Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Gross, Lewis M., 1863-; Fay, H. W
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 678

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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY

best timber that he had and haul it to their homes.

1849 while Shabbona was away the commissioners of the general office decided that Shabbona had forfeited his right tc his land by leaving it and that it should be sold. The men who purchased the land from the Gates brothers were now in trouble. All of Shab- bona's reservation was to be sold for one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. It had been im- proved and was in some cases worth many times this amount. The people of Shabbona Grove selected two of their citizeus. William Marks and Reuben Allen, to bid in the land. The others went along to see that these men had a chance to monopolize the bidding. There were ono hun- dred and fifty determined men in the party ready to use force to carry their point if necessary. There were a few others there ready to bid in the land. but they had no chance to do so and the men from Shabbona Grove bought the land for one dollar and twenty-five cents an aere.

Now comes the sad part of our story. Shab- bona had been in the west on an extended visit. He returned. expecting to receive the remainder of the payments dne from the Gates brothers and to receive the rent due him from his own land that had been rented. This happened in 1849. It was night when he came to his grove, tired from his long journey. With him were his peo- ple numbering something less than twenty-five. They camped where they had been wont to camp, gathered a few poles for their tents, and a few faggots for a fire. Imagine their surprise in the morning when the man, or better, the brute, who owned the land ordered him with curses to leave. The man was brutal in his treatment of Shabbona aud his people. One writer in speaking of his treatment says: "Here he had lived for inany years, and here were buried his beautiful twin boys, whose graves had been torn by the ruthless plowshare of his betravers. Painting his face black, he fell prone o'er the little graves. calling upon the great spirit for strength and patience to endure his great affliction ; living for a season on bitterness fed. he ate not, slept not. but constantly beat his breast. weeping and wailing until he grew wan and weary, then his powerful intellect way- ered, tottered and fell, and he wandered forth without object or aim and was found lying upon the ground away up on Rock creek, in Kendall

county, in a distracted and starving condition and was brought back to life and reason by some good Samaritan."

This leaves Shabbona without a home. It is said that he never again went back to his grove. It is said that once a year the squaws used to return and silently find their way to the place where their dead were buried and there a few days were spent in mourning, as it were. for their ua- parted. They had very little to do with the peo- ple who lived at the grove except to ask for a little water or food. When their season of mourn- ing had passed they took their departure as silent- ly as they had come and went back to their peo- ple. For seven years following his return to Illi- nois he spent his time visiting those of his tribe who had moved to the west and his friends in Illinois. It was during this time that the figure of Shabbona riding his pony became a familiar sight in northern Illinois, especially in and about Chicago and to the south as far as and even be- yond the Illinois river. He was a good rider and usually rode in his old age. for we must rement- ber that Shabbona was seventy-five years of age when he was driven from his home in the grove. He did not care much for the roads of the whites. but would take the trails that led across fields and through the timber if these were shorter. The settlers looked for him every spring and in the fall. If he did not pass they would feel that something had been missed.

Sometimes Shabbona traveled alone and agaia he traveled with a part or all of his family. His squaw always rode in a democrat wagon. sitting in the bottom of the box, filling it from side to side, for we must remember that she weighed in the neighborhood of four hundred pounds. She was so fat that it was with difficulty that she could get up alone if she lay flat on her back. She would get into the wagon by mounting a chair and rolling over into the box. Her children or grandchildren usually went along and drove the ponies. Others followed on foot or rode their ponies. If Shabbona happened to reach the home of a white friend late at night he was always very careful lest he might disturb them. In the morn- ing they would discover his presence by seeing his ponies grazing about or by finding him rolled up in his blanket on the porch or in some other well protected place. Late in the fall of the year when

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY. 1

the weather was cold Shabbona rolled up in his blanket and seemed unmindful of the weather as he slept.

Sometimes he would stop for several days at a place, visiting his white friends. His nephews ano boys on these occasions played games with the children of the white people and all seemed to forget their race differences for the time. There was a healthy rivalry in their sports which made their coming, from time to time, an event in the minds of the younger people. These Indian chil- dren were well behaved as they had received the best of home training in manners from the hands of Shabbona. Some of the frills of modern civili- zation had been omitted in this training but those principles which tend toward the development of strength of character had received attention.

