USA > Illinois > Ogle County > Mount Morris > Mount Morris: past and present, an illustrated history of the township and the village of Mount Morris, Ogle County, Illinois, in their various stages of development, together with a local biographical directory > Part 12
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MISS LILIAN HESS, Grammar department, is the daughter of Willoughby and Mary Hess, and was born in Leaf River township. Her educational career commenced in the country schools near her home, and was afterward continued in a school in Winnebago county, where her parents moved. Later they came to Mount Morris and Miss Hess became a student in the public schools of this place, graduating with the class of 1886. She then spent two years in Mount Morris College, preparing for the pedagogical profession. She taught her first term of school at the Stonebraker school- house, north of town. Four or five years were spent in teaching in country schools, one of which was in the Primary department of the Adeline school. In the summer of 1896 she was elected a member of the Mount Morris public school faculty, and is now serving her fifth year,-three years in the Intermediate department and, including the present year, two years in the Grammar department.
MRS. FRANCES E. CRAWFORD, Intermediate department, has followed the pedago- gical profession in Mount Morris possibly longer than than any two other teachers either in the public schools or college, her term of service extending over more than a score of years. Mrs. Crawford is a native of New York, her birth-place being near Springville. Erie county. She secured her early education in a district school, and at the age of fifteen entered the Griffith Institute at Springville, spending two years of diligent study there. The following year she entered upon her long career of teach- ing, when but seventeen years of age. She taught three terms in the country near Springville and then came to Ogle county, Illinois. first engaging for three terms in the Byron school. In 1864, she came to Mount Morris and acted as principal of the village school seven years, serving the last four in the new building, as mentioned elsewhere in this chapter. Her next teaching was at Egan City, where she passed two winters, and later at Baileyville, where she was engaged three years and one term, part of the time serving as principal of the school. Returning to Mount Morris in 1879, she was re-engaged in the village schools, and has held the position continuously since that time, a period of twenty-one years. This entire time has been spent in primary work, either in the First or Second Primary departments, with the exception of the past two years, during which time she has had charge of the Intermediate department. One of Mrs. Crawford's chief recommendations as an educator is her ability to keep order,-a quality absolutely necessary in the education of the little folks.
MISS LULU KABLE, of the Second Primary department, is the daughter of John and Elizabeth Kable, of Mount Morris. She entered the public schools of this place when she arrived at the prescribed age. She graduated at the age of fourteen. and then spent a few terms in Mount Morris College. She obtained a teacher's certificate as a result of this work, and began teaching north of the village when she was but sev- enteen years of age. In 1897, she again entered Mount Morris College, and graduated from the Teachers' course with the class of 1898. She was immediately engaged as First Primary teacher in the Mount Morris public schools, and the following year was advanced to the Second Primary room. The present year, 1900-'01, is her fifth year in the work of teaching.
MISS JENNIE HARLEY, First Primary teacher. is the daughter of Jacob K. and Sarah Harley, of Harleysville, Pa. Besides the public schools, she attended Brunner Seminary, at Lansdale, Pa., one year, and the State Normal, at West Chester, one term.
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT.
Before coming to Mount Morris. in 1896. she had nine years of practical experience in teaching in Pennsylvania, four years in country schools near Harleysville and five years in Secondary and Primary work in the graded schools at Lansdale. Since com- ing to this place she has spent a short time in the college. During the summer of 1900 she was elected to her present position.
Prominent among the men who, in the capacity of school director, had to do with the destiny of the schools and served well in the cause of edu- cation in Mount Morris, stands Henry J. Farwell, whose portrait appears on this page. Mr. Farwell served as a member of the school board more than a score of years, longer than any two other members. He was presi- dent of the board from 1865 to 1890, a term of twenty-five years, and dur- ing that time exerted un- of young pine trees along the bluffs and transplant- ed them in the regular rows in which they at present appear. Mr. Farwell was president of the board at the time of his death in 1890. tiring efforts for the school's welfare and advancement. He was instrumental in building the present stone edifice, an im- provement very painfully neces- sary at the time of its erection. It appears that there were a number of non- enterprising tax-payers in the district who opposed the plan and Mr. Farwell did all in his power to lessen the expense. When the need of shade trees in the school yard was felt, he himself drove to H. J. FARWELL.
