USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 37
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CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
This solid brick church stands on the corner of Grove and Cherry strects, and was erected in 1870 at a cost of $11,000. The Universalists formed an organization as early as 1866 with J. R. Bailey, Jesse McKee, W. Twining, G. S. Fullmer and W. Topping, as trustees; J. M. Burtch, secretary and J. Mayo, treasurer. The constitution was signed by 48 persons. The dedication sermon was preached Fcb. 16, 1870, by Dr. Ryder, of Chicago. No regular pastors for many years. Rev. J. F. Newton. of Dixon, has been preaching of late on Sunday afternoons, as well as delivering a series of literary lectures on Friday evening.
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ST. PATRICK'S CATHOLIC CHURCHI.
Worship was held as early as 1857 in houses, and in 1862 the brick church was built. Among the early priests were Kennedy, Ford, Daly, Gov- ern, Gormley. When there is no resident pastor, the priest at Fulton has officiated. The present pastor is Rev. M. A. Dorney, educated at the Jesuits' College in Chicago. There are two hundred souls in the congregation, mostly in the country. An altar society of forty ladies. A neat interior with two rows of pews, and on the walls the usual pictures of the stations of the cross. An elegant new rectory lately completed at a cost of $4,300. A fine situation on a terrace on west side of Bay street.
THE BAPTIST.
This was started like other Morrison churches in Union Grove in its palmy days, and the first services were held by Rev. E. Ingham, a home mis- sionary. In 1854 the society was organized with thirteen members, Timothy Dimick and wife, Sanford Williams and wife, W. H. Pollard and wife, E. A. Pollard and wife, Nancy Lewis, Clarinda Dimick, A. I. Maxwell, N. S. Barlow and wife. The first services in Morrison were at Johnson's Hall. The first building was on corner of Genesee and Park streets, completed in 1857. Rev. L. L. Lansing was first pastor, succeeded by Rev. J. V. Allison, K. W. Benton, A. A. Russell, Delano, Keene, Collins, and others, no pastor remaining a long time. In 1872 a new brick church was erected on corner of Grove and Cherry streets. The membership at one period was 280, but it has declined of late ycars, and at present there are 108. The minister in charge is Rev. J. W. Kinnett, in his second year. He took a course at Rochester Theological Seminary, University of Chicago, and is now study- ing for a degree. There are the usual woman's societies, B. Y. P. U., and a Sunday school of 75 pupils.
On the south side is a small Swedish Lutheran church, and near Smith's bank a Christian Science Reading room, open from 1 to 5 P. M., witlı Sun- day services at 10 A. M.
ST. ANN'S EPISCOPAL.
It was organized, Nov. 22, 1888. The building is frame with a base- ment for parish meetings. Rev. Edwin Weary, of Sterling, is priest in charge. Finance committee consists of R. Norrish, R. E. Cochran, R. Wood, J. Ritchie, A. Penn. There are 15 families, and 32 members. Three guilds, St. Ann's, ten members; St. Margaret's, twelve; Junior, eight. The work at this mission has- been performed mostly by the clergy of Grace church, Ster- ling. During the summer, students from the Western Theo. Seminary have spent their vacation in Morrison. For ten years St. Ann's had a resident pastor, Rev. Mr. Gear, now rector of Maywood, Ill. Before thic crection of a church building, services were held in a public hall.
THE WHITESIDE SENTINEL.
Some said, John, print it, others said, Not so, Some said, It might do good, others said, No. -John Bunyan.
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Little Iceland some years ago celebrated her Millennial, a thousand years since her start. America is too young for such a performance. Philadelphia had the Centennial in 1876, and Chicago the Columbus anniversary in 1893. But our semi-centennials are becoming numerous even in the West, and the Sentinel had hers in the issue of July 25, 1907. From a paper of that date, we are glad to give a detailed account of the rise and progress of this long established journal. The Sentinel says:
OUR FIFTIETHI ANNIVERSARY.
