USA > Illinois > Ogle County > Mount Morris > Mount Morris : past and present, an illustrated history of the village of Mount Morris, Ogle County, Illinois > Part 3
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NATHANIEL ALBERTUS ANKNEY died April 9, 1913, aged 791/2 years. He was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Swingley) Ankney, and was born near Hagerstown, Md., August 17, 1833. At the age of four years, Mr. Ankney was brought to Mount Morris by his widowed mother, with a party of emigrants from Maryland, the trip being made overland by teams and requiring over a month. They arrived in the spring of 1837 and Mr. Ankney con- tinued to live in Mount Morris the rest of his life except for about nine years that he spent at an early day in Mississippi and California. He was engaged in farming from 1866 to 1883, when he moved to town and followed his trade of carpenter. In 1869 he married Margaret Mumma, daugh- ter of Shafer and Naomi Mumma, and they had one daughter, Mae. Mrs. Ankney died in 1904.
WILLIAM H. WATTS was among the early settlers to arrive at Mount Morris. He made a claim of 300 acres south of Mount Morris and this land has been in the Watts family ever since. Mr. Watts was born Jan. 29, 1819, at Funkstown, Md. He was a carpenter by trade and helped to build many of the first houses in Mount Morris. He worked on "Old Sandstone" during the entire time it was being built. He also broke much of the ground in the vicinity with an ox team. In 1849, he was married to Anna Amelia Ankney by Rev. N. J. Stroh. They had 11 children as fol- lows: Thomas O., Albertus N., Ella E. (Mrs. Albert Fahrney), Mary Ann and Martha Ann (twins), William H., Anna Mae, James L., John E., Fred L., and Oliver S. Mr. Watts died Feb. 11, 1899, at the age of 80 years, and Mrs. Watts died Feb. 21, 1897, aged 67 years.
PRAIRIE FIRES
A NOTHER serious difficulty with which the early settlers had to contend, was the prairie fires. Occa- sionally some careless settler would allow fire to get started in the long, dry prairie grass and before it could be put out, the flames, fed by the thick growth of vegetation, would soon be speeding across the prairie with the speed of the wind, often faster than a horse could gallop-a leaping, devouring wall of flame and smoke. The settlers attempted to protect their homes from this danger by plowing a wide tract of land around their cabins, over which the flames could not leap. Occasionally, persons
THE FIRST SETTLERS
THE ABOVE PICTURE represents a reunion held in June, 1896, of the descendants of the pioneer, John Wagner, which interesting family consisted of six sons and six daughters, all of whom were present at this reunion except Joseph who died in 1891.
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
were caught out on the prairies by these fires, and were compelled to adopt quick measures for safety, if flight were found impossible, by starting a new fire at the place where they stood. This, caught by the wind, would soon start ahead and burn a tract upon which they could ad- vance and be free from the fire advanc- ing in the rear. When the country be- came fairly well settled, and one of these fires would get started, the men over the whole neighborhood would turn out to fight the devouring element.
WILD GAME
T THE early settlers found an abun- dance of wild game roaming over the prairie and in the forests. The most plentiful were the deer, thousands of which were native in this part of Illi-
MICHAEL BOVEY came to Mount Mor- ris with the "Maryland Colony" in the spring of 1837. He was born near Clear Spring, Md., Nov. 15, 1818, and was mar- ried there, but his wife died several years later. Soon after arriving at Mount Mor- ris, where he worked for Capt. Nathaniel Swingley, he took up a claim in Maryland Township. He built a cabin on this claim and lived there for many years. In 1839, he married again to Margaret Welsh, and four children were born to them: Mary C. (Mrs. David Petrie), Samuel, Elizabeth (Mrs. Josiah Avey), and Lewis. Mrs. Bovey died in 1880 and Mr. Bovey moved to Mount Morris where he died in 1910 at the age of 92 at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Josiah Avey.
CAPT. PETER HOUSEHOLDER came to Mount Morris with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eli Householder, in 1837, with the first Maryland colony, when he was only two years old, and lived his entire life here. He was born August 10, 1835, at Williamsport, Md., and died in Mount Morris, March 14, 1914, at the age of nearly 79 years. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in Co. H, 34th Ill. Inf., under Capt. J. M. Miller of Mount Morris. He was promoted to first lieutenant and later to captain of his company. He was wound- ed at the Battle of Stone River in 1862 and at Resaca in 1864. He was married in 1869 to Annie A. Sheets, to whom were born six children: Claude, William, Roy, Earl, Melvin and Blanche (Mrs. Arthur D. Klontz).
nois. They roamed in herds of from twenty-five to one hundred. These herds were to be found roaming on the prairie during the daytime but retreated to the timber at night. The settlers were able to keep a liberal supply of venison on hand most of the time.
