USA > Illinois > Will County > History of Will County, Illinois, Volume One > Part 9
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"My Lord:
"Some advices lately received from Fort Chartres, of a strange Mixture of French and Spanish Government on the opposite Side of the Mississippi, so that there is no knowing to whom a Country belongs. A French Officer, Monsr. St. Ange, commands on the Mississippi, and receives Orders both from Don Ulloa and Monsr. Aubry. Don Ruis a Spanish Cap- tain, is appointed Governor of the Missouri. These two Com- manders are said to be entirely independent of each other, and expressly forbid to consult together on any public matters. All traders are prohibited going up the Mississippi without a Pass signed by Don Ulloa, and are obliged to go down to New Or-
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leans to give an Account of their Trade, and an order has been published for all young People of a certain age to take up Land and Marry, or quit the Country. The works undertaken by the Spaniards on the Missouri have been destroyed by an overflowing of the River, and of the People they sent up into that Country only fifteen remain; all the rest have deserted. The French Inhabitants appear to be so much disgusted, that it was expected many of them would become British Subjects. The Priest who retired to the West Side of the River when the King's Troops took possession of Fort Chartres, has had some quarrel with the Spaniards and is returned again, and become a Subject to His Majesty. The Trade of the Country is re- ported to be in a bad State, but I have not yet heard any par- ticular Account of its Situation.
"A Tryal was made this year to strengthen the Bank of the Mississippi near the Fort, that might prevent its being washed away by the Torrents of the River, and it has met with the success that was hoped for. No part of the Bank was carried away this Spring, and it is thought, if the work is continued, that the Fort may be preserved.
"These letters advise also, that a hunting Party from Fort Chartres, had been attacked by a party of Indians of the Oua- bache, who killed most of them, and carried away nine Scalps and eight Horse-loads of Peltries into their Village at St. Vin- cent. That the same Indians afterwards attacked some Hunt- ers upon Green River, which joins the Ohio about ninety miles below the Falls.
"I have the honor to be with the greatest Regard, Respect, and Esteem, My Lord, your Lordship's Most Obedient, and Most humble Servant,
"Right Hon. Earl of Hillsborough, One of His Majesty's principal Secretarys of State."
"Thomas Gage.
CHAPTER IX.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN WILL COUNTY
ILLINOIS ADMITTED TO THE UNION-MISSIONARIES-FATHER WALKER-INDIAN EXPERIENCES EARLY SETTLEMENTS-THE SCOTT FAMILY-OTHER PIONEER SETTLERS
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In 1818, when Illinois was admitted as a state, it showed a population of forty thousand. Since the people were eager to get into the Union, it is fair to assume that many transients were counted and that the areas counted may have overlapped some. At any rate, census returns showed the required num- ber of people and Illinois became a state. All that portion north of Alton and Edwardsville was a wilderness. There was a fort at Peoria with troops and a few traders under the imme- diate protection of the soldiers. Fort Dearborn at Chicago was also occupied, with three or four families adjoining the fort and safe-guarded by it. French traders were found oc- casionally, but most of them had withdrawn to the north and west, for they were ever restless in the presence of settlers and soldiers. Couriers of the woods, (cureurs de bois) were found among the Indians, but they were as much Indian as they were white. Many of them were squaw men and lived as the Indians lived. There were hunters and traders, adventurers, caring little for the comforts of civilized life and restless whenever permanent occupation of the land seemed imminent. They were a hardy group of men but acomplished nothing toward permanent settlements. In fact, some of them were a hin- drance to the first whites.
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JOLIET TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL, JOLIET, ILL.
UNION STATION, JOLIET, ILL.
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The Methodist Church, while not so zealous as the Jesuit Society, sent out missionaries early and through the efforts of these faithful workers, one of these missionaries was the first settler in Will County. The order of the coming of the settlers is interesting. First, were those from the South, Virginians and Kentuckians, because southern Illinois was settled by them; Buckeyes and Hoosiers followed soon, to be followed by Irishmen, Germans, Englishmen, Swiss, Norwegians, Swedes, and later, "contrabands" from the South. These different peo- ples have mingled and intermarried so as to become a homo- geneous people. The latter part of the nineteenth century wit- nessed the coming of the people from Southern Europe. Ital- ians, Greeks, Russians, Austrians, and the various peoples from Southeastern Europe. Even the Finns from Northern Europe have some groups of families among us.
