USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a record of its settlement, organization, and three-quarters of a century of progress > Part 8
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Mr. Timms was a native of South Carolina and his wife a native of New York. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk War and his family was pro- tected in Funk's Fort and in the Apple River Fort during the war. One son, James B. Timms, living at Kellog's Grove, was then a boy four years old.
Many settlers came into Stephenson County in the year of 1835. Benjamin Goddard settled north of Freeport, stopping first with Mr. Robey. Luman and Rodney Montague and William Tucker settled near Waddams Grove. Hubb and Graves built a cabin near that of Levi Robey in Waddams Township. Richard Parriott, Sr., George Trotter, Henry and William Hollenbeck located in Buckeye Township. Nelson Waite, Charles Gappen, Alijah Warson, John
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
and Thomas Baker and William Willis settled in Waddams. In Winslow Township settled Alvah Denton, Lemuel Streator, Hector W. Kneeland, and James and W. H. Eels, Jefferson and Louis Van Metre settled in Oneco. John B. Kaufmann in Erin; Miller Preston, to Harlem; Jesse Willett, Calvin and Jabez Giddings, to Kent; Albert Alberson and Eli Frankenberger, and Josiah Blackmore to Rock Grove; Thomas Crain and family to Silver Creek; Conrad Vam Brocklin and Mason Dimmick and Otis Love and family to Florence. Thomson Wilcoxen spent part of the year in the county and settled permanently in Harlem the next year. Harvey P. Waters and Lyman Bennett spent the winter near the mouth of Yellow Creek and in the spring settled in Ridott township, where they were joined by A. J. Niles.
Probably the most important settlement in some ways in 1835, was that of William Baker, who built a trading post and established his family in a cabin on the banks of the Pecatonica River at the foot of Stephenson Street in the city of Freeport. Baker had picked out the site earlier and in 1835, with his son, Frederick, and his family, began the history of Freeport.
William Baker came from Orange County, Indiana. He first moved to Sangamon County, Illinois, in 1823, and in the spring of 1827 came to the lead mine region in Jo Daviess County. In 1829, they went back to Peoria, and in 1852 went to the lead mine country in Lafayette County, Wisconsin. The Bakers had come north just in time to get into the thick of the Black Hawk War. To escape the dangers from Indians, the family "forted" in Fort De- fiance. Baker and his son, Fred, returned to this county and December 19, 1835, built the cabin above mentioned which was the first house built in the ' city of Freeport. Mrs. Baker came the following February. Having com- pleted a hewn log home, Baker and Benjamin Goddard with an ox team and "wagon drove into Wisconsin to bring the family to the new home. It was a long and tedious journey, over unbroken, February roads. But through all the difficulties and dangers, there was the inspiration that lifts up every family as it moves into a new home. In due time the ox team was back again, and Mrs. William Baker was the first white woman to live in the limits, of the present city of Freeport. Mr. William Baker then entered and owned the land on which the city of Freeport now stands. Before his wife arrived Baker, assisted . by Benjamin Goddard and George Whiteman, erected another log mansion near the first. They were assisted in raising it by Fred Baker, Miller Preston and Jos. Van Sevit. Baker was favorably impressed with the location and decided to establish an Indian trading post and a hotel. A tribe of Winnebagoes was still in the community and the tavern would be able to earn something from immigrants who were sure to be coming through to the west. He also established a ferry, and did a fair business bringing people across the Peca- tonica. Mr. Baker was not here long before he became convinced that here was a desirable location for a village. That is why he laid claim to all the land of the present city. Besides, it cost him only the fee at the Dixon land office. The next move was to organize a land company and Baker secured as partners, William Kirkpatrick and W. T. Galbraith. This was the first organization in Freeport, a real estate firm, under the title of Baker, Kirkpatrick, Galbraith & Co. The purpose of this company was to offer inducements to immigrants.
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
They anticipated a large increase in westward bound settlers and were prepared to exploit the advantages and prospects of the village to be. The town was laid out early in 1836, in the north part of the northeast portion of section 31. This was later removed because the Indians when they had sold their lands had reserved certain tracts to the half-breeds, to be selected in any part of the territory they might choose. As soon as it became known that Baker, Kirk- patrick & Co. had laid out a town, Mary Myott located her claim on this sec- tion and the town builders moved their stakes farther west. Later, John A. Clark obtained title to this section and calling it Winneshiek Addition, opened it to settlement.
