Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume I, Part 5

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

USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 5

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JESSE C. KELLOGG'S REMINISCENCES OF BORDER LIFE.

A true picture of the settlers' condition is given by Deacon Jesse C. Kellogg in a series of letters published in The Sentinel in 1855 and dedicated to the settlers of 1835. In every history of De Kalb county these articles have furnished the basis of the material. so we give the article here in total :

REPUBLICAN SENTINEL. Thursday, March 29, 1855.

REMINISCENCES OF BORDER LIFE; OR DE KALB TWENTY YEARS AGO.

BY "WOOLJAIL."

(To the "Old Settlers" of the County of De Kalb, a few of whom still survive to rejoice with me in the present and prospective prosperity of our long cherished and growing county, these hasty pencilings of the past are most affectionately dedi- cated by your old friend and fellow citizen. )

De Kalb. one of the hundred counties of the Prairie state, contains eighteen townships, six hun- dred and forty-eight square miles, being more than half as large as the whole state of Rhode Island. The territory now embraced in this county prior to the spring of 1835 was in the possession of the Pottawattomies of the prairie. Whether Joliet, Father Hennepin or La Salle ever visited any por- tion of this county or not is quite uneertain. In all probability. however, very few, if any, white men had ever looked upon the unsurpassing beauty of its island groves and fertile prairies until about the time of the defeat of General Stillman's army by the Indians on the Kishwaukee, near the north- west corner of this county in 1832. Volunteers

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.

from the central and southern portions of this state and others engaged in the Black Hawk war, returning to their friends after the "fuss," were the first, no doubt. to portray in glowing colors "the right smart chances for making claims" in this charming region. But the "fullness of times" had not as yet come. True. some adventurous, in- terloping borderer with "desire may have desired" to "extend the area of civilization over some of the big trees and rich acres." here and there "lying and being" on the banks of the "roaring Kishwau- kee," but then he knew that he was sure to be driven off by the ever watchful Indian agent. Thomas J. V. Owen, backed by two companies of United States troops from Fort Dearborn.

There were several Indian villages under subor- dinate chiefs within the limits of this county. One was near the residence of George H. Hill in Kingston, one near .John Waterman's in Pampas, one near Calvin S. Colton in De Kalb, one near the old farm of John Eastabrooks, deceased, in Squaw Grove, and near the grove in the town of Shabbona was the village of Shabbona, one of the head chiefs of the Pottawattomie nation.

From this place, after the surrender of General Hull. Fort Mackinaw and the Chicago massacre, Shabbona and his braves, accompanied by Waban- sia and his warriors, sallied forth to join the forces of Tecumseh and the Prophet, in aid of the British arms against the United States in the war of 1812.

Poor Shabbona! Warned by the Prophet of the Great Spirit of the encroachment of "Young America" no wonder that he should have sought to avert the calamity and crush the young giant before his sacrilegious foot should trample over his venerated dead, or before overawed by superior power and overcome by "fire water" in a moment of weakness, he should give the homes and hunt- ing grounds of his fathers to satisfy the all-grasp- ing avarice of "Che-mio-ko-manu."

It having been noised abroad in the spring of 1835 that the Indians had agreed to remove west of the Mississippi the ensuing autumn, far- ther restraint was entirely out of the question. Although the monotonous song of the surveyo., "stake stuck and tally" had not yet broken the solitude of nature in those regions, nevertheless the impetuous "Sons of Japheth." like hounds "straining in the slips" were all in a tip toe to

"dwell in the tents of Shem." Having learned that "delays are dangerous" in "claim making and pre-emption fixin's" in making their first debut into Chicago, where it is said that they were severally charged one shilling for the privilege cf leaning up against a sign post over night and two shillings for the "soft side of a white oak punch- eon": down came the settlers upon the newly ac- quired purchase like a 'thousand brick,' each carving out and appropriating to his own special use and benefit a most bountiful slice of very fat prairie with an abundance of good timber with which to cook it.