Reverend Jesse Walker was the first missionary to settle in the County. It is worth while to follow his career both in and outside of Will County. Jesse Walker, known as Father Walker, is the typical circuit rider of the Methodist Church in Illinois. Walker's life is of interest and gives a good picture of one of the most significant of the early circuit riders. His history is intimately connected with the early history of Will work is taken from the Journal of the Illinois State Historical County, about Plainfield. The following account of his life and Society.
July, 1919: "Father walker was born in Virginia in 1766 and, like many other Virginians, came west to the valley of the Mississippi. He had few educational advantages and but little connection with the Methodist Church until he was twenty years of age. He was converted at this age and accompanied circuit riders. He was urged to become a circuit rider, but, knowing the hardships of the life, he hesitated because he did not wish to expose his wife to the hardships.
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In 1802, he yielded to the call to preach and labored four years in Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1805, William McKen- dree, later Bishop McKendree, set out for Illinois taking Walker with him. In 1806, Walker was assigned to Illinois. It would be interesting to know where this pioneer preached and what people heard him, but little exact information of those first years has come down to us. It is recorded that he held the first watch-night service and the first camp-meeting in the state. His first year was passed in the American Bottom. At the end of the year he reported a membership of two hundred twenty, a gain of one hundred per cent.
For the next twelve years Walker labored in Missouri, then in Illinois, and then in Missouri. For seven of the twelve years he was presiding elder, in Illinois four years and three years in Missouri. In 1819, at the annual conference, he was left with- out an appointment and was assigned as a conference mission- ary. He was to go to the uncared for in the bounds of this conference, and to aid other preachers. This work did not suit him and in 1820 he was assigned to St. Louis as a mis- sionary. His work in St. Louis was successful, but he failed to secure the approval of the conference in 1821 and for three years he was unassigned. In 1824 he was assigned as a mis- sionary to the Indians of the Illinois valley, as far as Fort Dear- born at Chicago. Some are inclined to look upon these years as a failure since he did not convert the natives.
But, the impression he (Walker) made upon their minds was such as doubtless would have resulted in the best conse- quences, (could he have been retained among them), is evident for the veneration they long bore and probably still bear for Father Walker (as they called him), and their strict adherence to his precepts (even among their hunting parties in the re- cesses of the forests), such as abstinence from spirituous liquors, avoiding profanity, and observing the Sabbath. It is of interest to note that these Pottawatomies among whom he
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worked, remained loyal to the whites during the Black Hawk war. It would be too much to assert that this was due to Walker, for we find other influences at work that kept them loyal, but we may be sure that the work of Walker tended to keep them peaceable.
In the year 1825, two events of interest occurred. S. R. Beggs tells us that Walker established the first Methodist class in Peoria. During this same year Walker made a trip to Chi- cago. It is altogether in accordance with the character of the early circuit rider and especially Walker to say that he preached while in Chicago. There is nothing to show that he did, but he would have been sick or unable to gather five or six together if he did not. Such would be the first Protestant sermon in Chicago. Walker was made superintendent in 1831 of the Mission District which included the Chicago Mission. This year he also served the Desplain Mission.
That readers may form some faint idea of the personal ap- pearance of our hero, let them suppose a man about five feet six or seven inches high, of rather slender form with a sallow complexion, light hair, small blue eyes, prominent cheek bones, and pleasant countenance, dressed in drab colored clothes, made in plain style peculiar to the early Methodist preachers, his neck secured with a white cravat, and his head covered with a light-colored beaver, nearly as large as a lady's parasol, and they will see Jesse Walker as if spread out on canvas before them.
As to his mental endowments, he was without education, except the elementary branches of English imperfectly ac- quired, but favored with a good share of common sense, culti- vated some by reading, but much more by practical intercourse with society, and enriched with a vast fund of incidents, pe- culiar to a frontier life, which he communicated with much ease and force. His conversational talent, his tact in narra- tive, his spicy manner, and almost endless variety of religious.
