USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a record of its settlement, organization, and three-quarters of a century of progress > Part 9
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THE FIRST ELECTION.
There was great rejoicing in the county over this act of the State Legislature. It meant much to the few struggling settlements. The fact that the county was to be organized as a separate political unit, with a county seat and county offi- cials would be a big advertisement for the county in the east. That would mean that Stephenson County would get her share of immigrants who were sure to be coming west. The next step was the election.
The Legislature had set the first Monday of May as election day and had designated the house of William Baker as the voting place. The men selected to act as judges of the election were Orleans Daggett, James W. Fowler and Thomas J. Turner. They selected Benjamin Goddard and John C. Wickham to act as clerks. The election passed off without excitement. It was too early for factions and party organizations to be formed. The number of votes cast was 121. William Kirkpatrick was elected sheriff; Lorenzo Lee, coroner; Orestes H. Wright, commissioner's clerk and recorder; Lemuel W. Streator, Isaac S. Forbes and Julius Smith, commissioners; and Frederick D. Bukley, county surveyor. These officials were duly qualified and took up their respect- ive duties.
May 8, 1837, the county commissioners court held its first meeting, accord- ing to law, and the officials previously elected were qualified. The first session, it is maintained, was held in the residence of O. H. Wright. The court then laid off the county in election precincts, as follows :
. Freeport precinct began at the southeast corner of Central precinct, south to the south line of the county, west to the east line of Waddams precinct, north to the south line of Central precinct and east to he place of beginning. Seth Scott, A. O. 'Preston and L. O. Crocker were appointed judges of election.
Central precinct commenced at the northwest corner of Silver Creek pre- cinct, south five miles, west 13 miles, north to the southwest corner of Brewster precinct, thence east to the place of beginning. Ira Jones, Levi Lucas and Alpheus Goddard were appointed judges.
Brewster precinct commenced at the northwest corner of Rock Grove pre- cinct, running south 6 miles, west II miles, north to the state line and east to the place of beginning. L. R. Hull, John M. Curtiss and N. E. Ransom were appointed judges.
Rock Grove precinct began at the northeastern corner of the county and ran south 6 miles, thence west 9 miles, thence north to the state line, thence east to point of starting. J. R. Blackmore, Johnathan Cora and Eli Franken- berger were appointed judges.
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Waddams precinct began at the northwest corner of Brewster precinct, south to the south line of the county, west on the county line to the west line of the county, north to the north line of the county, and east to the point of starting. William Waddams, Othmiel Preston and John Garner were appointed judges of election.
Silver Creek precinct commenced at the southeast corner of Rock Grove pre- cinct, south to the south line of the county, 7 miles west, north to the line of Rock Grove precinct, thence east to place of beginning.
In this manner, the county commissioners laid off the county in six large precincts. Each one, however, contained only a small number of straggling set- tlers. This act paved the way for local government in the subdivisions of the county.
While this first court was in session, a man who had imbibed too freely of "Corn juice" became boisterous and started out to paint the town red. The fellow was arrested by the newly elected sheriff, Kirkpatrick, and locked up in William Baker's root house till he sobered off. He was then released without fine or trial. There was, as yet, no jail. Prior to county organization, unde- sirables were shown the way out of the settlement, which was less expensive, at least, than boarding them in the county bastile. Besides, in those days there was an excellent spirit of fair play and there was little necessity for police because every man in those frontier settlements was amply able to take care of himself. Otherwise, he would have remained east.
The commissioners evidently were "insurgents." Today they would not hesitate to pass laws regulating railroads and other corporations. At their first session they undertook to regulate, in the interest of public welfare, the only public service institution there doing business, the hotels. The court passed an ordinance, prohibiting inn-keepers from charging more than 371/2 cents for a meal, 121/2 cents for a night's lodging and 25 cents for a measure of oats and the same price for a horse to hay over night.
LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT.
