USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
The elections this year, as previously, were held in private houses. No public buildings of any nature were found sufficient for this purpose. One change that was made that was notable was the place of election in Orange precinct was changed from the residence of W. A. Fairbanks to Calvin Colton's comfortable hotel, which at that time was one of the best buildings between Chicago and the Mississippi river. In this election Martin Mack was re-elected county commissioner and Daniel W. Lamb was made county surveyor, an office
PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
which he held for nearly a quarter of a century. The work of Daniel Lamb will ever remain as a monument to his skill and accuracy. At the time of his work as surveyor he perhaps knew every section of land in the county. He was a man of probity, of good sense and was one of the most useful citizens of that territory. The county com- missioners court were still busy locating new roads and an inspection of their records still showed that about three-fourths of all their business per- tained to the making of roads and road districts. This year they widened the roads laid out from fifty to sixty-six feet and as a general thing the loads of this county to this day are of that width. In one or two cases, notably the road from Ot- tawa to the state line on the north. was eighty feet in width. The Oregon state road, of which State street is now a part. was laid out this year and was made one hundred feet in width and the fact that this street was laid out in such proportions caused other streets to follow their example, so that at the present time Sycamore has as wide streets as any city in Illinois.
The session of the circuit court was held this ycar and was presided over by Judge John D. Ca- ton, one of the justices of the supreme court. S. B. Farwell was state's attorney. Jesse E. Kellogg circuit clerk and Morris Walrod sheriff. Among the leading practitioners at the bar were T. Lyle Dickey, E. L. Mayo, who came to Sycamore this year, B. F. Fridley. W. D. Barry. N. H. Peters from Kane and La Salle counties, and the first two lawyers to locate in our county were W. R. Croth- ers, who lived at Coltonville. and A. J. Brown, who came to Sycamore in 1841 and became the first lawyer of the county.
In 1842 a brickyard was established on what is now the Nelson farm in Sycamore and the first brick houses in this town were built in 1846. The Mayo house, which stood on the present site of the Congregational church, was the first brick house built in what is now this town. In 1842 Mrs. Roswell Dow, who came to Sycamore to make her home, speaks of it as a village of about a dozen or fifteen houses with three good wells. The Con- gregational people of this locality had a regularly established minister this year by the name of Wells, and the mill at St. Charles was finished, so that people instead of going to Ottawa. a dis- tance of forty or fifty miles, could now get their
wheat ground within about twenty-two miles of their home. This was considered at that time a great boon to the people of this locality.
In 1843 the finances of this county were still in a deplorable condition. The county had about nine hundred and seventy-two dollars in outstand- ing orders. The taxes to be collected would pay about half of them, leaving the county in debt for the balance. While this is a small amount now it was a troublesome load for the young county to carry and more complaint was made of this four hundred dollars than was made at a later day when the county became indebted to the amount of two hundred thousand, and it can be said that the latter amount was paid with greater ease than the four hundred dollar indebtedness of sixty-five years ago. A tax of one and a half per cent was ordered for the ensuing year and the county clerk, Mr. John Waterman, was able to collect nearly all of the tax. but the most of the amount was in jurors' certificates and county orders.
"The land in the central towns of the county "came in market during this year. This was an im- porlant era in the affairs of the settlers. Many had for years previous been hoarding the money that they had been able to save, in anticipation of this important event. From the old stockings and secret recesses of their log cabins the glittering gold was drawn out and they started in a strong company for the land sale in Chicago. The land was sold off at auction and from each neighbor- hood one trusty man was selected to bid off the property as it was offered. while the remainder stood around, armed with clubs and a most fero- cious aspect. ready to knock down and execute summary vengeance upon any speculator who should dare to bid for lands that had been claimed and occupied by any of their party. Few were bold enough to attempt it. One unlucky fellow, who committed this offense through mistake, thinking that he was bidding upon another piece of land, was seized in an instant by the crowd of excited squatter-sovereigns, hustled away and near- ly torn to pieces before he could explain the occur- rence and express his readiness to correct the mis- take. But the settlers on this occasion suffered more from the depredations of pick-pockets than from anything else. Such a crowd furnished a harvest field for these gentry and several of our citizens who had come with pockets well lined
ASHEL BYERS.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATION6.