Fifty years ago-July 23, 1857-The Sentinel was first issued to the public. No other newspaper now published in Whiteside was then in exist- ence, so that it can be truthfully said that The Sentinel is the oldest paper published in the county.
In 1857 the new town of Morrison, which had been located with the coming of the railroad in the fall of 1855, was beginning to develop, and the citizens felt that a newspaper medium should be established by which its advan- tages as a commercial point, and its fine location in the midst of one of the mnost fertile agricultural districts in the State, could be made more generally known. With this in view they invited Mr. Alfred McFadden, who was con- nected with a paper known as the Fulton Investigator, to take charge of an of- fice in Morrison, which invitation he accepted. They advanced a considerable sum of money to him, which he was to repay in advertising, and copies of the paper. A hand press and a sufficient amount of type to print the paper and do ordinary job work, were purchased, and on the 23rd of July, 1857, the first number of The Whiteside Sentinel, a six-column four-page paper was sent forth to do its work in assisting to build up Morrison and White- side county.
The Sentinel was conducted by Mr. McFadden until 1862, when, owing to ill health, he leased it to Elmer Searle for one year. At the expiration of the lease Mr. McFadden resumed its publication, and in 1866 enlarged it to an eight-column four-page paper. In July, 1867, The Sentinel was pur- chased by Charles Bent and Maurice Savage, who published it until May, 1870, when Mr. Bent became the sole proprietor. He instituted many im- provements, and also enlarged the paper to four pages of nine columns each. In July, 1877, Mr. Bent sold the office to Robert W. Welch of New York city, from whom he repurchased .it in March, 1879, in the interim having published a history of Whiteside county, and has since been its proprietor.
From April 1, 1899, to Oct. 1, 1899, the Sentinel was published as a semi-weekly, but subscribers were dissatisfied with the change, and it returned to its original form as a nine-column weekly. On Sept. 28, 1905, it was enlarged to a seven-column, eight-page paper, and since July, 1907, has been published as a twelve-page newspaper.
During the absence of its owner while attending to his official duties as U. S. Pension Agent at Chicago it has been continued under the suc- cessful management of Charles Bent, Jr.
The Sentinel adds this hopeful prophecy: The cycle of fifty years has now closed at the commencement of which Morrison with now a population
CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN DEPOT, MORRISON
"
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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of nearly 3,000, was a hamlet embracing less than 300 people, and the county with its population now of nearly 40,000, containing then only a few thou- sand inhabitants, and it will not be unreasonable to predict that the next fifty years will bring as great a growth in population and material benefit as the past fifty years have witnessed.
THE MORRISON RECORD.
The younger of the two weeklies of the city, and a progressive paper. It was founded March 17, 1894, by H. E. Brown. Buell A. Langdon bought one half interest, Sept. 1, 1894, and the firm became Brown & Langdon. This continued till Jan. 1, 1897, when Langdon bought Brown's interest. Langdon was alone till May 1, 1902, when he sold to W. B. Barnes, who ran the paper until Dec. 1, 1904, when C. E. Johnson purchased one half interest, and six months later, the remainder. Since that time, he has been sole editor and proprietor.
The Record is a six-column quarto, or eight pages, well printed, and is a bright, clean, attractive sheet. It has one unusual feature. There are no patent insides, no plate matter prepared in Chicago, and sent broadcast over a hundred counties. Numerous advertisements and a generous supply of local affairs furnish material in plenty for the columns. Republican in politics, and sound in every good cause. The presses are run by gas engines. The office is on the north side of West Main street, and the Record comes out every Thursday. Mr. Johnson is a practical printer, an affable young gentleman, and is rapidly advancing the circulation of his paper.
VARIOUS VENTURES.
The Reform Investigator, started by Elmer Searle in 1868, devoted to financial reform, published at the Sentinel office, was removed in 1870, to Chicago, and perished in the fire of 1871.
During the Greeley campaign of 1872 the Morrison Independent was issued with' L. S. Ward as business manager, and J. W. Huett, editor, and discontinued in 1874. In July, 1874, the office was purchased by G. J. Booth and Son, who published the Morrison Times, but after two years, they moved to Rock Falls, and started the Whiteside Times.
