USA > Illinois > Lee County > Recollections of the pioneers of Lee County [Illinois] > Part 11
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Amboy has been devasted by fire once and again, but it was restored and improved by the destructive visitation. One heavy cloud has hung over it, and it is not yet entirely dispelled. When in its youthful lux- uriance and greatest prosperity, a railroad tax was voted upon it which has curtailed its resources and prevented its development. It is now being steadily diminished. Let us hope that, like some of our city trees which have been trimmed on every bough and branch and limb until people cried "it is ruined," but which now stand firm and symmetrical, resisting every gale, Amboy will emerge from the trial, stronger and wiser and better for the struggle.
An artesian well has been added to the city, and though its water may not flow from
"Where Alph, the sacred river ran,
In cavern's measureless to man,"
Yet it is considered excellent water by those who use it, and it comes from a depth of over 2000 feet. Amboy has excellent bridges and side- walks, good streets, macadamized in part, and well cared for; and adjacent stone quarries. Her streets are beautifully shaded, in some places em- bowered; all lighted with electric lights suspended aloft at every corner, and like the Star of Bethlehem "go before" the traveller all the way.
So may that Star indeed pioneer us all the way, until it shall stand over the open Gates of that "strong city" where "the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in."
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Manz & Co
CHICAGO .
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STATION AND OFFICES OF THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY AT AMBOY.
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The Township of Afto.
From Mrs. Gary.
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W E received the following pleasant account of the early settlers of Alto township through the efforts of Mrs. George Cary, who is, in turn, indebted to Mrs. Charles R. Hall for it. She writes: "My deceased husband and myself came to what is now known as Alto township, then a part of Willow Creek, to make it our home, in May, 1855. Mr. Hall was through the township for the first time at Christmas of 1851, and at that time there were but two families in the township now called Alto. They were John Grimes, who settled at 'Plum Thicket,' and Jedediah Loveridge, one mile west, just south of the present town of Steward. In 1855 families had multiplied to at least half a dozen, whose names as I now remember them were Esquire Holcomb, wife, son and daughter; Mr. Williams, wife and fourteen children; Josiah Carpenter with his mother and sisters; Mr. and Mrs. Mills, the only member of the family now living in the township.
"A school house was built on a site across from the cemetery in Stew- ard in the summer of '56 and the following winter the first school was taught by Miss Carrie Whitcomb. The year following Miss Addie Rey- nolds was the teacher. During the summer of '57 we held our first meet- ings in the new school house, and during the next year a society of the M. E. Church was formed, consisting of seven or eight members.
"Our eldest son, Irving E. Hall, died in April. 1857, in his fourth year, and his was the first death and burial in Alto township, though several others soon followed.
"My husband and myself, with our family, lived in Alto until May, 1866, when we moved to the adjoining county of Ogle, where we have since resided. Our pioneering was very different from that of the set- tlers in the older townships, but it may be of interest to know who were first in Alto.
MRS. ARIAN C. HALL.
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BETSY (BLANCHARD) GRIMES.
Betsy (Blanchard) Grimes.
BETSY BLANCHARD was born at Attleborough, Mass., June 21st, 1794, and was united in marriage to John Grimes on June 17, 1818.
Born and raised in the primitive log cabin, she was of the sturdy stock of the pioneer, and well fitted by nature and by disposition for the vicissitudes and trials of those early days. She removed to Illinois in 1842, her husband locating for a brief period at Oregon, Ogle county, re- moving to Plum Thicket, in Alto township, Lee County, in 1847, where she resided until the day of her death, March Ist, 1872.
She was a very energetic woman, and aside from performing the press- ing household duties, incident to pioneer days, she reared a family of ten children, seven boys and three girls.
Widely known and universally respected she died regretted by a wide circle of neighbors, who will always remember her friendly offices.
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The Township of HAsklon.
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Settlement at Ashton.
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N the year 1835 the first settlers came to this section of Illinois, C. Royce, J. Clark and I. Rosecrans settling north of what is now called Ashton.
In '38 Andrew Drummond and John Weatherington, with their fami- lies, came and settled on the west side of Lafayette Grove-came in big wagons or "prairie schooners," being about twice the size of a wagon of the present time. These were covered with sheeting and drawn gener- ally by oxen.