79
PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
with gold found them emptied when they wanted to pay for their land and were obliged to go home moneyless and landless. It was a severe loss. Years of labor would be required to replace it, and before that time they would lose their land and the improvements which they had spent years in effecting. Simultaneously with the land sale a number of new claim associations were formed throughout the county to prevent persons who moved in from purchasing from the goverment lands which those then living near chose to claim by plowing around them. They were no doubt useful in preventing many from entering farms to which the expense of improvement and long oc- cupation gave the squatter an equitable title, but they were also in many cases a means of injus- tice. Men banded themselves together in such or- ganizations in order to keep by the force of mob law other settlers from occupying and holding lands, while they themselves held tracts of enor- mous extent and paid for none of it."
During the year 1843 several mills were estab- lished in the northern part of the county along the Kishwaukee, but were used only for sawing lumber. The threshers were used in the county quite generally this year and the crops on the whole were very good, but the thresher instead of being like the ones we have at present was sim- ply a cylinder and did not separate the grain from the straw. The one hundred and sixty acres upon which the county seat stood had been located, which was to be divided into lots, now came in the market subject to entry. This land had been pre-empted but had never proved up its pre-emp- tion right. It had solemnly bound itself in giving deeds to the lots, to acquire the deed as soon as the land came into market, but now that this time had come it found itself destitute of money and utter- ly unable to borrow. Any speenlator was at lib- erty to buy and take the best of titles to the town by paying the amount of a dollar and a quarter an acre for it. Few of the settlers at this time had money enough to enter their own claims and none were willing to lend money to the county, and in this dilemma three of Sycamore's loyal citizens -Jesse C. Kellogg, Carlos Lattin and Curtis Smith (who was prominent years afterward in the county and who had land near the city)-fur- nished the necessary funds, entered the land in their own name and promised to wait for repay-
ment until the time in which it was supposed the county would be able to return the money. This was a great relief to the finances of the county and to the inhabitants of Sycamore and it is a notable fact that the county failed to get back the titles of some of the parties to which lands were sold and finally lost a part of the land.
About this time the county had a suit with Amos Harman, of whom it required to open the Ottawa state road, and was defeated. The dam- ages assessed against the county were thirty-five dollars and this little amount nearly bankrupted the treasury, and again some of the loyal citizens- of the county stepped forward and provided for the deficiency.
The election of justices this year brought some new men into prominence-George H. Hill, of Kingston: Isaac Cumpton. Abner Jackman, James Byers, Aaron Randall, Kimball Dow, George Flinn, Russell Huntley and Z. B. Mayo. The election of county commissioners this year followed at. the usual date, when Sylvanus Hol- comb was elected. During the year H. M. Per- kins built a fine large hotel in Genoa, which was afterward a famous resort for balls and parties, and many notable events transpired there. Some of the people who now live here remember some- of these events.
At this time also a new frame schoolhouse was built in Genoa, which at that time was the best one in the county. It still remains and is used as a part of a livery stable. After the building of the sawmills more frame buildings were erected and the homes of farmers were made more com- fortable. Prices of hard wood lumber at that time were about one-fourth what is now charged for pine lumber. During this year Reuben Pritchard, John R. Hamlin and B. F. Hunt were appointed commissioners of the state to lay ont the Chicago and Grand-de-Tour state road. This road passes in the north part of De Kalb and Malta townships to the west line of the county, where other com- missioners of the county laid out the road through that county and so on to the river.