Previous to 1895 there were elected three school direc- tors, one each year, with terms of three years, but in that year, in compliance with the law pro- viding that all dis- tricts with over one thousand inhabitants must have a board of edu- cation with a president and Pine Creek, dug up a number six members, the new arrange- ment was adopted, and since that time a president and two members are elected each year. The present board consists of R. D. McClure, presi- dent; A. M. Newcomer, clerk; J. L. Rice, G. W. Deppen, I. W. Marshall, C. E. Price and R. C. McCredie. R. D. McClure has served as president of the board since its organization in 1895, and was a director for about eight years previous. Next to H. J. Farwell, he has served the school for the longest period.
Other men who were directors for a considerable length of time are Oliver Swingley, H. C. Clark, Dr. Isaac Rice, H. G. Kauffman, and many whose names are not obtainable.
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THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
The present school board is composed of men who in every way are in sympathy with the strong educational sentiment which prevades the com- munity. They have taken the opportunity to improve the standard of work in the school by the careful selection of teachers and do not hesi- tate to sanction and approve any plausible suggestion which may be made for improvement in any line. They meet in business session on the first Friday of each month.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE VILLAGE PRESS.
It is generally conceded that the printing press is one of the most potent factors in molding the destiny of a newly-settled territory, but it is also a fact, however, that it is among those the least appreciated by the people when called upon to sustain it. The first settlers of Mount Morris township had no access to daily papers, and even weeklies very rarely found their way into their hands; for mails were irregular and in- frequent, the mode of transferring them being by horseback, and very often that means failed. The only papers taken by the people during the early days were possibly a few eastern journals and some religious papers.
The great esteem in which all educational interests were held by the first settlers of Ogle county is evidenced by the fact that when the country was yet almost a wilderness the corner-stone of " Old Sand- stone," or Rock River Seminary, was laid, on the fourth day of July, 1839. Consequently it was thought generally in the east that among a people so thoroughly imbued with the importance of educational ad- vantages, a newspaper would find a ready support, but this estimate, as the sequel will show, proved a serious mistake to the projectors of the first newspaper venture in Mount Morris. The principals in this enter- prise were Jonathan and Emanuel Knodle, of Washington county, Md., the former as publisher and the latter as editor of the proposed paper. These gentlemen purchased the press and materials with which a small paper entitled The Casket was printed at Boonsboro, Md., and on the sixteenth day of July, 1841, the former accompanied by his family and with their household goods, including the said printing outfit, they set out in wagons for Mount Morris. When they arrived at Wheeling, W. Va., finding their loads too heavy to be drawn by the teams, the press and printing materials were shipped from there by boat around to Savanna, Illinois.
In a letter dated Peoria, Ill., October 27, 1841, Emanuel Knodle wrote to his brother, Samuel, in the east: " We found it necessary to go to St. Louis for some type, rules, composing sticks, etc. When I left Mount Morris, on the twenty-fifth, we had not yet heard of our press and type, but think that by this time they should have come around to Savanna." A later letter shows that the press, etc., were received from Peru, instead of Savanna. The water being low in the Mississippi the boats could not ascend as far as Savanna. December 8 the outfit was moved into a house built west of the Seminary property by Samuel McFarland during the spring previous. This house, of which a half-tone appears here-
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139
THE VILLAGE PRESS,
with, stood until the present year, 1900, when it was partly torn down, and the remainder moved to the south part of town where it is now be- ing used as a barn by William Domer. Further is said concerning it in the previous chapter upon the public schools. The shed-like addition on the right hand is the part in which the printing-office was established.
During the remainder of the month of December, Messrs. Emanuel and Jonathan Knodle, and also Peter, Jacob and Joseph Knodle, and Joseph Hooper, were hard at work to " bring order out of chaos," which was the condition in which the material was found after its long and
THE FIRST PRINTING-OFFICE IN OGLE COUNTY. A building which played many parts in the history of Mount Morris.
perilous journey by land and water. Composition rollers had to be made and a hundred and one other articles supplied, which in so new a country were beset with almost insurmountable difficulties, the crowning trouble of all being that the bed of the press was broken when the attempt was made to put it in place. This press was known as the " Ramage " and was nearly the exact style of that used by Benj. Frank- lin, which now stands in the National Gallery at Washington.