In 1836, Baker & Co. put up two log cabins, one at the corner of Galena and Chicago Streets, and one opposite the monument on Stephenson Street. Mr. L. O. Crocker built a small hut on the banks of the river and in the fall occu- pied it as a store. The real estate visions of the company seemed to brighten in 1836. During the year O. H. Wright, Joel Dodds, Hiram Eads, Jacob Good- heart, John Hinkle, James Burns, William, Samuel and Robert Smith, John Brown, Benjamin R. Wilmot and several others came in, so that when winter arrived there was quite a colony in the new location. F. D. Bulkley came but settled on Silver Creek township and E. H. D. Sanborn settled in Harlem.
A few points of interest have been preserved in regard to these earliest set- tlers. · Luman Montague, above mentioned, was of English descent. He was a native of Bennington, Vermont. He married Miss Elmira Clark in Massa- chusetts and, soon after, with his young bride set out on a marvelous honey- moon trip. With an ox team and wagon in 1835, they drove the entire 1,000 miles from Northampton, Massachusetts, to Stephenson County, and settled on section 18 in West Point Township. The first Montague to come to America was Richard, who settled in Hadley, Massachusetts, 1660. With an ax alone, Luman Montague built his log home in this county. He set out the first nursery and one time had an orchard of 1,200 trees.
Hubbard Graves had learned the stone cutter's trade on the Scioto, in Ohio. He married and came first to Hennepin, Illinois. He settled in Waddams Town- ship, 1835, and built his cabin before the land was surveyed. He sold this claim and took two others in Rock Grove Township. He was the first sheriff of Stephenson County and was a member of the legislature from 1842-1844.
Richard Parriott, Sr., was a native of Tyler County, West Virginia. He came to southern Illinois in 1826, settled in Indiana a short time, and then through Stephenson County to Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1835, and not finding anything to suit him returned to this county and settled in Buckeye township. George Trotter, also an early settler in Buckeye was a native of Bourbon County, Kentucky, and first came with his father's family to Springfield, Illinois. He walked from Springfield to the lead mine region and secured employment in a smelter at $16 a month. He enlisted for the Black Hawk War and was in the battle of the Wisconsin River and the Bad Axe. After the war, with his wife and two children, two horses, two oxen and a wagon, he drove to Honey Creek, Wisconsin, but not being pleased there, returned to this county and set- tled in Buckeye Township, 1835. Not having money to enter his land, he held it as a claim till he secured a title. James and W. H. Eels drove from
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
New York to LaSalle County, Illinois, and in 1835 came on to Stephenson County, settling in Winslow township and built a double hewed log house. In 1836, they moved to Ransomberg and built another log house and made it into a tavern, where was held the first election that occurred in that section. The nearest mill in 1835 was at Gratiot, Wisconsin, and it was a poor corn cracker. Galena was the nearest place for supplies and the nearest post office. It often cost 25 cents to get a letter out of the office and this the settlers did not always have, as coin was a scarce article. But a letter from the home folks way down east was highly prized, and the good natured postmaster frequently let the pioneers have the letters on "tick." At the age of 17, W. H. Eels pur- chased his "time" from his father for $250. He then worked for $16 a month on a farm and in 1838 bought a yoke of oxen. Later he bought a claim of 160 acres in Winslow Township and married in 1841. He owned the first threshing machine in that section. He was a great reader, and was admitted to the bar in 1872. T. J. Van Metre came west as a boy from Ohio to the lead mines. He served in the Black Hawk War, and in 1836 came to Oneco, paying $100 for a claim of 150 acres. In 1837 he made a horseback trip to Cincinnati.
Thus were laid the foundations for the history of Stephenson County. It had its beginning with one family, that of William Waddams in 1833, at Wad- dams Grove, 77 years ago. The next year, 1834, saw several new settlements. The year 1835 closed with a large number of additional settlers of high quality. These settlements formed centers scattered in every direction, around which the county was to be built up. In addition to the those mentioned above, there were many others whose names have not been preserved. While the popula- tion was yet small and the settlements isolated, yet the tide of immigration had set in strong, and the rapid occupation of the county was assured. The settlers were pleased with the outlook and sent back east glowing reports of the climate and the resources of the county, telling in words of praise of "The beautiful land, with her broad, billowy prairies, replete with buds and blossoms, with her wooded fastnesses, in which the deer and smaller game roamed at pleasure; of the water power that the streams would afford, and many other items of interest which conspired to render the country not only fascinating to the traveler, but productive under the horny hand of toil."
