USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 3
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
with wives and families, reported, giving the date of their location in the county :
Sterling: Hezekiah Brink, 1834; Nathan Hicks, L D. Crandall, 1835; Edward Bush, Van J. Adams, Luther Bush, Nelson Mason, M. R. Adams, H. Bush, 1836; Hugh Wallace, W. M. Kilgour, Noah Merrill, George W. Woodburn, C. H. Crook, E. L. Worthington, H. Tuttle, Thos. Mathews, E. J. Kilgour, W. H. Whipple, 1837; C. C. Judd, Hiram Platt, R. C. Andrews, J. Pettigrew, J. W. Shannon, J. M. Whipple, Andrew Bush, C. M. Worthing- ton, George H. Wells, L. J. Whipple, D. O. Coe, Wyatt Cantrell, M. M. War- ner, L. B. Wetherbee, C. A. Wetherbee, E. C. Wetherbee, 1838; A. McMoore, Edwin Judd, M. C. Stull, Jesse Penrose, F. Sampson, J. A. Gilbert, 1839; R. L. Wilson, John Dippell, C. P. Emmons, 1840.
Jordan: 1835, James Talbott, O. Talbott, J. W. Talbott, S. M. Coe; 1836, M. M. Hubbard, F. W. Coe; 1837, J. W. Thompson, L. G. Schenck, D. F. Coe, H. A. Coe; 1838, M. L. Coe, J. F. Coe; 1839, L. S. Pennington, Jabez Gilbert.
Hopkins: 1837, W. F. Hopkins; 1838, Joel Harvey, S. C. Harvey, O. A. Fanning; 1839, N. A. Sturtevant, E. C. Whitmore, George Sturtevant, A. C. Merrill, W. S. Wilkinson, A. S. Sampson.
Coloma: 1839, Frank Cushing, John Enderton, L. H. Woodworth, Sugar Grove, 1838, M. S. Coe.
·Union Grove: 1836, Henry Boyer, W. F. Boyer; 1837, J. C. Young, D. B. Young, J. P. Garlick; 1838, A. N. Young.
Mt. Pleasant: 1835, William Knox; 1836, H. Heaton; 1837, G. Heaton ; 1838, A. C. Jackson; 1839, C. P. Emery.
Lyndon : 1835, O. Woodruff; 1837, A. Hubbard, R. G. Clendenin ; 1838, S. Hubbard; 1839, J. Ware, J. D. Coyne.
Prophetstown: 1834, J. W. Stakes; 1835, N. G. Reynolds, J. C. South- ern; 1836, E. S. Gage; 1837, T. J. Walker, A. J. Warner, E. B. Clark, L. Walls; 1838, W. S. Reynolds, R. Crook, W. T. Minchen, A. S. Dickinson, E. H. Nichols, E. B. Warner, J. W. Beeman, H. C. Smith, G. C. Reynolds, S. Johnson; 1839, A. J. Tuller, O. W. Gage, J. W. Gage, W. E. Smith.
Hume: 1839, Charles Wright, H. Cleveland.
Portland: 1835, S. Fuller P. B. Besse; 1836, E. Secly, L. M. Seely, A. J. Seely, M. V. Scely, R. M Besse; 1837, R. Woodside.
Albany: 1838, B. S. Quick; 1839, W. S. Barnes, W. A. Gilbert. Clyde: 1838, S. Currie.
Erie: 1835, S. D. Carr.
Garden Plain: 1839, Jas. A. Sweet.
BANQUET AND TOASTS.
Col. Seely called the meeting to order, and after an hour of handshaking and reminiscence, a procession was formed and marched to the dining room of the Wallace House. The tables seated four hundred. Rev. E. Erskine of the Presbyterian church asked a blessing. After ample justice to a bountiful supper prepared by Mr. and Mrs. McCune, who for years managed that well known hostelry, the festive company repaired to the hall which was
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
brilliantly illuminated for the exercises. We shall condense the responses of the various speakers as they were reported at the time in the Sterling Gazette.
County of Whiteside: Col. E. Seely of Portland. He came in 1836. At the first county election in that year about thirty votes were cast. No roads but the trails of Indians, and here and there a log cabin. Much hardship, but the people were hospitable.
Union Grove: Henry Boyer. He made the claim where he now lives in 1836. The population then comprised two families, now over a thousand people.
Lyndon: R. G. Clendenin. This town was noted for the steady habits of the people and their love of education and good morals.
Garden Plain: James A. Sweet. There were five hundred people, four schools with an average attendance of forty scholars each.
