USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 13
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"The county commissioners appointed Messrs. E. P. Young, Kimball Dow and Jesse C. Kellogg to contract for builling a new courthouse. It was to be placed in the center of the publie square, to be of brick, sixty feet long and forty feet wide, and to cost not exceeding six thousand dollars. But this was to be done only upon condition that individual citizens should contribute fifteen hun- dred dollars of this amount. This they were au- thorized to pay in notes, two-thirds of which should be paid November 1. 1849, and one-third November 1, 1850. And the order of the com- missioners further states that it is expressly agreed that in case the county seat shall ever be removed. the county shall pay back to said individuals the amount of said notes with interest. It was ordered that the notes be registered on the court records and be evidence of the liability of the county for the repayment of this advance.
"At the same term another order was passed au- thorizing the oreetion of a jail by the same agents at a cost not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars. Nothing seems to have been done under this or- der. An active canvass of all those who felt an especial interest in the prosperity of the village now rapidly growing at the seat of justice was now commeneed and more than the necessary fifteen hundred was subscribed as a free gift toward the ercetion of the present handsome courthouse. The subseriptions of the principal donors were as fol- lows: Harvey G. Barns, $100: Amos Story, $20; John Maxfield, $40: Thomas Wolsey. $20; Kim- ball Dow, $50: E. P. Young, $150; W. H. Beavers, $3%: W. J. Hunt, $50; Ellsworth Rose, $25: E. Hall, $25; Alonzo Brown. $20: O. P. White, $25: Z. B. Mayo, $50; E. L. Mayo, $50; John Chat- field, $20: J. S. & J. C. Waterman, $150; MI. Stark. $50: O. M. Bryan. $30: Thomas H. Wood,
$25: E. Wharry, $20; E. G. Jewell, $20; Darius Williams, $25: R. Wyman, $20; William Connell, $20; J. C. Kellogg, $25; R. Hopkins and W. P. Dutton. $45: Decatur Esterbrook, $25; A. Jack- man. $20: Homer Roberts, $20; Sylvanus Hol- comb. $25; W. Fordham, $30; G. W. Kretsinger, $20.
"The agents for building were also authorized to sell the old courthouse and all town lots owned by the county at auction, and that the proceeds were to be applied religiously to the payment of the forty-five hundred dollars of county orders is- sued for the erection of the new building. The lots were, however, appraised at prices varying from ten dollars to four hundred." Some of these warrants are still in existence and draw ten per cent interest. and in case the county seat should ever be removed the warrants held and accumulated would be exceedingly valuable.
THE RESURRECTIONISTS.
Another type of criminality was rampant in the early days of our county's history, and that was the crime of grave robbing. This had been ear- ried on for years in this section of the country and many were the bodies stolen from graves in De Kalb county by men who were called resurrec- tionists. In the early days no arrangements were made with hospitals for subjects for dissection in medical institutions and they were compelled to resort to the crime of body snatching. The Med- ical Institution at St. Charles, organized by Dr. George W. Richards, professor of theory and prae- tice of medicine, and formally president of the La Porte ( Indiana) Medical School, had established a summer school for physicians in St. Charles. Ilis home was opposite the present Universalist parsonage in that city, and the institution in which the dissection was carried on was a stone barn, which has since been torn down. Students in those days came to college poor in purse and were anxious to work to pay their way through school. and as bodies were constantly needed by the Med- ical Institution they naturally sought remuner- ative occupation by robbing graves. Two or three graves of honored citizens of this county had been examined and discovered to be emptied of their precious contents. "Many who had recently lost friends commended the painful task of examining
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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
their newly made graves, while many friends only refrained from it lest they should find their fears realized and that the outrage so hopeless of re- dress had been consummated. The irritation and indignation that was caused by this feeling may be readily imagined." In the spring of 1849, three men driving a pair of horses attached to a spring wagon stopped for supper at the Lovell tavern, four miles east of Sycamore, on the St. Charles and Sycamore road. While eating their supper the landlord's daughter overheard some conversation which made her suspicious. She re- ported the conversation to her father, who went out and found the implements used by the resur- rectionists secreted in the bottom of the wagon. Mrs. George M. Kenyon had been but recently buried, and they surmised that it was the inten- tion of the grave robbers to secure her body for the dissecting table, and it was also known that a