Small game was also very plentiful. Prairie chickens were very numerous and hunters could bag them by the hundred. Wild ducks were also plenti- ful in certain seasons and they afforded many delicious repasts for the hard- working pioneers. There were rabbits on the prairie and plenty of squirrels and pheasants in the timber.
In addition to the game, there were two varieties of wolves, the grey and the red, the latter being much smaller and more numerous. These animals
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FOUNDING THE VILLAGE OF MOUNT MORRIS
were too small and timid to do the set- tlers bodily harm, but they sometimes made the night hideous with their barking and yelping. During the win- ter when food became scarce, they be- came quite bold in attacking some of the smaller domestic animals.
The thick prairie grass harbored a large variety of snakes, some of them
being of a poisonous variety. Rattle- snakes were probably the most numer- ous, and occasionally some of the set- tlers were bitten by them, but they knew the proper treatment to avoid fatal results. Copperheads, blue racers and bull snakes were also plentiful, but in a few years the country was freed from these dangerous pests.
FOUNDING THE VILLAGE OF MOUNT MORRIS
THE stories of the founding of Mount Morris and of Rock River Seminary are one and the same, and in a chapter devoted to the latter the subject is treated at some length. It will suffice to say here that the Illinois Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was deeply interested in the cause of education, had, at the earnest solicita-
PETER KNODLE, son of Jonathan and Barbara Knodle, was born in Washington County, Md., Jan. 12, 1822. He came to Mount Morris in 1841 and assisted in the office of the Rock River Register, which was the first newspaper published in Ogle County. For many years Mr. Knodle was a familiar sight on the streets of Mount Morris. From the building of the railroad through Mount Morris until his death in 1892, Mr. Knodle was the owner of the bus and dray line, a period of over 20 years. In 1848, he married Mary Stauf- fer, and they had four children: Geo. M., Mary A., Alice I., and Andrew. His first wife died and in 1863 he married Mrs. Mary Crowell, and they had one child, Leona M. Mr. Knodle served the commu- nity as constable, tax collector, sheriff and school trustee.
tion of many of the then limited mem- bers of the church in the state, con- cluded to establish a seminary in Illi- nois, and appointed a committee to select a location. The members of the Maryland colony determined to land the enterprise if possible, and finally, having pledged an extraordinarily large sum, both in cash and in lands, they succeeded. The committee on May 4, 1839, proceeded to select a site for the proposed seminary, which was destined to exercise such an important influence in northern Illinois, and they drove the stake for the building on the summit of the open prairie. From this point the committee had a commanding view of the surrounding country, dotted on every side with near-approaching
REUBEN WAGNER, early settler and member of the well-known Wagner fam- ily, died Oct. 8, 1903, aged 761/2 years. He was born April 8, 1827, near Hagerstown, Md., and at the age of ten years came with his parents in 1837 to Mount Morris. In 1853, he married Leah Brubaker, and they had four children, Harry, Nettie, William and Edwin. He engaged in farming, later owned a livery business in Mount Morris, and also spent a number of years in Polo and Chicago, retiring to Mount Morris two years before his death.
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
HENRY L. THOMAS, son of Joshua and Salina Thomas, was born in Washington County, Md., Oct. 24, 1838, and died in Mount Morris, Feb. 3, 1927, aged 88 years. When he was but two years old, his par- ents came to Ogle County, making the trip by team, which required six weeks. The family settled near Mount Morris and lived a truly pioneer life. In 1866, Mr. Thomas married Mary Ellen Felker and they finally settled on a farm northeast of Mount Morris, which was the family home until 1907, when they moved to Mount Morris. There were nine children in the family: Lillie, Ada and Nellie, who pre- ceded the father in death, and Edgar, Florence E. (Mr. Chas. Zoller), Chas. H., Fred H., Kathryn (Mrs. Ed. Mumma), and Noble F. The mother died Feb. 13, 1928, aged nearly 82 years.
groves. All of the cabins built up to that time were located in or near the edge of the timber, and not a building was standing within what now constitutes the corporate limits of Mount Morris. Thus the selection of this site in the center of the prairie at the crest of the hill constituted the real founding of the village.
The contract for the erection of the first seminary building was let to James B. McCoy for the sum of $18,000.00 and work was begun immediately.
Before starting work on the seminary building, Mr. McCoy first erected a frame building in which to board his workmen. This building was actually
the first house built within the present corporate limits of the village. It was located within the present campus lim- its on the south side, and after it had served its purpose it was moved in 1841 to the southwest side of town where it was occupied for many years as a resi- dence by William Fouke.