Soon after the Indians had done their sugar- making, when the groves began to grow leafy and the prairies grassy, as the sun sank low in the west and the prairie wolves began to howl and the sandhill crane to scream and poke along the ponds and "sloughs" for their evening meal of crawfish, a close observer might have espied afar off on an Indian trail suspicious looking canvas, supposed to be the sail of a "settler's" wagon, evidently nearing some grove and in a strait to get "some- whar" before nightfall. Presently emerging from the dusky prairie, the settler's wagon, propelled by some four or five yoke of oxen. canopied with sundry bolts of sheeting: within containing the family bedding, clothing and provisions ; without, implements of cooking and husbandry. chickens in coop and pigs in pen, backed by a drove of cows, calves, colts and other young stock on foot, would loom up plainly to view, "fetching in" near some point, bay or plum thicket, where in after days "Bonny chiels and clever hizzies" were to lift th- latch and force the way to a happy cabin home. It was no uncommon thing in those days for the mistress of the wagon to "pail the keows" in the morning and place the milk where, by the inces- sant motion of the wagon during the day, it would churn itself. In this way the family were pro- vided with a constant supply of good, fresh bu :- ter : and old chanticleer and his dames in the coop behind, never caught napping when hens should be awake, would keep up the laying process, so that with other supplies from the wagon a set- tler's wife could usually "scare up" a pretty good meal on short notice. In this hitherto neglected spot. where "full many a flower" was "born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert air," the weary. yet blithe and happy groups might

JESSE C. KELLOGG.

, .BRARY

P., LENOX

-ULLA FOUNDATIONS.

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.

have been seen to alight. strike a fire. prepare, and after craving God's blessing, eat their frugal meal ; when guarded by a watchful dog and a still more watchful Providence they would retire for needed repose into the inmost recesses of the wagon home. And at early peep of dawn one might have seen the anxious settler reconnoitering. with hurried steps, grove and prairie, when after being "de- tached here"-"countermanded there"-bothered almost to death for fear that among so many good chances he should fail to secure the best, at last he would bring himself to the "sticking point." seize the axe and "blaze" the line in the "timber" and anon, hitch the team to the prairie plough and "mark out the furrow on the prairie."

April 5. 1855.

"In those days there being no king in Israel every man did that which seemed right in his own eyes." The size of claims, therefore, varied from two eighty's of prairie and one of timber to a half section of timber and a tract of prairie two miles square. Some assumed the right to make and hold claims by proxy, being thereunto duty authorized by some brother, sister, uncle, cousin. aunt or friend. Meanwhile new settlers poured, in apace astonished to find the choice timberland prairie "blazed" and "furrowed" into claims. whose ample acres the elaimant with all his chil- dren, uncles, aunts and cousins to the "third and fourth generation " would never be able to till or oc- enpy. The new settler. perplexed, baffled and becom- ing more and more desperate onfinding "God's green earth" thus monopolized, would approach his more fortunate neighbor with the spirit of AAbraham to Lot-"Now I have come a great way to get some of this timber and prairie and one thing is certain. I am going to have some. There is enough for you and me and our boys. Now, don't let us quar- rel. You turn to the right and I will turn to the left, or vice versa." Some times this good Serip- ture and consequently good common sense logie would win, but in other cases the grasping spirit of the borderer would stave off all kind of di- vision or compromise, and laying his hand upon his rifle he would bluster and threaten in "great., swelling words" and drive away the stranger from his right. Hereupon arose innumerable disputes and wrangles concerning the size. tenure and boundaries of claims. The more reflecting among the settlers saw a dark cloud, big with the ele-

ments of strife and social disorder, gathering in the not very distant horizon, whose tornado blasts threatened soon to lay waste all that was of value in the rising community. There was no municipal law reaching these cases and it there had been the settlers probably would have been none the better for it, for it is believed that at this period there was neither a justice nor a statute book north of the Illinois river and west of Fort Dearborn, un- less we except Ottawa and Chicago. Wrongs and outrages for which there was no known legal redress were being multiplied. Blackened eyes, bloody noses and chewed ears were living realities, while the dirk, pistol, rifle with something like "cold lead" were significantly talked of as likely to bring about some "realities" which might not be "living." What could be done to insure do- mestie tranquility, promote the general welfare and secure to each settler his right? Evidently but one thing. Happily some had seen something in the New Testament about those who are with- out law being a law unto themselves and settlers found themselves in this fix exactly. It was, there- fore, apparent both from scripture and reason that the settlers must become "a law unto themselves" and "Where there was a will there was a way." ".A settlers' meeting" at a given time and place therefore came to be the watchword from shanty to wagon until all were alarmed. Pursuant to this proclamation a heap of law and order loving Amer- ican citizens convened on September 5. 1835, at the shanty of Harmon Miller standing on the east bank of the Kishwaukee, nearly opposite the pres- ent resilence of William A. Miller in the town of Kingston. Happily the best possible spirit pre- vailed. The Hoosier from the Wabash, the Buck- eve from Ohio. the hunter from Kentucky, the calculating Yankee. brother Jonathan's "first born" and the "beginning of his strength," im- pelled by a sense of mutual danger, hereby sat down in grave council to dictate laws to Kish- waukee "and the region lying around about through all the coasts thereof." Hon. Levi Lee. now chairman of a committee to report on peti- tions for the "Maine Law" in the legislature of Wisconsin, was chosen to preside over this august assemblage. where the three great departments of free governments, the executive, the legislative and the judicial, were most happily united and Cap- tain Eli Barnes was appointed secretary. Gently