friendless German had been buried in the south burying ground of Sycamore, now the present site of the Methodist parsonage. and it was supposed that they were also seeking for his body. This news was conveyed to Mr. Harry Joslyn, and he, with Mr. Lorenzo Whittemore. Kimball Dow and a few others, armed themselves and hid near the burying ground. with the hope that the resurrec- tionists might be caught robbing the grave. Early in the evening. not long after dark. three men made their way into the cemetery and immediately began search for the grave of the German. As they approached it. the men in hiding noticed that they were armed. One of their number went to the wagon to secure the tools necessary for digging. At this moment one of the party in hiding was seized with a fit of coughing, which alarmed the grave robbers and they immediately hurried to the wagon and drove into town. The party in hiding followed them into the village and caused the arrest of the resurrectionist party. One was found to be the son of Dr. Richards, president of the Medical Institution at St. Charles. Another was a man by the name of John Rude. and the name of the other was unknown. There not being found sufficient evidence of their guilt. they were released. The parties arrested were thoroughly alarmed and their fright was not lessened by Waterman answering their question as to what would be done by them by the promise to shoot them in the morning. It was supposed that
after their severe fright that they would make a hasty retreat for St. Charles. but they recovered their nerve. and although they started directly east for their home. they evidently decided that they would not return without something to show for their night's work. Mrs. George M. Kenyon was buried in what is now known as the Ohio Grove cemetery, and. dying at the age of but sev- enteen years. in the bloom of youth, a girl well known. great sympathy was felt for the young husband and her immediate family. After her burial the grave was watched for two nights, and it was supposed that all would be well hereafter. The parties watching the grave of Mrs. Kenyon the third night left shortly after midnight. Two of her girl friends were impressed by the story of the grave robbers, which had been circulated throughout the country. laid a twine over the grave and fastened it
at cach side. covering it with dirt. so that if it were molested it could easily be detected. When the relatives arrived at the grave in the morning they still found the string in position, but some- thing made them uneasy. and after hearing the story of the grave robbers being in Sycamore they decided to investigate. Upon digging down. their fears were realized. as the comb of the deceased was found abont a foot below the surface. Reach- ing the coffin. they found it emptied of its contents and the grave clothes alone remained within it. The lid of the casket had been broken in and the body taken hastily away. News of this crime spread over the country like wildfire. Mr. David Churchill. father of the deceased, was a man well known and highly respected, and the circum- stance of the young lady's death made the crime seem doubly terrible. It was decided before any action was taken in the matter to have a party go to Dr. Richards at the Medical Institution and de- mand the return of the body. Upon arriving at St. Charles they procured a search warrant and went to the institution. and while on their way found the horse belonging to a Sycamore physi- cian, who had doubtless gone there in great haste to inform Dr. Richards that he had better be on his guard. Upon examining the dissecting room they found fragments of human bodies and skele- tons, but none corresponding to the description of Mrs. Kenyon.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
As they were about to leave the building Mr. Kenyon discovered upon the stone flagging ' a lock of hair belonging to his wife. It was the precise peculiar shade of his lost wife's hair, and he knew it in an instant. It was not sufficient evidence to convince a jury, perhaps, but it satis- fied him. He went back and begged piteously for the return of his wife's remains, and it was here that Dr. Richards made his great mistake in in- flaming the searching party. He said to Mr. Ken- yon in his hour of sorrow: "I have no subjects now, hut if you will come again in a few days I will have a lot of them, and from your way, too." The party returned to Sycamore, reported to their neighbors what had transpired, showed the friends the lock of hair belonging to Mrs. Kenyon, told of the insulting remarks made by Dr. Richards to the grieved husband, and with one accord the citi- zens of Sycamore and vicinity volunteered to go next day and recover the body or know the reason why. A large part of them were young inen, im- petuous and ready for trouble, but the older men counseled conservative action. A committee was selected to again visit Dr. Richards, and was com- posed of the folowing men: Esquire Currier, of St. Charles ; John C. Waterman, William Ford- ham, Lorenzo Whittemore and Kimball Dow, of Sycamore. They informed Dr. Richards what they were there for, told of the party