USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 10
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The Christian church, or Disciples, has 115 members. It is the second charge of Rev. C. W. Marlow, a graduate in 1901 of Eureka College. The nucleus of the present church was formed at Genesee Grove in 1837 by Elder Yeager. Then came the regular organization in 1847 in a school house by Henry Howe. Among the leading members were the Crums, Nanees, and Mr. and Mrs. John Yeager. The latter deserve grateful remem- branee for their zeal.
Rev. S. A. Hoffman is in his second year at the M. E. church. There are 45 members. The foreign missionary society has 20 members, Epworth league 25. The superintendent of the Sunday school is J. L. Milroy. Mr. H. came to this conference from Wisconsin.
The store of J. T. Crum was the first building ereeted in Coleta, after- wards purchased by Ephraim Brookfield, who for several years besides teaching carried on a business in general merchandise. He taught as early as 1858.
Rev. J. G. Breden is pastor of the United Brethren Church, Liberal. He takes the place of Rev. J. A. F. King, who went to Jordan church. The membership is 29, and is composed of a few families, chiefly Overholser, Deets, and Hurless.
Perhaps the most lively institution in Coleta is the literary society which is in operation every winter. There is a regular program at every session, musie, recitations, essays, and a debate. This is announced a week or two in advance, giving the speakers ample time to prepare. The subjects for discussion are timely. For instance, during the winter of 1908 were argued: Should Washington's example in retiring after a second term be made a law? Is there more pleasure in pursuit than in possession? Will the Hennepin eanal prove a financial benefit to Illinois? The meetings are held on Saturday night, and arouse great enthusiasm.
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OLD SOLDIERS.
James Siddles enlisted at Mt. Carroll in Co. K, 15th Illinois Infantry. The first captain was Adam Mase. They were sworn in at Freeport, April, 1861. The first battle was Shiloh, then at Corinth, Vicksburg. Part of the time the regiment was chasing Sterling Price through Missouri. Their service of three years ended at Natchez.
Jacob Howe, 85, was in the 75th Illinois, and was wounded three times, in head, foot, and leg, and mustered out at Nashville. He came to the county in 1855 from Newcastle, Pa., the home of Sankey, the singer. His mother lived to 89, his grandmother to 110. He rejoices in the increase of his pension to $24 per month, owing to the efforts of Hon. Frank O. Lowden.
While the original settlers of Genesee are gone, there are still living in Coleta some venerable people who are bright and active. Perhaps the oldest is Grandma Wallace, who has celebrated her 88th birthday, but some- what hindered by a lameness in her hip, caused by a fall. John Overholser, son of Martin, came here from Ohio in 1854. He is brother of J. P. Over- holser, P. M., of Sterling. Although 74, he does his various chores every day. On his father's side all lived to 80 or 90. John Anthony, father of Joshua, from Cayuga county, N. Y., 1853, entered six hundred acres at $1.25 an acre. R. B. Colcord, who died in 1907 in California, settled in Genesec in 1837, and after his marriage in 1854 carried on the business of marble cutting till his removal to Sterling in 1869.
There are nine schools in Genesee, and six Sunday schools. Most of these people's academies have names, as is the fashion now, North Star, Washington, Lafayette. Some of the grounds are attractive with lawn, trees, and walks, and the interiors adorned with portraits of Lincoln, Lowell, and other eminent Americans. (
South of Coleta is the creamery operated by J. B. Gilbert, managed by G. M. Lefever. The receipts of cream vary with the season. Churning is not done every day unless sufficient cream is furnished. The butter product varies from 350 pounds in the fall to 600 pounds in midsummer. Six men are engaged in hauling, their territory extending to Milledgeville.
Not far south of Coleta is a low, weather-beaten shanty, windows out, the picture of loneliness and desolation. It is known by the neighbors as the "Helen Brookfield Eighty," and belongs to the original estate of Ephraim Brookfield, who married Harriet Yeager in 1859, doing business in Coleta till 1874, when he sold out. If this ancient structure could talk, what an intensely valuable narrative it could give of people and changes in Genesee .. We arc reminded of Horace Smith's address to Belzoni's mummy in London :
Speak! for thou long enough hast acted dummy; Thou hast a tongue-come, let us hear its tune; Thou'rt standing on thy legs, above ground, mummy, Revisiting the glimpses of the moon.