During the year 1843 the first bridge was built across the Kishwaukee, which was considered a great convenience for the people living north of Sycamore, for during the wet seasons there were times when they were unable to ford the streams: and in cases of necessity people would drive as
80
PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
far as the river and then use a boat to the other side to go" their produce and return. Some who are still living and reside in what is Mayfield township remember well how they hauled their grist to the bank on the creek. ferried across and then had another wagon to meet them on the other side and take the grist to mill.
1844 was a season of floods in the early part of the summer and during the harvest season rains fell almost continuously. Some men cut and bound their wheat when they were compelled to stand ankle deep in water and then carry it out on the high knolls to dry before stacking. When they took their grist to mill over ahnost bottomless roads they had to drive four yoke of oxen to draw the small load. Cattle and horses feeding on the prairies became mired and numerous calls were made for teams to attach long ropes and chains to them and draw them out. All the bridges which had been erected over the streams were carried away by the floods. The Mississippi river was never known to be higher and steamboats passed through the streets of St. Louis. Kaskaskia and other cities along the river. In many instances when the water subsided the land was covered with sand and mud so that it ruined the land for cultivation for a time. Added to this difficulty many of the grist mills of Illinois were swept away and there was great destitution of meal and flour.
The county election this year showed the demoe- raey a winner. Carlos Lattin was chosen county treasurer. Marshall Stark school commissioner. E. T. Mayo recorder. A. J Brown probate justice. In later years the probate justice became known as county judge. but it was not necessary that the county judge be a regularly admitted lawyer. Mor- ris Walrod was collector of the county and W. H. Beavers was elected as clerk of the county com- missioners court.
In 1844 the democracy seems to have firmly regained its hold upon county affairs and Polk re- ceived two hundred and forty-two votes, Clay. whig. one hundred and forty-two votes and Birney. free soil. one hundred and thirty-one votes. An analysis of this vote shows that the free soil candi- date received a heavy vote from Brush Point settle- ment, from the precinet of Wooster, now Genoa. and from Somonauk. Emigration in the later '30s and early '40s was largely from the eastern states. The Scotch Presbyterian people were strong anti-
slavery people. as were the people from Brush Point, who came from southeastern New York, and the people of Genoa were also of New York origin.
During this time but little strife was made for county offices. as the salary was scarcely enough in some instances to buy a suit of clothes. During this year settlers began again to come into the state. and as the timber land was generally owned at this time by settlers already here the new- comers were compelled to go to the prairie. Many felt that it was a great sacrifice to be so far away from the timber. but in this time has proven that the settlers on the prairie became the most pros- perous and in time their land became more val- uable than the timber land.
While the year 1845 did not clear up the finan- cial condition in Illinois nor in De Kalb county, still on the whole the people were getting more prosperous and building more comfortable homes, and there was less talk of returning to their old home in the eastern states. Nearly every settler who came to this county in an early day will speak of the homesickness of those who came from more comfortable homes to settle in the wilder- ness, and many actually died from sheer home- sickness.
Schools began to be quite generally established. A number of different schools will be treated of more fully in the township histories. The claim association that was organized in 1835 was still in existence, and they were sometimes unjust in their dealings with those seeking for land. Set- thers were also deterred by the acts of the claim organization. who banded together and threatened the lives of any who should enter lands around which any of their gang had plowed a furrow, which constituted the commonly received marks of a claim. An incident is related which showed the spirit of the times. Two boys, afterwards well known in the county, jumped the claim of a neigh- bor and settled down to take possession. The claim organization. to the number of about sixty. captured the boys, formed a ring around them. put them on trial and decided to give them a severe thrashing with green hickory withes, but, seeing that the boys were well frightened and punish- ment was unnecessary, some of the more generous hearted in the circle decided to give the boys an opportunity to escape, and while engaged in con-
81
PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
versation allowed large gaps to remain in their lines, and the boys, seeing their opportunity, pulled off their boots and made for the woods, and were not seen for several days. It is unnecessary to state that they never afterwards jumped the elaim of a neighbor. Most of the settlers here in 1845 seemed more anxious to leave the country than to remain here. A letter is now in existence, which was written by a homesick family to their old home in the east, stating that if they could get what little money they had in their property they would return to their old home and remain for- ever satisfied. All the money they had invested hore was two hundred dollars. This same family afterward became wealthy and almost the entire family became prominently identified with the county's history. In every new country there is an element that moves in, becomes restless and dis- satisfied and soon move out. The old settlers whom we now honor as our pioneers were the ones who came and in spite of all the disadvantages of a new country remained to make this county one of the best in Illinois. The taxes collected this year amounted to three hundred and seventy-five dollars, more than half of which was in county orders. Few debtors were prosecuted during these times, for the laws of this state seemed to favor the debtors and render it almost impossible to col- lect a claim by legal process.