All obstacles in the way of this pioneer newspaper enterprise were at last overcome, however, and on the first of January, 1842, the first num-
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT.
ber of the Rock River Register was issued from the old house and dis- tributed to its patrons, thus going on record as the first newspaper pub- lished in Ogle county. It was a small five-column sheet, printed one page at a time, on a very inferior quality of paper. Its motto, suggested by Rev. T. S. Hitt, was, "We hope to be recognized as fellow-laborers in the noble work of enlightening the human mind." The terms were "$2.50 in advance; or $3, if not paid in advance." A number of articles from the Register, which give an idea of the condition of the country when the paper was being published, are reprinted in a preceding chapter upon the early history of Mount Morris.
Mr. Emanuel Knodle, the first editor of the Register, was a very spicy and fluent writer. In the second number issued, he invited the patrons of the paper to furnish occasional " original communications " saying:
We have among our patrons here, as we have already been informed. in the brief space of our residence in Ogle-county, writers who are capable of Hitt-ing off " matter and things in general," in such an interesting manner as to please all man- ner of readers; that we may expect evidence of some very Sharp pens, and that the necessary Artz will not fail us in our efforts to treat our readers handsomely. Upon the whole. we Judge that we can af- Ford our readers complete satisfaction.
Vol. I, No. 4, contained the notice of the marriage of Michael Cheshire to Margaret McAllister, by Rev. L. S. Walker, noted by the editor to have been " the first case of matrimony which ever occurred in Mount Morris." In the same number appear the business cards of H. A. Mix and Henry Roberts, attorneys-at-law at Oregon; James J. Beatty, physician and sur- geon, Mount Morris; and an administrator's notice in the matter of the estate of William Driscoll. The paper dated Feb. 26, 1842, mentioned the severe illness of the editor, Emanuel Knodle, and No. 12, issued in April, announced his death. He is said to have been a young man of extraordinary ability and had he lived would have had a brilliant future without doubt. He was the oldest brother of Mr. Samuel Knodle, for many years a resident of Mount Morris. The paper which announced Mr. Knodle's death bore the names of Knodle and Stephens, publishers, D. C. Duncan being engaged as editor. In September the paper was re- moved to Grand Detour, on account of the poor mail service at Mount Morris. It eventually ceased publication after a career of less than two years and was entirely lost sight of.
Seven years passed after the failure of the Register before any par- ties found sufficient courage to try another newspaper enterprise, but in February, 1850, Mr. J. Frederick Grosh and Mr. Tomlinson Ankney pur- chased the material with which the Rockford Free Press had been print- ed, removed it to Mount Morris, and in March the first number of the Mount Morris Gazette was issued, published by J. F. Grosh and edited by Prof. D. J. Pinckney. Concerning this paper Kett's History of Ogle County says: "It was a seven-column folio sheet, tolerably well printed and ably edited. It was professedly neutral in politics, but the editor was very independent in the expression of his opinions, and sometimes the paper inclined somewhat strongly to the party with which he affiliated.
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THE VILLAGE PRESS.
The printing of the first number of the Gazette was a notable event in the history of both town and county, and occasioned as much excite- ment as did the completion of the railroad to the same place twenty years later. The Gazette, however, was not a success financially and the pub- lishers, after a year's experience, discovered that its publication was a losing business, and in the spring of 1851 disposed of the material to R. C. Burchell, of Oregon, who removed it to that place and established the Ogle County Gazette, afterward the Reporter, which still exists. The sale of the material, however, does not appear to have stopped the Mount Morris Gazette. No. 3 of the second volume, dated May 29, 1851, bears the name of Brayton, Baker & Co., publishers, and Prof. Pinckney, editor. It says that there were no press, type or printers in Mount Mor- ris at that time, and although the paper was published there, it was printed elsewhere, probably by Mr. Burchell at Oregon. But this man- ner of publishing a newspaper did not suit the enterprising citizens of Mount Morris who organized a joint stock company, purchased a new outfit, and No. 3, dated June 26, was beautifully printed in new type, and was one of the handsomest papers ever printed in the county. It was under the editorial charge of Professors D. J. Pinckney and S. M. Fellows, and it is needless to add was conducted with signal ability. The paper was not self-sustaining, however, and after a year's experience the com- pany rented the office to Messrs. C. C. Allen and S. D. Atkins, then at- tending school at Rock River Seminary. These gentlemen, by devoting a part of their time to the office and the remainder to their studies, were enabled to prolong its existence until the spring of 1853, when the office was sold to them and removed to Savanna, Ill.