The following letter written in 1837 from Damascus to New York, affords a good description of the county and the favor with which the new country was looked upon by the early settlers. It was written by Nelson Martin, who rode through from New York to Damascus on horseback. It was written to Norman Phillips, who later that same year settled at Damascus.
Dear Friends :
Pekatonica River, Jan. 15, 1837.
Agreeable to my promise last fall I will atempt to inform you of our journey, healths, and situation. I believe I gave you the outlines of our journey as far as Chicago, while I was there, we left there about the first of Dec .; the ground was froze just enough to make good wheeling, and we should have got here in four days, but Rock River was impassable which detained us about four days longer, but the journey was pleasant all the way through and we saw a great many pleasant looking places, but I saw no place on the way that fills
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
my eye equal to this. I think Father has made the best choice there is on the river for twenty miles. The land lies just as you could wish it, there is a rise of land on the south side of the river (or rather on the west for the river runs nearly north and south here). It extends up and down the river nearly half a mile back fom the river, and between the river and this rise is about three hun- dred acres of what is called River Bottom as beautiful as you ever saw. Then across the river from this is the timber, but back of this rise I mentioned is beautiful rolling prairie as you would wish to see and it's well watered. There is some timber on this side of the river, and three or four miles back from us is a grove of timber that almost surrounds us. This grove breaks off the north and west winds and makes it quite pleasant. The timber land lies the opposite side of the river, I think we have the best lot of timber here that I have seen since I left York State. The timber land lies beautiful, not only so, but we have two as good mill sites as there is in the country. I should like it much if we had a good sawmill in operation. Lumber is very high and hard to be got, al- most the whole country south of us depends on this river for lumber, but we don't think of that at present. We are getting our Rail Stuff acrost to do our fencing, we calculate to fence about two hundred acres next spring, we have between 20 and 25 acres broke ready for corn and team enough to break as much as we can work. Mr. Phillips, I wish you was here to help us till this beautiful land, it looks to me as if it would work as easy as a bed of ashes and they tell me it produces like a garden, the whole of it, I think you can't help but like it. I have been over the place a great deal, and the more I see of it the better I like it. If you come here next summer you will of course come by water to Chicago, to this place it is one hundred and twenty miles from Chicago. There is a new road laid out from Chicago to Galena. It's much nearer than the old road. Father thinks to meet you at Chicago if we get some more teams, if not it would be difficult, as we shall have to make use of all we have at that season on the farm. Write at all events what time you will be there. Phebe Ann, I think if you come out here in less than six months you will be as healthy as ever you was. The climate and water here is peculiarly adapted to constitutions like yours. It never has failed to cure yet and I have heard of a number of cases of the kind and I think you will like our neighbors. We have but a few of them but what there is is York State People and they are very fine respectable obliging neighbors and I am well pleased with them and I think you must be. Tell William we have a claim for him and I think he will be pleased with it. It lies handsome and it's well watered. Josephine was so pleased with the place that we had to mark a claim for her about the first thing. Tell William Stewart if he wants a farm here is the place. There is good chances yet but the country is selling so fast that I think it will be all taken up in less than a year where there is any chance for timber."
Respects to all.
About 1840 a newspaper man passing through the county gave the follow- ing description in the Madison Express: "Since I have been here I have been about the county considerably, and am well convinced that it is well deserving of the high reputation it has attained. From Rockford to Freeport the road passes through one continuous prairie, with the exception of a grove about a
FORD A HOUSEL.
MUL TA
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A. W. FORD'S JEWELRY STORE. 1855
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
mile in length. The prairie is quite rolling, in many places amounting to hills with an uncommonly rich and fertile soil. There is in this county less waste land on account of sloughs and marshy places than in most prairie countries with which I am acquainted. Yet the land is admirably well watered, there being a clear creek nearly every mile, wending its way through the prairie to the Pecatonica River. These, I am told, originate in springs, the water always being clear and pure and the streams never dry. The banks of the creeks are usually high and the land on either side of the water's edge, is perfectly dry. A heavy body of timber is to be found on the north side of the Pecatonica River, the best growth I have ever found in the state. It is mainly oak, and in many places we find a variety of timber."