Eighteen hundred and forty-five seemed to be the turning point in the country's finan- cial condition. War is generally a breeder of good times. During the war of 1812, the war with Mexico and the Civil war, prices were high and people received valuable remunera- tion for their labor. Foreign wars have also been productive of wealth on this side of the water. The prices of produce for sev- eral years previous to 1845 averaged about as fol- lows : Thirty-five cents a bushel for spring wheat, fifty eents a bushel for the best winter wheat, one dollar to a dollar and seventy-five cents for dressed pork ; cows brought an average of about ten dollars a head and horses were nearly as high as at pres- ent, as they furnished all means of communication and were onr railroads and telegraph wires and telephones.
In the spring of 1846 prices advanced mater- ially. Wheat sold from fifty to seventy-five cents a bushel; hogs brought from two and a half to
three and a half per hundred, and all kinds of produce on the farm about doubled in value. In May, 1846, the president called upon Illinois for four regiments of volunteers to proceed to Mex- ico and support the army of General Taylor. The part that De Kalb county took in the Mexican war will be treated of in the chapter "De Kalb County in War." But it is safe to say that this war was felt very lightly in this section of the country, as it took but few De Kalb county boys, and the war from the very start was one of great and uniform success. At the March term of the county commissioners' court, Paw Paw election district was divided by the creation of a new pre- cinet called Shabbona. It comprised the territory now contained in the four townships of Shabbona, Clinton, Milan and Afton. Elections were ordered to be held at the home of William Marks. In the fall of this year Austin Hayden, of what is now Cortland township ; George H. Hill, now of Kings- ton township, and Joseph Newberry, of what is now Somonauk township, were elected county com- missioners. James Harrington, school commis- sioner ; Jolin A. Waterman, county treasurer ; E. L. Mayo, probate justice; Jacob Simons and Wil- liam Fordham, each served as county clerk. The justices of the peace were abont the same as elect- ed two years previously, with the exception of Jo- seph A. Bilks, Wheeler Hedges, Samuel Stevens and B. F. Johnson.
The good times of 1846 continued and increased in 1847, and the indebtedness of the county was reduced and conditions over the state improved accordingly. Banks were established and the peo- ple of the state were getting on a firm financial footing. Four years previous the state officers were sometimes troubled to get money to pay their postage, but were now receiving regular salaries, which were promptly paid. Postage up to this time had been twenty-five cents for each letter, but was now reduced to about fifteen cents, and it was felt that almost any one could now write let- ters. In the early part of the century postage had been as high as fifty cents, and many people living in the early '40s had paid that amount. One of the things that has made it difficult to secure ree- ords of the past has been that very few letters were written, but one thing is quite certain, if a person did receive a letter it was a cherished treas- ure and generally preserved, and in many of the
82
PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
homes of our county today we will find letters written. papers folded without envelopes and closed with sealing wax, and a charge of fifty cents, which has been marked "paid" on the back of the back of the paper, and every available space on the sheet is occupied with writing.