Jordan : L. S. Pennington. In 1835 Simeon M. Coe built the first house. James Talbot was the next settler, who broke the first prairie in the township. Joseph M. Wilson began his flour mill in 1835, and completed it the next year. It was of logs. John Brookie opened the first store in 1837. There were six schools, and the population numbered about one thousand.
Portland: P. B. Besse. The first prairie was broken in August, 1834, and twelve votes were cast at the first election held at the house of Asa Crook. He acted as clerk. The town had more timber land than any other in the county. There were nine schools.
Prophetstown: Mr. Nichols. It was the site of an old Indian village, where the Chief, Prophet, had lived. The town was celebrated for the enter- prise of its men and the beauty of the women.
Sterling: Nelson Mason. "I came to the place in 1836 with John Barnett and found John Chapman and Wright Murphy living in a cabin on the farm of Capt. Woodburn. Here I spent my first night on Rock river. At the head of the rapids I found three families, H. Brink, E. Worth- ington, and S. Gear. Brink was the man who built the first cabin, broke the first prairie and raised the first corn in the town of Sterling. Late that fall J. D. Barnett and myself opened the first store in the town. Dixon was the nearest postoffice. We applied for one in 1837, and it was granted. Barnett was appointed P. M., and I had the contract for carrying the mail. In May, 1837, we formed an association to protect individual claims on govern- ment lands. What changes since! Then a man with a family of five or six had to grind all his grain in a coffee mill, now our mills send 1,400 barrels of flour to market every week. Then we had neither churches, schools or min- isters, now we have four churches, as many ministers and six schools. Then we had no newspaper nearer than Chicago or Peoria, now we have two jour- nals, well conducted and supported. What will this town be when all her natural resources are developed?"
Coloma: Frank Cushing. The first settlement was made in 1836 by Isaac Merrill, A. R. Whitney and Atkins. Our sand banks furnish Sterling sand for her brick blocks, our quarries furnish stone, and our prairies sup- ply the surrounding country with hay.
Hume: Charles Wright. After a few pleasing remarks on the excel-
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
lence of his town, he closed with this sentiment: "As Jacob of old loved Benjamin above all his sons, because he was the youngest, so may the town of Hume, being the youngest of nineteen sisters, stand highest in the estima- tion of old Father Whiteside."
Eric: S. D. Carr. He located at Erie in 1836. Then only one house, built and occupied by Orville Brooks. Peter Guile, David Hunt, and L. D. Crandall were among the first settlers. The town now has from three to five hundred people. Well timbered with coal beds near at hand.
Clyde : Samuel Currie. He was not the oldest settler, but thought Messrs. Wing and Baker had that honor. Four schools, well attended.
Mt. Pleasant: H. A. Johnson, Esq. He did not claim to be an old resident, but was included in the invitation because his wife, a daughter of Royal Jacobs, was of the number.
The First Settler of Whiteside: John W. Stakes. He wished to correct a wrong impression. A lady present, the wife of P. B. Besse, is the oldest settler now living in Whiteside. Her father settled here in May, 1834. The land was then a waste, inhabitated only by roving Indians. The first pro- visions for his family he procured at Peoria, and packed the flour and groceries eighty miles on a horse, following an Indian trail. No store ncarer than Galena, and Rock Island was an Indian trading post.
The Hardships of Early Settlers: Col. R. L. Wilson. "When we have fully made up our minds to emigrate, the work is almost donc. All that remains is to wait for the wagon, and take a ride to our future home in the west. The wagon box serves for a house, being at once the parlor, the kitchen, the pantry. We finally arrive at our claims, and then comes the raising of log cabins, on which occasion every pioneer within twenty miles is in attend- ance. By and by a schoolhouse and a church are wanted, and if the husband is not able to assist, his wife calls a meeting of the ladies and the thing is done."
Hospitality of the Early Settlers: Marcus L. Coe. Nowhere does the stranger meet a more hearty welcome than with the old pioneer. Always welcome to his corn dodger or roast turkey. The latch string always out.
Teachings of a New Settlement: Col. Hugh Wallace. He came here fitted for the practice of law, equipped with ruffled shirts and law books. But he found the really valuable tools were plows and hoes, and these his old friend Gear was ready to supply his neighbors. His Chitty and Blackstone were not in demand. At the conclusion of his remarks, he presented to the audience, the pioneer baby of Chatham, now part of Sterling Mrs. John A. Bross, of Chicago, eldest daughter of Nelson Mason. There was much applause, and in response to a call, Mr. Bross made a neat speech, closing with the suggestion that all sing
Should auld acquaintance be forgot.
Nelson Mason led the chorus of several hundred strong voices.