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anecdotes, rendered him an object of attraction in social life. Unaccustomed to expressing his thoughts on paper, he kept his journal in his mind, by which means his memory was much strengthened and his resources for the entertainment of friends increased. He introduced himself among strangers with much facility, and as soon as they became acquainted with him, his social habits, good temper, unaffected simplicity, and great suavity of manner for a backwoodsman, made them his fast friends. As a pulpit orator he was certainly not above mediocrity, if up to it; but his zeal was ardent, his moral courage firm, his piety exemplary, and his perseverance in whatever he undertook was indefatigable. But few men, even in his day performed more hard labor or endured more privation, than Jesse Walker, and certainly no one per- formed his part with more cheerfulness and perseverance.
In the last few years there has been a special effort to give Walker the attention due him. In 1850 his remains were re- moved to a cemetery in Plainfield and a small stone placed on his grave. In 1911 a large and suitable monument was erected by the Rock River Conference and a pilgrimage made to his grave by the Conference held in 1911. Both the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, then joined in services honoring his memory."
It is very much to be regretted that the manuscripts left by Father Walker, respecting his life and works, which must have been of great historic value, were burned, a large portion of them in a fire which consumed the house of James Walker, his son-in-law. That part of his writings which were saved from this conflagration were afterward burned when D. C. Searles' house was destroyed by fire.
The following incident is enlightening, since it depicts In- dian character as well as the mutual regards which the early people had for each other: "During the Black Hawk war, one of the council of women of whom we have spoken, came to
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Mrs. James Walker, the daughter of Father Walker, who had been a teacher at the mission, and who was highly esteemed by the Indians, and left with her her infant boy, to whom she had given the name of Shon-on-ise, charging her that if she did not return, she (Mrs. Walker) must be a mother to him. Mrs. Walker agreed without reflection, to do as she was asked to do. The council woman was then on her way to Milwaukee to attend a council. It so happened that she was attacked with cholera and died, leaving to Mrs. Walker the charge she had accepted. This duty she performed faithfully, and the Indian boy was brought up in the family with Mr. Walker's children and received the same advantages of education as his own, and when he became of age was given a generous outfit. But Shon-on-ise at once showed the truth of the adage, 'once an Indian always an Indian,' for he immediately turned his pony's head toward the setting sun and sought out his tribe in the Far West. Having the advantage of education he became an influential chief among the Indian tribes, and made fre- quent visits to Washington in furtherance of their interests. On such occasions he always called to see Captain James Walker and his foster mother.
In this village, as elsewhere, the Pottawatomies were gen- erally well disposed toward the settlers, giving them but little annoyance except when under the influence of good-no-tash. This article, which under another name, plays the mischief among white people as well, was a source of great trouble and, indeed, of danger to the mission and to the early settlers, and it became necessary to keep strict watch and to use arbi- trary measures to keep it from them. On one occasion, Cap- tain James Walker, finding that by some unaccountable means the Indians had access to the contraband article, determined to find out how they got it. Being perfectly familiar with In- dian customs, and speaking their language, he disguised him- self in their attire and walking into their encampment or vil-
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lage, he seated himself among them, as he found them gathered for some special purpose. Presently a man stole in whom he recognized as a trader from the Fox River, and began to deal out the firewater. He soon came to Captain Walker, who jumped to his feet and called out the name of the trader. The trader was much chagrined. The traffic ceased for some time.
Godfrey's Tavern, at the junction of Route 4 and the Plain- field road, on the south edge of Section twelve (12) in DuPage Township was an early settlement. It was a station for stage- coaches, being the place where they changed horses when going into Chicago and when returning. More is given under Du- Page Township.
The settlements on Hickory Creek were among the very first. W. R. Rice in a letter says that in June, 1829, he and his father William Rice and Miller, left Fountain County, Indiana, to look at the Far West. He says: "We struck the Iroquois which we followed to the Kankakee, which, in turn, we followed to the Des Plaines. We followed the Des Plaines upstream to Hickory Creek. Going up this a mile or two, we found a Mr. Brown and old Col. Sayre living in an old Indian bark shanty near where Dr. Allen's house stands (the old Davidson place) ; and about eighty rods northwest across the creek was an old man of the name of Friend, who had a log cabin partly built."