They brought cattle and sheep with them and with cards and spinning wheels came prepared to manufacture their own clothing. Taking their yarn eight miles to a weaver, when some member of the family would work for the weaver to pay for weaving. These pioneer women carded, spun, wove and made into garments for all members of the family. They also made woolen caps for the men in winter and straw hats for summer use from the straw gathered from the wheat fields, which they braided, sewed and shaped with their own hands. An expert could braid and sew . one of those hats in a day, which was worth at that time fifty cents. Men's home knit socks sold readily, too, at fifty cents per pair. They raised flax, too, from which they made all their summer clothing.
The first school was taught in a log house covered with basswood bark. Miss Benedict, now Mrs. Barton Cartwright of Oregon, Ills., was the teacher. The same house was used as a Methodist Church. The first Christian Church was organized by Elder Walworth in 1841 and services were held in the "big barn" of John Weatherington, which is one of the old landmarks of today .. The farm is now owned by Ira Coakly, of Dixon.
The site of the village of Ashton was known as the "big hill" and is the highest point in Lee County. When the farmers' cattle strayed away they could take a field glass and go to the big hill and view the prairie for miles around. Mr. Erastus Anderson, now living in Ashton, was the first settler in the township, he having settled on a farm in 1849. He was almost out of the settlements at that time, and there were not many more until about '54, when the railroad was built from Chicago to Dixon; when the company made a station here and called it Ogle Station; when Ashton township soon settled up.
MRS. THOMAS WALKER.
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The Township of Bradford.
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Recollections of Bradford.
A SEPARATE history of Bradford before 1845 would be a very lim- ited affair, as the people, with very few exceptions, settled first in and about Inlet. The territory, which is now divided into the townships of Lee, Bradford, Amboy, and China, was known as Ogle County.
We are told that the first settler in Bradford township was Onan Hillison, a Norwegian, and a man of remarkable courage and ambition. He came to this country alone, walked from New York to Chicago, and when he decided to settle in Bradford, built a sod-house, in which he lived until the '40's. His wife, now Mrs. Elizabeth Aschenbrenner, still re- sides upon her farm in Bradford.
A Mr. Whitmore and Mr. Sherman Shaw are said to have been the first to build houses in this township. Mr. John Hotzel was the first German settler in Bradford, and at his house was organized the German church society, which now worships in the church in Bradford.
The name of Shaw is found frequently in the list of old settlers, and we are informed that the first house built in Lee Center, proper, was for the first widow in the town, Mrs. William Shaw, whose husband, we are told, met with a tragic death. He, with family, started for Mendota in a sleigh; when nearing Sand Grove, just beyond the Inlet, a wolf was seen running over the snow. In drawing up his gun from the sleigh bottom the trigger snapped and the contents of the gun were discharged into his body, causing death in a few hours.
Many of the name still go in and out among us; many are gone on to the silent land; some of whom won a "good degree" in the trying days of the Rebellion.
Among those of the descendants who have removed to other states, we had a pleasant word not long since from William Gardner, son of Joseph Gardner and Hannah Shaw, who assures us that he has not for- gotten his Lee County home and friends. His uncle, John H. Shaw, was
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an officer of the Volunteers. Fortunes have been gathered by some, and younger generations are moving on in the steps of their fathers.
Mr. Edwin Pomeroy, of Bradford, with John H. Gardner introduced the first reaper in this vicinity. It created great interest all through the farming community and people flocked from all directions to see the first trial of the new machine in a wheat field, owned by Mr. Pomeroy. John H. Gardner, his partner in the enterprise, was not a citizen of Bradford, but of Lee Center, and his son, John M. Gardner, still lives; on the home- stead near the village; though property is still owned by the family in Bradford.
In one of the hill towns of Massachusetts, just fifty years ago, Mr. Ira Brewer wooed and wedded a maiden, and her name was Mary-Mary Phillips. Then came the wedding journey to the far west, and the selec- tion of a home and the settling therein. The experiences of true pioneer life followed. We are glad to be able to give our readers a few reminis- cences from Mr. Brewer, and to introduce to the public the face of her who has been the guiding star in the lives of her husband and family, Mrs. Mary P. Brewer. Mr. and Mrs. Brewer engaged in and often origi- nated the moral and religious enterprises of that early day. Attending church and Sunday-school, when they owned one horse, Mrs. Brewer would ride the horse while her husband walked by her side, often singing the old songs, "There is a Happy Land, or,
"I'll awake at dawn, On the Sabbath morn, For 'tis wrong to doze Holy time away."
