USA > Illinois > Will County > History of Will County, Illinois, Volume One > Part 12
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direction towards Chicago. This route carries heavy traffic at all times. On Sundays and Holidays it is almost a continual stream of automobiles.
The good roads leading up to the concrete highway make it possible to transport on heavy trucks. Very much of the pro- duce is carried on these trucks. Cattle for feeding are brought in by the same means and when ready for the market are taken back from Chicago in the same way. The township was given over very largely to feeding cattle for beef until four years ago. Since that time dairy business has come in rapidly. This is due in part to the high price of feeders but mostly to the fact that trucks gather the milk from many stations through- out the township. Thus the farmers are able to market their product without difficulty in transporting which hindered them in former years. The Chicago market takes all of this product that they can produce.
In former years the southeast portion of this township, especially that corner which lies east of the river had exten- sive quarries. Building stones were in demand to supply the builders in Chicago. The coming of concrete construction has closed practically all of the quarries. Crushed stone is still produced in large quantities but the stones which are crushed are no longer taken from the ground. They are easily ob- tained from the immense ridges of stone which were excavated to make the Chicago Drainage Canal.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal is abandoned. It is an empty ditch not much more than a scratch upon the surface when one compares it with the Chicago Drainage Canal. The completion of the Drainage Canal rendered the old canal use- less as far as Joliet because boats could travel upon the larger canal with ease since mules were no longer the propelling power.
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was constructed by the Chicago Trainage Commission with the primary purpose
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of making an outlet for the sewage of that city. The State as well as the Nation insisted that it become a ship canal so that it might be used in the future as occasion required. This Chan- nel was completed in 1893 and served its purpose for drain- age for the great city without detriment for the cities along the Illinois Valley.
The Deep Waterway for which actual construction work was commenced on November 6, 1920, is being pushed forward rapidly at this time. Contracts were awarded in 1926 for the construction of a lock and dam at Starved Rock; gates and valves for Lockport and Marseilles, and for locks and dam at the lower edge of the city of Joliet. Right-of-way has been obtained throughout and contracts have been let for all of the work which is being pushed forward rapidly. The lock and dam at the Brandon Road is well under way at this writing. Plans are complete for five bridges over the waterway in Joliet. This Deep Waterway will increase the value of real estate in the southeast portion of Du Page township because it will make factory sites available outside of the congested area of Chicago. Thus one improvement brings another and the development of one industry reflects upon another to further the interests of all.
Florence Township is a full Congressional town, contain- ing thirty-six full sections, and is described in the survey as Town 33 north, and 10 east of the Third Principal Meridian. It is bounded on the north by Jackson Township, on the east by Wilton, on the south by Wesley, and on the west by Wilming- ton. It is watered by Prairie Creek flowing through the north- western part, and by Forked Creek and its branches flowing through the southern portion. These furnish excellent stock water to the farms lying adjacent. Stone, adapted to founda- tions for houses and for making lime, is found in some parts,
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and quarries are worked for these purposes. Some dispute as to who was the first settler of this township has arisen in consequence of the nearness of some of the first settlements to the northwest corner, across the line from which other early settlements were made in adjoining townships. We have no doubt, from close investigation, that Lewis Linebarger is just- ly entitled to that honor. Several others of the Linebarger family came to Jackson Township in the year 1832, and, as we have seen in the history of that township, returned to Indiana on the appearance of the Indian troubles. The next spring, Lewis moved out and settled at what has since been known as Starr's Grove, though the neighborhood was then really con- sidered a part of Reed's Grove. Perhaps, from this circum- stance, Linebarger has been incorrectly accredited to Jackson Township. Linebarger built a log cabin, which was the first and made other improvements. He did not enter the land, but subsequently sold his claim to Arthur Potts, and removed to Oregon.
Arthur Potts, though not the next to make his appearance as a settler, was yet in the township of Westley in 1834, and moved on the claim purchased of Linebarger a year or two later. Potts was a native of Indiana. He lived here until 1854, and then removed to Iowa, having sold his farm to Duncan McIntyre.
