USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a record of its settlement, organization, and three-quarters of a century of progress > Part 46
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Rev. W. G. Metzker, of Orangeville, is pastor of the United Brethren Church.
A small Methodist congregation, under the pastorate of Rev. Charles Briggs, is making excellent headway.
DAMASCUS.
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The village of Damascus is one of the oldest of the county. It is not a large settlement, and has never been platted out as a village site, but all of the farmers within a radius of a mile or more call themselves residents of Damascus. The population gathered about the store and blacksmith shop, which form the nucleus of the village, numbers about one hundred and fifty.
Damascus was founded and given its present name in 1837 by Norman Phillips, who became its first postmaster after a while. In three or four years the post-office was established and Damascus continued to have a post-office patronage of five hundred or more until the rural free delivery system came a few years ago, and Damascus post-office ceased to do business.
Damascus is largely settled by members of the Phillips family, descendants of the man who founded the village, and for many years the post-office was con- ducted by members of the Phillips clan. The one break in the link was the post- mastership of W. K. Bechtold, who for a while ran the general store, and held the office of postmaster at the same time.
The village contains a general store, owned by G. W. Phillips, a blacksmith shop, of which James Albright is proprietor, a school, a church, and a creamery. In years gone by, Damascus was a very important point. Being situated on the Pecatonica River, at one of the few points where the stream was crossed by a bridge, it drew a large number of transients to its population. These gradually departed upon the building of more bridges, and the establishment of ferries, and to-day the place is of very little commercial importance, except for its creamery. Tradition says that when the controversy concerning the establish- ment of the county seat was in progress, Damascus was an active factor in the struggle, and was finally defeated by the small majority of one vote. Freeport, Cedarville and Damascus were the candidates for the honor, and, as is well known, Freeport eventually won out. Nevertheless, both Cedarville and Damascus were lively competitors. They had the advantage of a more central location and at one time it seemed as if they were the logical candidates for the court house. But Freeport backed up its claims with a large sum of money, and the battle was to the strong.
Oldest House in Buena Vista
Log House at McConnell
Oldest House in McConnell Built by Robert McConnell
Oldest House in Epleyanna
Oldest House near Oneco
The J. W. Addams Home, Cedarville
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
Damascus Creamery. The creamery is operated by a farmer's stock com- pany, of which J. A. Phillips is president. It does a large business, and, outside of Freeport, is by far the most important creamery in the county.
First Baptist Church. The Damascus Baptist Church has been in existence for about twenty years. It was founded in 1890 by the Rev. C. E. Wren, pastor of the Lena Church, and has since been attended by the pastors who do service for that congregation. The charge is a student charge, and the pastor at present in charge is the Rev. Hervey Gilbert, who resides at Lena. The membership of the church is about thirty. The church building was built very soon after the founding of the church society in Damascus.
Damascus lies on the road between Lena and Cedarville, about an equal distance from both of these points. It is situated on the town line between Har- lem and Waddams townships, and the post-office has at various times been located in Harlem Township. At the time of the advent of the rural delivery, it was es- tablished on the Waddams side of the road, and the greater part of the village is on that side. The last census gave the village a population of about one hun- dred and fifty, and there has been hardly any increase since that time.
WADDAMS CENTER.
Waddams Center, as the name indicates, is the central spot of Waddams township. The site is not marked by a village of any consequence, and the main object of interest is the district school, known as the Waddams Center School. The settlement embraces a territory of three or four square miles, the inhabit- ants of which designate themselves as "Waddams Center people." Waddams Center does not support a church, but there is a church at McConnell, only a short distance away, which is attended by the farmers of the region. There is ERIN TOWNSHIP.
no general store, nor has there ever been a post-office. The population of the whole settlement at Waddams Center is about fifty.
Erin township originally comprised not only its present area but, in addi- tion, the township of Kent, to the west, which was subdivided from Erin on March 17, 1856. It was a strange freak of the logic of events that the blow which severed Kent from Erin and left the latter deprived of the superior wood and water advantages formerly enjoyed, should have fallen at a meeting of the board of supervisors which was convened on St. Patrick's day. For Erin town- ship, as its name implies, was settled largely by Irish farmers, and the village of Dublin in the western part of the township contains one of the two country Catholic churches of the county.