Shabbona knew his place and was always care- ful to never do anything to impose upon the man- ners and customs of the whites. When he came to a farmhouse he was careful to use his own cup in drinking instead of using the one that he found at the well. As has been stated it was with difli- culty that he could be induced to stay over night in a house and it was an equally difficult matter to get him to sit down to eat at the table with the whites. Occasionally this happened with his more intimate friends. His squaw, we are told, had to wait until she had been waited upon by Shabbona. and orders had been given her by her lord to begin the process of eating. The Indians were very fon i of the cooking of the whites. It was not an un- common thing for Coconoko to gather up all that was left on the table in her apron and store it away to be eaten on their journey later. The bread wa? very appetizing to them. The Indians liked the way the whites cooked meats. Frequently the; would take a deer that had been killed to the whites to be cooked. The whites were glad to do this to please them and to receive a portion of the vension, or whatever it might be, for their trouble. The Indians were especially fond of the gravy that went with the meat as it was returned to them.

As Shabbona traveled about among the whites he took a great interest in what they were do- ing. He liked to watch them to see how they did things and in this way he learend to do many things as the whites did them. At his home in the Grove he had fences around part of his

ground that was cultivated to keep his ponies from destroying his crops. He had learned to cultivate corn in very much the same way that the whites did at that time. He was always busy tinkering around at something. He was not d lazy Indian. What he did might have amounted to more than it did, but for an Indian it did very well. The whites respected his industry. They liked to have him question them as to their ways of doing things and were glad, for the most part, to help him to acquire their ways.

Shabbona was quite a hand at doctoring. The whites often called upon him to help them with their sick. Snake bites and wounds that would not heal he knew how to cure. He went to the woods and on the prairie and there gathered his medi- vines. His own good health and the good health of his family was pretty good proof of his ability along this line.

People may wonder how Shabbona and his peo- ple managed to live after they were driven from their Grove. Hle was a good hunter and gained much in this way. In the fall of the year he went to Chicago and his friends found out what he lacked in the way of clothing and food for the winter and among themselves supplied his wants. The people who knew him in many parts of Illi- nois gave him things as he visited them, but in spite of all this Shabbona and his people were badly neglected by the whites, considering what he had done for them. After Shabbona's death those who remained for a number of years lived as paupers and beggars and at times their condi- tions were pitiable.

We are told that Shabbona was quite anxious that one of his daughters should marry a white man and it is said that he offered to give a good!y sum of money to any good respectable white man who would marry one of them. No one seemed to be inclined to take up his offer as the daughter he had was built on the same plan that her mother was.

Shabbona was quite a public character and on all great occasions he was made much of. He was always the center of attraction at the fairs. He and his family were sure to attend. He appre- ciated very much the honor that was conferred upon him on such occasions. On the Fourth of July, 1852, there was a great celebration at Ot- tawa and Shabbona, his squaw, grandchildren and

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.

children were there. They led the procession. ! II the evening there was given a great ball which Shabbona and his people attended. At this ba!l the belles of the town came out in their finest. There was a desire to know who of them excelled in beauty and grace. Shabbona was made judge and in the most critical manner examined each lady in the contest who passed before him for inspection. He was called upon to give his de- cision. Here he showed his sense of humor, his insight into human nature and his appreciation of his wife. Turning to Coconoko, his squaw, he brought his hand down upon her well-rounded shoulder and said, "Much, heap, big, prettiest squaw."

During the political campaign of 1858 Shab- bona was present on the platform with Lincoln, Douglas and Lovejoy at the famous debate be- tween Lincoln and Douglas at Ottawa. At this time he was eighty-three years of age.

Shabbona traveled much. On one occasion ne went to Washington and while there met Colonel Johnson and the two talked over the battle of the Thames and the death of Tecumseh. When they parted Johnson gave Shabbona a gold ring that he wore during the remainder of his life.

On one occasion Shabbona, with a white man whose complexion was almost as dark as that of an Indian, was introduced to General Scott. Gen- oral Scott took the white man to be Shabbona and in his pompous manner began to tell him how much he appreciated what he had done for the whites in Illinois during the Black Hawk war. Shabbona stood it as long as he could and then pointing to himself said to General Scott. "Me Shabbona."