Another of the Linebargers also settled in here in 1834. He, too, moved to Oregon. Henry Moore was here in 1834. He was a native of Indiana, a good farmer, and removed to Iowa many years ago.
In 1835, the township received an addition to its population that proved to be an addition, not only as to numbers, but in worth, in energy, in industry, and in general benefit to the community. Henry Althouse is a native of Prussia. He came to this country in 1819, landing in Baltimore that year. All
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that he had in the world, when he stepped ashore, was the clothes on his back, plenty of energy and a thorough know- ledge of the baking business. In the business of baking he en- gaged, working at the trade in Maryland, Virginia and Ohio. In 1835, he concluded to turn farmer, and, with that intent, came to this place and laid claim to a piece of land. To this he added, by the utmost energy and industry, until, at one time, he owned 1,500 acres. Having a view to the comfort and wel- fare of a large family, he divided it up and gave to each of the nine surviving children a good farm and other property of value. He moved to Wilmington, where he occupied the fine residence of the former banker, Daniels. He lived beyond four score, retaining his faculties to the last.
John Kahler was also one of the earliest citizens of this vicinity, having settled here in 1835.
James Martin came in 1836. He was a native of Ireland, and proved to be a first-class citizen of this community. When he first came to the neighborhood, he assisted in the building of Dr. Bowen's mill at Wilmington. The school records show him to have been one of the first school trustees, in 1842. His son William occupied the old homestead until his death. James W. Martin, another son, was a successful farmer, acquiring several good farms in Florence and Wesley townships. Later he became interested in politics and became a leader. He dis- posed of his land and removed to Joliet where he acquired con- siderable real estate. He was elected County Treasurer for two terms and served his county well. Four sons survive, Robert, an attorney in Joliet, who was State's Attorney for the County; Walter, who is also an attorney associated with his brother, Charles, of Wilmington, who is mayor of that city, and John who is a prosperous farmer in Wesley Township.
About this time came Walter and Thomas Monteith. They were from New York. They lived here about ten years, and then removed to Oregon. Since their removal to that State,
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report says they have become very. wealthy. David Bell was one of the next to settle here. He was a native of New York, and came first to Wilmington, where he earned a little money working at the trade of carpenter, bought a little land in the southwest part of the township, and by constant industry and good management became wealthy.
In 1837, Duncan McIntyre and Daniel Stewart came from New York. McIntyre took a claim on Section 28, the farm later owned by Selah Morey, and built a cabin. Being unmar- ried at the time, he took to live with him Nelson Wright and family, who had emigrated from New York with him. Sub- sequently, Wright removed to Oregon, and McIntyre sought elsewhere for a housekeeper; and in the connection a little romance is related. Some years before, McIntyre and some friends, while on a tour of inspection in the neighboring town- ship of Wesley, were suddenly surprised by seeing coming to- ward them a man leading a little girl, then a mere child. The man informed them that they were emigrants from Michigan, and had just arrived at the place; that their wagon, with the balance of the family, had been left a little way behind, and they were seeking a place to spend the night. The man was Joseph Hadsel, and the little girl was his daughter. All of the gentlemen were struck with the quiet and simple beauty of the little girl; but no one dreamed that this was to be the future Mrs. Duncan McIntyre. But when Mr. McIntyre's ten- ants, the Wrights left his place, he then brought to mind the modest, intelligent face of Joseph Hadsel's daughter, who was then living with her father in the adjoining township. An op- portunity was not long in presenting itself for McIntyre to renew the acquaintance of the now young lady, and his estima- tion of her growing as their acquaintance increased, and her regard for him being of an equally high character, they were married in 1840. Three years later, McIntyre and his wife returned to New York, where they lived fourteen years, and
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then returned to Florence, where he died some years later. Mrs. McIntyre resided at Starr's Grove, with her mother, the former Mrs. Hadsel until her death. She was one of the oldest resi- dents of this part of the county when she passed away.
Daniel Stewart, mentioned in Wilmington Township, was one of the staunchest and most honorable citizens of this neigh- borhood. In his line of business he was most successful, and accumulated a large amount of property.