This white frame building is the Hickory Grove church, originally built by the Methodists, but except an occasional Sunday school, no regular
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service has been held for years. A neat iron fence in front. The early members of the society are dead, their descendants have gone, and the farm- ers adjacent have other church relations. The cemetery, however, is kept in excellent condition. Every spring and fall the kindly hands of the sur- rounding country unite in showing respect to the graves of the pioncers. On the tombs we read the names of Wink, Courtright, Kingsbury, Van Osdol, Johnson. On the monument of John Yeager, who died at 33 in 1864, is the inscription, "Erected by Union Ladies of Genesee."
MURDER IN GENESEE.
John Miller killed August Langberg on Aug. 3, 1884, with an ax, splitting his head open. Both were farm laborers, and the tragedy was on a farm where one of them was working. The quarrel was about a jug of liquor. Miller was indicted at December term of court, 1884, plead guilty, and was sentenced to penitentiary for life. He was taken to the penitentiary Dec. 16, 1884, and was sent from there to insane asylum at Chester, Fcb. 4, 1893, and in October died of consumption. Walter Stager, states attorney, has kindly furnished this item from his practice.
VARIOUS ITEMS.
If good roads and substantial bridges are'a sign of civilization, Genesee is entitled to a high place. Two steel bridges have just been placed over Spring creek, whose antics in the early freshets require the strongest safe- guards. Each forty feet long. Concrete approach.
Among the smaller industries is pop corn. Charles Muntz had three aeres in 1907 from which he gathered 200 bushels. At one dollar a bushel, it is evident that the crop is profitable.
CLYDE:
Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts tho stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating, Funeral marches to the grave .- Longfellow.
Soon after leaving Morrison, as you drive north, on the south side of the road, is a cemetery with numerous tombs. The gate is not fastened, and one is at liberty to walk about the grassy mounds. Several names on the marbles of early settlers, Sccor, Kennedy, Hays, Pratt, Harris, Parry, Hiddleson. The oldest record is that of T. L. Jackson, who died in 1882 at 94. Compass and square on the stone. Here sleep a group of heroes of the Civil war. Aaron Bailey, who died in 1871 at 77. J. Warren Heaton, 1864, only seventeen, a youthful patriot. D. Columbia, whose stone bears the simple motto, "In the service of his country." J. D. Paschal, 1886, at 79. Sergeant Charles M. Shaw, Co. H, 5th Vermont Volunteers, dving in 1870 at 34.
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Sleep, soldiers, still in honored rest, Your truth and valor wearing! The bravest are the tenderest, The loving are the daring.
This little cluster of houses to which we are coming is Malvern. Two storcs, a town hall, and a church, the Evangelical. The pastor, Rev. R. S. Welsh, lives at Fairhaven, and comes over to preach on Saturday night or Sunday morning, according to previous arrangement. Before his present work, he labored in Pacific Garden Mission, Chicago. Mrs. Davis is super- intendent of the Sunday school of 35 scholars. The proprietor of one of the Malvern stores is M. W. Humphrey, who came to the country in 1857, and married Emma Newton, whose father, George Newton, emigrated from England in 1852, and was a gallant soldier in the 75th Illinois.
Rock creek and Little Rock creek run through Clyde, and various mills were erected in early days. The Milnes mill on Little Rock, built by Joseph Milnes, was taken down in 1895, and a bridge now crosses the stream near the site. W. P. Hiddleson erected the building known as the Hough's mill, still in active operation by George Appel, who grinds grists for the farmers as they bring them in the old-fashioned style. Chiefly, feed for stock, as most people prefer the refined roller flour. There was also a Brothwell mill which disappeared long ago. As these mills were the natural centers of business and gossip, the first post offices were established at Brothwell's and Milnes' mills. In 1840 an oil mill to manufacture that fluid medicine was put up, but early frosts spoiled the castor beans and ended the enterprise.