About 1835 the first settlements were made in that part of the county which is at present Erin Township. The settlers were Hibernians from the "ould sod," by name Bartholomew Doyle and Michael Murphey. Both of them settled in the range at present known as "Dublin Settlement," the former on the site of St. Mary's Church of the Mound, and the latter about a mile away from that spot. Their nearest neighbors were the settlers in the western part of the town-
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ship, which has since become Kent. Among these were the Timms family, the Willets and various others who are mentioned in the history of Kent township.
For about two years the settlers were few and far between. In 1837 Valorus Thomas arrived and settled about four miles away from Dublin settlement, on the line between Harlem and Erin townships. In the same year came Ebenezer Mulnix, and a Mr. Helm, who settled near Thomas. Bartholomew Doyle re- mained on his farm long enough to improve the land and donate three acres for the erection of St. Mary's Church. Then he moved west about half a mile, into Kent township, sold his old farm to one Robert Franey, and began the opening and improvement of a new grange.
Between 1837 and 1840, a goodly number of emigrants came to Erin town- ship, with a large preponderence of the Irish element among them. The large part of Dublin settlement did not come until about 1842, but some of the fore- runners came earlier. Among the newcomers, about 1839, were James Fowler, John Fiddler, John B. Kaufmann, Peter Van Sickle, George W. Babbitt, Jonas Pickard, Palmer Pickard, Lewis Grigsby, F. Rosenstiel, and their families.
In 1840, there was another large inroad, including, among others, Reuben Tower, William Schermerhorn, John Lloyd, Frederick Gossmann, John Ham- mond, Nathan Ferry, E. H. Woodbridge and a number of people whose names are lost to us. Amos Davis, who had settled at Scioto Hills in 1837, moved west into Erin township about 1840 or a little later.
In 1842, Dublin settlement began to grow very rapidly. Andrew and George Cavanaugh came in that year, also Andrew Farrell, Dennis Maher, who settled in section 29, John McNamara, Patrick Brown and many more. None of the newcomers were more warmly welcomed than the wife and family of a man named Burns. They had come by wagon train, and when crossing the Rock River at Dixon, the bridge collapsed, and all were hurled to the depths below. In the havoc which ensued, a number of the unfortunates were drowned, among them Mr. Burns and his son. Mrs. Burns and the rest of her family were fortu- nate enough to escape, and instead of remaining about the spot where the calam- ity had occurred and spending her time in vain lamentations, she pushed on to the destination at which her husband had been aiming. Here she arrived safely some time later and was warmly welcomed by the settlers.
The first birth in the Irish settlement occurred in 1843, when a son was born to George Cavanaugh. In the next year, the first marriage was solemnized by the Catholic priest. Robert Cavanaugh and Bridget Maher were the happy couple. In December, 1845, the first known death is said to have taken place. One Mr. Gillis, who was taken sick in the autumn of that year, died, according to tradition, from lack of proper care and treatment. He was buried in the grove on Burns' Branch, the first recorded burial of the township.
St. Mary's Church of the Mound, the first Catholic church built in the county, according to some, was put up by the Dublin settlers in 1836. This seems highly improbable, but such is the tradition. There has always been more or less of a controversy between the Catholic parishioners of Dublin and Irish Grove, each parish asserting that its church was the earliest of the county. It is quite impossible to decide the controversy, for records have been so meagerly preserved. The "Golden Jubilee" souvenir, issued by the congregation of St.
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
Mary's of Freeport during the Golden Jubilee Celebration of 1896, does not at- tempt to take part in the dispute, but merely states the dates of the founding of the parishes with resident priests. According to this, Dublin settlement has the advantage of a few years. It was attended by priests from Galena until 1843, when Father Derwin, appointed by the bishop of St. Louis, became the first resident priest, also doing service at the Irish Grove settlement in Rock Run township.
The Irish Grove church was certainly erected in 1838, the Dublin church within a year of that time. Consequently we can approximate the time of build- ing and find that it was very early in the annals of Stephenson county. Once the church was built, there was something to draw Irish settlers to the vicinity, and to this day, Erin and Dublin settlements have maintained their full quota of Hibernians.