The Indian in Shabbona displayed itself on one occasion at Morris. Illinois. At this point there was a toll bridge across the river. One of the citizens of Morris had taken it upon himself to pay toll for Shabbona and his people whenever they wanted to cross the bridge. The toll keeper kept account of the times Shabbona crossed and interfered with his crossing in no way. On one occasion there was a new toll keeper who did not know of this arrangement. Shabbona appeared with his tribe and wanted to go over. The toil keeper would not let him cross without paying. Shabbona turned about and went to the man who was looking after his toll. secured a note from

him. returned and was allowed to pass. He crossed to the end of the bridge, turned about, gave a whoop. and crossed and recrossed the bridge sev- eral times to show the toll keeper what he could do.

After Shabbona was driven from his Grove he had no home until 185%, when people who were interested in him raised a sum of money and pur- chased a home for him of twenty acres in section 20. town 33, range 6, in the town of Norman, Grundy county. Illinois. Here they built a house for him and tried to provide for him. He lived here until his death, which occurred July 27, 1859. He lived to be eighty-four years of age. He was buried in a lot in Evergreen cemetery near Morris, Illinois. This lot was donated by the cemetery association. His wife lies buried in the same lot. She died November 30, 1864. Her death was pathetic. While crossing Mazon creek in her democrat wagon with a little grandchild in her arms the wagon was upset and she was drowned, although the water was but a few inches deep. The child was found beneath her. It was also dead. There are also buried in the lot his favorite daugh- ter Mary, his little granddaughters. Mary Okonto and Met-wetch. and his nieces, Chicksaw and Soco. All of Shabbona's people who remained moved out west after the death of Coconoko.

On Friday, October 23, 1903, about fifty people gathered in Evergreen cemetery to witness the dedication of a monument to the memory of Shab- bona. This consists of a huge boulder bearing the simple inscription. "Shabbona, 1775-1859"-a fitting mark for the resting place of one of Illinois' noble men. Shabbona wanted nothing to mark his grave for he said that the life that he lived should be his only monument. It was largely through the instrumentality of P. A. Armstrong, of Morris, Illinois, and a body of workers that this monument was erected.

SOME THINGS I REMEMBER OF CHIEF SHABBONA.

WRITTEN BY LAURA ALLEN BOWERS.

Sept. 1. 1902.

The first thing I knew about Shabbona my fa- ther went to his wigwam to buy enough trees cf

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.

him to build a log house. He told him who he was, then Shabbona introduced himself and family thus :

"THIS ME SHABBONA" (laying his front finger on his breast).

"THIS ME POKENOQUAY" (meaning his squaw), and then he pointed to Siboquay as his pappoose and pointing to her three children, "THESE ARE MY PAPPOOSE'S PAP- POOSES." The introduction over my father made known his business, but the old chief thought it beneath his dignity to sell trees to a Shemoka- man, and would not let him have a single tree. Consequently, he bought the trees of Peter Miller, and we had a shanty to cover our heads made from them in which we lived five years.

Shabbona was generous with the white people and he would bring a quarter of a vension to his neighbors frequently, and once in a great while a wild goose and a duck. Often he would go from house to house and eat with any one that would ask him. One Saturday he came to our house and father asked him to sit up to the table and have some breakfast. He looked around the table and made the remark, "ME NO SEE UM ME NO EAT UM." We had eaten every bit of breadl that there was in the house for our breakfast and were going to bake that morning. but that did not help us out for the meal. He had asked Shab- bona to eat, so I frowningly said in a whisper, "We havenot a particle of bread in the house."The keen eyed old fellow saw the maneuvering and said, "LAZY SQUAW." He thought I did not want the trouble of getting his breakfast, but father said "Bake him some pancakes." So I did and it proved to be the very thing he liked best, and I retained my good name in his opinion, which I have valued highly-being only about sixteen years old.

The Indians in those days would not work. They would hunt and the squaws did all of the drudgery, such as cutting the wood and hauling it by hand, and they had to keep the fires in the wigwam and they cooked the succotash to eat, and the corn and beans were some of their own plant- ing and harvesting the summer before. The In- dians furnished the meat for them.