Pioneer Farmers of Whiteside: L. B. Wetherbee. "The pioneers of Whiteside left happy homes and pleasant fircsides in other lands to make new farms and new homes, and we may hope to build up the cause of educa-
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
tion, virtue, temperance, piety. The calling of the farmer is the basis of society. Here it may not be amiss to glance over the county, and see what the farmers of Whiteside have been doing for the last 18 years. Within that time all the land of the county has been bought, and if we estimate the cost at five dollars per acre, it will amount to $2,910,000; if we estimate the same amount for improvement, it will amount to $5,820,000, which the farmers have paid out within the last 18 years. If then the farmer is the foundation of society, his energies should be directed in the most skilful manner. With such a soil as Whiteside possesses, we may soon expect to see farmers rising to fame and wealth in their department."
Pioneer Mechanics of Whiteside: A. McMoore. Permit me to speak of the improvements mechanics have set in motion. Wyatt Cantrell, an old settler, introduced the denion or slinker in plows. Jonathan Haines invented a harvester. John Ogle did much to make cabins comfortable.
The Boys of Our Pioneer Fathers: W. M. Kilgour, Esq. In March, 1837, I first saw the beautiful prairie where Sterling now stands. As children we have not had the advantages of the east-watches, liquors, colleges, cities. We got our education in the old log cabin schoolhouse. Biography shows that more men of sterling worth have sprung from such sources than from many of the colleges.
The Pioneer Pomologist of Whiteside: Dr. Pennington. There is something in the growth of trees and plants so enchanting that it must be admired. What would a country be without fruits? On emigrating to this state in 1836 I was struck with the healthy aspect of the trees, and the luxuriance of the fruits. My first fruit trees were planted on the farm in the fall of 1839. As far as I know, this was the first effort at raising cultivated fruit in Whiteside county. The man who planted the first fruit-bearing tree in this county may never be known, but may many blessings rest upon his head.
Whiteside county when her sons wore buckskin trousers and wolfskin- caps: Joseph Ware, Esq. It is useless for me to speak to this audience of this land in its original beauty. You saw these prairies before they were marred by the plow.
"Gardens of the desert unshorn, Fields boundless and beautiful."
Of these carly settlers who wore the wild caps and hunting shirts, your recollections are as good as mine. Some of you may recall John B. Dodge of Mt. Pleasant, the strongest man in northern Illinois, who could kill a wolf with his naked hands. Of the future of our county it is useless to speak, but she has all the elements of prosperity, and must advance.
"We'll plow the prairies, as of old Our fathers plowed the sea; We'll make the west, As they the east, The homestead of the free."
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
After the sentiments, a vote of thanks was tendered Col. Wallace for the free use of his hall, and Mr. McCune for the excellence of the enter- tainment. It was resolved that the next meeting should be held in 'the same hall, on Feb. 22, 1859.
THE LATEST OLD SETTLERS' MEETING.
When he is forsaken, Withered and shaken, What ean an old man do but die ?- Hood.
Sometimes it seems the only thing to do, follow Hood's suggestion, and depart, but our venerable citizens are attached to this climate, and have decided to stay until the good Lord calls them to their reward. So they have met year after year to shake hands over the past and bid one another God-speed for the time to come. From the Sterling Gazette, Aug. 23, 1907, we condense an account of the fifty-third annual picnie of the old settlers of Whiteside county held on Thursday in Holt's grove across the river from Lyndon :
"At 10:30 in the forenoon the old settlers' meeting was held and Presi- dent L. E. Rice made a short address and told of his first days in the county. Mr. Rice stated he with his parents arrived at Lyndon in the year 1837. At that day big steamers were plowing their way up and down the river from St. Louis to Rockford. He also told of the early history of the Indians who had lived on Indian island a few miles below Lyndon at that time. The speaker stated that the red men had persisted in stealing from the white settlers until the whites had made up their minds to be rid of them and forever. A company of fifty settlers called on the Indian chief and requested them to leave the island at once.
"Oliver Talbott, another one of the old settlers, who arrived in White- side county in 1834, gave a short talk on his early recollections of pioneer days, saying that he with his parents had settled near Buffalo Grove and later settled near Sterling, where his father operated a mill. Mr. Talbott . denied that wheat was hauled to Chicago at that time to market, stating that there was no wheat raised at that early date here.
"John Fenton, of Erie, who first gazed on the prairies of Whiteside county in 1835, stated that his relatives had driven across the state from Chicago to where they had come by lake boats from the east. From there they came to Fenton with two yoke of oxen and a big prairie schooner. The old pioneer stated that it was not the expectation of the people of early times to become rich and that they did not know how to accumulate riches, neither did they care to do so. Fenton township was named after the father of Mr. John Fenton.