In July, 1876, Guernsey Conolly and Frank A. Gore moved their print- ing office from Lyndon to Morrison, publishing the Morrison Democrat, advo- cating Tilden's election, but it retired in 1877.
THE FACTORIES.
Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate.
As you pass to the west end, over a long building is a huge sign with glaring letters, Libby, MeNeill & Libby, Condensed Milk Plant. It was started March 4, 1907, W. P. Page, supt., and employs 45 men and 7 girls. The farmers bring milk in ten-gallon cans. After it is weighed, it is thrown into a large storage tank, and the systematic process begins. The heating in
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copper kettles, the adding of sugar, the vacuum pan, where steam eliminates water and impurities, the filling of the cans, placing in coolers, and then in barrels of 600 pounds for shipment to bakers and confectioners. After the cans are emptied, they are washed by steam and sterilized. Nothing is left .undone to insure perfect cleanliness. The whole building from top to bot- tom would make a Dutch housekeeper dance for joy. In one room is an array of small bottles on shelves of milk subjected to analysis. As we were informed, these milk plants are a direct benefit to farmers by affording a home market for cash and by increasing the value of the land. It rents for more per acre, and rises in valuation.
The can-making department at the Libby, McNeill & Libby plant made a very respectable reputation for itself one day by turning out 22,037 cans in four hours. The average run is around the 5,000 per hour mark, but on this particular occasion it was stretched a trifle. This department is in charge of Mr. Bernheisel, lately of Rockford.
Not far off is the Refrigerator factory. It was started for the sole manu- facture of refrigerators, but to furnish employment at dull seasons of the ycar, school furniture was added as a sort of by-product. For instance, from May to September, furniture, from September to May, refrigerators. In winter 135 hands are employed. Fifteen years in operation. The chief woods used are elm, ash, and gum. A late innovation in the interior of the refrigerator is the insertion of glass and enamel instead of zinc. More * ornamental, but increases the price. A perfect fire system with a pressure through the pipes on every floor from their own 51,000 gallon tank. W. H. Colver, nine years in the works, showed the writer much courtesy.
SENATOR TRUMBULL AT MORRISON.
Prof. S. A. Maxwell sends this reminiscence: In the fall of 1866, Sena- tor Lyman Trumbull addressed a large audience on the political issues. A laughable incident occurred in the middle of his speech. To illustrate a point, he shouted, "Show me a Democrat," and with more. emphasis, "Show me a Democrat!" At this juncture, a red-faced, half-witted, and half-intoxi- cated man arose at the end of the platform, and swinging his hat, shouted, "I belong to that party." Senator Trumbull turned, and taking in the measure of the fellow, scathingly retorted, "Yes, and I think you got into it as Nasby did in the Philadelphia convention, by the color of your nose and the smell of your breath." After the tremendous applause subsided, a local politician called the Senator's attention to the fact that the chap was not sound in mind, not a fair representative of the great party, whereupon Trumbull promptly made an apology, by saying that had he known the mental condition of the fellow, he would not have uttered the retort.
MORRISON IN U. S. SENATE.
In the Republican & Gazette, Sterling, William Caffrey, editor, July 28, 1860, appeared the following advertisement:
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Hiram A. Johnson.
Henry M. Teller.
Attorneys and Counsellors at law.
Solicitors in chancery, Morrison, Whiteside county. Will practice at all the courts of the -22nd judicial district, and in the supreme and U. S. district courts of Illinois.
But Mr. Teller did not remain long enough in Whiteside to become known to the bar or to the people, for adopting Horace Greeley's advice, he removed to Colorado in 1861, and resumed the practice of law. In 1876, Centennial year, when Colorado was admitted to the Union, he was elected to the U. S. Senate, and except three years in the cabinet of President Arthur as secretary of the interior, 1882-1885, has held the office by re-elec- tion. His present term expires in 1909. During a late campaign, he spoke in Morrison on the court house grounds. It is somewhat curious that in his sketch in the Congressional Directory, 1906, while the town of his birth, Granger, N. Y., 1830, is given, and the town of his education, Rushford academy and Alfred University, no mention of Morrison or Whiteside. It reads: "In January, 1858, removed to Illinois, and practiced law there until April, 1861."
