks. Farmers left their money with merchants who deposited it in cities having safe deposits.
Liquor was sold at saloons conducted by James Rock, James Montgomery and Abraham Johnson. It could also be bought at all the hotels except at Goddard's Mansion House. Whiskey was sixpence a drink and there was little or no re- straint placed on its sale and use. Law enforcement was not rigid and on the whole Freeport was not very different from the average western town of that period.
Gambling was quite as general as drinking. Faro was dealt openly and was not interfered with. James Rock operated the game keno at his place and day and night had a good attendance at his bar and around his gaming tables. His place was a little room in the building then standing at the corner of Galena and Van Buren Streets, where Moogk's drug store now stands. Drinking, it is claimed, was almost universal among the citizens, and gambling went on openly with little protest. Debauches and disorder were not infrequent. The rougher element was augmented by many transients, who were going to or from the lead mine regions. These men aided in giving the town a reputation for drinking, gambling and disor- der which it was slow to shake off.
Yet there were a few temperance people in the county. In 1840, owing to the increasing gambling, drinking and disorder, Rev. F. C. Winslow and John A. Clark saw the necessity of arousing a counteracting influence and commenced meetings in the same building where Rock's saloon was located. This was, no doubt, the first attempt at a "revival" in the county and in the midst of conditions far from the best the faithful few did an excellent work. "Father" Mckean and Rev. Winslow and others held meetings in the courthouse, schoolhouse and in private rooms. Their congregations were small but they were sincere and faith- ful and laid the foundation for the religious and civic work in Freeport. Speak- ing of these early services, Mrs. Oscar Taylor says: "Every Sunday the farmers. and the town people assembled in the building which did duty as carpetner shop six days in a week, and served as a church on the seventh. Our religious services were hearty in spirit, though crude in form. Rev. Mr. Morrell came from Rock- ford to conduct services once in two weeks; alternate Sundays Mr. O. H. Wright or Mr. Guiteau read a sermon. Mr. John Rice offered prayers; Mr. Clark was nominally leader of the congregational singing, but actually each one sang in the key best adapted to his or her voice; the effect was volume of sound rather than harmony. But this lack of musical unity resulted in the organization of a singing school, for which Mr. Frederick Winslow volunteered his services as leader. The singing school was a success. We were trained until we could give with great effect, Rochester, Dundee, St. Thomas and Dover, with 'Now be the Gospel Ban- ner in Every Land Unfurled' and 'Come Ye Disconsolate,' for special occasions."
The best description of Freeport in 1839 and '40 is that given by Mrs. Oscar Taylor in a paper before the Freeport Woman's Club, and published in the Free- port Journal, August 28, 1909:
When Sunday came the big farm wagon was brought to the door and we started for the service in the village. Farm wagons were the only conveyances in use ; and those who drove horses instead of oxen were considered fortunate. How
5.51
Old Lena Hotel
AMERICAN
W J. FRAGY
American House
MNSYLVAN HOUSE
Pennsylvania House
-
Tremont House
1
HOTELS THAT WERE HERE IN 1871
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
well I remember that first drive to Freeport, fording Yellow Creek near where the Breweries now stand, crossing a track of low land called Rattle Snake Bot- tom, from which I expected to hear snakes rattling their warning of poison. From the lowlands we drove on, gradually ascending a hill and coming down the slope on Adams Street, following the state road on a diagonal cut to Galena Street, where church was to be held.
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