Near Malvern reside the liveliest couple the writer has seen in his travels. The gude wife is a daughter of Donald Blue, who had an adven- turous career. He was born in the Highlands of Scotland, 1799, year of Washington's death, emigrated to Canada, was in the Patriot War of 1837, settled in Clyde in 1839, drove an ox team to California in 1852, returned to his farm, and spent the last twelve years of his life in Morrison. A large family of eleven children. This daughter was first married to Robert Mckay by Rev. Mr. Crissman of Morrison in 1868, and the second time to Daniel Ackerman, of New Jersey, the last of his family. He came with his father through Chicago about 1840. The father was offered eighty acres in the heart of the young port if he would act as pilot on the lake for a few months, but fleas, mire, and other annoyances were so offensive that the mother refused to stay, and so the Ackermans are not today among the millionaires of the metropolis. The old gentleman landed in Clyde with fifty cents in silver, and moved into a green log cabin before the chimney was completed. Both the present Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman are impetuous talkers, each trying to head the other, and lively as crickets .. She regu- larly every Saturday takes thirty pounds of butter to Sterling, receiving 30 cents in winter, 25 in summer.
Here is a Dunkard church. It was purchased about 1868 from the Seventlı Day Adventists who had become too fceble to support it. There
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are 40 members, and Sunday school all winter. There are three pastors who exercise the saered funetions in turn, like the priests in the courses of the Jewish sanctuary: D. E. Gerdes, W. M. Grater, and John W. Miller. They do not expect support from the congregation, but earn their own bread by the sweat of their brow. The Bible is their ereed. They take its declarations in their plain meaning. Feet washing is observed onee a year after communion. At their religious meetings there is the utmost freedom and eordial intereourse.
A little further on is the Aldritt School, taught in 1908 by Miss Cora Hoak. The property in fine condition with eonerete walk to the door, convenient pump, pietures on the walls, cheerful flowers in the windows. Judging by the register, the Janvrins are the prevailing family in the dis- triet. The school is fitly ealled Aldritt, for several of that name were pioneers in the distriet. John in 1846, Richard in 1844, William in 1845, all from Staffordshire, England, settled in Clyde, and reared large and respectable families. Another Englishman was Richard Beswiek, who eame to Clyde in 1839, and opened an extensive farm. His son, George R., was in the 13th Illinois, and died at Rolla, Missouri, in 1862.
Near the site of the early Milnes mill, the writer had a short interview with the venerable R. M. Kennedy, who came from Franklin county, Pa., in 1839 to Indiana, then to St. Paul, driving an ox team 800 miles, which he sold, and returned by water to Fulton. Seven in the family stayed all night with Walter Wright for two dollars and a half. He settled in Clyde in 1855. Mr. Kennedy is 85, and looks good for another deeade.
Besides the Aldritts, some of the other pioneers were from England, Zachariah Dent, 1839; Henry W. Daniel, 1838; Samuel Ressell, 1838. From Scotland, Samuel Currie; 1839; William Wilson, 1839; and John Wilson, 1839. In honor to the 'Seoteh element, there is peculiar propriety in naming the township Clyde after the famous river at Glasgow.
TIIE MT. CARMEL FAITH MISSIONARY TRAINING HOME AND ORPHANAGE.
'Tis not enough to help the feeble up, But to support him ever after .- Shakespeare. The drying up a single tear has more Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore .- Byron.
Ten miles northeast of Morrison, in Clyde township, is situated the only private charity in Whiteside. This is Mt. Carmel Faith Missionary Training Home and Orphanage. It is undenominational, and depends upon the promises of God and prayer of faith to supply its needs. Very much in the spirit of Spurgeon's Orphanage in London, Francke's institution at Halle, or George Muller's at Bristol, England. There are forty aeres in the prop- erty deeded by the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Zook. There are several houses for the school proper, besides the buildings for farm purposes. Two wells and some unfailing springs afford an abundant supply of water.
A simple narrative explains the origin of the work. While engaged at
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the wood pile in 1899, God met Mr. Zook, definitely ealling him to yield his property and himself for service. A new move, but the assurance was elear that it was to be a training home for Christian workers. It was soon learned that the earnest laborers in Chieago in this field were overrun with . neglected and homeless children. They were praying for relief, and here was their opportunity. On March 1, 1900, the home was opened. The first child was received April 6. In August, 1901, a new step was taken by faith, the editing of a paper. Its name, Soul Food, is significant of its purpose.
From time to time children were brought into the orphanage from Chi- cago and from surrounding towns. The object of the work is not to put children into private homes, but to provide proper care and training in the orphanage, and bring up the neglected children in ways that will make them useful Christian men and women. Only children will be accepted who will be allowed to remain till they are eighteen, so that parents may not reclaim them before they are firmly established in right principles. There are three features in the discipline of the young people: the day school, religious in- struetion, and industrial training. Each day is begun with an hour of worship.