The State Legislature had appointed three men, Vance L. Davidson, Isaac Chambers and Miner York, to locate the county seat. This kept up consid- erable excitement among the settlers till the location was agreed upon. Propo- sitions and petitions came in from all parts of the county where any consider- able settlement had been made. Each section set forth its particular claims and pressed them with great persistence. The two strongest contenders were Cedar- ville and Freeport. Cedarville's claim was that it was near the center of the county. Its claims were pushed by Thompson and Rezin Wilcoxen. But it was a case of an argument of real town against a "paper" town. Cedarville, as a village, was yet to be built. It was not surveyed or laid out. Freeport had been surveyed and laid out, contained a half dozen houses, a store, a hotel, trading post, a kind of ferry and a saloon. Besides, it seems, the business men of Freeport got busy. The land company that had laid out the town, offered to give $6,500 for the erection of county buildings and William Baker, mer- chant, real-estate dealer and promoter, offered the additional argument that
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besides donating the lot for the county buildings each of the commissioners should receive a lot. Many, including the Rev. F. C. Winslow, claimed that these "inducements" influenced the judgment of the three commissioners and prejudiced their decision in locating the county seat. Whatever the truth may be, in June, 1837, the commissioners set forth the following proclamation: We, the commissioners appointed by the Legislature of the State of Illinois, to lo- cate the county seat of Stephenson County and state aforesaid, have located said Seat of Justice, on the northwest quarter of section 31, in Township 27, North, Range 8, east of the fourth principal Meridian, now occupied and claimed by William Kirkpatrick & Co., William Baker and Smith Galbraith. >
Whereunto we have set our hands and seals this 12th day of June, A. D. 1837. (Signed.)
The real town of houses and business had won out against the theoretical. Whatever the inducements may have been, if there were any at all, there have been few people to criticise the judgment of the commissioners in locating the county seat at Freeport.
THE NAME FREEPORT.
Until 1836 the settlement at Freeport was called "Winneshiek," after the Winnebago chief of that name who had his village where the Illinois Central station now stands. It is not known who named it Winneshiek, it probably being taken up by consent. The following origin of the name "Freeport" has been handed down by tradition and may be true. William Baker, as before related, had established a tavern on the river front. Baker was a hospitable gentlemen, largely by natural disposition, and in part because he was our first real-estate agent. Newcomers were given the glad hand in true frontier fash- ion, and the latchstring was always out at Baker's. Many of these strangers were entertained by Baker without charge. This process levied heavily upon the stock of provisions at Baker's and kept Mrs. Baker hard at work. Mrs. Baker finally becoming tired of the business and annoyed by Baker's reck- less hospitality, gave vent to her feelings one morning at breakfast and an- nounced that henceforth the place should be called free port. The incident spread immediately over the community and the citizens thereafter called the town Freeport.
A post-office was established in 1837 in a small room on Galena Street and B. R. Wilmot was appointed postmaster, the first in the county. Previous to that time, Thomas Crain of Crain's Grove had received mail for Freeport and carried it to the settlers, collecting the dues from the recipients of letters. He got the mail from the Funk stages. Postage on a letter ran from 1834 to 25 cents. Wilmot was postmaster till 1840.
The county had now been organized, named, the county seat located and named, and officials had been elected. Much county history had been made from the time that William Waddams made the first permanent settlement in 1833 to the first county election in 1837. Stephenson County had passed from the "inter-regnum" of rule without law into an organized civil government.
The land company had made considerable improvements in Freeport in 1837, reaching to Stephenson Street. Wilmot and the Hollenbecks had built cabins.
STEPHENSON COUNTY JAIL
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OLD ENGINE HOUSE WHERE CITY HALL NOW STANDS
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ยท ILLINOIS
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
An occasional circuit rider may have held a few meetings in the county and in 1836 it is claimed that Father Mckean preached the first sermon in Free- port. The son of Lemuel Streator died in Winslow township. In 1836 Amanda Waddams was born at Waddams.
The first marriage is a question of doubt. This distinction is claimed for a Mr. Gage and Malindy Eels at Ransomberg in 1836, and by Dr. W. G. Bank- son and Phoebe McComber in the fall of 1836. Both, it is claimed, were mar- ried by Squire William Waddams. There is absolute evidence of the latter. The first marriage after the organization of the county was that of Eunice Waddams, daughter of William Waddams, to George Place, July 4, 1837. Squire Levi Robey performed the ceremony. The wedding was a quiet af- fair. Mrs. Place lived for years in the house built by her father in 1833. July 24, 1837, James Blain and Kate Marsh were married at the home of James Timms at Kellog's Grove. May 24, 1837, Harvey M. Timms was born at Kellog's Grove, being one of the earliest births recorded in the county's his- tory. Emma Eads died in Freeport in 1836 in a two-story frame building used as a tavern at the foot of Stephenson Street.