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.

glided the sometimes turbid waters of that "an- cient river," the sonorous Kishwaukee, as speech after speech setting forth the woes and wants of the settlers, the kind of legislation demanded by the crisis, went the rounds. Even those who were not "used to talkin' much afore folks" evinced their cordial approbation and readiness to co- operate by doing up an amount of encoring which, no doubt, really did "astonish the natives." At last, ripe for immediate action, a committee was selected to draft and present to the meeting a constitution and by-laws by which the "settlers upon the publie lands" should be governed. After some little deliberation back of the shanty, around the stump of a big white oak, which served as a writing desk, said committee reported a preamble, constitution and by-laws, which for simplicity and brevity and adaptation to necessity it would be hard for any modern legislation to beat. The self- evident truths proclaimed by .Jefferson in the im- mortal declaration, it is believed, were for the first time reiterated on the banks of the Kishwaukee and had there been a little more time for renec- tion and preparation the top of some settlers' wag- ons would have been converted into the "Star Spangled Banner" and thrown to the breezes of heaven from the tallest tree-top in the grove. The common sense, law and logic, as well as patriotism, contained in this constitution and by-laws were instantaneously recognized to be the very things demanded by the crisis and were adopted witn unparalleled enthusiasm, each subscribing his name thereto with his own hand, thereby pledging his "life," "fortune" and "sacred honor" to carry out the provisions of the code. It is not known that a copy of this singular, unique document is now extant. and still there may be. If any anti- quarian can produce it, or anything like it, he will confer a special favor on his humble servant by leaving it at the office of the Republican Sen- tinel. It shall absolutely be deposited with the archives of some antiquarian or historical associa- tion and preserved as a "sacred relic." As nearly as can be recollected its provisions were somewhat as follows: A prudential committee were to be then and there chosen, whose duty it should be "to examine into, hear and finally determine all disputes and ditlerences then existing or which thereafter might arise between settlers in relation to their claims." and whose decisions with certain

salutary checks were to be binding upon all parties and to be carried out at all hazards by the three de- partments of government consolidated in aid of the executive, in what jurists sometimes dominate the "posse comitatus." Each settler was solemnly pledged to protect every other settler in the asso- ciation in the peaceable enjoyment of "his or her claim as aforesaid." and further who ever through- out all Kishwaukee or the suburbs or coasts there- of should refuse to recognize the authority of the aforesaid association and render due obedience to the laws enacted by the same from time to time "to promote the general welfare" should be deemed a heathen, a publican and an outlaw with whom they were pledged to have no communion or fel- lowship. Thus was a wall affording protection to honest settlers built in troublous times. Hon. Levi Lee, our present worthy county judge, George II. Hill, Captain Eli Barnes, James Green and Jesse C. Kellogg were chosen to be the settlers committee, and who, as may well be supposed, had business on hand for some time in order to re- store and "ensure domestic tranquility" and "pro- mote the general welfare." The thing worked like a charm and the value of these associations in northern Illinois to the infant settlements has never been overestimated. Similar associations were formed and maintained in Somonauk and other portions of the county, until the lands came into the market. This event took place in Chi- cago in 1843, when all De Kalb county, except the north tier of townships, was sold to the highest bidder; that is, so far as "terra firma" is con- cerned. The moral as well as physical power of "Settlers associations" was so great that if a spec- ulator presumed to bid on a settler's claim be was certain to find himself "knocked down and dragged out," and had the land officers shown the least sympathy or favor to the "rascal" there ean be no doubt but what an indignant and out- raged yeomanry would have literally torn the lan.] office to fragments "in less than no time."