All are expected to take part in the affairs of the establishment. The boys do the chores, cut the wood, help about the field and garden. Each has a small garden spot to exercise his taste and ability. The girls assist in the household and in the care of the younger children. Good health has been a blessing vouchsafed to the little family. The laws of proper living are observed. The nervous and debilitated children from the city with country air and diet and exercise soon gain appetite, digestion, clear skins and bright eyes.
But more room is an imperative necessity, or the work cannot enlarge. More children cannot be taken because there is no place to receive them. In 1904, the last report, the family consisted of thirty children ranging from two months to fifteen years, all well and active. There are five workers. Very soon a Missionary Training Home is expected to be an active depart- ment. There are constant calls for men and women qualified for evangelistie work, to carry the gospel to darkened minds at home and abroad. The printing press is proving an important factor in the preparation of gospel workers. While setting type the boys are gathering a fund of useful infor- mation. A while the farm had been rented but now an overseer in charge provides employment for the lads, and thus an income is secured from the land.
From a booklet of By-laws we glean several items of interest. No salaries are paid to any worker. There must be simplicity of dress. Purity and temperance are demanded in all things. All workers are encouraged to make special study of the Bible, and to spend much time in secret prayer. Pune- tuality must be observed in rising and retiring, and in attendance at the table. There are only four articles in the simple confession of faith, and this is the second: We believe in a definite work of sanctification by grace, cleansing the heart from all sin, and making the body the temple of the Holy Ghost.
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To set forth the needs of the home and the spirit of the institution, a small, three-column paper of four pages is published monthly at Morrison, with A. G. Zook as editor, and A. Myrtle Zook and May L. Donaldson, asso- ciate editors. The subscription price is low, and two hundred more patrons are needed to 'make the journal self-supporting. "Soul Food" is the sug- gestive title of the paper. No secular topics are discussed, the whole aim being to encourage faith and pious meditation. Bishop Ken's hymn seems to pervade the columns:
Direct, control, suggest, this day, All I design, or do, or say; That all my powers with all their might, In thy sole glory may unite.
Near Malvern is a horticultural enterprise that has grown steadily from a small beginning. In 1882 Lee Horning conceived the plan of a vineyard, and planted several thousand vines of different varieties. Some not yielding well were replaced with Concord and Moore's Early, which flourished till 1900, when the scvere winter froze them.so they had to be replanted. Now they are in good bearing condition. It was his intention to market the fresh fruit, but it was attended with so much drudgery, that he decided to make the crop into wine. His plan has proved successful, but has required the expenditure of time, money, and perseverance: In order to give the proper flavor, age is a necessary condition, and he keeps the wine in storage from eight to ten years, before placing on market. As this storage requires much room, underground cellars of stone, steel and cement had to be con- structed, as well as cold air ducts to afford proper ventilation. An acetylene system furnishes abundant light. Two of his products he takes special pleasure in recommending, the unfermented wine for church service, and the pure article for medicinal use. Mr. Horning is justly proud of his estab- lishment, and is always glad to welcome visitors to its examination.
VARIOUS ITEMS.
Much timber yet in Clyde, some second growth, and in October a drive over the hills is a luxury.
The glorious splendor of thy sunset clouds, . The rainbow beauty of thy forest leaves.
The roads do not always follow section lines, but wind around' the hills and through the woods to reach the point.
Isaac Fletcher, who died in Morrison in March, 1908, was a citizen of Clyde for forty years. He and his wife came from England in 1860, pur- chased a farm in the township, and by industry acquired a competence sufficient to enable them to retire when health failed to a cottage in Mor- rison. He was nearly 82.
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HOPKINS.
There was a sound of revelry by night, And Belgium's capital had gathered then Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men .- Byron.
A circle has one center, an ellipse has two, but Hopkins has three, Como, Galt and Emerson. The only member of the family of townships that enjoys that distinction. The early people in Como were a choice set, nothing common or unclean, as Peter once said. They were either of noble descent or of marked ability. For instance, Mrs. Margaret Perkins, wife of Hamilton, was Miss Breck, of Rochester, on the committee to receive Lafay- ette on his second visit in 1824. Mrs. Harding, wife of Dr. Harding, was a . daughter of Judge Bigelow, of Boston, member of the Massachusetts legis- lature. William Pollock, surveyor of the county from 1847 to 1853, mar- ried Miss Sarah Maison, of an old Philadelphia family. The Sampsons were prominent. Two brothers, William and Henry Briggs. Simeon Samp- son, a sea captain, married Caroline, daughter of William. After residence here, Simeon returned to Boston, but retained his property in the West, which became valuable. In early Como were six engineers, three ship cap- tains, one minister, one editor, and one doctor. They were mostly New England people.