Thomas Milburn and a man named Reed lost their lives in the Pecatonica in 1837, a short distance west of Ridott. The men crossed the river in a dugout, on their way to work. One morning accompanied by a Mr. Wooten, a stepson of Thomas Crain, they started forth in the dugout to cross the river. The current was swift and the clumsy boat upset. Reed and Milburn were unable to swim and after making vain efforts to cling to the boat, both were drowned. Wooten was a fair swimmer and after a desperate struggle, reached the opposite shore. The settlers near by were aroused by Wooten, the river was dragged and after many laborious hours the bodies were brought to the shore. A large emigrant wagon served as a hearse and the men were buried on a hillside. After the grave was dug, the bodies were laid in and covered with hazel brush, and the grave filled up with dirt. It was a simple, plain burial, but in those days lumber for boxes or rude caskets was not easily obtained. Such a grave was not secure. A few days later a man passing by found that the wolves had dug into the grave and the fustian`trousers of one of the men were exposed. The passerby threw in some dirt and securing a large block of wood, drove it into the opening. The grave was not molested thereafter and the place was a point of interest for years.
The winter of 1836-7 was an exceedingly hard one. The small and scat- tered settlements in the county suffered not less than the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620. The cold was intense and the cabins built without foun- dations, and left with many "chinks," were more readily ventilated than heated. It is difficult to realize the hardships of the early settlers, and an in- sight into their primitive lives is bound to fill this generation with pride for the courage and perseverance of those who first settled here.
1837.
It is hardly conceivable that a person who settled in this county as one of the pioneers in 1837 would be living today, active and vigorous, and in the
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full possession of the mental faculties. Yet, it is true. In Cedarville there lives probably the most remarkable resident of the county, Mrs. Maria Simp- son Clingman. She was born in Scioto County, Ohio, December 12, 1809, being now in her IOIst year. She lives in a pleasant home in Cedarville with her son, William Clingman, a veteran of the Civil War. When the writer called to see her, August 2, 1910, he found her cheerfully pulling a few weeds in the garden. It was a rare privilege to sit and listen to her tell the story of early days and turn the pages of seventy-three years of history.
She married Josiah Clingman in 1830 and in 1835, with two children, the family moved first to Putnam and then to LaSalle County, Illinois. The fam- ily came by boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi and the Illinois to La- Salle. Jack Ritchie drove the ox team and wagon across the country. Land was well settled up about LaSalle and in 1836, on horseback, Josiah Clingman came into Stephenson and selected a claim north of Cedarville. In 1837 he brought his family to settle on the claim. With a horse hitched on in front of his ox team, Mr. Clingman, his wife and three children, George, Mary and Chester, the latter being born in LaSalle County, with the simple household goods stored in a hogshead, a cow and calf following behind, drove into Cedarville. Mrs. Clingman says that at that time, the only evidence of settlers in the present village was a little log shack and a mill claim. As they drove past the present mill site, Mr. Clingman remarked that a mill was to be built there. When asked why he knew that he pointed out two logs that had been cut and laid across each other near the rapids, he said it was the mark of a mill claim and that was respected on the frontier. The rule was that the man had the right of claim who did the first work. These logs had been placed by John Goddard, who sold his claim to Dr. Van Valzah that same year.
Josiah Clingman had begun a log house when he took up his claim the year before. While a roof was being put on the house, the family stayed with Levi Lucas, whose one room was small enough but whose hospitality was unlimited. The one-room log house was crowded and the men slept in a "potato hole," dug out under the cabin.
When the roof was completed, the Clingmans moved into their own, just log walls, board roof and a dirt floor. A kind of shelf, made of a slab, laid on pins driven into the wall served as a table. While this was placed so that it would be the right height when a board floor could be laid, it was far too high to be convenient from the dirt floor. Mr. Clingman heard of a place on Yel- low Creek where he could get boards for a floor, and after a laborious trip with ox-team, he returned with a load of black walnut lumber with which a floor was made.