One of Teller's early cronies during his struggling days in Morrison, was the solemn and dignified A. J. Jackson, cashier of the First National Bank. He always meets the Senator, who regularly visits Morrison to see his sisters when on his way to Washington. They occasionally slept together in an old shack on Main street, since moved away and torn down, whose ceiling was so low that it was impossible to stand erect. They once went to see it, and get a sliver of the tenement that had sheltered their noble frames.
Honor and fame from no condition rise, Act well your part, there all the honor lies.
Senator Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, announces that he will return to private life at the expiration of his present term in the Senate in 1909. The Senator, who is in his seventy-ninth year, and in splendid health, said. lately: "I can foresee no contingency that will cause me to again seek elec- tion for the Senate. I do not care to give a specific reason for my retirement, beyond the weight of years. By next March I shall have spent a little over thirty-two years at Washington, mostly as Senator from Colorado. I think that is a sufficient time for me to spend in public service, and will retire."
ALPHEUS CLARK POST.
This is number 118 G. A. R., and was organized Dec. 6, 1881. Frank Clendenin was first post commander, and by re-election held the office four years. Among the best known of the twenty since arc Charles Bent, G. W. Howe, E. W. Payne, and A. J. Jackson. The commander for 1907 was Wil- liam J. Trye. Froni 1904 to 1905 was C. W. Mitchell, also a familiar facc. The regular meetings are held at the post room on the second and fourth Mondays. Thirty members are given in the blue booklet uscd by the boys for reference. At the January meeting of the W. R. C., 'No. 116, these
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
officers were installed: Mrs. Phoebe Burch, president; Mabel Fellows, sec- retary ; Mary Davis, treasurer; Mrs. Lasher, senior vice; Miss Alice Harri- son, conductor ; Miss Cora Hall, assistant conductor; Mrs. Amy Heiss, musi- cian; Julia Winters, chaplain. Talks from the veterans and a banquet suc- cecded.
MARRIED SIXTY-TWO YEARS.
We glean this happy domestic item from the Sentinel of April 9, 1908:
Besides being election day, Tuesday was an important day for at least two people in this city, as that day was the sixty-second anniversary of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Jotham McKee .. This worthy couple have been residents of Whiteside county for forty-two years, during which time they have lived in Ustick and in this city.
Mr. McKee was born in Jefferson county, New York, October 27, 1821, and was one of a family of nine children. He was a farmer in his native county until January, 1866. He then came to Whiteside county, Illinois, and lived in this city for twelve years, during which time he conducted a meat market. He served in the capacity of constable, also as deputy sheriff, and for ten years was city marshal, and for four years street commissioner. He was a capable officer and served the public by attending to his duties with diligence and efficiency. In 1878 he bought a 160-acre farm in Ustick and moved there, conducting the farm for several years. He retired from the farm a few years ago, and came to this city to reside among his many old friends and acquaintances.
Delight Frink was born November 30, 1824, in Cortland county, New York, and was the daughter of Joseph and Esther Frink, who were natives of New York, as were Mr. McKee's parents. Jotham McKee and Deliglit Frink were united in marriage April 7, 1846, in New York. They have one son, James, who lives in Rockford, Illinois.
Mr. McKee, though in his eighty-seventh year, is vigorous for one of his age and during the past winter was always among the first to battle with the snow drifts, keeping his walks clean as many younger citizens neglected to do.
RECENT DEATHS OF OLD SETTLERS.
Alfred Heaton, one of the pioneers of Mt. Pleasant, died at his home in Morrison, 1908, after an illness of several weeks. He was nearly eighty-eight years of age and had resided in this township the greater part of the time since 1837.