After a long period of unexampled peace and prosperity it was found that this living in a "state of nature" was liable to evils for which the "late session" of the legislature in "Miller's Shanty" had no adequate remedy. The case was this: A had a promissory note against B and A wanted his pay. B was not exactly prepared to "fork over" and being nettled that he should be dunned

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.

had the audacity to imitate to A that it might "trouble him to get it anyhow." Kishwaukee was then, as well as other portions of the county "at- tached to La Salle for civil purposes." This was a "real poser." "Claim jumping" had been pro- vided for, but this appeared to be a novel case. Finally the settlers coneluded that if they had come to share the inheritance with the "Suckers" they must do as the Suckers did and have someone who knew something about the "Justinian code," the "Commentaries of Blackstone and the Statutes of Illinois." So in the summer of 1835 the ex- igency of the case having been duly made known the county commissioners court of La Salle laid off by proper metes and bounds "Kishwaukee pre- einet," wherein Joseph Collier and Stephen Morey were duly elected "justices of the peace," who in due time were indueted into office before Joseph Cloud, elerk of the county commissioners court in Ottawa. Here may be traced the first introduction of civil government into the county of De Kalb. Whether these worthy "squares" ever "got to see a copy" of the Illinois statutes is much to be doubted ; it may be supposed, however, with more certainty that they were very clever men and with- al "right smart" and "calculated" to do "bont what's right." The best of all is that Mr. B on hearing that the "squares" had got back from Ot- tawa put over to Mr. A's in a giffin', laid down the "spelter" and "took up his note" to save cost.

The Indians were still lingering among the settlers, rather loth to leave anyhow and some taking advantage of their "spiritual informities" were mean enough to filch away his pony, rifle and even the last blanket in exchange for whiskey or "good-ne-tosh." As Nebuchadnezzar, after being turned out to grass awhile, "came to himself again," so a poor Indian after a drunken debauch: will sometimes come to himself again and recoil upon those who let out the serpent to bite him. In many things shrewd and discriminating they know when, where and how to render tit for tat and "quid pro quo." One instance in illustration where they "came it" over "che-mo-ko-man" will be given.

A half Yankeefied Frenchman, who will be called Peter, had made a claim on the east side of the Kishwaukee, near where Dr. Harrington row resides, and had engaged a half civilized Indian boy called Shaw-ne-neese, who had lived some

three or four years with the late Hon. James Walker of Walker's Grove, now Plainfield, in Will county, to drive his breaking team. Now, as ill luck would have it, or "somehownother," it came into their heads that for just about one barrel of "good-ne-tosh" each on their return to Walker's Grove might astonish the settlers with a nice In- dian pony. The temptation to play on the "Anglo- Saxon" was too strong. Shaw-na-neese, who had a mother, sisters, etc., living in the Big Woods, near where Aurora now stands, was supposed to be well acquainted with the Indians and could talk either Indian or English. So off goes Peter for the whiskey, never once 'tinking' of the foolish settler, who for fun set a fire on the prairie that burnt up his own stacks. In due time the barrel of good-ne-tash was regularly set up in the cabin of the settler, and "where the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together." Shaw-na- neese talks. Indians talk-ponies plenty-good-ne- tosh plenty-so much pony so much good-ne- tosh. Yes. Humph ! The doping begins; the che-mo-ko-man adding "Kishwaukee" at the bung by night to supply the deficit made by the faucet by day, until there was a moral certainty of perfecting the contract as to measurement. After the barrel was pretty much delivered of its contents and the sharpshooters begun to hint that it was time for them "to walk up," that is, if they could, to the captain's office and settle, the Indians being really drunk or appearing to be, began to grumble about Peter cheating them, selling no good good-ne-tosh, ete. Explanation was at- tempted, but the thing could not explained, ex- postulation was used, but in vain. "You cheat poor Indian," and they grew madder and madder. Peter and his comrade began to have fears for their personal safety. There were no white men near, and if there had been they could not have expected that they would be sustained in such an enterprise, when all of a sudden the terrific war whoop burst from the whole group, and drawing their long knives they rushed upon the liquor dealers like so many fiends from the pit. Just at this moment an old Indian snatched Shaw-na- neese on to a pony behind him and galloped off at the top of his speed, for what has since been called Charters Grove. But alas and a well a-day for unfortunate Peter, when he cried there was "none to deliver." He had a good pair of legs

PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.

and it came into his heart that "je>< now." if ever. was the time to use them, and bounding somewhar' about a rod at a jump he "eut for the bush" and the Indians after him pell mell. As good luck would have it. however. he managed to conceal himself in the thick brush and elude their grasp, until at last, giving up further chase. they re- turned to Peter's shanty. Here they soon made a finish of the remainder of the "poor whisky" and appropriating for their "own special use and bene- fits" Peter's bag of flour. fry pan and new blue broadcloth coat they vamoosed. cutting up those dreadful anties which savages, thirsting for blood. alone know how to perform. Peter's predicament was by no means enviable. He knew that he was in the wrong. for "a guilty conscience needs no accuser." He had time to think and he did "tink." Ile had time for thought and he "tought" "if he ever live to get out of tis scrape he sure to quite tam liquor business anyhow." Afar off from the bosom of the thicket he had beheld the plunder of his shanty and the subsequent withdrawal of his enemies. He had no doubt but that they had gone for reinforcements and would soon return and murder him. Perhaps they were still laying in ambush to "let the life out of him." Still "tinking" discretion to be the better part of vale .. he kept still until it began to grow dark. when what should he hear but the friendly voice of his old comrade "Shaw-ne-neese" cautiously calling to him from the plundered shanty and saving to him that he had "jest" got away from the Indians. who were intending to come and kill him as soon as it was dark and he was advised further by the redskin not to make his whereabouts very public -was assured that he would get up the oxen. gather up the fragments that remained. hitch on to the "truekle truckles" and join him with all possible dispatch in the grove. Peter and his comrade were at last under cover of night. plod- ding their way over old logs, sloughs and brush to the west side of the grove. from whence in a cold rain storm and Peter in his shirt sleeves they made good their retreat toward Walker's Grove. which they had the good fortune to reach the next day drenched with mud and water. and where Peter, starved, cold and hungry, was pre- pared to do up any quantity of muttering and swearing about the "tam Injuns." Here, among the simple children of nature. behold the faint

dawnings of a more perfect day. We are not only indebted to them for the knowledge of "sucker- tash" and "hominy" but for what they taught us in getting "shut" of the liquor dealer.

April 19. 1855.

In 1836 the county of Kane, embracing the en- tire territory now included in De Kalb. was or- ganized, and Captain Eli Barnes, representing the interests of the "Kishwaukee country." was re- elected one of the county commissioners. But the settlers in the Kishwaukee country still felt that they were "too far from Canada"- that is. from a county seat. It needed not the old "Illinois Statutes." one of whose "Acts" commeneed by saying, "Whereas, there is much prairie in this state" to convince them of the faet. Timber was abundant : it was supposed that the Kishwaukee and its tributaries on a more intimate acquaint- ance would be found to be abundant in "mill sites." A company of capitalists, known after- ward as the New York Company, had already laid Aut a town on the east fork of the south branch of the Kishwaukee as the "Rapids" between Nor- wegian and Big Grove. The agents of this com- pany were already on the ground building a dam and erecting a sawmill. A cabinet and chair- maker by the name of Crawford had erected a large factory en route of the proposed "race," the turning lathe of which was to be propelled by water taken therefrom. Flouring mills. carding mills. etc .. were soon to go up. Similar preparations were being made by Uri Osgood, Levi Jenks & Company from Joliet on the "Rapids" on the west fork of the south branch. above Coltonville. Again it was obvious that the great thoroughfare from Chicago to Galena would pass directly through these villages and a "State Road" from Ottawa to the state line would bring all the north and south travel from Vandalia to Lake Superior directly through the Kishwaukee valley. But what should be the name of the new county? Illinois had then her Greene, Schuyler and Putnam counties. ard why should she not remember the brave De Kalb? In the winter of 1836-1 the legislature being in session at Vandalia. therefore the Hon. Henry Madden, representing the interests of the settlers of La Salle. Kane and sundry other counties not then "hatched." caused a bill to be passed to "cre- ate the county of De Kalb" from the west half of the county of Kane, provided that the majority

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Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume I, Part 5

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