The knowledge that Mr. Brewer understood music, soon brought to him the opportunity of conducting the first singing-school in Inlet. He was formally appointed to the position in this wise: Dr. Welch hands a subscription to Mr. Brewer, saying, "You are to teach singing-school," Mr. Brewer cogitates: "Well, I guess I know as much about music as any one here, and it will help along as far as it goes-in sociability and in dimes-so I'll try." Then a subscription list was raised in Lee Center for a singing-school, then over in the Wasson school house, until finally Mr. Brewer found himself the singing master in six schools. There was no organ or organist to depend on, which to our modern singers in Israel, would seem an appalling fact, but with the ingenuity born of necessity, Mr. Brewer went into a blacksmith shop, selected his material and ham- mered out a tuning-fork, with which he pitched the key for those old mel- odies which have never died out in the hearts of the singers. Hang, yes,
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hang up the old tuning-fork where the sight of it will bring to mind pic- tures of the time when our parents and grandparents gathered reverently to worship God, in the old log school houses and cabins on the prairies, when the whole family came, moved by the principles which actuated the pilgrim fathers. Pictures of when those whose heads have whitened in the march of time, stood erect in their young man and maidenhood, and sang the songs of Zion, with fervent gratitude for the past and with kindling hopes for the future, when these prairies should rejoice and blossom as the rose.
Mr. Brewer says: "In giving a history of the early settlement of this county, it seems necessary, in order to do justice, to look at the situation of the county at the time of settlement. We have to remember that the first settlers came here and located on Government lands, and of course all the property that was subject to taxation was what little personal property was owned by the settlers. The laws were inadequate to the circumstances of the people, so that the people had to become a law unto themselves. Hence we see the need of the Grove Association,' and the 'Society for the Furtherance of the Cause of Justice,' to see that things were done honestly. I could name many of the stern old pioneers who were instrumental in keeping early settlers and the affairs of our county in good condition. The people saw the necessity of good schools, and . that good order should prevail, and in their poverty they determined not to be without. And poverty it was. But few of the settlers had any money-no capital but pluck. Well, the neighborhood west of the pres- ent Lee Center, decided to have a school in the summer of '43. So they met and hauled logs on the land then owned by Sumuel Ullrich, and had a log rolling bee. This building stood for years as school house, church and town hall.
"In the fall of'43, I remember Mr. G. R. Linn and Daniel Frost coming to me with the good news that they had raised $40.00 to support a school for three months. They desired me to act as teacher and I could have this magnificent salary, with the privilege of boarding with them or boarding myself. I accepted the offer and boarded myself, except when I had night schools. Then I took tea with the above mentioned gentle- men.
"The older settlers had the larger part of the grove. When it was good sleighing there was liable to be some claim jumping by settlers, in the way of hauling timber from other claims. Then it was the duty of the president of the Grove Association to order a meeting, and the clerk to mount a pony and give the settlers notice. But the worst cases were
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when some persons would jump a home claim. I remember several such cases, one of which I will relate. A settler on Temperance Hill had a claim jumped. 'The Grove' was called together and it was decided that the claim belonged to the original claimant, and that the jumper must give it up, which he declined doing. Uncle Russel Linn rose, with as much dignity as if he was in class meeting, and said: 'Gentlemen we have come here to make homes for ourselves and our families. The gov- ernment has held out inducements for us to come, and we have made our homes, and we intend to defend them if we die on the defence. Then, we hope we have boys that will arise and avenge our death.' The man saw Uncle Russel with his seven boys and made up his mind if he had to kill the father and all the boys before he could obtain peacable possession, he would give it up.