Alfred Heaton, son of William and Martha Heaton, was born in Jef- ferson county, New York, April 28, 1820. In 1837, eighteen years before the first railroad was built through this township he came with his family to Mt. Pleasant, Whiteside county, Illinois, and located on section 3. In Unionville, May 11, 1845, he was married to Eliza J. Robertson, who died May 29, 1895, shortly after they had celebrated their fiftieth anniversary.
In 1850 Mr. Heaton crossed the western plains and the Rockies with a company going to California in search of gold. They traveled the entire distance with oxen and wagon. A year and a half later Mr. Heaton returned by way of Panama.
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When the Civil war broke out he enlisted with Company C, Eighth Illi- nois Cavalry, and served until September, 1862, in the same regiment which his son enlisted in later.
In 1881 he moved to Dakota and was elected a member of the first legislature holding a session in South Dakota after it became a state.
In 1893 he returned to Mt. Pleasant, which has since been his home.
Flavius J. Jackson was born Aug. 22, 1825, near Chesterville, Knox county, Ohio, and died Feb. 8, 1908, at the age of 82 years, 5 months and 16 days. He came west with his father's family in 1837, settling on a claim where Morrison now is and has made his home here ever since.
UNION GROVE. By Prof. S. A. Maxwell. I hear the tread of pioneers Of nations yet to be, The first low wash of waves where soon Shall roll a human sea .- Whittier.
The original settler of what is now the town of Union Grove was Joshua
. T. Atkinson, who came to this county in 1834, and made extensive claims in Union Grove during the summer of 1835. He built a cabin into which his family moved in July, 1836. Previous to his removal to Geneseo, Henry county in 1875, he lived for many years on his farm in Union Grove. He was an energetic pioneer, and with the assistance of Andrus Hubbard and C. G. Woodruff of Lyndon, made the first breaking plow ever constructed in the county. He also has the credit of introducing the first reaper into the county. He held the office of justice of the peace, being first elected in 1836. None of the descendants of Mr. Atkinson are now living in the county. Among other early settlers may be named Henry Ustick, who later removed to Ustick township, Ira Burch, D. B. Young, Elisha Hubbart, Stephen Jeffers, John A. Robertson. All of these have children or grandchildren still resid- ing in the county. Jacob Baker was one of the prominent pioneers. He purchased a claim in 1842. He came from Fulton where he had resided three years, and where in 1840 he organized the first Sunday school in the county. A strong temperance advocate, a radical abolitionist of the Lovejoy type, maintaining a station on the underground railroad for years. Because of his radical views on slavery, he withdrew from the M. E. church, and in January, 1845, at the Unionville schoolhouse, with D. B. Young, Henry Boyer, and others, organized a society more in harmony with their senti- ments. As a sequel to this, a church building was erected in Unionville, and services held regularly until 1870, when the building was removed. Since that time no services have been held in the town except Sunday schools and occasional preaching in schoolhouses. After Morrison sprang up, several churches were removed to that place from Unionville, where they were organ- ized and flourished for a time. Mrs. W. B. Bull, of Union Grove, is a grand- daughter of Jacob Baker, and her children and grandchildren represent the fourth and fifth generation of their noted pioneer.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
The first school in the town was taught by Miss Mary Jeffers in 1840, in a room in Henry Boyer's log cabin. In the same year A. J. Maxwell was engaged to build a frame schoolhouse on a corner of the farm of D. B. Young, the same now owned by Hon. H. M. Teller, of Colorado, on the Mt. Carroll road. When the building was enclosed, a meeting was called, and it was decided to change the site, and it was moved across the prairie to the place where Mrs. Graves now lives, near the Unionville schoolhouse. About 1882 C. T. Heathcote purchased this building, and removed it to Morrison for a dwelling. It now forms the west part of the residence of Mrs. O. P. Gray. There are now eight schools in Union Grove, with progressive teach- ers. Among the pedagogues who have taught in the town during the last forty years are Columbus Vennum, W. F. Eastman, S. D. Gossert, F. Ogs- bury, Miss Kate Martin, S. A. Maxwell, W. S. Ellison, J. V. Washburnc, Frank Willsey, Miss Bertha Latimer, and Arthur Klontz.