that was ready for action. and that it had only been by the intercession of their friends that an assault had not been made at once. They still found Dr. Rich- ards defiant and impudent, and he denied any knowledge about the body sought for, and said per- haps the students might account for it. They no- tired also that Dr. Richards and some of the stu- dents were fully armed and scemed to be ready for trouble in case of an attack. When Mr. Kenyon caught sight of Rude, who had been detected at Sycamore, he took an instinctive aversion to him and could scarcely be restrained from shooting him on the spot. Nothing, however, was gained by this parley. The crowd had increased on the way, so that now about three hundred men stood in front of Dr. Richards' house, and had so arranged their party that escape was impossible. Seeing that trouble was in store for them, one of the young men of the institution informed them that he had seen a corpse answering the description of Mrs. Kenyon. Upon hearing this David Churchill,
father of the deceased, and Mr. Kenyon, her hus- band, rushed for the door and forced it partly open, when the muzzle of a gun was thrust out and fired. Mr. Churchill pushed the barrel of the gun downward, so that no one was injured. This was followed by a shot from Mr. Kenyon, who was armed with a rifle. He fired blindly through the door, and by the irony of fate his bullet pierced Rude, the guilty resurrectionist, through the hips and he was mortally wounded. An assault fol. lowed, and all the windows in the building were broken and several students were wounded and Dr. Richards was struck twice. As he appeared at the door and made a sign of surrender a stone struck him in the temple and he was carried back sense- less. The friends of Richards feared that another attack would be made and secured the services of an attorney, A. Barry, who promised them the body would be returned, and he instructed Mr. Prescott. a relative of Mrs. Kenyon, to go to a spot two miles south of St. Charles on a farm now owned by Mrs. Harvey Jones, of Sycamore. And it should be stated in passing that a constable ap- peared on the scene and ordered the mob to cease firing, and at that juncture Mr. Barry, an attor- ney, since well known in this county. promised the mob that he would return the body the next morn- ing. Mr. Barry and a student named Harvey, with Mr. Banister and Prescott, of St. Charles, found the remains buried on the banks of the Fox river in a grove, about two feet deep, wrapped in a blanket. The body was taken to the river, washed of the earth that adhered to it, wrapped in some clothing, placed in a coffin and brought back to Sycamore. A second funeral service was held at the Methodist church at Sycamore and a large concourse of people met on that Sabbath day to consign for the second time to the grave the hody that had caused so much excitement in all the country around. It has been stated that the body was taken to the home of Mr. Kenyon and there buried under his window, but the body was buried in the grave from which it was taken and a tombstone is pointed out to those interested in the early history of the county. and many are the visitors even to this day to the grave which caused so much turmoil and loss of life. In im- pression seems deeply founded that Dr. Richards was on the whole a bad man of the criminal type. and thus he has been depicted in the histories of
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De Kalb county to the present time. We will say, however, that Dr. Richards was a very well edu- cated gentleman, and at the time that he was shot ranked as high as any other physician in Illinois. Many were the physicians of Chicago who sought his counsel. Mrs. Harvey A. Jones, who was then a girl of ten or twelve year-, and witnessed the shooting and knew Dr. Richards intimately, as he had been their family physician for years. say that his home was one of refinement, that he had trav- eled abroad and in many respects was regarded as one of the most intellectual men of the community. It is needless to say that this broke up the organ- ized band of resurrectionists, and from that day the visitors, even to this day. to the grave which had been their family physician for years, says that to this, with one exception, crime of a like nature in this locality has been unknown. Rude died the day following. the students recovered. while Dr. Rich- ards finally died from the effects of his wounds in- flicted by the Sycamore mob. We will say, however. that had it not been for the impudence of Dr. Rich- ards and his students when parties were searching for the body and for the carelessness with which the remains of the dissected bodies were handled, this trouble would never have occurred. Parties still living remember well how Dr. Richards and his students threw the remains of human bodies after dissection into the river, which naturally excited a spirit of opposition to their work. The account as we give it is from a conversation held with George MI. Kenyon about a month previous to his death. with Mrs. Harvey A. Jones, who witnessed the riot, and from members of the mob, who par- ticipated in that event.