In such a home housekeeping was simplified. Mrs. Clingman says she got along five or six years without a stove. The cooking was done on a fireplace. She had brought a few cooking utensils from Ohio, pots, skillets, spiders, etc. She made the clothing for the family. She made their hats and caps. She picked the wool, spun the yarn, which was fulled and made into cloth at Orange- ville, and made for her husband his first overcoat, colored, with two capes. All the clothing was home-made.
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
They had brought the cow and so had milk and butter. A bee tree was soon found and Mrs. Clingman and her husband hived them in a barrel and al- ways had honey thereafter. Flour could not always be had, as it was neces- sary to go to Galena or Wolf Creek. When out of flour or meal, corn was grated on a grater, and this coarse meal was made into "dodgers." The first flour they got came from Galena and was made from spring wheat. Mrs. Clingman said it made good biscuits, but would not make loaf bread. The flour was brought to Brewster's Ferry from Galena in a wagon drawn by an ox and a cow, and Mr. Clingman brought it from Brewster's by ox-team. Other supplies were secured from Savannah. Mr. Clingman's father and mother, Geo. W. and Polly Clingman, joined them in the new home before the floor was laid. They had left an elegant home in Ohio, but after looking around Cedarville and killing a deer, the elder Mr. Clingman said, "Polly, I would not go back to Ohio for anything," but his wife not yet accustomed to frontier life, rebuked him for the enthusiastic expression. Besides a few deer there were quail, pheasants, prairie chicken, etc., which afforded a pleasing change from salt pork. But Mrs, Clingman is impressive in her earnestness when she tells of the generous hospitality of the earlier days. All were obliging and there was no envy and jealousy. A splendid spirit of cooperation pre- vailed. And however simple and plain the home and equipments; however ar- duous the trials and difficulties of the log cabin days, the people were happy, she says, maybe happier than the present generation. Her children always had plenty to eat and wear and were well dressed. In closing the interview she said: "It was for the children that we left comfortable homes in Ohio in the midst of relatives and friends, to make a new home here in the wilds, where land was cheap. Here we could find homes and farms for the children and they have all done well."
Mrs. Clingman's life in this county covers the period of 1837 to 1910; from the year of the organization of the county to the present day. She is now the idol of the community, always a source of inspiration to the young people who listen at her knee to the stories of long ago.
Norman Phillips and wife came to Stephenson County from New York by way of the Great Lakes in 1837. At Green Bay, Wisconsin, James Phillips was born. The Phillips family settled at Damascus and has been one of the prominent families in the county. The Phillips men have always maintained a reputation for great height, any of them shorter than 6 feet 2 inches being the exception. Norman Phillips' wife was Mary Stout, of Maryland, whose ancestry runs backs to Holland and to England. Her mother was a Wolfe, in some way related to General James Wolfe, the conqueror of Quebec in 1859.
So far the "claims" were respected only by the "unwritten law of the set- tlers themselves." If a man selected a piece of land to his liking and "blazed" a tree around it, or cut a furrow around it, he was secure and guaranteed in its possession. The lands were not yet surveyed and not yet open to sale. The settler held his claim till the government put the land on the market, and then he alone could buy it. Many difficulties and disputes arose when the land of- fice at Dixon opened the sale in 1843. In general, the rightful claimants won out. In the absence of law, claim societies were organized by the settlers to
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protect themselves against speculators and "claim jumpers." Stringent meas- ures were sometimes resorted to and strong hints given certain disturbers and undesirable citizens to move on to the west. In 1836 a "claim meeting" was organized. A president, secretary and board of directors were selected. The object of the organization was mutual protection and cooperation. If a mem- ber's claim was encroached upon, his complaint was investigated by the officials. The trespasser would then be notified and warned to abandon the claim in five days. If he did not comply, he would be "carefully removed with his effects from the premises." There was a general understanding that two sections, two miles square, should be the extreme limit claimed by heads of families.
A man named John Barker tested the sincerity of the "claims" organiza- tion. In 1839 he settled on one of Benjamin Goddard's claims, now a part of Freeport, and refused to withdraw. He was brought before a committee of which William Baker, the founder, was chairman. The committee, after hear- ing the evidence decided that Barker was guilty and ordered him to vacate in a certain time or receive 30 lashes. Barker was a poor student of human nature and failed to leave on schedule time, taking a long chance with those stern frontier men. When his time had expired, he was seized, tied up by his thumbs and given the prescribed lashes. He had a change of heart and was willing to obey now, but he was escorted to the county line and advised to keep forever out of the county or he would be hanged. George Whitman had previously been driven out of the county by the citizens because he had been held guilty of stealing horses. This "unwritten law" had two very creditable features- it was prompt and effective.