Three years later, in 1856, Messrs. Atwood and Metcalf started a paper called the Northwestern Republican. Samuel Knodle managed its publication for over a year when it was sold to Col. M. S. Barnes, who had been running a daily in Chicago. He changed the name of the pa- per to Independent Watchman. After a year under his management it was purchased by a company of town merchants and put under the edi- torial management of Prof. W. S. Pope, Dr. F. A. McNeill and J. D. Dopf, with Mr. Dopf publisher. Its publication continued until the winter of 1860-'61 when Mr. Dopf removed the material to Polo where it developed into the Ogle County Press, still being published.
After this Mount Morris was without a newspaper for fifteen years, the utter failure of all the early enterprises having evidently frightened every one from again making the attempt. Ten years later, however, a job printing-office was established by Samuel Knodle with a small hand- press and an assortment of job type. Mr. Knodle's job office became fa- mous all over the county and the amount of printing which he did was remarkable. The press used by him is preserved in the Mount Morris Index office and compared with the present improved printing machinery is quite a relic.
In 1876, Mr. Knodle was instrumental in forming an incorporated stock company, he himself owning half the stock, and the Mount Morris
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT.
Independent was started, with Prof. D. J. Pinckney as editor. Misman- agement by the board of directors again made this enterprise a failure, and it was sold in May, 1877, to John Sharer and changed to the Ogle County Democrat, with Mr. Sharer as editor and Dr. B. G. Stephens, associate editor. It was successfully conducted under this caption for nearly nine years, when it was moved to Oregon and changed to the Independent-Democrat, which in the fall of 1900 was incorporated with the Ogle County Constitution, of that place. However, the presses, type and entire printing outfit was brought back to Mount Morris by Mr. Sharer, and in July, 1890, was sold to Charles T. Coggins, who established the Mount Morris Index. For six or seven years Mr. Coggins conducted the paper with much success but finally began to neglect the business, and in 1897 unceremoniously left town. His wife, Mrs. Carrie H. Coggins, edited the paper for a time and later took as a partner Mr. Harry C. Walrath. In September, 1898, the plant came under the management of H. J. and H. G. Kable, who, after two years in the business, have brought the paper up to its most flourishing state of prosperity. Very little of the Index equipment as turned over by Coggins & Walrath yet remains. The old worn-out presses were discarded and new im- proved machinery put in their places, with a new gasoline engine to fur- nish the power. The large cylinder press added in the fall of 1899 prints four pages of the Index at one impression at the rate of 1,500 per hour. The old "Guernsey," which it succeeded was purchased at the time of the establishment of the Mount Morris Independent, in 1876, and was used nearly twenty-five years in printing the weekly issues of the Dem- ocrat and the Index. It was operated by a crank which was attached to a very large fly-wheel, and the whole proved no very easy task to operate. Persons who helped to turn it in years past are often met with, the num- ber of them having been thus engaged being extremely large, from the fact that not many cared for the job more than the first trial. Robert Long, now a prize fighter, was a frequent operator of the old press, and can probably attribute a part of his muscle to that vigorous exercise. Besides excellent presses the Index office is equipped with an improved stapler, a large paper-cutter and new book type. Since September, 1899, the plant has occupied spacious quarters in the building formerly occu- pied by the Brethren Publishing House on the northeast corner of the col- lege campus.
May 20, 1896, Mount Morris acquired a second newspaper,-the Mount Morris News, edited and published by Charles H. Canode, with M. Eliza Canode as associate editor. In October, 1900, Mr. Canode sold out to A. H. Rittenhouse & Co., who now conduct the business. The plant is situated upstairs over the rear of the grocery store of the Newcomer Company.
Besides newspapers, Mount Morris has had a number of religious and educational journals. During the gap of fifteen years, 1861 to 1876, be- tween the publication of the Independent Watchman and Mount Morris Independent, The Annual, a Sunday-school paper, was published for
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THE VILLAGE PRESS.
several years, commencing about 1862, with Col. B. F. Sheets and later Rev. J. H. Vincent as editors; and also about that time a paper was issued under the auspices of the literary societies of Rock River Seminary, de- voted exclusively to matter pertaining to that institution. At present, Mount Morris College issues a paper regularly, known as Our Young People, which sometimes, as in the case of July of 1900, reaches a circula- tion as high as ten thousand.