They generally had a tame skunk running around for a pet, and they would play with them as we play with kittens. The government gave

each of Shabbona's children a pony and they never went on foot anywhere. They never pro- vided anything for the ponies to eat during the winter, so the ponies had to steal what they ate. As none of us had barns we had to stack the hay outdoors. The ponies used to eat nights. The boys of the neighborhood would catch them and ride them down as far as Somonauk creek, ten miles away. They would drive all they did not ride and leave them in the woods and would keen about three ponies and then get on their backs and come home. In about three days old Shab- bona would come along and ask, "YOU NO SEE UM PONIES?" Then we would innocently ask,

"How long they been gone, Shabbona ?" and he would say "MAYBE SNEE DAYS. ITE KNOW KNOW"; but they always managed to find their way back in a few days and then there would be more fun for the boys.

Shabbona understood the geography of the United States and Canada to perfection. Just give him a piece of chalk and start him on some stream or lake, say Lake Superior, and he would mark every bit of water and tell you what it was named and what the Indians called it. In fact, he would mark over a whole floor and tell us just where the different bodies of water were located. One time he told us he was Tecumseh's aid and saw John- son kill him with a little gun that went "PING." My brother, Harvey Allen, was there when he was telling it and he said, "Why didn't you rush in between them and kill Johnson?" "OH," said Shabbona, "TWO BIG MEN, LET UM FIGHT." Then he shook his sides with silent laughter as though he always liked the white man best. He had the faculty of going through gestures in all his talk which made it doubly interesting to his hearers.

The Indians made maple sugar in the spring of the year, and old Pokenoquay superintended the making of it. She would sit down flat on the ground near the boiling kettle and when the boiled syrup was near sugar it had a tendency to run over into the fire, and to prevent such a catas- trophe the old squaw chewed fat pork and would spit the grease into the boiling liquid, and it would go down and keep so until old Pokenoquay had time to get another mouthful to deposit, and she would keep it up until the sugar was done.

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.

For a few years the white man came from the east. so many in number and all wanted a few acres of timber to fence their farms and get wood for their fires that Mr. Warham Gates, of Paw Paw, bought the grove of Shabbona and he per- snaded Uncle Sam to sell it at one dollar and a quarter an acre. Then poor old Shabbona felt as though this grove was no longer his. He never would live in the log house that Mr. Gates had built for him. He wanted to go away (his old place is now owned by William Husk). and my brother took them to Chicago in a double wagon and when one half way there they stopped and camped out all night. They had brought a hog with them and proceeded to kill and dress it In- dian fashion. They built a big fire made from rails which they took from the farmers' fences. and killed the hog and four of the Indians tied it by the legs and tossed it through and through the blaze until every bristle was singed off. They then took ont the intestines and old Pokenognay took them and run them between her thumb and front finger and they were ready to cook without a particle of water having been on them until they were in the kettle over the fire and that was all they had for their supper. They offered my brother some of the stew. but he declined it for he had brought his own lunch with him. Then they told him to get some of the meat from the hog. which he did, and after taking off the skin and broiling it on the end of a sharpened stick he took some of the butter off his biscuits and spread it on the meat. He called it delicions. You know the Indians never eat salt on any occasion. When Shabbona and his family came back to their place my father had passed away. I had married and T had never seen any of the Indians since their return. 1 met the old chief just turning in at ou. back gate. He was on his pony and -at there like a statue. I hurried up to him and held out my hand and said. "How do you do Shabbona": and he said. "SHOW-IN" (which meant. no) "ME NO SHIABBONA." "Yes, yon are Shabbona," I said. "I know you." He still kept his face straight and kept saying "SHOW-IN" for five minutes and then he gave in and said I was right. I asked him to come into the house where my mother was. lle shook hands with her and said. "ME NO SEE UM BIG INJUN." We told him he was dead. but he would not believe it and

wanted to go upstairs to see if we were fooling him, so we gratified him and at last convinced him of the truth. He seemed to feel bad and kept saying. "DEAD, DEAD." We had a good visit with him, but he wanted to see my Indian and 1 told him he had gone east. Then he laughed and said. "ITE KNOW KNOW MAYBE. ITE KNOW. ME NO SEE UM."