It took longer to go to Chicago in those days than now. Sometimes we thought it a little hazardous, both for those who went and those who remained. Indians encamped in the grove a part of the time; and then there was a large band all over the state that used to steal horses and other property, and make bogus coin. When I started for an eight or ten days' trip, leaving the girl wife at home, you can imagine the trial it was to me, and I well knew it was to her, as she stood on the door step to see me off. When I went to mill in Aurora it was a similarexperience. The first church service we attended was in June, '43. It was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mosses Crombie, on what is now called Crombie's Lane. An uncle of J. M. Gardner's preached. Mr. Bender moved to Bradford in 1845, building a house a little north of where he now resides. He was the first town clerk in Bradford township.
Of the old settlers from whom we have no farther data than the time of their settlement we give names which are familiar, but around which we have no "experiences" with which to adorn our pages. Frank De Wolf whose sister, Malinda, married Sherman Shaw, a good "mother in Israel," who left us not long since for a better home, and Nelson DeWolf, came in 1837. Edwin Pomeroy, who with Lewis Clapp, was long accounted the possessor of the richest proportion of worldly goods in our part of the county, came in 1844. Jesse Woodruff, C. Bowen, L. Shum way, Samuel Cobel, William, Warren and Stephen Clink, in the years from 1841 to 1843. Mr. Ralph Evitts, a familiar figure in county affairs, 1842; Charles Starks. in 1839; Sherman Shaw, the grandfather of the present owner of the title, in 1839; Elias Hulburt and Ebenezer Whipple, in 1842.
It will readily be seen how closely interwoven are the stories of the older townships, and how difficult a task it is to disentangle a straight
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thread of narrative from such a web of changing residence, intermarriage and removal. Could the old settlers have better understood our purpose and set their daughters to the pleasant task of our assistance we might have made much more satisfactory and gratifying work. As it is, re- member the warning of the introduction, it is yours as well as ours with its failings or its success.
ANNA E. WOODBRIDGE.
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MRS. IRA BREWER.
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The Township of Brooklyn.
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Zachariaß Mefugin.
2 ACHARIAH MELUGIN was the first person who settled at the Grove that still bears his name, in 1834. He took part in the Indian war. At the close of the war the garrison was situated at Dixon and Mr. Melugin returned from the war and came to the Grove on the first stage that came from Galena to Chicago. He brought with him his camp equipments and lived alone nearly two years, when he was joined by his sister, Mrs. Robinson, who remained with him until his marriage. At that time there was no house between Inlet and Paw Paw, nor be- tween Rochelle and Troy Grove. A. O. Christiance and John Gilmore came to the Grove in June, 1835. MRS. EZRA BERRY.
Melvgin'si Grove.
When there was a call for troops for the Black Hawk war, Zachariah Melugin, then living near Springfield, Sangamon County. Illinois, en- listed at Rock Island. At the close of the war he returned to Sangamon County. In the fall of 1833 he went to Dixon. .
Father Dixon and others' persuaded him to go to the Grove, now known as Melugin Grove, to establish a stage station on the stage and mail route between Chicago and Galena via Dixon's Ferry. The stages commenced running January 1st, 1834.
He was the first settler and kept the house alone the first winter. There were many Indians about. They were always friendly and thought highly of him, and used to go in and spend the evenings with him when he was alone.
The spring following his sister Mary (my mother) came from Sanga- mon County and stayed with him until he and Mary Ross were married at Ottawa, Ills., October 12th, 1834. That summer of 1834 mother was the only white woman at the Grove, and none between there and Dixon, twenty-miles distant. A great many bands of Indians belonging to the Sac, Fox, Winnebago and Pottawattomie tribes, passed through the Grove, sometimes stopping for a few days, often complimenting mother by calling her a "brave squaw." During that summer she carried water from a spring eighty rods from the stage 'station, going by a mere path. They had a cow, but no churn; she would put the cream in a coffee-pot, set the water pail on her head, take the coffee-pot in her hands and shake it as fast as she could all the way to the spring, carrying a pail of water in one hand and coffee-pot in the other going back; in that way she could soon finish the churning. Once during that summer she visited Mrs. Dixon, at Dixon's Ferry, and there, on the first evening of her visit, she first met my father, John K. Robinson. He had served in the Black Hawk war, enlisting at Rock Island from Hancock County, Ills. At the close of the war he remained at Dixon's Ferry.
Father and mother were married at the home of her brother, Zacha-
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riah Melugin, by the Rev. Harris, September 10th, 1835.