The account is correct. The man, Brown, died soon after and was buried on the Davidson place, the first white burial in Will County.
The Indian bark shanty was very near where the Viaduct on East Washington Street crosses the Michigan Central Rail- road. Friend's log cabin was on the north side of Hickory Creek, a little to the west and south of the Joliet Lumber and Fuel Company, 2320 East Cass Street. Other settlements along Hickory Creek will be mentioned in the township history.
Robert Stevens settled on Section Two in 1830 and brought his family in 1831. This farm of Mr. Stevens became the first
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fair grounds. A beautiful grove of oaks was found here and an abundant spring supplying water. This area is now known as "Brooklyn" and lies south of Second Avenue, southward to Fifth Avenue. David Maggard took up a claim on the west side of the Des Plaines River about opposite the Steel Mills, on the bluff opposite the Horseshoe works. Both of these men were here before the surveys had been made and were squat- ters. This fact makes it difficult to locate the land exactly. Maggard's cabin was the first erected in the present city lim- its. His home stood on the edge of the Sac (Sauk) Trail. This trail, at that early date was a national highway. The Lincoln Highway approximates this trail coming into Joliet from the east and going out on the northwest toward Aurora. The pres- ent flow of water in the river is high on account of the Chicago Drainage Channel, but in the early days (1828-29-30) it could be forded where the riffles were in shallow places where the water flowed swiftly.
Reed's Grove was in section thirty-six (36) in Channahon Township and in section thirty-one (31) in Jackson Township. This is south and west of Elwood. Charles Reed, Joseph Shoe- maker, and Wesley Jenkins settled in Reed's Grove in 1831.
Yankee Settlement was started in 1831, when Holder Sisson, Selah Lanfear, and Orrin Stevens settled in the West-central part of the Township of Homer. Mr. Lanfear settled on the northwest one-fourth of Section 29. About the same time Ly- man Hawley settled on the northeast one-fourth of Section 30. Mr. Hawley opened a store on Hawley's Hill which is now on the Frazier farm. A blacksmith shop was started and for a time, it seemed that a town might grow on this hill, but fate decided otherwise.
Thorn Grove, which exists now in name if not in trees, cov- ered sections 1, 2, 11 and 12, in Monee Township and section 6, in Crete Township. The grove extended into Cook County for several miles, running northward from the part in Will county.
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1833-1834, Major Price, William Osborn and Asa Dade settled on Thorn Creek.
DuPage settlements (Township 37 North, Range 10, East of the 3rd Principal Meridian) were made much earlier because the first settler was attracted by the beauty of the land between the two branches of the DuPage River, branches which unite just before entering Wheatland Township.
The following liberal transcript is taken from "History of Will County," published in 1878: Stephen J. Scott was a native of Maryland who settled on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan in 1825. Being dissatisfied with the sandy region of western Michigan he crossed to the western shore and settled at Grose Point, now known as Evanston. There were then no white people north of Peoria, outside of the garrisons and a few fam- ilies under the immediate protection of the forts. Chicago had two or three families of Indian traders outside of the fort.
Mr. Scott while out hunting with his son, Willard, a young man of twenty-one, came upon the DuPage River near Plain- field. The beauty of the stream and the adjacent prairies and groves impressed him and he followed the stream upwards until he came to the place where the two forks unite in Section 7. Attracted by the beauty of the location, the fertility of the prairie soil, and the convenient adjacent timber, he left his home on the lake shore and, in 1830, moved his family into the comfortable log house which he had built.
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William Scott, who came with his father in the hunt, and afterward settled with them in the log-house home, had ac- quired a good knowledge of the Indian language and under- stood the Indian's disposition. He had great influence with the Pottawatomie tribe and at a council in the Big Woods in 1832, was largely instrumental in preventing that tribe from joining the Sacs (Sauks) in their murderous war upon the early settlers. Young Scott had been adopted into the tribe and received an Indian name, Kish-wash, an Eagle. The young
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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY
man commanded the respect of the natives by his honesty and undaunted bravery. On one of his early hunting expeditions he wandered as far as Holdeman's Grove in Grundy County and there found a wife in the family of Hawley.
