History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I, Part 6

Author: Davis, William W
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 706

USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 6

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Miss Mary Gilman, a graduate of Mt. Holyoke, who taught in the old second ward school in 1857 and 8, and who, Grove Wright says, was the best scholar in Latin, history and mathematics he ever met, had a terrible experience in her later years. She married Rev. U. Small, first pastor of the Sterling Cong. church, and they had one son, Forrest, for whose educa- tion they made every sacrifice. Scarcely had he entered upon the practice of law in Minnesota, when his body was found one morning, the victim of a brutal and mysterious murder. Mrs. Small, always delicate, gradually pined away, and the poor father, left in double desolation, also died a few years ago.

C. B. Smith kept a select school in the basement of the old Presbyterian church on the site of the present township high school. Maria Denning, daughter of Rev. S. F. Denning, pioneer Methodist minister, was a pupil in Latin, and died afterwards in Cuba. Smith studied law, and died in Mount Carroll, where he, practiced law for many years.

H. H. Smith, no relative, was in the county for several years. He was one of those trained minds, full, quick, ready to see a joke, wore glasses, master of the subjects he was called to teach. Always welcome at the insti- tutes.

Maurice Savage was a fixture at Round Grove where he taught with great acceptance for a long time. An excellent mathematician. After his marriage, he went south where he still resides, engaged in some other business.

There were the Kimballs, two brothers, serious, earnest fellows, who were both engaged at different times in the school at Unionville.

Of the girls, Miss Martha Millikan and Mary Scott must not be forgotten. Miss Millikan married and died in 1908, and Mary Scott, after a devoted career, sleeps in the cemetery at Lyndon.

Another of our pioneer teachers, Mrs. Lucius E. Rice, formerly Martha

· HISTORY, OF WHITESIDE COUNTY

C. Coburn, still lives at Lyndon in the active discharge of her domestic duties. She began to teach in Vermont, her native state, and after seven years of service there, removed to Wisconsin, where she taught three years, and then to Lyndon, spending another three years in the school room. At Peacham, Vt., she attended the school of which the famous Thaddeus Stevens was a pupil. She saw the house where he was born, and remembers his coming there to see about a burial lot for his mother. He once said to a minister: "If what you speak of is religion, my mother had it." Not far from her town, the wonderful mathematician, Zerah Colburn was born. As we all know, New England people for two generations swore by Colburn's arith- metic. It came next to the primer and the catechism with its

In Adam's fall Wc sinned all.

One of Mrs. Rice's teachers confidently affirmed that with three things anyone could pass successfully through this vale of tears: the Bible, Webster's dic- tionary and Colburn's arithmetic.

Perhaps the most venerable, the longest in service of any of our teachers, was Mrs. John Whallon, widow of the well known captain. She was born in 1832, coming with the father in wagon in 1837 from Massachusetts. Mar- tha began to teach as a mere girl, returning to Galesburg after a time for further. preparation. She taught at Sterling in 1848 when there was no school building and Col. Wilson had to hunt a room and seat it, at Rock Falls then Rapids city, when the river was innocent of bridge and had to be forded. She was in faithful service all over the county, at Como, Lyndon, Prophetstown, Portland, Fulton. In her first terms she received one dollar and a half per weck, and boarded around. Mrs. Whallon spent the sunsct of her active and useful life in quiet retirement amid ancestral scenes in Lyndon.

W. W. Davis generally had an essay or lecture at the early institutcs. He was for some time secretary, and every night during the sessions read a critical report of mistakes made during the day. Most of his teaching in the county was at Empire, now Emerson. Some of his former pupils have risen to prominenec elsewhere. Miss Alice Dinsmoor was for many years principal of a young ladies' seminary in Brooklyn, Wilson Sterling is professor in the state university at Lawrence, Kansas, John K. Reed is a missionary in Litheria on the west coast of Africa, Dr. J. F. Kecfer is one of the leading physicians .. of. Sterling, Rev. W. C. Scidel, D. D., now at Nashville, Tennessee, in charge of a Lutheran church has long been active in the service of that denomina- tion, east and west.

I've wandered to the village, Tom, I've sat beneath the trec, Upon the schoolhouse playground, That sheltered you and me;

HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY

But none were left to greet me, Tom, And few were left to know, That played with us upon the green, Just twenty years ago.

JORDAN.

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, And cast a wishful eye, To Canaan's fair and happy land, Where my possessions lie .- Samuel Stennet.