Many of the early settlers came from two sources. One was from the men who were attracted to the lead mine regions. Many of these men passed through Stephenson County by way of the old Kellog trail. They were impressed by the beauty and the wealth of the agricultural resources of the county and, in due time, when fortunes did not hastily develop in the lead regions, they thought of necessity to return to the slower but surer road to competence- agriculture. Remembering what they had seen of this county and its oppor- tunities, they turned back to the eastward along the old trail and from Wad- dams and Kellog's Groves, they took up claims along the valleys of Yellow Creek and the Pecatonica.
Another source of settlement was the soldiers of Black Hawk's War. They too had crossed and recrossed the county and had not failed to be impressed by its opportunities and resources. The Indians were driven out and many of the veterans of the war, returned here with their families to take up claims. The land down the state was well taken and prices had advanced. But here, they could own a quarter section, for a small payment to the land office at Dixon. For the most part, they were progressive and courageous men and good citizens, who were not afraid to leave a settled community to find larger opportunities amidst the dangers and privations of life on the front wave of civilization.
Naturally a few worthless characters drifted into the county. They had been undesirable citizens in the east and in the older communities, and had been compelled to go towards the west. But here they found too many people of the better class and many of them soon moved on to the farther west. The settlers here were devoted to industry and to orderly civil government. It was not an enticing place for the idle or the outlaw.
Mr. Lyman Brewster settled in the county and built a ferry near Winslow in the spring of 1834. Lyman Brewster was a native of Vermont. He settled first in Tennessee. From Tennessee he moved his family to Peru, Illinois, and in` 1834 settled in Winslow township where he entered a claim, built a cabin, cleared 80 acres of ground and opened Brewster's Ferry, the first on the Peca- tonica. He soon thereafter rented the ferry to William Robey and returned to Peru. In 1835, Lemuel W. Streator purchased the Brewster property, the ferry and 640 acres for $4,000, which was paid to the Brewster heirs, Lyman Brewster having died at Peru. In 1836, Stewart and McDavel opened a store in Ransomberg. Later they moved to Oneco. George Payne also stopped at
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
Brewster's Ferry that year, and George W. Lott built a shanty in the present limits of Winslow. Others who settled near Winslow were Harry and Jerry Waters and A. C. Ransom.
RANSOMBERG.
Mr. Ransom was a real-estate man, a promoter with a powerful imagina- tion. He has the honor of having laid out the first town in Stephenson County. Of course, it was a paper town, located about 11/2 miles below Brewster's Ferry. At this time, 1834, speculation in western lands was quite general throughout the east. The good times dating from 1825 had caused a great boom all over the United States. Abundant issues of paper money and wild- cat banking schemes and lotteries filled the public mind with a spirit of specu- lation. Towns were platted in the wilderness of the west and although the location was indefinite, the circulars were so attractive and the spirit of specula- tion so high that many men bought corner lots in these paper cities at unwar- ranted prices. The country was passing through a period of feverish excite- ment.
Mr. A. C. Ransom's makeup was such that he was caught up in the wild speculation enthusiasm of the day. He entered a tract of land below Brewster's Ferry and set his imagination to work building up a modern town in the wilder- ness. The land was surveyed and platted. Charts and maps were drawn up such as would induce the investor to part with his money. The map of the proposed city was illustrated in attractive colors, and showed streets and ave- nues in beautiful and regular arrangement. The map showed beautiful parks, made attractive by shrubbery, fountains and statuary. Wharves extended into the Pecatonica were shown, and on the painted river, a painted steamboat gave signs of the commercial advantages of the wilderness. Mr. Ransom added a touch of reality to the game by establishing a store in his city. Land agents, however, failed to make many sales at fabulous prises, regardless of the great inducements offered. The people were too unimaginative and too conservative, for they seemed to invest real money in real values. Yet, it is maintained that Mr. Ransom sold a corner lot to an eager buyer in St. Louis for $500. The scheme failed and Mr. Ransom, disappointed, went to Texas, and a plain, unadorned cornfield occupies the site of the once beautifully illustrated paper city of Ransomberg.