Troutman's Grove, in Sections 1 and 12, in Channahon Township, was settled in 1831 by Joseph McCune and John Troutman, and in 1833 by Robert Thornburg. At this writing, none of these family names appear in the titles to property in that part of the township.
Jedediah Wooley, Jr., came in 1831 and settled in Troy Town- ship in Section 16, the southern part, on the river. He com- menced a mill on the river bank in that year. The Sauk (Sac) war interrupted the work which was not completed until 1834. Rexford brothers settled there in 1834 and rented Wooley's Mill. The village of Troy remains in that settlement now (1928), decadent, but still a village with a little activity.
Forked Creek runs through the western part of Wesley Township, crosses the southwest corner of Florence Township and passes through the City of Wilmington, to flow into the Kankakee River. A group of people from Virginia settled along this creek as early as 1834. They needed wood and water as well as tillable land, so they kept near the river. The earli- est were John Frazier, Hamilton Keeney, John Williams, Rob- ert Kilpatrick, James Kelly, James Jordan, John Howell, and George Beckwith.
Thomas Hatton and Richard Yates settled across the river in the present Township of Custer in 1834. This was some- what near the French Settlement known as Bourbonnais Grove, and therefore was not isolated.
Five-mile Grove in Sections 7 and 8, in Manhattan Town- ship. Mr. Stevens settled here in 1832 and Ephraim and Ed- ward Perkins came in 1833. The Jones and Rudd families came in 1835. The importance and influence of wood and water was much in evidence here. Five-mile Grove was small includ-
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ing not more than forty acres, some of which still remains (1928). The settlers avoided this part because the prairie sur- rounding the land was already taken up.
Twelve-mile Grove covered something more than one thou- sand acres. This attracted squatters early. There was good water, good timber, and good land for cultivation around it. Some of the grove remains at Wallingford, coming down to Wilton Center. Samuel Holcomb settled there in 1832 and Abram Huyck in 1835. These names are no longer listed among the land-owners in that part, but Huyck's Grove survives in the name of the school which is still known as Huyck's Grove School.
Monee Township had about two thousand acres of timber in the northeast corner, and therefore had some early settlers. In 1834, J. S. Dilly came in; in 1835, John M. Cehase, N. C. Tib- bitts, S. W. Cooper, Nicholas Young, and Rud Carney; in 1836, S. W. Gaines, Aaron Bond, Otis Philips, Hollis Newton, and a man named Hall. Otis B. Philips opened the first school in 1836. Some of these names survive but most of them have been replaced by Germans who came in some twenty or thirty years later.
The earliest Settlements have been noticed with the excep- tion of Joliet Township. The history of Joliet is so intimately connected with the history of the township that it may be given in that part of this work. In this part it has been our purpose to give the early beginnings for convenience in reference as well as reading. Each township has a history of its own with characteristic features which may not be overlooked.
CHAPTER X.
TOWNSHIPS.
CHANNAHON TOWNSHIP-CRETE TOWNSHIP-VILLAGE OF CRETE-PIONEER DAYS IN EASTERN WILL COUNTY-CUSTER TOWNSHIP-DU PAGE TOWN- SHIP-ROMEO-FLORENCE TOWNSHIP-FRANKFORT TOWNSHIP-MOKENA -FRANKFORT-GREEN GARDEN TOWNSHIP-HOMER TOWNSHIP-EARLY WILL COUNTY DAYS-JACKSON TOWNSHIP-ELWOOD.
Channahon Township .- The history of the townships is taken most largely from a "History of Will County" published in 1878, by Wm. Le Baron, Jr., and Company. The work on the townships was compiled by W. H. Perrin and H. H. Hill. They were near enough to the first years of our history to present the facts which were obtained from people who had personal knowledge of the events. For convenience for refer- ence, they are given here in alphabetic order.
Channahon Township borders on the Great Highway along the Des Plaines. This region was a favorite dwelling place for the Indians. Indian towns and villages were located in this vicinity for many generations before the Whites came. Mounds are still found there, some of which are still undisturbed by White men. Excavations which have been made across the river from Dresden Heights have been described in a preced- ing chapter. In this chapter we are interested in the early settlers and give the accounts as found in the book mentioned above.
"In that beautiful portion of our county which lies between the Des Plaines and Du Page rivers, and near the meeting of
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