They had decided to be married when the circuit rider (the pioneer Methodist preacher) should next visit the Grove. When he came he found within less than a mile of the stage station a small company of men building a log house, the expectant bridegroom one of the number. At his invitation the men left the work and went to the station, where their wives were, and there the marriage took place, that being the first wedding at Melugin's Grove.
About one-half mile from Zachariah Melugin's my father built his house (of one room) of unhewed logs, as did all the settlers, the spaces between the logs were filled with small pieces of wood, then plastered over with mortar made of clay, the roof and floor boards were obtained by splitting trees. Shelves for dishes, etc., were made by boring holes in the logs, driving in long pins, and laying a board across the pins.
The fireplace warmed the room, and there the cooking was done; cook- ing utensils were very scarce, the bread was baked in iron kettles having iron covers, the kettle being placed in one side of the fireplace and com- pletely covered with live coals and hot ashes, potatoes were also roasted in the ashes.
Gourds were used for baskets, basins, cups, dippers, soap dishes, etc. Hollow trees cut in suitable lengths were used for well curbs, bee hives, and for storing the vegetables and grain. Large trees were hollowed out into troughs and placed under the eaves to catch the rain water, in sugar making to hold the sap; small troughs were used to knead the bread in, and some of the babies slept in cradles made of troughs. Father made butter bowl, ladle, rolling pin, brooms and other articles of wood, for use in the house. All this was done by hand, and with rude implements; he also mended his harness, and was cobbler for his own family, keeping their shoes in repair. Some families had no timepiece, they told the time during the day by the sun-had a noon mark in a door or window- at night by the position of the stars in the Great Dipper in the north. For want of looking glasses, when they wished to see how their hair was dressed, they looked in the well or watertrough. Some of the early set- tlers were very destitute-the children having but one dress apiece, made - of unbleached inuslin, colored with butternut bark-the mother washed and ironed their clothing while they were in bed.
Father's first house was one story and had but the one room, with fire- place in one end, door in the other, windows in opposite sides of the room. The windows were small, having but one sash each, containing six panes of glass. The fireplace was made of such rocks as they could pick up,
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filled in with mortar made of clay; the chimney was built from the ground up, on the outside of the house, and with sticks filled in and plas- tered over with mortar. The door was made of such boards as they could split from the trees, and was hung on wooden hinges, and had wooden ' latches-the hinges and latches were made with the pocket knife. The latch had at one end a string (I presume of buckskin) attached to it, the other end passed through a hole in the door over the latch-when they wished to secure their house at night they pulled in the latchstring.
Father had a compass and when he built his house he placed it with the points of the compass, then at noon the sun shone straight in the door or window. In that way they obtained the "noon mark." Mother had several marks in the first house, to mark the different hours.
They made their own brooms by taking straight young hickory trees, perhaps three inches through, peeling off the bark, then with their pocket knives they commenced on the end of the stick they intended for the brush part and peeled the stick in narrow strips or splints about one- sixteenth of an inch thick, and fifteen to eighteen inches long. The heart of the stick would not peel and that was cut off, leaving a stick about three inches long in the center of these splints. The splints being dropped back over this stick, then they commenced on the handle end and stripped splints toward those already made, and long enough to cover them, when the stick was stripped small enough for the handle. the splints were all tied together around the stick left in the center of the splints first stripped, the remainder of the handle was then stripped to complete the handle.
They guarded their fire carefully, for they had no matches, and if their fire went out they had to kindle with flint and steel, or go to a neighbor and borrow fire.
Mother was better fitted for pioneer life than some of the settlers. She knew all about spinning, weaving, knitting, coloring, making sugar, butter, candles and soap, and the use of a fireplace for cooking, all of which were new to some of them. She spun, colored, wove, cut and made our woolen clothing and blankets, also her own linen for house use and garments for the family, and spun her linen thread for sewing. She often spoke of the hardships of others, but very seldom of her own.
The early settlers were self-sacrificing and helpful. In sickness and sorrow they would do all in their power for each other. They were also hospitable, often inconveniencing themselves greatly to accommodate travelers and new neighbors; when they had only one room, they would take in an entire family to stay until they could cut logs and build a
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