Walter W. Monteith, cousin of the Monteith before men- tioned, came about the year 1841, and worked for a time in Gov. Matteson's woolen mills at Joliet. On coming to this township, he settled near the center. He was one of the most popular (and deservedly so) citizens. He was the first Super- visor of the township, and held numerous other positions of honor and responsibility, in all of which he discharged the duties of the same in a most satisfactory manner.
Charles Starr, after whom the little grove on Prairie Creek was named, was a native of Nova Scotia. He was the father of Judge C. R. Starr, of Kankakee. Mr. Starr came to this coun- try and to this township in 1842. He died in 1874 at a very advanced age-nearly 100 years old. In the same year, Wil- liam Van der Bogert arrived from New York. He was elected, the same year, a Trustee of Schools in the township being one of the first three.
Isaac Jackson also arrived in 1842. He was a native of Nova Scotia and came with his family to Starr's Grove, having purchased 100 acres of land at that place. Mr. Jackson was a Quaker preacher, though in some points he differed from the orthodox Quakers. Before removing from Nova Scotia, he had built, at his own expense, a church, in which he preached his peculiar doctrines to all who desired to hear him, free of expense to his auditors. On leaving that country, he donated the house of worship to the congregation. After coming to this country, he frequently held religious services at school-
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houses throughout the county. Mr. Jackson was a most pro- found mechanical genius; and whether the circumstances called for the shoeing of a horse, the framing of a house, the building of a carriage in all to its parts, or the transforming of a piece of iron into the delicate hairspring of a chronometer, he was always found equal to the occasion. At his son Delancy's may be seen some of the instruments manufactured by him for his own use, which are pronounced by experts to be of the very finest character. He died here in 1875, at the advanced age of 90 years, his wife having preceded him in 1856. Enoch Jack- son, a son of the above, served for eighteen consecutive years as Justice of the Peace in this township, during which time not a single one of his decisions was ever reversed by the higher courts.
By the year 1848, quite a number more permanent settle- ments had been made, so that the population had become near- ly one hundred. Among the principal ones who arrived during the years 1842-48, are remembered John Jordan, Rufus Cor- bett, George A. Gray, Adam White, Edward Gurney, the Bas- kerville family, Selah and Leonard Morey, William Barret, Dr. E. H. Strong, Adam White and sons John and James, C. G. Jewell, R. H. Nott, Andrew Layton, Henry Hand and Hezekiah Warner.
The first move looking toward the organization of a means of educating the youth of this township originated with Henry Althouse, the next Winter after arriving here. The school con- sisted of only his own children and a child or two belonging to one of the neighbors. The school was taught in a room of Althouse's dwelling, by a young lady employed by him, and was more on the nursery style than conforming to the strict rules of the modern public school, the young lady being em- ployed as much for the purpose of taking care of the children as for instructing them. In 1841, the first steps were taken to establish a school for general and public instruction. A peti-
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tion was prepared, and at the meeting of the Board of Trustees of Wilmington Township, in the Spring of the next year, pre- sented to that body praying to be admitted as a part of the Wilmington District. The petition was considered favorably, and a school was established within the bounds of Florence, during the winter of 1842-43. The attendance was only six scholars, and the term lasted but thirty-five days. Sarah Fisher is entitled to the credit of being the pioneer educator of the public school system of this township; and for her services, as Principal of this Florence Academy, or Starr's Grove institute, or whatever it was called, she received $11.50.
In 1845, the number of scholars in the township, living near Starr's Grove, had increased to twenty-four, and Town 33, Range 10, was set off as a separate district. No schoolhouse had yet been erected, but schools were held in such rooms of private houses as could be spared. The first schoolhouse was erected in 1849, and was built by Selah Morey, for $250. James Martin, John Kahler and William Van der Bogert were the first trustees.
Florence Township is entirely agricultural. One village is found on the Wabash in the southeastern part, village of Symerton. This is an important grain center and affords a market for the farmers of that area.