Erin township is quite as fertile as any in the county, and contains quite as good land. It has an area of about eighteen square miles, being one of the three smallest townships of the county in company with Jefferson and Dakota. There is no large creek or stream of any importance nor are there any groves or timbered sections of appreciable extent. The township is crossed by the Illinois Central Railroad (main line) with its one station at the village of Eleroy. This line, formerly a part of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad came through in 1852, and was later purchased by the Illinois Central, which now controls the line from Freeport to Galena.
DUBLIN.
Dublin, or New Dublin settlement as it is familiarly called, embraces four square miles of territory, partly in Kent and partly in Erin townships, from Willet's Grove to Callan's corners, and is largely settled by Irish farmers who came from the immediate vicinity of Dublin, on the Liffey.
The first settlers were Bartholomew Doyle and Michael Murphey, who came about 1835 or 1836. New arrivals were not numerous until 1842, when a large number of emigrants, including Andrew Cavanaugh, George Cavanaugh, An- drew Farrell, Dennis Maher, a Mrs. Burns, John McNamara, Patrick Brown, etc.
Soon after the coming of Doyle and Murphey, St. Mary's Church of the Mound, one of the two rural churches of Stephenson county which adhere to the Catholic faith, was established by a Galena priest. Recently a new and hand- some structure was erected, which does great credit to Dublin settlement, and is an unusually attractive church edifice for a country congregation.
The present parish of Dublin comprises a territory about eight thousand acres in extent, and numbers fifty or more families. The settlement is unique in that it has clung together for a period of nearly eighty years without much change in its character except the natural improvements that have come to all the farm lands of the middle west.
ROCK RUN TOWNSHIP.
Rock Run township, next to Ridott, is the largest township of the county, having an area of forty-eight square miles, while the latter has fifty-four. It is
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
one of the wealthiest townships of the county, and is composed of good and fertile farming land, interspersed with occasional stretches of forest.
Rock Run has a most interesting history. It is probably the most cosmo- politan township of the county, and has numbered among its early settlers a most peculiar and unusual combination of Yankees, Germans, Dutch, Irish and Nor- wegians. Strangely enough, they lived side by side peaceably, and their de- scendants have intermarried so that the original races and their characteristics are no longer discernable.
The first permanent settlement in Rock Run, of which there is any record, was that of a Mrs. Swanson, who came to these regions with her family and took up a large claim in section 10 or II, near the site of the future village of Davis. Mrs. Swanson was a widow, with a large family of children, who aided her in the care of the farm. This was in 1835. In the same year, a number of settlers, who has previously visited the towsnhip, en route to the lead mines at Galena, returned from the west, and settled permanently on lands adjoining the "Widow" Swanson's habitation. These pioneers who presently returned to take up claims included S. E. M. Carnefix, Alexander McKinn, Arthur Dawson and one or two others. Presently a new delegation arrived, in 1836, including Thomas Flynn, E. Mullarkey, Henry Hulse, M. Welsh, William Lee, Leonard Lee, Nathan Blackamore and Aaron Baker. The Irish section of the new im- migrants settled in the eastern part of the township, about four miles south of the present village of Davis, and there founded a settlement which later became known as Irish Grove.
Once the precedent was established, the number of arrivals grew. In the next year, 1837, a large migration occurred. Among the newcomers of 1837 were Dr. F. S. Payne, Nathan Salsbury, D. W. C. Mallory, John Hoag, S. Seeley, T. Seeley, Peter Rowe and others.
After this the new arrivals were continuous, and the township became quickly crowded with settlers. The Irish Grove settlement continued to grow, and the . Hibernian "squatters" there were joined by a new delegation, including Pat Giblin, Miles O'Brien, a Mr. Corcoran, who afterward moved to Rockford, Thomas Foley, and some relatives of the Mullarkeys. In 1838 occurred the first birth in the township, also the first marriage. A son was born to Albert Flower, who managed the saw mill on Rock Run, and "Pony" Fletcher and Narcisse Swanson were united in holy bonds of matrimony, the latter event happening in the fall of 1838, the former earlier in the year.