All roads lead to Rome, or did, and three of the best highways in the county lead from Sterling to Jordan : the Freeport road, the Hoover, and the · Pennington. If you go out the Freeport road, which starts from the east end of Sterling, on the left is the Catholic cemetery of ten acres, and although new, has many handsome monuments. We pass John Zigler's place with its boxes of bees and yards of chickens, each breed by itself. That frame dwell- ing was the home of D. O. Coe, or Dish, as he was called, long an elder in the Presbyterian church. Over there to the west is the farm house of Mrs. George Royer, with an unfailing spring in the cellar, a good place for butter and milk. Farm after farm of families all scattered.

They grew in beauty side by side, They filled one home with glee, Their graves are severed far and wide, By mount and stream and sea.

The Bressler farm and the Doc or Jonathan F. Coe place, now owned by D. N. Foster. The father of these Coes was Simeon M., who came to Jor- "dan in 1835 and died in 1848. His wife was Mary Miles. A large family of 13 children, mostly boys. Each son got a farm. S. M. or Sim, who lived in the southern part of Jordan, was for years town treasurer. Near the Doc Coe place was an early frame schoolhouse, called the Coe school. It was taken down, and a new stone building erected on the west of the road, called the Stone school.

Penrose is the business center of Jordan. There is a commodious gen- cral store with dwelling attached and a well kept lawn and garden on side and rear. W. D. Detweiler and wife are the accommodating proprietors. Just this side is a small Quaker graveyard containing the graves of Elida John, who died in 1888"at seventy-seven, and Sarah, his wife, in 1890, at ninety. Also that of A. C. John, son, hospital steward of 34th Ill. Infantry, who died in 1899 at 67. The little meeting house is now a dwelling. An iron fence in front. Here is a United Brethren church, Radical, built in 1896, with 23 members, and preaching every second Sunday. A Sunday school and Y. P. society. There are three Sunday schools in Jordan.

The White church formerly, now East Jordan church, is the strong- est religious organization in the town. Originally erected as a union edificc, but now controlled by the Liberal branch of the United Brethren, with Rev.

HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY

J. A. F. King as pastor. A flourishing Sunday school of 150 pupils with Alex. Anderson as superintendent. Mrs. Lizzie Detweiler has home depart- ment and circulates lesson leaves in both English and German. The latter is Sonntagschul Lektionen, published at Mennonite Book Concern, Berne, Indiana. There are also a C. Endeavor and Junior E. Mrs. M. Kidder has the first primary of 30 scholars. Mrs. Nelson Jacobs, sister of Dr. J. C. Maxwell, Sterling, has the cradle roll of 24 tots, and has held the position for 26 years.

Now let us drive beyond Penrose two miles, and on descending a hill a little valley lies before us, and prominent in the outlook towers a large frame building, grand, gloomy and peculiar. It is Wilson's old mill, for thirty years a scene of busy traffic. Here came Joseph Wilson from Pennsyl- vania, and built a log mill in 1836. An enterprising man, and from time to time he installed improvements to keep his grists to date, sparing no expense. His flour put up in family sacks had a high reputation, and a gen- èration of Sterling and Dixon people believed no bread or cake could be undertaken without Wilson's flour. "Take no other." He hauled the goods himself to the towns, and many a day has the writer seen the venerable miller perched on the top of a two-horse load on his way to market. He delivered himself from house to house. The dam was thrown across Buffalo creek, and the meadow with the race on one side and woodland on the further hill, made an ideal landscape of rural beauty.

How dear to this heart Are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection Presents them to view.

Not long before his death he enlarged the residence, making many rooms, perhaps for the entertainment of strangers, for the place was the center of a Quaker influence. Every Sunday Friends' meeting was held for the benefit of the few disciples who assembled there. Frances was a zealous advocate for her faith, and loaned the writer Clarkson's Portraiture of the Quakers. Both Joseph and Frances are buried in the orchard at the home, the sons are gone. Mary lived alone in the spacious mansion for twenty years until a nephew lately moved in, while the huge mill, silent and tenantless, is occupied as a warehouse by a farmer.

To what base uses do we come at last.

The big water wheel also remains. The whole structure speaks of deso- lation, and is a mute reminder of departed prosperity.

One of the best men who ever lived in Jordan was James Talbott, who came from Westmoreland, Pa., in 1835. A carpenter in the east, but here he became a farmer. A devout Methodist. Oliver, born in 1833, is the best known of the surviving children and now resides in Polo. His wife is Mary Furry, a prominent writer and speaker in the W. C. T. U.