It was believed that a big boom was coming in Illinois in 1836 and 1837. Set- tlers had been coming into the state in large numbers. Speculation was in- dulged in and laws were passed by the State Legislature, providing for a sys- tem of internal improvements, based on the faith and credit of the state. A bill was passed, providing for the construction of railroads, canals and improve- ment of rivers. Great results were expected to follow. Banks overreached their resources. People went heavily in debt. The whole structure, practically, fell down before it got started.
Hard times followed, not only in Illinois but all over the country. There had been too much flirting with paper money, loose banking and speculation. The bottom fell out. The hard times, no doubt, were felt here in this county, but the main result was the check given to prospective immigration.
The year 1836 was a big year in the settlement of this county. Reports had had time to get east and the encouraging letters to friends, telling of big and sure opportunities here, brought out a large number of settlers. Many of them were men of great ability and were destined to take high rank in state and nation. For the time being, however, they served well the immediate purpose of settling up the country and adding to its social, economic and political life.
Among the settlers this year were the following, many of whom brought their families: Thomas J. Turner, Pells Manny, Alford and Sanford Giddings, Washington Perkey, "Widow" Swanson and family, Thomas Flynn, E. Mul- larkey, Henry Hulse, M. Welsh, William and Leonard Lee, Nathan Blackmore, Aaron Baker, John Pile, Ira Job, Daniel Holly, Lydia Wart and family, Thomas
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
Hawkins, John Boyington, M. Phillips, John Lobdell, L. M. and Jeremiah Griggsby, Barney Howell, Mr. Velie, Nicholas Marcellus, John Dennison, W. P. Bankson, M. D., the first physician to settle in the county, Harmon Cogges- hall, James Macumber, Alonzo Denio, Duke Chilton, William Kirkpatrick, Gil- bert Osborn, A. J. Niles, Sanford Niles, Sawyer Forbes, Daniel Wooten, John Reed, E. H. D. Sanborn, the Ostranders, Garrett Lloyd, Asa Nichols, Lorenzo Lee, Madison Carnefix, Phillip Fowler, D. W. C. Mallory, Joseph Norris, Thomas Hathaway, his mother-in-law, a Mrs. Brown, James Shinkle, and a few others whose names have not been preserved.
Thomas Crain, who came to Crain's Grove in 1835, was an uncle of At- torney J. A. Crain of Freeport. He was of an old English family, the first of which came to America in 1645. One branch settled in Georgia, later removed to Kentucky, then to Randolph County, Illinois. From there, Thomas Crain, at- tracted into this section by the lead mines, after serving in the Black Hawk War, settled Crain's Grove south of Freeport.
Conrad Van Brocklin came from New York to Florence township in 1835. He was the first settler in what is now Florence Township. Harvey P. Wa- ters was of English descent. He came to Stephenson County from New York in 1836, and settled in Ridott township. He worked as a farm hand a year and then entered a claim of 66 acres in Ridott township. He married Miss Mary Lloyd, of Welsh descent, whose home was near Pecatonica and who was educated at Mt. Morris College.
John Brown, 1836, Scotch, was born in Pennsylvania, educated in Ohio, moved to Illinois, 1827,- served in Black Hawk War, was married in 1834, settled in Stephenson County in 1837. He had visited the county in 1834. John Brown was a great plowman. He broke prairie land for 16 years. At one time he owned over 1,000 acres of land and in 1888 owned 700 acres. Elliot Lee and wife drove from Hamilton County, Indiana, to Rock Run Township in 30 days in 1836. His father was a native of North Ireland. His wife was Rachel Kratzer. The Lees had a family of 12 children. Mrs. Swanson' and her family had settled in Rock Run Township in 1836. Mullarkey and Thomas Foley established a settlement in Rock Run, which has always been called Irish Grove. In 1827, Pat Giblin, Miles O'Brien and a Mr. Corcoran joined the Irish settlement. T. J. Turner put up a grist mill in Section 34, Rock Run.
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