"Robert McNeil of Rock Falls also gave a short talk. Mr. McNeil stated that he had arrived in Whiteside county in 1849, and had partaken of his first dinner on land in America in Lyndon. He was thirteen years old at that time and had come from Glasgow, Scotland, with his parents. He stated that Lyndon was considered the college town of the county at that
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
time. Como was the metropolis, and boasted of a mill, a store and a tavern. The father of the venerable John Scott of Como ran the 'John Scott' steamer up and down the river to St. Louis, carrying supplies for the early settlers. Van J. Adams, who lived near Sterling, was considered the most wealthy man in Sterling at that time. Galena was the money market center outside of Chicago.
"The following are some of the names of old pioneers who occupied seats or honor on the stage during the meeting: John Harpham, H. S. Warner, Hank Kamp of Prophetstown who has not missed a meeting, John Scott of Como, S. A. Maxwell, Smith Hurd, whose mother Polly Ann Sprague was the first school teacher in Whiteside, Mrs. Ann Mcknight of Spring Hill, first white child born in the county, George Olmstead, W. W. Kempster, C. C. Johnson, Mrs. Patrick.
"At the afternoon session, S. A. Maxwell read the minutes of the last meeting and the roll call of the dead, which showed that over eighty of the old settlers had crossed the dark river since the picnic a year ago. The only living member of the old original fourteen settlers that first settled in Lyndon is Miss Mary Hamilton, now a resident of California, who is an aunt of Sheriff Charles Hamilton. After the reading of the minutes, the orator of the day, Hon. Frederick Landis, of Logansport, Ind., was introduced by the president, and amid a storm of applause stepped to the platform and deliv- ercd a very able and masterly address.
"At first there were some regrets on account of the inability of Con- gressman Frank O. Lowden to be present, as much interest had been cen- tered on his coming, but as Mr. Landis proceeded in his speech this wore away. During his address he paid a beautiful tribute to our late Congress- man Robert R. Hitt, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysess S. Grant, William Mckinley, and our present congressman, Frank O. Lowden.
"Following the address by Mr. Landis, the directors of the old settlers' organization met and re-elected the old office holders for another year, they being: L. E. Rice, president ; F. M. Brewer, vice president ; S. A. Maxwell, secretary; C. A. Hamilton, A. M. Pratt and George Potter, executive com- mittee; L. Ewing, A. E. Parmenter and A. M. Pratt, committee on grounds. It was decided to hold the next picnic on the third Thursday in August in 1908.
"The Sixth Regiment band of Sterling rendered several concerts during the day, and received much praise for its fine playing.
"The ladies of the Lyndon Congregational and Methodist churches served bountiful dinners at the noon hour, which were liberally patronized by the visitors, and goodly 'sums were cleared for the church treasury."
It is sad to know that of the 117 persons whose names are recorded on the roll at Wallace Hall, Sterling, first old settlers' meeting, 1858, only three are left, Oliver Talbott, C. A. Wetherbee, M. M. Warner.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
CONTEST FOR THE COUNTY SEAT.
The combat deepens. On, ye brave, Who rush to glory or the grave! Wave, Lyndon, all thy banners wave, And charge with all thy chivalry !
The poet wrote Munich, but no matter. Campbell is dead, and no dif- ference to him. In a new settlement, the first important question is the county seat. As there are no manufactures or trade or travel to make a town grow, the courthouse, the seat of the records, will naturally attract the people. It is really the center of attraction. Here the lawyers gather, important cases are tried, the politicians meet to prepare for campaigns.
As you read the early history of the state or the lives of our pioneer lawyers and judges, you will notice that their wide circuits took them from town to town. A vast amount of forgotten eloquence was poured forth in those old courthouses. How Lincoln and Douglas, Baker and Swett, David Davis and Lyman Trumbull, rode on their ponies with their saddle-bags over the rude roads of the prairies. In 1858 most of the famous debates between Lincoln and Douglas for the senate were held at Freeport, Galesburg, and other county scats.
So the county seat question led to a contest in Whiteside. An act of the General Assembly, Feb. 21, 1839, Thomas Carlin, governor, provided that the legal voters of Whiteside should meet at their precincts, on the first Monday in May, 1839, and vote for a permanent point for the seat of justice. Elections were to be held every four weeks following until some place should receive a majority of votes cast. Under the act any individual could offer land whereon to erect the seat of justice, and after a decd was executed, the county commissioners were to erect the necessary buildings without delay.