In form, the late Jacob Vogdes was the Saul of the township. He was from Pennsylvania, kept bachelor hall on his eighty for some years, and in

HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY

1859 started for Pike's Peak and continued his journey to California, where he died after a varied career in mining. He was seventy-two. He was six feet four, broad shouldered and massively built. Jovial and kindly, his face always wearing a smile.

About two miles from Wilson's mill was the log cabin of Charles Diller, in which he lived from 1850 to his removal to Sterling in 1878. He had been a teacher in Pennsylvania, was the most intelligent man in his neighbor- hood, was school director and justice of the peace, and kept open house. His wife, Ann (Thompson), was the soul of hospitality. Of four boys, Thomas was teacher in the country and Sterling for several terms, and in 1889 was appointed postmaster of Sterling by Harrison, in 1897 by Mckinley and again in 1901. He purchased the Standard as a weekly from Theodore Mack, and in cooperation with J. W. Newcomer, published the paper until its appear- ance as a daily in 1893, Mr. Newcomer retiring.

The Diller farm of nearly 400 acres was purchased by the late W. A. Sanborn, banker, and turned into a stock ranch by the erection of extensive barns. It is now owned by Fernandus Jacobs, who, with his 1,068 acres, is casily the largest land owner in Jordan. He started without a dollar and is still under sixty. It is a little singular that another man of almost the same name, John Adam Jacob, a foreign German, coming here poor, died at 64, owning 1,000 acres in Jordan and much in Iowa.

On the crossroad from the Freeport to the Pennington is Jordan Center with its town hall erected in 1888 after a hot contest about the site with Pen- rose and a neat schoolhouse, both painted white. On the east side of the Pennington road stands the First Evangelical Lutheran church of Jordan with a pretty cupola and bell. Rev. Frederick William Schneider, Baden, Germany, is pastor. He was at the gymnasium of Breslun from 1881-1885, and three years at the theological school of Capitol university, Columbus, Ohio. The church was organized in 1874, remodeled in 1897, is well equipped with organ and other essentials, and is a credit to the people. An addition to the comfortable parsonage in 1907. Henry Helms, Henry Bitters, Ber- nard Fulfs, are the deacons. Besides the Sunday school of 80 pupils, there are Ladies' Aid society and Luther League. Membership of two hundred. The ground for church and cemetery was given by John Wolfersperger, who was one of the large landholders in that district. At one time he had a dairy of fifty cows, sending butter to St. Louis. His son, Aaron, is now Judge Wolfersperger of Sterling. Mr. Wolfersperger came to the country. in 1851.

South of the church is another landmark, the Capp schoolhouse. The first in 1856, the later one about 1867. D. N. Foster, now in Sterling, taught there before 1860. Across the Elkhorn to the east was the Hubbard Grove school, in which from 1856 onwards we find wielding the birch such tyros as W. W. Davis, John Lennon, C. W. Marston and others. Charles Diller, James Woods and John Furry were directors.

In September, 1907, occurred at the Jordan Lutheran church an event that was productive of much good and pleasure. It was the meeting of the Wartburg Synod, the session continuing several days. Seldom that the staid

HISTORY. OF WHITESIDE COUNTY

people of a farming community are favored with so many ministers and so much preaching. One noon the Ladies' Aid society served dinner in the Sunday school. It was a sumptuous entertainment of the richest viands that only country pantries can furnish, and in a quantity that left a surplus for another banquet.

The cemetery adjoins the church and has many elegant memorials of granite and marble. The lots are kept in good order.

Gone before To that unknown and silent shore.

The W. C. T. U. flourishes in Jordan. At one of their late festivals 87 guests were present, and the occasion afforded great delight and profit to the happy throng. An excellent and varied program comprising a violin solo, a duet and quartet, followed by an earnest and suggestive address by Mrs. Dunlap of Champaign on the requisites of an ideal home. Bountiful refresh- ments at the close.

Another admirable feature of Jordan life is the interest in the Sunday school cause. The East Jordan Loyal alumni celebrated their sixth anni- versary in the winter of 1907 at the home of James Anderson with a banquet and toasts. The roll in five years grew from 23 to a membership of 55. Five years faithful attendanee is the condition of membership.