The cornerstone of the seminary building was laid on July 4, 1839. This building stood through many years of usefulness but was finally torn down in 1893 to make room for the erection of a ladies' dormitory, which was built a few rods west of the old foundation.
The next building erected was a barn by Rev. John Sharp in 1840, but living quarters being in great demand at that
JOSEPH WAGNER was one of the very earliest pioneers of Ogle County. He was the son of Henry and Elizabeth Wagner, and was born near Boonsboro, Md., Sept. 21, 1826, and died at his home in Mount Morris, Jan. 14, 1908, aged over 81 years. He was of a family of 11 children and they came overland from Maryland in 1838, settling on a farm five miles north of Mount Morris. He engaged in farming until 15 years before his death when he retired to Mount Morris. Mr. Wagner was totally deaf for 30 years. He was married in 1859 to Susan Gearheart and seven children were born to them: Rosa B. Diehl, Mary E. Thomas, Rev. D. G. Wagner, Clara E. Ross, Samuel A. Wagner, Edith K. Roberts and W. F. Wagner.
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FOUNDING THE VILLAGE OF MOUNT MORRIS
time, it was later divided into two apartments and occupied by Rev. Philo Judson and Frederick Petrie and their families, with one family in each room.
The next house built, the first one ex- pressly for a residence, was a brick structure erected on the northeast cor- ner opposite the Methodist Church. It was used for a time as a hotel and was finally torn down in 1872 by Andrew Newcomer who built a large frame building in its place which stood for many years and was recently replaced by a modern residence.
After the completion of the first semi- nary building, there was quite a build- ing boom in the years 1840 and 1841 and on Jan. 1, 1842, there were twenty-one houses in the village. During the first several years the seminary was the only enterprise in the village, the inhab- itants being principally those connected with that institution. The Rock River Register, Mount Morris's first news- paper, which was established in the latter part of 1841, contained the follow-
JACOB A. KNODLE, early pioneer, died Oct. 23, 1903, aged 80 years. He was born near Fairplay, Md., Oct. 10, 1823. He was one of the nine children of Jonathan and Barbara Knodle, who in 1841 came to Mount Morris to make their home. They made the trip in an emigrant wagon. The father was the publisher of the Rock River Register, the first newspaper in Mount Morris, and Jacob doubtless worked in this primitive printing plant. He was first married in 1848 to Ann Little, and they had a son, Frank F. The mother died in 1855, and Mr. Knodle married again, after thirteen years, to Hannah Wagner, who survived him. Mr. Knodle lived in Mount Morris over 62 years. He was a wood worker by trade.
BENJAMIN SWINGLEY was one of the early settlers in Mount Morris Township. He came west with his father, Michael Swingley, in 1842. He was born in Wash- ington County, Md., Sept. 17, 1816. He was married Nov. 31, 1837, to Catherine Her- shey, and was the father of eight children: John H., Oliver H., Mrs. John E. McCoy, Mrs. Samuel Mumma, Mrs. Jacob G. Mil- ler, Mrs. Wm. H. Rowe, Mrs. Henry Domer and Mrs. Joseph Moats. Mr. Swingley died Sept. 8, 1905, aged 89 years.
ing item in its issue of Jan. 1, 1842:
"We hail from the top of Mount Mor- ris; and it is our purpose, while we reign editorially, to hail very effectually -each of our conglomerations being of the 'weight of a talent.' Most seriously, we hail from the new and hale little village of Mount Morris, in Ogle County, State of Illinois (en passant, we shall not be very ill in noise; we hope to do a share of noise-but to Ogle shall be far from us!). Well, Mount Morris was well founded in the spring of 1841, and it is now already found, when not yet ten months old, to hold 282 souls, inclusive of the teachers and students of Rock River Seminary, which dignifies the center of the village. This day, Jan. 1, 1842, the citizens number 137 and the town consists of twenty-one houses. Mount Morris is five miles west of Ore- gon city, in the same county, and eighty miles west of Chicago. It is handsomely situated on a considerably elevated por- tion of one of the most beautiful and extraordinary prairies which distin- guish Illinois-especially the Rock River region, for abundance and excellence of
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
MRS. SARAH HIESTAND RICE was born in Washington County, Md., Jan. 27, 1836, and was brought to Mount Morris by her parents, Henry and Elizabeth Hiestand in 1837, when she was only one year old. The family settled on a farm north of town where Mrs. Rice grew to womanhood. In January, 1857, she was married to Dr. Isaac Rice, and three children were born to them: Roland, who died in infancy; Anna, who died at the age of 18, and Jo- seph L. Rice, who died in 1931. Mrs. Rice died July 18, 1921, aged over 85 years. The father died in 1897, and there are no sur- vivors of this family.
agricultural productions. Mount Morris is named in honor of Bishop Morris, of the M. E. Church."