Accordingly in pursuance of this act five elections were held without result, until at the sixth, September 23, 1839, Lyndon received a majority of the votes cast, and was declared the permanent seat of justice for Whiteside county. The county commissioners had really held their sessions in Lyndon since May 16, 1839. So Feb. 11, 1840, the people of Lyndon entered into a contract to erect a suitable building on lot fifty-one, block ten, for holding court and other public purposes, and this edifice as soon as completed was used until June, 1841, when the county seat was removed to Sterling.
Meantime Sterling was busy. The courthouse bee was buzzing in their bonnets. The town had offered in 1839 eighty acres of land around Broad- way and the river and one thousand dollars, provided the public buildings for the county be placed on block fifty-eight, west of Broadway, then the center of the young town. In 1840 the town made a decided move towards securing the prize, by applying to the county commissioners for a re-canvass of the vote cast at the election of September 23, 1839. This was granted, and as a result of the re-canvass, it was declared that Sterling had 264 votes, Lyndon 253, Windsor 4.
On the strength of this, the county commissioners, April 8, 1841, caused the following order to be put on record:
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Whereas, by virtue of an act of the General Assembly, Feb. 21, 1839, providing for the location of the seat of justice of Whiteside county, we, the county commissioners for said county, from a fair and impartial examina- tion of the poll books, now in the clerk's office, do verily believe that the people of said county have placed the county scat at the town of Sterling, and do therefore order the circuit and county commissioners' courts to be holden in the town of Sterling in said county. Theodore, Winn, clerk. April 8, 1841.
At the December term of the county commissioners court, it was ordered that the county buildings be erected on the center of block fifty-seven, west of Broadway, and the structure was completed so that courts were held in 1844. The commissioners also met in Sterling in 1841, but in December, 1842, Lyndon having secured a majority of the board, they met at that place.
More complications. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Suffi- cient influence was brought to bear upon the General Assembly so that an act was approved Feb. 28, 1843, providing that G. W. Harrison and John McDonald of Jo Daviess county, Joshua Harper of Henry county, Leonard Andrus of Ogle county, and R. H. Spicer of Mercer county, should be com- missioners to locate the county seat of Whiteside. They were to locate the county seat at a place most conducive to the public good of Whiteside county, at no place where a donation of not less than thirty acres of land could be obtained, and were to cause as soon as convenient a suitable building to be erected. They met at Albany, and after examining different locations, selected Lyndon, and on May 27, 1843, made the following report:
We, the undersigned, commissioners appointed by an act of legislature to locate the seat of justice for Whiteside county, do hereby certify that we have performed the duty enjoined upon us by said act, and have located the said seat of justice of Whiteside county upon the south half of the southeast quarter of section sixteen, in township twenty, north of the base line of range five, east of the fourth principal meridian, believing the location most con- ducive to the public good of said county. Given under our hands, May 27, 1843.
Lyndon gave forty acres of land, but no county buildings were erected. On April 14, 1846, the county commissioners ordered that the grand and petit jurors attend the May term of court at Sterling instead of Lyndon, as Sterling claimed that under order of the county commissioners buildings had been erected there, accepted by the commissioners, and therefore the seat of justice should be in that town. After this, the terms of the circuit court were held at Sterling, and the county commissioners held their sessions at Lyndon. Lyndon applied for a mandamus compelling the commissioners to order the circuit court. back to that place, but the court refused the writ. An act was passed by the Fifteenth General Assembly, and approved by the governor, Feb. 16, 1847, declaring the town of Sterling the county seat of Whiteside for a time, under certain conditions, one of which was until the time the county paid the donors of land and money a sufficient sum to compensate them for their outlay.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
But Lyndon was irrepressible. The prize was not to slip from her grasp without a struggle.
Strike for your altars and your fires; Strike for the green graves of your sires ; God, and your native land.
From the legislature, which, like Barkis in Dicken s story, scemed always willing to come to the rescue, an act was secured, Feb. 6, 1849, entitled an act to permanently locate the seat of justice of Whiteside county. The second section provided that the legal voters of the county should meet at their respective places of holding elections on the first Tuesday of April, 1849, and proceed to vote on the permanent location of the seat of justice, either at Lyndon or at Sterling, and the place receiving the majority, should there- after be the seat of justice. The election was duly held April 3, 1849, with the following result: For Sterling 519 votes; for Lyndon 451; majority for Sterling 68. So Lyndon withdrew her claim, and Sterling remained the county seat until 1857. But she was not to remain in undisturbed pos- session. There was a dark horse.
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