The Loyal Sunday School Army Alumni is an adjunct of the East Jordan Sunday school. The organization is composed of persons who have passed a grade of seventy-five per eent, perfect in attendance, lesson study and con- tribution for four consecutive quarters in each year for five years. The elass at present numbers fifty-two. A banquet is held annually at which officers are eleeted for the ensuing year. The officers for the year 1908 are as follows: President, Mrs. Emily C. Coats; secretary, Miss Myrtle Sivits; treasurer, Mr. Clarenee Parks.

The W. C. T. U. was organized about twenty years ago with a member- ship of one hundred. The present officers are: Mrs. Ida Anderson, president; Mrs. Jennie Jaeob, treasurer; Mrs. Martha Dick, secretary. Parlor meetings are held at the different homes, one a inonth.

The Royal Neighbors were organized Aug. 24, 1898, and the present membership is 58. The number of the camp is 1103. Of the nine officers, Mrs. Ruth Sivits is oraele; Miss Margaret Coats, recorder, Miss Sarah Hocker, receiver ; and Dr. Jane Keefer, physician. Jordan is a progressive community and takes hold of every movement that promises benefit to the general welfare.

An amusing incident happened about 1894 in connection with a mission fest or service held in the woods near the John Kratz farm. It was in autumn and was under the auspices of the Jordan Lutheran church. The preaching was mostly in German. One of the speakers in an exciting flight of elo- quenee and fancy, exclaimed, "I sec a fire!" at the same time, to give force to his remark, pointing in the direction of the house of a simple hcarer who sat on a front bench. He took the orator at his word, and as his dwelling was in that direction, seized his hat and darted off like a deer to quench the flames. The seare almost broke up the meeting. After the service was over,

HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY

Dr. Scveringshaus advised the young preacher to avoid hereafter being too realistic.

THE KAUFFMAN MURDER.

Two sudden blows with a ragged stick, And one with a heavy stone,

One hurried gash with a hasty knife,- And then the deed was done: There was nothing lying at my feet But lifeless flesh and bone!

-Hood's Dream of Eugene Aram.

A mile south of the Jordan Lutheran church a mysterious murder occurred on the night of May 31, 1897. After a careful examination of all the circumstances connected with the affair, Walter Stager, states attorney, made an official report to the board of supervisors, filling six columns of the Sterling Standard, from which we glean the following outline:

Tobias Kauffman at one time lived on his farm, six miles north of Ster- ling, on the west side of the Pennington road. In 1894 he moved into a house on the east side of the road, farther north, on the George Kapp farm, whose wife, Hattie, he had married. After moving, he continued to keep some stock and grain on the old place, where remained the usual sheds, pens, cribs and granary. George was the only son left at home, the other broth- ers have gone. He was twenty-one in January, 1896. In April, 1897, some little pigs were missing on the old farm, and on examination it was believed that grain was also stolen. Suspecting that the thief might return for further plunder, George decided to sleep in the vacant dwelling. On Monday even- ing, May 31, 1897, between seven and eight, George, armed with a big navy revolver, left home to spend the night at the lonely house. This was his last appearance alive. The next morning, as he did not come to break- fast, his father started to look for the boy. Now a few words of explanation about the scene of the catastrophe. Southwest of the vacant dwelling was a strawstack. Half way between the strawstack and granary was a corn crib and pig pen. On approaching the spot, the father saw smoke, and then the strawstack on fire. Hc ran around the stack and into the house, where he found George's shoes. Mr. Kauffman then ran towards his home, calling for help. His daughter Jessie, the hired man Schroeder and a boy soon came, and presently, just in front of the granary, George's cap and a piece of his. shirt sleeve were found. Inside the granary door a stick of wood was found which may have been used to knock the boy down. The next move as to the burning straw pile. Using a long wire to rake off the blazing top, the body of George was discovered and brought to the ground. The corpse was naked, black and badly burned. The forehead was smashed, the skull cracked and a bullet had passed through the head. Afterwards George's revol- ver, watch and much blood were discovered on the spot where the body had lain.

This, then, is the result of the investigation: George had taken off his shoes on going to bed, and hearing a noise, rushed out in his stocking feet,

HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY

and at the granary received the blow that smashed his skull. The body was placed on the stack, shot, and the stack set ou fire. The only motive for his murder must have beeu to prevent his informing on the thieves whom he had surprised.

As may be supposed this horrible affair created intense excitement, and for weeks the scene of blood was visited by hundreds of people, far and uear. No clue was ever found, and the murder of George Kauffman will remain among the dread mysteries of crime.

Besides, this Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath beeu So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnatiou of his taking off.

SCOTCH SETTLERS.