During the year 1849, after gold was discovered in California and was found in such abundance that people who had been struggling here to make a livelihood and secure a competency felt that they were going at rather a slow pace, and with dreams of wealth started for California. some across the continent. on foot and with teams. while others went to the eastern coast and to the city of New Orleans on the south and took shipping by way of Panama to California. A great many suffered and a large number died from exposure on these
trips, and especially was the tropical clinate of Panama fatal to the people of the northern clime. But the stories of the old '49ers are of great inter- est. and the discovery of gold in California, and the producing of so much wealth. had a wonderful effect upon the business life of this and European countries, while money became abundant and new business enterprises sprung into existence like mushrooms. A large number returned materially enriched by their work in California and invested it in business and in lands. Some of the large farmis of this county are still in possession of the families of those men who went to California in 1849, while many of the business enterprises of Sycamore, De Kalb and Sandwich had their be- ginnings in wealth accumulated by the California gold hunter. On the whole the year of 1849 was one of prosperity. Crops were abundant and farm machinery was materially improved. Little by lit- tle the farmers began to move from the timber and running streams to the prairie. Schools were established and the whole community life took on the airs of civilization of older states. In the elec- tion of 1849 Marshall Stark was chosen sheriff. W. 11. Beavers county clerk. William Fordham recorder, Sheldon Crossett school commissioner, and E. L. Mayo probate judge. These elections took place early in August and were under the op- erations of the old constitution, but the constitu- tion of 1848 having been put into effect, new elec- tions were held in November, and Martin Mack was made circuit clerk and recorder. U. B. Pres- cott county clerk. William Shepardson county treasurer and James H. Beveridge and George H. Hill county justices of the peace. It will be noted that from this time the office which had hitherto been known as probate justice, whose duty it was to probate estates, was now called probate judge. and E. 1. Mayo, later a man of prominence, was the first to wear the title of county judge. At the fall election seven hundred and fifty votes were cast in favor of adopting the township organiza- tion and only one against it. The counties of northern Illinois this year generally voted to give up the county organization, and adopt township organization, so that at present in the state of Illi- nois there are bnt few counties remaining under what is known as county organizations. For many years after this people, especially those from sonth- ern states, advocated the return to the county or-
MAIN STREET, DEKALB. 1862. ILUNTLEY HOTEL, DEKALB, 1840.
ORIGINAL GLIDDEN HOUSE, 1842. WIRICK HOUSE, EAST PAWPAW, 1856.
T. NEW YORK PIMIC LIBRARY
1 ASTCH, LENOX TILDEN EDNUNDATIONS.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
ganization plan, as it was less expensive than town- ship organization.
The county superintendent of schools, who had formerly been known as the county commissioner, was paid twenty-eight dollars for his services, which consisted mainly in holding three or four examinations yearly. We have some of the ques- tions propounded by the county superintendents of those days for teachers' certificates, and we find that they compare very favorably with many of the questions given at the present time, and, barring the matter of pedagogy, physiology and other things that have been introduced later, they gen- erally demand a fair degree of scholarship in or- der to pass them. The county judge received seventy-five dollars for the performance of his duties for six months, making a total of one hun- dred and fifty dollars yearly. The county commis- sioners at the December term appointed William A. Miller, later of Kingston ; Robert Sterritt, later of Somonank, and William J. Hunt, later of De Kalb, to divide the county into townships in prep- aration for a new organization under the township organization law. They visited the different sec- tions of the county, heard the statements of those - who were concerned. and divided off the county into thirteen different townships, named as fol- lows: ( Refer to page 19 De Kalb Chronicle Illus- trated Souvenir) : Genoa, Kingston, Franklin, Vernon, Liberty, Sycamore, Richland, Orange, Shabbona, Clinton, Squaw Grove, Somonauk and Paw Paw. Most of these names are still retained by the townships to which they were originally as- signed. although most of these towns have been diminished in extent by the creation of new town- ships. Of those names which have been abandoned Vernon belonged to the present town of South Grove, Orange to De Kalb and adjoining territory on the south. and Liberty to Mayfield. Richland afterward became Pampas and finally Cortland, and originally included Pierce township. The county tax of 1849 amounted to two thousand eight hundred and eighty-three dollars. During this year Comb's mill put in the machinery neces- sary for grinding flour and thus finally flour was produced in our county, and it must be remem- bered at that time wheat was the principal crop. In 1849 a field of twenty-five acres of corn was considered a curiosity. While oats was raised more abundantly, still the fields of that grain
were small and the wheat fields occupied nearly three-fourths of all the cultivated area. Prices of grains and farm produce generally quite materially advanced, and the assessable property of De Kalb county came very near the million dollar mark.