In regard to the actual naming of Mount Morris, there is some question. In a history of Ogle County, published in 1878 by H. F. Kett & Co., the follow- ing appears on page 296:
"Mount Morris (was named) after Bishop Morris, an eminent divine of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This dis- tinguished and Worthy Bishop died at his home in Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, a few years ago."
On page 470 of the same history ap- pears the following:
"During the summer and fall of 1839, a portion of the prairie around the building in process of erection was sur- veyed and platted by D. Fletcher Hitt, and the embryo town was named Mount Morris. The Rock River Register, in 1842, stated that the town was named
in honor of Bishop Robert Morris, and this is the prevailing impression among the present survivors of that day. Pro- fessor Pinckney states, on the authority of Horace Miller, Esq., of Kishwaukee, that he, Miller, gave this town its name in honor of Mount Morris, Genesee County, N.Y., his former residence. Mr. Miller was a prominent and influential member of the Methodist Church at Kishwaukee, who had been active in his efforts to secure the location of the Seminary at that point. He had failed, but he was still deeply interested in the enterprise; was one of the first trustees of the institution, and, under the cir- cumstances, it is very natural to suppose that he might have been permitted the honor of naming the town where it was located. It seems probable that both may be correct. Judge Miller, having suggested the name of his old town, the Methodist Elders at once adopted it,
MRS. BARBARA McNEILL died April 21, 1915, aged nearly 80 years. She was born in Washington County, Md., October 6, 1835, and she was a member of the large Wagner family which arrived in Mount Morris in the spring of 1837. Her parents were John and Catherine (Rice) Wagner and there were twelve children in the family, two of whom were born after the family arrived in Mount Morris. Barbara Wagner was married in 1857 to Dr. F. A. McNeill, a prominent physician of Mount Morris, who died in 1872. Dr. McNeill had four children by a previous marriage, and the second union brought four children, Katherine (who became a famous singer) and Frank and two who died in infancy.
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FOUNDING THE VILLAGE OF MOUNT MORRIS
BISHOP THOMAS A. MORRIS, after whom the Village of Mount Morris was named, was a senior bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was born in Virginia about 1794. He began his ministerial work in the Ohio Conference in 1816 and traveled ex- tensively in several of the western states for nearly twenty years, experiencing many privations and adventures which were incident to the early Methodist ministry in the west. In 1834 he was appointed editor of the Western Christian Advocate at Cincinnati and in 1836 was ordained a bishop. He was small of stature, noticeably rotund, and with a physiognomy grave but not severe. He lived to be about 80 years of age and died in Springfield, Ohio. It is not known whether he was ever in Mount Morris but it is quite possible that he was, during the early Rock River Seminary days.
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
because it was in honor of Bishop Mor- ris as well."
John McFarland built one of the first houses in the village and John Ankney, who had settled at Elkhorn Grove soon after the Blackhawk War, moved to Mount Morris in order to educate his children, and built a house in town. Dr. James J. Beatty, who came from Mary-
land, was the first physician. He died on the plains, while en route for California, in 1851.
The first birth in the village was that of John R. Petrie, son of F. G. Petrie, about 1840. The first burial in the cemetery was a little daughter of Na- thaniel Swingley.
LAYING OUT OF THE VILLAGE
T THE Village of Mount Morris was officially laid out in 1841 by the trustees of Rock River Seminary who owned the entire tract of land on which the village now stands. The Seminary reserved eight blocks for its purposes and laid out 27 blocks containing 310 lots. The south half of the space re- served for the Seminary was to be laid out as a Botanical Garden but later this was cut up into blocks and is now known as the Botanical Addition.