Another familiar name is the Burrs. Capt. James M. Burr came from Boston, and had several children. Miss Adeline became the wife of the distinguished David Davis, senator, judge of the U. S. supreme court, friend of Lincoln, and administrator of his estate. She resides since his death in Fayetteville, N. C.
Among the happy recollections of William Pollock, the surveyor, was his introduction to General Jackson at his inauguration at Washington in 1829, whom he described as a plain looking old fellow. John Williams Pollock, son of William, born in 1841, had a varied and responsible career in the rebellion. He served three years, part of the time with the 83d Pennsylvania Volunteers, and then on staff duty in South Carolina. At the close of the war, he was custodian of the secret archives of the Confederacy, captured with Jefferson Davis, taking them to Washington, and turning over to Gen. Thomas. Since the war he has lived in Nebraska, representing his district one term in the legislature. .
Jason Hopkins, after whom the township is named, was a native of Tennessee, a cabinet maker, served in the Black Hawk war in a cavalry regiment, and at its close came to Como, where he remained till his death in 1853.
Of all the Como pioneers, Jesse Scott was the most inventive and orig- inal. While other emigrants came in regular passenger packets by river, or in wagons overland, Jesse started from Ohio in a hundred-ton keel boat propelled by horse power. On this was a cabin of two rooms for the use of the family. Never before or since did any navigator stem the current of
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the Mississippi with such a contrivance. Leaving the great river, he turned up the Rock, and on landing at Como, set up his cabin, where it braved the elements for many winters. A piece of the siding is in the Whiteside His- torical Society. Mrs. Scott died in 1876, and Jesse in 1907.
Como was platted in 1838 on the original claim of Jason Hopkins, and was laid out in nine blocks and 142 lots, which were bid off by the settlers, on condition they were to build a house or forfeit the money paid. The postoffice was established in 1840, with Dr. Harding as postmaster. The Congregational church was erected in 1854, the first church building in Hopkins. Charles Holmes and Lorenzo Hapgood opened a store in 1844, and the Smiths and Weber a mill store. In 1845 Aaron W. Pitts began the manufacture of an improved plow, much superior to those in common use, and which had an extensive sale.
The first hotel in Como was opened in 1839 by Capt. Henry Sampson, and as the daily line of four-horse stages changed teams here, and pas- sengers took their meals, the young village became a lively point. But the large grist mill, erected in 1845, at a cost of $42,000, and carried on for many years by Leman and Howard Smith, was the commercial glory of the place. It was the only mill in the valley, up and down Rock river, and was the headquarters for flour and feed for half the county. But Babylon fell, and the big landmark is no more. W. R. Kelsey, of Lyndon, is our author- ity in saying that it was abandoned in 1868 or '69, and was burned to the ground in 1880.
THE LYCEUM.
Ev'ry word he speaks is a syren's note To draw the careless hearer .- Beaumont.
Como has always had good schools and teachers, with such men as Phinney and Crary at the desk, and naturally with the intelligence of her citizens would have a lyceum. Their New England training may account for it, too. In our Historical Society is the record of the Como Lyceum from 1858 to 1860. After the constitution and by-laws, are the minutes of the meetings held every week. The main business of the society seemed to be debate, and the best brains of the village investigated all kinds of questions, moral, social, political.
We glean a few: Resolved, that intemperance has caused more misery in the world than any other evil. Resolved, that a tariff barely sufficient to defray the expenses of our government is the best. Resolved, that we can profit more by the defects than the excellencies of others. Resolved, that we are not free moral agents. Resolved, that the signs of the times indicate the perpetuity of the Union. Is the Fugitive Slave Law constitutional? A roll of twenty-one members is given, and among them are the following: John Phinney, Norman Besse, Charles N. Russell, Washington Loomis, Charles B. Holmes, Henry Murray, George Davidson, R. B. Stoddard, John I. Russell, Joel Burdick, Francis Dubridge, R. C. Warfield, S. S. Partridge, W. T. Smith.
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