The streams of Rock Run township are very swift, and have in the past afforded water power for turning the wheels of a large number of mills. Only one of these is now standing, a substantial stone structure at Epleyanna, which still continues in operation. In 1837, a saw mill was built on Rock Run in section 27, and the same year Thomas J. Turner put up a grist mill in section 34, and sold it to Nelson Salsbury, who, in turn, sold it to James Epley. In 1838, H. G. Davis came to the township with his family and purchased the Rock Run saw mill, which had been put up the year previous by Stackhouse, Carrier and Flower. Here the first post-office ever located in the township was soon established, with H. G. Davis as postmaster. In the early part of 1839, the present Epleyanna mills were built by Josiah Blackamore and Leonard Lee, who later disposed of
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
their holding to Conrad Epley. A number of smaller mills were built farther south along Rock Run and its tributaries, but no trace is to be found of many of them. There was one, for instance, on the Carnefix farm, south of Davis, in section 28, the ruins of which are still to be seen.
In 1839 a large number of arrivals were registered. Among them were Con- rad Epley, who purchased the Epleyanna mills, and from whom the village of Epleyanna takes its name, Edward Pratt, who afterward moved to Freeport, M. Flower, Edward Smith, who settled in section 13, Uriah Boyden, who took up a claim in section 30, Thomas Fox, who went to Wisconsin within a short time, and a large number of settlers who came to live at Irish Grove, among them Thomas Bree, Martin Mullen, Patrick Flynn, Michael Flynn, Patrick Flynn, Jr., Thomas Hawley and William Marlowe, as well as a number of others whose names have not been preserved in the traditions of the Celtic settlement.
In October, 1839, occurred an event which is most memorable in the annals of Rock Run township. A delegation of Norwegians arrived at the settlement at Rock Run mills, and there formed what is said to have been the first Nor- wegian settlement in the United States. Whether or not this was the case, it was at least the first Norwegian settlement in this part of the country. The de- scendants of the early settlers are some of them living in Rock Run township to-day. Others have vanished from the pages of the Rock Run annals. Among the Norwegians who settled at Rock Run Mills were C. Stabeck, whose descend- ants afterward became identified with the history of the village of Davis, Ole Anderson, whose descendants are also farming in Rock Run township to-day, Canute Canuteson, who opened the first blacksmith shop in the township, Civert Oleson and Ole Civertson, who opened the first wagon-shop in the vicinity. They were thrifty and hard working citizens and became a credit to the community in which they had chosen to settle.
In 1840, D. A. Baldwin arrived and took up a claim in section 40. In the year following, 1841, Captain Knese settled in section 13. Fresh arrivals were num- erous at the various settlements, especially at the Norwegian colony at Rock Run Mills and at Irish Grove. In 1841, the first post-office in the township, Rock Run Mills P. O., was established at H. G. Davis' mill on Rock Run, with Mr. Davis - himself as postmaster. It remained at the mills until 1848, when it was removed to Jamestown, or Grab-all, near the present site of Rock City. When the West- ern Union Railroad came through, and Rock City became a point of importance, the post-office was again moved, and the Jamestown settlement went out of ex- istence. In the fall of 1840, a son of John R. Webb died, the first recorded death in Rock Run township.
From 1840 on the township developed rapidly. In the summer of 1838, the Catholic Church at Irish Grove had been erected. In 1855, the First Presby- terian Church, known as the Rock Run Presbyterian Church, was organized, and services conducted by the Rev. Joseph Dickey. This church was subsequently removed to the village of Dakota, in Dakota township.
In 1857, the Western Union Railroad, now the C., M & St. P. R. R. came through the township, and the village of Davis and Rock City became the points of importance in the township. Rock Run Mills and Jamestown, or Grab-all,
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were fairly abandoned, and the only outlying settlement of the old days was Irish Grove.
Rock Run is to-day one of the pleasantest places both for farming and resi- dence in these regions, and it is hard to realize what the pioneers who took up their claims in 1835 must have gone through before they could transform the wilds of the prairie into a place of habitation. Times were hard financially, to add to the burden. The early settlers were able to make their living very satis- factorily, for there was an abundance of game, and vegetables and fruits such as the region afforded, they were easily able to grow themselves. But there were other menaces. The Indians had not left the district, nor did they for many months after the fields of Rock Run began to assume the appearance of highly cultivated lands. Another enemy, even more subtle than the Indian, was the snake. At one period in the history of Rock Run township, the whole district is said to have been fairly overrun with snakes. And they were snakes such as are never seen in these parts to-day-not the harmless garter snake, although that species flourished also, but rattlesnakes, and the deadly massasauga, whose bite nearly resulted in the death of more than one venturesome pioneer.