All of the land is prairie with the exception of a few acres of timber on Jordan Creek in section 22. This group is com- posed of scattered trees and it does not appear that very many have been cut away. The entire township is under cultivation. The land is well drained and easily tilled. It produces good crops of corn, wheat, oats, barley, and rye. For some years previous to the World War very little if any wheat was raised. Since that time, however, cultivation of winter wheat and spring wheat has been revived and this crop now is a consider- able portion of the grain crop of the township. Thus far no Chinch bug has appeared to interfere with the wheat. Indica-
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tions are that no trouble will arise from this source for some years to come. Grain farming is almost universal throughout the township. During the last year some dairying has come in. The lack of sufficient good roads hinders the advancement of this line of farming.
The concrete road running south from Joliet strikes the west side of the township at the north edge of section 7 and follows along the township line of sections 18 and 19 and half way across section 30 where it turns west through Wilming- ton. A good stone road is maintained along the central line of the township from north to south. A stone road is main- tained also on the south side of sections 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. This east and west road continues eastward until it intersects the concrete road, Route 22 from Joliet to Kankakee. A stone road runs north from this east and west road through the vil- lage of Symerton northward one and one-half mile and thence westward to the stone road along the central line. The re- mainder of the highways are graded dirt roads. They are maintained in good condition during dry weather but in wet weather it is very difficult to travel over them with an auto- mobile because the land is so nearly level.
Nine good schools are maintained in the township. Eight years ago a movement was started looking to the consolida- tion of the rural schools. The farmers feared an added cost as well as difficulties in transporting the pupils over mud roads. It was abandoned because the people thought that it would not be successful. Attendance at the schools has been uniformly good.
No churches are maintained in the township. The people worship in the churches of Wilmington and other nearby towns.
Frankfort Township .- Ninety-eight years have come and gone since white men began to settle in the territory now em-
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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY
braced in Frankfort Township. William Rice is supposed to have been the first white man whose footsteps marked the vir- gin prairie in this portion of Will County. He made a kind of prospecting tour through here in 1828, but did not make a permanent settlement until in the Summer of 1831. During the spring and summer of that year, John McGovney, William Moore, William Rice and a man named Osborne settled near where the village of Mokena now stands. Not long, however, were they allowed to remain in peace and tranquillity. The notes of war were wafted to them upon the prairie winds, and the war-whoops of Black Hawk and his warriors warned them that this was no safe abiding-place. Early in the spring of 1832, safety demanded a retreat to a more thickly-settled coun- try, and they accordingly returned to the Wabash settlement, or to Lafayette, Indiana. McGovney, Moore and Rice were from Ohio, and Osborne had come from Indiana, but whether that was his native place or not could not be learned. After the close of the Indian war, McGovney and Rice came back to their claims, in the spring of 1834. Moore and Osborne, it appears, however, were fully satisfied with frontier life, and never returned-at least not to this settlement. Mr. McGov- ney pre-empted eighty acres of land, and succeeded in getting a "float" on another "eighty," a portion of which is embraced in the present village of Mokena. He is considered the first permanent settler of Frankfort Township. The land was not in market at the time he settled here, and settlers chose their locations and "squatted," provided there were no prior claims. Range 11 was sold in 1836, and Range 12 in 1838, at Chicago. Mr. McGovney died on his original place March 11, 1859. W. W. McGovney, a son, resided in New Lenox Township; another son, Ozias, was a prosperous merchant in the village of Mok- ena; Thomas G., another son, lived in Joliet, and Elijah, the youngest, lived on the old homestead until his death. The fam-
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ily consisted of eight children, and all lived until the youngest was 32 years old.
Matthew Van Horne settled here, it is said, in 1832, and remained during the Black Hawk War. He was from New York, and was good-naturedly termed by his neighbors as a Mohawk Dutchman. He settled one mile west of the present village of Frankfort, in the Hickory Creek timber, where he lived and died, and where his widow resided until her death, in the same old house where they spent more than half their lives. Peter Flayes came from New Hampshire and settled first in the vicinity of Lockport, but removed to Frankfort Township in the spring of 1837. Orlando and Levi M. Clayes, his sons, came in the fall of 1836; Charles, another son, came out and worked on their claim during the winter, and in the spring the re- mainder of the family came. They bought their claim from one Robert Smith, who was from Vermont, and settled here in 1835. None of this family remain. Grandchildren survive in other parts of Illinois. E. Atkins and a brother, John At- kins, came from Vermont, and were among the first settlers in the township after the close of the Sac War, and about the same time came Weir and Duncan, from the Wabash settle- ments. Foster Kane and Archibald Crowl were from the same section. It is said that Kane was in the settlement all through the Black Hawk war, and settled on the place afterward oc- cupied by Matthew Van Horne. Crowl settled near the village of Mokena, in 1834 or 1835. He finally moved to Missouri, Kane moved South in a short time after the war was over, and afterward to Missouri, where he died many years ago. Daniel Wilson came from Ohio and settled in 1834 or 1835. Francis Owen was from Kentucky, and came in 1835. Phineas Holden and Trueman Smith were from Vermont, and settled also in 1835.