Unionville has the distinction of having the only official branch office of the U. S. Weather Bureau in the county. Complete records are kept show- ing meteorological conditions for every day for the past several years. Mr. S. A. Maxwell, the observer, has during the past five years furnished data to attorneys, bearing on cases in Whiteside and Carroll courts, and Clinton, Iowa.
Among the early settlers still in the town after 45 years may be men- tioned Ira S. Burch, Mr. and Mrs. Milo Johnson, William Annan, Miss Kate Annan, and John Phinney. The latter is a well known teacher, having served in various parts of Whiteside, and doubtless has the record for more years of educational usefulness than any other in the profession. He is in fairly good health for an octagenarian, and lives on his farm with his daugh- ter and husband, two miles west of Morrison. He was born in Vermont in 1824.
In the west part of Union Grove are the Cat-tail Bottoms, a by-word from the earliest days for rough travel and impossible cultivation. It has been discovered that they are highly valuable, and Oscar A. Oliver, formerly in business in Sterling and Chicago, now residing on the west side of the bottoms, south of Morrison, on the Garden Plain road, has started extensive celery beds, which thrive like a green bay tree. Other growers are Ira Burch and Peter Clapp. The latter has purchased the interest of George DeHaan. The quality of the vegetable is excellent, and large shipments are made to the cities.
West of Unionville is a neatly kept cemetery. On the tombs you may read such names: Wenger, Richmond, Pollard, Summers. The oldest per- son is Joseph Johnson, who died in 1864, aged ninety, a soldier of 1812. The children of Rev. H. Hawkins, 1861: Jane Root, 1851. Here is a spruce planted by a girl over the grave of her lover. Henry Ustick, aged 66, who died in 1855. Elijah Town, 1843. Peter Root, 1862, Co. B, 75th Illinois Volunteers. These rural grave yards, what places for meditation and mem- ory ! Here sleep these faded forms far from the madding crowd, the strug- gles of the busy world. '
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14
MRS. PHEBE VENNUM, CENTENARIAN.
By Prof. S. A. Maxwell.
*
?
The woman of Whiteside county to attain the greatest age was Mrs. Phebe Vennum, whose last years were spent in the home of her son, Edward Vennum, Union Grove. She was born at Rockaway, Morris county, New Jerscy, June 23, 1784, the daughter of Benjamin and Abigail Jackson. The father was a veteran of the Revolutionary war, holding the rank of major. On Feb. 25, 1802, Phebe became the wife of Isaac Lewis of Sussex county, by whom she had two sons, James L., born Jan. 25, 1803, and Benjamin . J., born July 4, 1805. Mr. Lewis died in 1814, and Mrs. Lewis with her two children removed with her parents to Knox county, Ohio, where, three years later, she married John Vennum, of Washington, Pa. They had three sons, Edward, Columbus, and John N., and one daughter, Betsy, who died in infancy. Mrs. V. came to Illinois with her husband and family in 1846, and settled in Union Grove on section 3, where Mr. V. died Feb. 12, 1858. After his death, she made her home for 31 years with her son, Edward, a prosperous farmer. Her health was remarkable. To her one hundredth year, she had taken little medicine, and was never seriously sick. Her senses to her last illness were acute, and conversation with her was always a pleas- ure. The writer visited her at the age of 102, and presented her a cane on behalf of W. O. Dudley and A. J. Maxwell of Lyndon. At this time, her sight, hearing, and power to converse, were excellent. One June 23, 1884, her one hundredth anniversary, nearly 200 relatives, friends, and neighbors, young and old, assembled at the Vennum home to pay their respects to the venerable pioneer. Among those present was Benjamin Lewis, of Flint, Mich., the eighty-year old son of Mrs. Vennum. At the old settlers' meeting on Morrison fair ground, Sept., 1884, Mrs. Vennum was present, being then one hundred.
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