Rock Run township is well provided with streams. Rock Run, a small but swift current, flows down from Rock Grove township at the north, and is joined, near Epleyanna Mills, by Rock Creek, a stream of equal size, which flows down from the northwest. Rock Run pursues a southward course, receiving the waters of a number of smaller streams, flows into a small lake near the new mill on the Hunt property, east of Ridott, and thence into the Pecatonica River, which it joins just above Farwell's Bridge. Brown's Creek, a small swift creek, rises in the northwestern part of the township, and flows southeast into Rock Run, tarrying for a while in a tiny lake, near its mouth.
There is only one railroad, the C., M. & St. P., which crosses the township from east to west, touching the villages of Rock City and Davis, and running in the vicinity of Epleyanna.
The township is well wooded. There are a number of large groves and timber lands left, but the majority of them are disappearing under the blows of the axe, and the larger part of the land is under cultivation.
DAVIS.
Davis is the largest village of Rock Run township, and one of the most important of the county. It is of recent growth, being one of those settlements which the coming of the railroad has "made," and not a town of natural growth, In 1857, when the Western Union Railroad had surveyed its route through the county, and was making all preparations for' the building of the line, it became very evident that a station on its route through Rock Run township was most necessary for the farmers of that district. Accordingly, Samuel Davis, John A. Davis, Thomas J. Turner and Ludwig Stanton, who owned the land in the vicin- ity of the present village, donated a total of one hundred and sixty acres, which was surveyed and platted for a village site. This was in 1857, and the work of surveying and platting was not quite completed that year. In 1858 everything was finished and the sale of lots began. That year the railroad was finished
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through the village, but the train that first sped over the rails was not run until the following year, on the occasion of the state fair, which was held in Freeport in 1859.
The panic of 1857, occurring at a time when the village of Davis was in its earliest infancy, threatened for a time to blot out the venture altogether. Lots were sold very slowly, although the men interested in the enterprise made every effort to offer inducements to new settlers. Streets were laid out and made good with crushed stone, sidewalks were built, lots cleared, trees planted, and building sites were offered for sale at prices ranging from $40 to $125. A few of them were sold, but the work progressed slowly.
In 1858, the first store in the village, known as "Davis's Store," was erected by Samuel J. Davis. In the summer of 1859 the Evangelical Church was put up, and other church edifices were soon after erected. The stone schoolhouse was put up in 1858, and the first brick house in the town was finished for occupation in 1866 by Ernest Wendt.
From 1857 to 1863 there was almost no growth. War and panic succeeded in checking the progress of the growing village, and for a time it looked very dark for Davis. It seemed at one period as if the village must certainly be aban- doned, but a better time was coming. With the close of the war, business sud- denly revived, almost as if it had never suffered a relapse. From 1863 to 1869. a steady growth was visible, and residences, stores, and other buildings were erected in large numbers. By 1873, the settlement felt itself ready to assume the privileges and duties of a corporate community.
On Thursday, May I, of that year, an election was held to decide whether or not the settlement should be incorporated under the provisions of the general law for incorporating villages, adopted April 10, 1872. S. J. Davis, Peter Mc- Hoes and John Gift acted as judges of the election, and the project was carried by a vote of thirty-three to thirty-one. Soon after an election was held, and the first town officers duly installed in their positions. The first village officials, elected in the year of 1873, were :
E. A. Benton, president; E. Clark, M. Meinzer, Thomas Cronemiller and M. W. Kurtz, members of the board; M. W. Kurtz, village clerk; village treas- urer, no record for 1873.
Since the incorporation of Davis as a village, a development fully meeting the expectations of the most sanguine of its dwellers, has taken place. Short as the time of its development has been, Davis has attained to the rank of fourth or fifth in size among the numerous villages of Stephenson county, and is only exceeded in size by Freeport, Lena, Orangeville and possibly Pearl City. It is about equal in size to Winslow, Cedarville, Dakota and German Valley. Business has never been at all lively in Davis. There is a grain elevator owned by H. A. Hillmer, of Freeport, also a creamery; and these two comprise practically the only reasons for Davis' commercial communication with the outside world.
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