The old canal from the lake to the Illinois river was finished and some of the people in the south part of the county drew their grain to Ottawa and Peru and put it on canal boats. shipping it gener- ally to Chicago, but in some instances to New Or- leans. Specie was still scarce and it was a ditli- cult matter to pay a tax of from five to ten dollars. and it distressed people more. those small sums, than to pay forty times that amount at present. The collector would call again and again for the taxes, and then in many instances the property would be advertised and sold for the collection of taxes. During these years roads were lined with teams and wagons loaded with grain and the tav- erns of that day were crowded. Prices were rea- sonable. Fifty cents was the regular charge for supper, lodging, breakfast and feed for the team. A few of the number remain who hauled grain to Chicago, and they tell us how the people of the neighborhood would generally start in a pro- cession. of the jolly times that were had along the road and at the taverns, where they were com- pelled to remain over night. At the election of this year William Young was chosen county com- missioner, William Beavers clerk of the county commissioners' court. Sheldon Crossett school commissioner, E. L. Mayo probate justice, Wil- liam Fordham recorder, William Shepardson treasurer and E. P. Young county recorder.
During the year 1847 the first allowances for the care of paupers were made, and although this county had so little wealth it is a notable faet that previous to this time no paupers in the county had been reported.
The year 1848 was one of general prosperity for the state. The constitution made at the or- ganization of the state in 1818 had proved inef- ficient and a new constitutional convention was called. George H. Hill. of Kingston, represented this county in the constitutional convention. In the fall of that year it was submitted to the peo- ple and carried by a large majority. The county was divided into more election precincts and jus- tice districts. Settlers were rapidly taking up the
land and the population of the county was in- creasmg. The old courthouse, which had been built in 1839. was a shabby. two-story building. which stood until recently opposite the present one. and was the only building in the city for public use. The county eked out its petty finances by letting it for various uses, a charge of twenty-five cents generally being made for each evening. The Congregational and Universalist societies held re- ligious services there, it was occupied during the week for select school, which was taught by Ros- well Dow, and the Sons of Temperance held even- ing meetings. Although the county demanded better buildings and better protection for its rec- ords, a great deal of opposition was encountered when the subject of a new building was discussed. People had just escaped from an indebtedness which had been a great burden and were wholly unwilling to take upon themselves a new one. During this year churches were built in various parts of the county and religious services, which had previously been held in private houses. were generally transferred to the school houses, which were now being erected quite generally and were- usually frame buildings. Schools at this time were very large and the districts averaged about three times the size of those of the present day.
In 1848 the Mexican war had been closed glo- riousiy and the United States had added a half million square miles to its territory. The people were proud of the veterans of the Mexican war. and when Zachary Taylor was entered as the whig candidate for the presidency against Lewis Cass, the democratic candidate, and Martin Van Buren, the free soil candidate, the military hero again triumphed. for in the history of our country the successful hero of a successful war is always snc- cessful in a political contest before the American people. The presidential vote in this county is as follows: Cass, democrat, three hundred and sev- enty-four : Taylor, whig, two hundred and twenty- three ; Van Buren, freesoil. four hundred and twen- ty-seven. In this election Martin Van Buren carried a majority of the precincts of the county. and hereafter the opponents of slavery were gen- erally in the majority.
Threshers used this year were called separators, for they now separated the straw from the grain and instead of threshing one hundred bushels a day, as with the old thresher, which was simply a
1 2
JOHN R. HAMLIN.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LEXX TILDEN FOUNDATION8.
83
PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
cylinder, farmers were now able to thresh five hun- dred bushels per day, and consequently their fields of grain rapidly increased in size. Reapers came into general use this year and were very crude af- fairs. They were very heavy, drawn by four to six horses, or in some instances three or four teams of oxen, but they were able to cut about five or six aeres per day. One man rode the machine and raked off the gavels rapidly enough for four men to bind. In the early days one binder followed one eradler, so this was a vast improvement over previous conditions.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.