In the year 1880, M. M. Eshelman moved a private printing outfit to this place from Lanark, where he had been publishing a Dunker paper known as the Brethren at Work. He continued the same here with a cir- culation of about four thousand, occupying, at that time, quarters in the Seibert block. In 1881, Mr. Eshelman failed and the business was purchased by Elders D. L. Miller and Joseph Amick. In 1884 these gen- tlemen consolidated with their plant that of the Primitive Christian, of Huntingdon, Pa., and changed the name to the Gospel Messenger. From that time until 1896 the company began the publication of a large number of church papers, books and tracts, and built up a very profitable busi- ness. In 1896 the entire publishing business was turned over to the Brethren church, and is now the property of that highly-respected Chris- tian organization. In September, 1899, the plant was moved to the city of Elgin, at which time the circulation of the Messenger reached nearly twenty thousand and the volume of a year's business amounted to over $125,000. Among those prominently connected with the house in late years are Eld. J. H. Moore, H. B. Brumbaugh, Eld. D. L. Miller and Grant Mahan, editors; Eld. Joseph Amick, business manager; L. A. Plate, foreman of the composing room; and S. M. Eshelman, foreman of the mailing department.
CHAPTER IX.
MUSICAL ORGANIZATIONS AND FAMILIES.
A history of Mount Morris would not be complete without some men- tion of the many musical organizations which the village has produced, and of the musical talent of both the past and present. At an early day Mount Morris was seldom behind in anything, and many of the or- ganizations and enterprises now common throughout the country, were first produced in this enterprising little village. It lays claim to the first printing-office, one of the first schoolhouses, and the first of a num- ber of other pioneer ventures; and there is also strong evidence that the first brass band in the county also found birth in Mount Morris. The band, in question, was organized in the spring of 1845, only six years after the founding of the village. Mrs. Mary Knodle has in her possession a number of account books of this old band, kept by her husband, Mr. Peter Knodle, deceased, which show that the members were H. J. Burns, Peter Knodle, John F. Grosh, Samuel Knodle, Jacob A. Knodle, Jonathan Knodle, Nathan Evans, A. C. Marston, Simon Warner, A. Coffman, Rob- ert S. Hitt, Chauncey Sheldon, Andrew Hitt, Frederick Finkbohnar, Christian Finkbohnar, Frederick B. Brayton, Henry Neff, William Lott, William J. Fouke, F. Hedrick and B. G. Stephens. These were not all members at its first organization, but some came in later to supply the places occasionally made vacant by the dropping out of older players. The account kept of the finances of the band is quite interesting. A few of the entries are as follows;
July 1. 1845. Paid by the members for instruments, $129.00
July 1. Paid by citizens, 21.00
July 12. Paid for the instruments, 4
$150.00
July 12. Members taxed 50 cents per piece, 7.50
July 12. Peter Knodle, fined for lending drum, 1.00
July 24. F. B. Brayton, fined for not voting. .05
July 24. Each member taxed 25 cents,
5.50
July 24. Paid to Peter Knodle for mouthpiece,
.37
August 4. Freight und storage,
6.75
Angust 4, One pound of candles, .15
Angust 4. Paid Jacob Knodle for table, 4.00
August 4. Postage on three letters. .39
Entries for candles occur frequently, showing that the band spent much time in practice. John F. Grosh assumed the leadership shortly after organization, and many entries show the payment of considerable sums into the treasury for tuition, the some then being turned over to him. Evidently the band had excellent discipline, from the number of
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MUSICAL ORGANIZATIONS AND FAMILIES.
fines recorded to have been imposed for "contempt to society," for not voting, for neglect of duty, for absence, for breaking instruments, etc.
This band appears to have existed until sometime in the early fifties, and, owing to the scarcity of such organizations in northern Illinois at that time, traveled among the surrounding towns quite extensively. A number of their old instruments can yet be found about town. Jacob A. Knodle still posesses the Eb clarinet which he played, and Mrs. Mary Knodle has an old Bb clarinet and the old bass drum, the latter having been played by Peter Knodle. Emery Neff, of Leaf River, also pos- sesses the old flute played in this band by his father, Henry Neff. These old instruments are curiosities from the fact that they are much different from the modern instruments bearing the same name. The bass drum is one of the most curious, being double the width of the modern pattern.
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