For many years the two blocks imme- diately west of the present campus were not laid out and a wooden fence sur- rounded the entire four blocks com- prising the seminary property. The two west blocks were eventually laid out in lots and these two blocks are known as the Seminary Addition to the village. The original layout of the village as surveyed by Rock River Seminary is shown on the opposite page. This lay- out is recorded at Oregon as follows:
"Daniel F. Hitt, Deputy Surveyor for Ogle County, Illinois, certifies that he was employed by the Trustees of the Rock River Seminary to survey and lay out said town and that he commenced on April 5, 1841, and surveyed and laid out the said town, commencing at the quarter-section corner on the East boundary of Section 27, Township 24, Range 9 East of the 4th P.M., and run due east at a variation of 8ยบ East 864 feet and there set a post and stone for the extreme northeast corner of said town, and thence run due south 1520 feet and there set a post and stone for the extreme southeast corner of said town, and thence run due west 3366 feet, and there set a post and stone for the extreme southwest corner of said town, and thence run due north 1520 feet and there set a post and stone for the ex-
treme northwest corner of said town, and from thence run due east 2502 feet to the place of beginning, and then sub- divided all the within plat of ground into blocks, lots, streets and public grounds, making 27 blocks and 310 lots, all of equal size except the lots in the second and third tiers of blocks, which only differ from the rest by being five feet shorter North and South; and 14 streets, all of which are 66 feet wide except the most northern one, which is
JOHN ANKNEY, early pioneer of Ogle County and a resident of Mount Morris in the early fifties, was born in Somer- set County, Pa., Sept. 15, 1787, a son of Peter and Mary M. (Kimmel) Ankney. He came to Illinois in 1818 and settled in Jackson County, where he lived until 1827, when he located at Galena. In December, 1829, with some others, he was appointed to lay out a road from Galena to Dixon's Ferry, and it was during this work that he made a claim near Buf- falo Grove (now Polo). On his return after finishing the survey, he discovered that Isaac Chambers had selected the same spot for his home, so Mr. Ankney went about a half mile west, on the north side of Buffalo Creek, and made a second claim. In January, 1830, Mr. Ank- ney and his two eldest sons, Harrison B. and Oliver R., built a cabin on the claim and the rest of the family came to the new home in April of the following spring. The first wedding ever celebrated in that vicinity was the marriage of Mr. Ankney's only daughter to S. M. Journey, early in 1832. In 1849, Mr. Ankney moved to Mount Morris where he built a house, and in March, 1849, was appointed postmaster, which position he held until his death, June 15, 1853. He apparently was engaged in business, as the Mount Morris Gazette in January, 1851, carried his advertise- ment headed "Horse Farrier," stating that he had a well-selected stock of horse medicines on hand. Nothing more is known of his family except that he had another son, T. C. Ankney, who was in the grocery business in the early fifties, doing business as Ankney's Auction and Commission Store.
O
HITT
STREET
O
HITT
STREET 0
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
MAIN
STREET
MAIN
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
=
STREET
STREET
FRONT
STREET
FRONT
STREET
17
16
15
14
13
REYNOLDS
CENTER
STREET
CENTER
STREET
18
19
MULBERRY
WESLEY
20
21
CLARK
22
OGLE
BANGS
STREET
27
26
25
24
23
0
SOUTH
STREET
(NOW BRAYTON ROAD)
O
THE ORIGINAL VILLAGE of Mount Morris was laid out as above in 1839. The land all belonged to Rock River Seminary and ample space was reserved for the future growth of the institution. The four blocks to the south were laid out for a botanical garden and
the two blocks to the west of the present campus were reserved for campus purposes. These six blocks were later laid out in lots and sold. The survey was made by D. Fletcher Hitt and it was discovered years afterward that he used a chain which was nearly a foot too long.
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LAYING OUT OF THE VILLAGE
BANGS
STREET
THIS WAS LAID OUT FOR A BOTANICAL GARDEN
MCKENDRIE
FLETCHER
PRESENT COLLEGE BLOCK
10
8
9
12
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
only 10 feet wide and it runs east and west along the quarter-section line, and three public squares; the most cen- tral one is the square in which the Sem- inary stands and is 990 feet east and west and 574 feet wide north and south, and one lying immediately along the south side of the last described square (or Seminary square) is the same length and is 594 feet wide north and south and is reserved for a Botanical Garden.
"S. M. Hitt, Martin Reynolds, John Sharp, Thos. S. Hitt, John Wallace and Lander S. Walker, Trustees of the Rock River Seminary, acknowledge the said plat to be their act and deed, and that they have caused the same to be re-
MICHAEL E. MILLER came to Mount Morris from Maryland in 1842 with his parents when he was but a year old. Most of his life was spent cultivating his farm west of town. He also owned and oper- ated the Mount Morris Creamery for sev- eral years and later had a general store in the Seibert Block. He died June 12, 1906, at the age of 65 years. In January, 1866, he married Elizabeth Welty, and to them were born fourteen children. Three died in infancy, the others being Mrs. Mary Neiman, Mrs. Grace Davenport, Mrs. Ida Potter, Oliver L., George M., Mrs. Bertha Bennett, Mrs. Daisy New- comer, Mrs. Carrie Keplinger, Daniel L., Mrs. Anna Hanes and Susan V.
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