Ambrose Doty came from Ohio, in 1834, and settled on the line between Frankfort and New Lenox Townships. His land
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lay on both sides of the line, and his first cabin was built just over the line in New Lenox Township; but when, some years later, he built a new and more pretentious residence, he set it on the opposite side of the line, and thus became a resident of Frankfort Township. As stated, he came from Ohio, but was born in Norris County, N. J. He has been living for some years in Frankfort village. Isaac Francis also came from Ohio, but was a native of the "Ould Sod," and settled in the town in 1835. Allen and Lysander Denny, a Mr. Wood, and David Ket- chum came from New York in 1834 or 1835. Wood had two sons, Hiram and Sydney; one of them, a Methodist clergyman, moved to the Rock River country; the father and the other son moved away, also, but where, we could not learn. The Dennys settled in the Hickory Creek timber-Allen near Mokena, and Lysander on the Creek, where he built a saw-mill, and after a time sold out and moved to the village of Spencer, where he died. Allen finally returned to New York, where he died sev- eral years ago. William Knight, also a New Yorker, came in the Fall of 1834, and settled in the Grove, but sold out in a few years and returned to New York. This includes a number of the early settlers of Frankfort Township, and, perhaps, a majority of those who settled in the town prior to the land sale, are mentioned in this list. After the sale of these lands, the community rapidly filled up until not a section was left un- occupied.
John W. McGovney, a son of John McGovney, noticed as the first settler of this township, was the first white child born in the settlement. He was born in the Spring of 1832, just be- fore the settler left the place for the Wabash settlements, at the beginning of the Sac war. As to the first death and mar- riage, the few survivors of the early days, are somewhat un- certain as to who they were, or when they occurred. The first physician who practiced the healing art in the neighborhood was Dr. Moses Porter, of Hadley; Dr. W. P. Holden was the
HIGH SCHOOL & TRADE. ECHOAL PLAINFIELD
HIGH SCHOOL AND GRADE SCHOOL, PLAINFIELD, ILL.
MAIN ST, MOKENA, IL.
MAIN STREET, MOKENA, ILL.
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first resident physician in the township, and practiced many years, but at length retired and gave the field to younger men. The first mill was built by Matthew Van Horne, about 1835-36, and was originally a saw-mill only, but a run of stones was afterward added, for grinding corn. A saw-mill was built prior to this by Denny, but it was a saw-mill only.
A store was opened, in 1836, by O. and L. M. Clayes, which was the first mercantile effort in the township. They contin- ued in the business for eight or ten years, when they closed out, and one M. C. Farewell opened a store in the same house they had occupied. The latter did business under the firm name of Farewell & Case. Case lived in Chicago, and furnished the goods, and Farewell conducted the store. A post office was established in 1837, with L. M. Clayes as Postmaster, one of the merchants mentioned above. The name of the office was Chel- sea, and after the Clayes Brothers discontinued their store, the office was moved to Van Horne's, and he was made Postmaster, an office he held until some years after the post office had been moved to the new village of Frankfort, as noticed hereafter. When the office was first established, the mail was brought by "horse express fast line" from LaPorte, Ind., to Joliet once a week. A village was laid out here in 1848-49 by Charles Clayes and M. C. Farewell, which was called Chelsea. The former owned the premises, and the place had some show of becoming quite a town; but upon the completion of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad it was abandoned, and the last traces of it have now disappeared.
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