Simon Davis, Andrew Clarno and John M. Curtis settled in Oneco town- ship in 1834. Some claim an earlier date but this is not certain. Clarno set- tled on Honey Creek and Davis near Oneco. In 1835, Lorin and Fred Remay opened farms in the same section as did also Ralph Hildebrand and Jonas Strohm. In the spring of 1835, John Goddard settled in Buckeye township, and Jones and Lucas came in the fall. Andrew St. John, Ira, Job and Daniel Holley in 1836. The next year besides those mentioned elsewhere, G. W. Clingman, J. Tharp, Jackson Richart, Lazarus Snyder, Jacob Brown and Joseph Green opened farms in Buckeye. In 1836, Andrew Jackson and Jefferson Niles built a shanty on the east bank of the Pecatonica in Ridott Township. Others who settled in Ridott that year were Sawyer Forbes, Daniel Wooten, Horace
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
Colburn, Mr. Wickham, John Reed. The Ridott settlement was strengthened in 1837 by the arrival of Caleb Thompkins, G. A. Seth, Isaac and Eldridge Far- well, Garrett Floyd, Norman, Levi, Isaac and Orsemus Brace. In 1835, in the fall, Jesse Willet opened a farm near that of James Timms in Kent. Four miles north, Calvin and Jabez Giddings settled; Gilbert Osbern joined the Kent colony in the fall of 1836.
Levi Wilcoxen built a mill on Richard Creek on the present site of Sciota Mills in 1836. John Lewis put in the water wheel and Mr. Wilcoxen was as- sisted by the following: John Edwards, George Cockerell, William Goddard, Alpheus Goddard, Peter Smith, Wesley Bradford, Homer Graves and John As- comb. The mill began work in August of 1836. William Kirkpatrick, it is believed by many, built a mill on Yellow Creek at Mill Grove, Loran ·town- ship in 1836. Some say the date is 1839. Kirkpatrick was a member of the Freeport firm of Baker, Kirkpatrick, Galbraith & Co.
Benson McIlhenny settled near Hickory Grove, Dakota township, in 1836. Albert Alberson and Jonathan Corey settled at Rock Grove in 1836. Eli Frankenberger came the same year, and Louisa Frankenberger was the first white child born in Rock Grove Township.
The year 1837 stands as a milestone in the history of Stephenson County. This year, the county was organized and civil government was established within its present boundaries. Up to this time the settlers had been under the jurisdiction of Jo Daviess County. The seat of government at Galena, however, was so far away that as an old settler put it, "but few of the people of Stephenson County knew they were under the government of Jo Daviess County." In fact, from the settlement of William Waddams, 'at Waddams in 1833 till 1837, there was no real civil government in Stephenson County.
That does not mean, however, that there was no government. There was little lawlessness and anarchy did not prevail. The people who came into the county did what the English settlers have always done. They observed a cer- tain "unwritten" law, and when necessary organized to protect their interests and rights. During this period, undesirables were piloted beyond the settle- ments and warned not to return.
The State Legislature in session at Vandalia, on March 4th, 1837, passed an act providing for the organization of Stephenson County. The act is as follows :
"Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, that all that tract of country within the following boundaries, to-wit: Commencing on the northern boundary of the state, where the section line between sections three and four, in town 29 North, Range 5, east of the principal meridian, strikes said line, and thence east on the northern boundary line of the state, to the range line between Ranges 9 and 10 East, thence south on said range line to the northern boundary of Ogle County, thence west on the northern boundary of Ogle County to and passing the northeast corner of the county to the line between sections 33 and 34, in Township 26 North, Range 5, east to the place of beginning, shall form a county to be called Stephenson, as a tribute of respect to the late Colonel Benjamin Stephenson.
Section 2. An election shall be held at the house of William Baker, in said
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county on the first Monday of May next, for one sheriff, one coroner, one recorder, one county surveyor, three county commissioners, and one clerk of the county commissioners court, who shall hold their offices till the next suc- ceeding general elections, and until their successors are elected and qualified ; which said election shall be conducted in all respects agreeable to the law reg- ulating elections. Provided that the qualified voters present may elect from their own number three qualified voters to act as judges of said election, who shall appoint two qualified voters to act as clerks."
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