You all know Shabbona was gone from here a few years and then came back thinking it would be home again, but he didn't like it for it was so changed. lle felt as though the white man didn't want him here any more, and he went to Morris, Grundy county, and died. I do not know any of the dates of his going away or the death of him or his squaw, Pokenoquay.

THE STONE AGE.

BY W. H. FAY.

Undoubtedly for thousands of years the red man hunted and fished in the country that is now known as De Kalb county. Under no other theory would it be possible to account for the number of chipped implements left in the fields they oe- eupied. There is no evidence that they built homes and it is probable that for one generation after another they lived in wigwams about the same as they ocenpied when our forefathers ap- peared on the scene. As far back as it is known the men hunted and fished and protected their camp hunting grounds from the encroachments of stronger tribes. Generations of this life seemed to make them naturally what they were, expert mark-men. vigilant in chase and skilled defend- ers of their wigwams. It was natural that the drudgery of the camp was left to the squaws, who tilled the erops, carried the water, and did all the manual labor of the camp. The generations of occupaney will never be known. Archaeologists tell of a battlefield that was recently discovered in the southwest where some 20,000 persons were killed in a hand to hand conflict. The skulls were broken in with stone axes and chipped arrows and spears pierced the bones. Great deposits of earth covered the scene and from top of which great trees had grown. It seems to demonstrate that this country had been peopled from ten to twenty thousand years.

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.

The number of chipped implements found yearly in De Kalb county adds evidence to this contention. For seventy-five years thousands and thousands of leadened balls have been scattered over the fields of De Kalb county, yet it is ouly a few times in a life time that a person finds one. On a southern battlefield where a million shots were exchanged it is possible to pick up a hand full of bullets, but scarcely easier than to find the same number of relies of the stone age in De Kalb county.

The implements found here consist in the main of chipped arrow and spear points, knives, serap- ers, drills, picked stone axes, cells, hoe points, scrapers, band ground, carved pipes, gorgets. cere- monial stoues, sinkers, beads, and a few speci- mens of broken crockery.

While the greatest number are found along streams yet frequently far out in the prairie many specimens are found. Probably the most highly prized specimen found in De Kalb county is an

ARROW IN DEER RIB, FOUND AT SANDWICH.

arrow point piercing a deer rib, found by Levi Erwin near Sandwich. Mention was made of this specimen in the Smithsonian reports of 1897. In 1900 Harry Congdon unearthed a bone five inches long, iu which was embedded a chert arrow. It was found along the banks of the Kishwaukee, near Normal Park, De Kalb. Prof. Dorsey of the Field Columbian Museum pronouneed the bone the tibia of a buffalo. The same year a finely chipped hook was found near Kapas' fishing grounds, near Coltonville. These valued specimens are a part of the exhibit at the De Kalb Normal Museum. This collection consists of 2,000 chipped implements and as many more parts of implements and chips. The largest collection in the county is owned by Mark W. Cole of Kingston, and contains between 6,000 and 10,000 pieces, representing about every state or tribe in the county.

Other collections of more or less note have been collected by :

lia Converse, Sandwich.

Dr. J. M. Postle, De Kalb. Heckman, Kingston.

R. G. Davy, De Kalb.

Win. Allen, Sycamore.

1. Cooper, De Kalb.

Dr. G. D. Carter, De Kalb.

Amos Johnson, Malta.

A. E. Jacobs, Malta.

How, when and by whom were the arrows made will ever be veiled in mystery, yet much is known

ARROW IN BUFFALO BONE, FOUND AT I E KALB.

of the industry. Generations ago perhaps thou- sands of years, hunters in their efforts to secure a thin, hard, sharp point for the arrows, discov- ered that stone that breaks with chonchoidal frac- ture (as glass chips) was best suited for the pur- pose. A fracture out of the flat side of a piece of glass will make a chip about as broad as it is deep. They then seemed to learn that a fracture on a corner would make a long thin piece. The ridge along the back of the piece seems to keep it from breaking out, giving a piece longer than it is wide.

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Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Gross, Lewis M., 1863-; Fay, H. W Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 678

Author: Gross, Lewis M., 1863-; Fay, H. W
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 678