FREYKLIA
, GENOA
GENOA
Lacayo Kingston O
New Lehan
410 South Greve
VERNOEN
LIBERTY SYCAMORE
Coltonville
Ohie Geme o
Denalb Copier
ORANGE
RICHLAND
.....
SHABBONA
CLINTON
GROVE
Shabbos B
1
PAWPAWV
SOMONAUK
OLD MAP OF DEKALB COUNTY 1850
In the spring election held in the new townships designated, school houses were the voting places. Supervisors were elected, and took upon them- selves the duties formerly assigned to the board of county commissioners. In many of the townships there was quite a strife to see who should be the first supervisor from the respective townships, and the board was constituted of the following named gentlemen : Henry Durham represented Genoa ; John Sheely. Kingston; Clark Bliss. Franklin ; John S. Brown. Vernon : Mulford Nickerson, Lib- erty : James Harrington, Sycamore ; D. F. Finley. Richland ; Thomas R. Hopkins, Orange: William Marks, Sr., Shabbona: Reuben Pritchard. Clin- ton : Abram L. Hemenway, Squaw Grove : Lyman Bacon, Somonauk: Pierpont Edwards, Paw Paw. Dr. James Harrington of Sycamore was chosen chairman and the first act passed by the board was
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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
one changing the name of Orange to De Kalb, Richland to Pampas, Liberty to Mayfield and Vernon to South Grove. Other towns in the state had already appropriated the first chosen names, and to prevent confusion the board of supervisors were authorized and directed to select others. Hav- ing accomplished this duty. the board at once plunged into the business of auditing bills. ar. raigning delinquent collectors. appointing places of town meetings and all those duties which have >mce engrossed the attention of that body. The work on the new courthouse had been progressing rapidly, but was not accomplished at the first ses- sion of the board, and their meeting was held in what is now the old Congregational church, which was undergoing repairs. One of the duties de- volving upon that body was the refusal of granting of licenses for the sale of liquor. AA temperance society had been organized in the county and their representatives were allowed to speak before the board and liquor licenses for taverns was refusec by unanimous vote was 2,500,
When the county courthouse was completed it was considered a magnificent structure, being built of brick, sixty feet long and forty feet wide. and following the custom that prevailed at that time at the inauguration of the new building a public ball was given in the new courthouse in February. 1851. and was a notable occasion. The company came from all over northern Illinois.
The year 1851 was known as a year of much rain. showers lasting nearly all summer. The first Sunday in April one of the most furious snow- Storms ever known in this country fell, and it is said that more than fifteen inches fell in the course of the day. On Sunday following a similar storm came with equal severity. About a month after the snow and before the soil had become suffi- ciently dried for farming operations, a heavy rain sot in and continued with but occasional intervals for more than two months. It is related that. at one time the sun did not shine through the clouds for more than ten days. Plowed ground became cov- ered with green mold and the wheat crop was all scabbed, and little or none was raised that was really fit for four, and in some cases it sickened and apparently poisoned those who were com- pelled. from prevalent destitution. to use it. Tho roads became impassible and continued so during the most of the year. The board of county com-
missioner> had done little more than to lay out roads and road districts. but had done nothing toward their improvement. All the work of build- ing pikes and bridges was done locally under the direction of road masters. Bridges were built across the streams so that people did not find it necessary to remain away from market as in pre- vious years on account of high water. The bridges were built of wood and were rather crude struc- tures and were unable to resist the foods that came, and it can be truly stated that had all the money that has been expended in De Kalb county for road work and for building bridges from the date of its organization to the present time, much of which has been of little value. there could have been built out of an equal amount steel bridges and macadamized roads for nearly the whole county.
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