In 1853 Archibald Maxwell came over, and in 1854 James, William and John, settling ou land west of Wilsou's mill. About the same time, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Crichton opened a place in the woods south of Hubbard's Grove school. They died several years ago, and noue of their numerous family remain in the neighborhood. Wheu Mr. Crichton arrived he had barely mouey enough to buy a cookstove, but at his death had a well improved farm. They all came from the vicinity of Glasgow and brought with them the ancient Gaelic virtues of thrift and sobriety.

There were also the Andersons. James came to America in 1851, and in 1853 returned for his wife. After living awhile at Buffalo Grove, Ogle county, then in Clyde township, they finally cast their lot in Jordan, where they engaged iu farming until their removal to Sterling, uearly twenty years ago. David Anderson came in 1850. James is dead, but his widow, Mrs. Agnes, or Aunt Nanny, makes her home with David, and ou New Year's, 190S, celebrated her 90th birthday. Alexander Andersou, a Sunday school leader in Jordan, belongs to this family. Dr. J. C. Maxwell, of Sterling, is a scientific adhereut of the Maxwell clan. All are Presbyterians.

GERMAN SETTLERS.

Most of the farms in West Jordau are occupied by Germans who settled here before and after the Civil war. They came poor, bringing their earthly goods in a sack, but with stout hearts and strong hands they weut to work, laboring at first by the day, and in time owning excellent farms, sometimes several. Much of the land, of course, was secured cheap. Some of the rail- road land was bought for ten dollars per acre. Among these families are such familiar uames as Muns, Wolber, Dieterle, Giffrow, Arnold. Wolf. Helms, Dusiug, Fulfs.

Passing south from the Kauffman place. we come to the large estate, uearly 800 acres, of the late John Wolfersperger, and then the combined woodland, quarry, orchard. aud meadow, of the late Dr. L. S. Peuningtou,

HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY

whose dwelling set off by evergreens commands the landscape for miles. The useful career of both these pioneers is fully detailed in the second volume of this history. This Pennington road leads into Sterling at the house of the late Gen. W. S. Kilgour, who was justly proud of the deadly conflicts of his military record, and to perpetuate the valor of at least one battle, he kept for years a board nailed to the fence bearing the storied name, Chickamauga.

VARIOUS ITEMS.

Tobias Kauffman says there was no school house in Jordan in 1850, as that year he was obliged to go to Science Ridge to improve his mind.

Mr. Sweeney had a small building in which Ripley taught school before the present Capp school house was erected.

About 1868 Alfred Pillsbury taught a term in the Pennington district. He was from Massachusetts, a cousin of the Dinsmoors, had a cultivated voice, and fond of reciting passages from Dickens. On returning to the east, he studied law, and rose to be attorney general of his native state.

CHARLES AND ANN DILLER, JORDAN PIONEERS.

Few persons now living were reared in a log cabin. They were born too late, and do not know what they have missed. To waken in the morning and find your pillow covered with the snow storm of the night is a luxury which the delicate dwellers in our city residences never experience. The log cabin makes strong men and women. Witness Webster, Lincoln, Gar- field, Nancy Hanks, and think what weaklings they might have been but for the endurance given by these primitive dwellings.

. It was the writer's good fortune to spend the winter of 1856-7 in a genuine cabin. It was bought by Charles Diller, and moved from Wilson's mill, according to Oliver Talbott. There was one large room below for the family, which at night by a wire and curtain could be made into two sleeping apartments. In the loft above were three or four beds for six or eight persons, who had plenty of fresh air through the loose shingles. A shed attached to the cabin answered for the big cook stove and also a dining room.

Charles Diller belonged to the numerous Diller family of Lancaster county, and learned the trade of cooper, taught school, after his marriage lived a while in New Holland, and in 1850 sought his fortunes in White- side, buying a farm along the Elkhorn near Wilson's mill. It was a beau- tiful tract of upland prairie, and so high you could see for miles in every direction. He put up a stable, planted an orchard, and began to improve the land.

An excellent set of people, all different. John Adam Jacob was a for- eign German, James Woods from Ohio who married a German wife, Henry Brown and wife both from old England, Joseph and Frances Wilson of the famous mill, Quakers, who held meeting, Charles Crichton and the Max- wells from bonnie Scotland, Joe Stary from Maryland, then a mixed lot of Warners, Deyos, Plummers, John Furry must not be forgotten, father of Mary Talbott, of the W. C. T. U.

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History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I, Part 6

Author: Davis, William W Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 706

Author: Davis, William W
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 706