USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > The History of Stephenson County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches war record statistics portraits of early settlers history of the Northwest, history of Illinois, &c. > Part 31
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During the prevalence of the epidemic, business came to a standstill both in towns and the county. The streets of the former evidenced the blight that had fallen upon the surroundings, and the highways of the latter bore confirmation thereof. As a result, some who had come into the county with bright hopes and brighter prospects, died or fled before its approach ; others en route or contem- plating coming, turned back or abandoned the trip and remained at home. The population thus practically diminished, and an apprehension of the return of the disease with many dismayed the coming of those who would have been here the following spring.
COMPLETION OF THE C. & G. U. R. R.
The building of the railroads was continued, however, notwithstanding these afflictions, and rapid progress was made on the lines having Freeport for their objective point. Early in the following year (1853) the Galena & Chicago Union had made such headway that contractors began laying the rails, and the people anticipated the whistle of the locomotive as an event of the near future. On the 23d of August a construction train crossed the Pecatonica and arrived in Freeport. This was the signal for enthusiastic rejoicings among merchants, farmers, and all, for all were interested in its success. These manifestations or rejoicings but prefaced those evinced by the people when, on September 1 following, passenger and freight trains were placed on the road, and the public were afforded means of communication they had longed for, prayed for, and extorted from soulless corporations and municipalities.
The fight had been fought, the victory won, but not without the employ- ment of every available means and every accessible aid that could be invoked. The people saw everything that was made ; and behold, it was good. Those who had been instrumental in its procuration and completion, saw that it was good, and rejoiced also. A new era in the history of the county was born indeed. Thenceforward her career was upward and onward, without one interposing obstacle or one element that would prevail to prevent its advance.
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286
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
The benefits which accrued by the completion of this improvement were not altogether gradual nor insubstantial, but rather instant and permanent. The road was made the channel for an influx of emigration, in comparison with which the number who had come previously were as visitors. Lands increased in value beyond all precedent, and no one could escape the conclusion that Ste- phenson County, both from its geographical position and physical resources, would become one of the most populous and wealthy counties in the State. It is an interesting fact, and one beyond dispute, that no inland county in the State increased in population in a larger ratio during the ten years previous to the census taken in 1850. This was due to the causes cited; i. e., the supe- rior qualities of the soil for agricultural purposes, the abundance of timber, beautiful rolling prairies, excellent water, abundant water-power for manufact- uring purposes, and, general good health ; and, when the county and its towns became intimately connected with the rest of mankind, it was an event of no ordinary importance.
For many years the citizens had been subjected to all the inconveniences of an imperfect business connection with the East, and had borne them patiently. The merchants had been compelled to transport their purchases made from farmers a distance of 120 miles over imperfect roads, and often met with loss in the sales effected. The farmers submitted to the same trials, intensified in some cases by the poverty of the victim. This state of things was now over, and the merchant and farmer were placed on an equal footing with contemporaries at the East.
With increased facilities for business, men of capital visited the county, who invested and expended money in opening to the world and utilizing the almost inexhaustible resources that had remained undeveloped. This great agent of civilization and reform bound together distant portions of the country, made neighbors of those who would otherwise have remained strangers, harmo- nizing and mutualizing conflicting interests, and blending into one universal and harmonious effort, the desire and action of countries and communities for the realization of their highest and noblest hopes and aspirations.
The Illinois Central was completed to Freeport early in September, and extended three miles beyond within a month. This was an additional incentive for rejoicing, and the people made much of it. As the county was benefited, so were the towns, and particularly the county seat. Freeport had been keeping pace with the time, growing with its growth, and strengthening with its strength. With no false excitement, calculated to throw her prosperity into the hands of speculators, the town had kept steadily on from a half a dozen houses, a few business men and a " gang of loafers," until her population at this period had increased from 1,036, in 1849, and 1,500, in 1850, to 3,000. This growth was not confined to an increase of inhabitants, but affected business and business accommodations. Instead of small store-rooms, with a peddler's pack of notions for stock, the town contained between thirty and forty large stores, some of them doing a business of between $30,000 and $40,000 per annum. In addition, there were churches and schools, not to mention saloons and kindred resorts, which, if they failed to testify to the quality of civilization encouraged, at least indicated its existence.
Since the scream of the iron horse was first heard in the land, treasures of wealth and industry have been poured into the county, pointing out a present of usefulness and a future of greatness and prosperity.
287
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES.
The year 1855 marked the turning point in the history of common-school education in the State. The first school established in the county had been commenced nearly twenty years previous, when a very small class assembled at Ransomburg, and Miss Jane Goodhue sought the instruction of its members in a knowledge of the alphabet and words of two syllables. During the interven- ing period, labors in the cause of education had been constant and profitable. From this solitary class as a beginning, schools had been established all over the county, and were doing the work allotted them, as civilizers, effectively. The influence created by their existence and efforts had been of the most ben- eficent and extended character, and was enlisted without regard to minor details. But this was not brought about save by the indefatigable labors of zealous men. The schools in Stephenson County were at first supported by private subscrip- tion, and so continued for many years, or until the expenses incident thereto were provided for by legislative enactment. The Legislature of 1844 made some imperfect provision for maintaining the schools, which were supplemented by amendments in 1847, again in 1849, once more in 1851, and finally in 1855, when a law embracing all the essential principles of previous enactments was adopted. Among these was the sovereign right of the State to levy and collect a sufficient tax from the real and personal property within its jurisdiction, to be expended in furnishing its youth a common-school education. The tax, how- ever, proved oppressive to some counties, and this portion of the law was sought to be repealed, without results, for it remains the vital principle of that law to-day. As a consequence of this course, there is not a township in the county but what is supplied with one or more schools, in which scholars between the ages of six and twenty-one years can avail themselves of the privileges therein proffered.
There were many causes, at first, to retard the progress of the present system, which, however, proceeding, as a rule, from a class of persons who are never found in the van of reform and are always opposed to experiment, because experiment involves change, was neither pronounced nor prolonged. An unfriendly disposition was manifested by some, who apprehended that the system was prematurely inaugurated, and the ability of the people too limited to pro- vide for its support. The fear of an annual assessment operated to restrain others from its enthusiastic support-the tax would be onerous and oppressive ; other opposition, it is said, existed, proceeding from caste; and the rebellion added materially to attracting from the system which, nevertheless, has obtained in Stephenson County not more satisfactorily than elsewhere. It has not accomplished everything that could be desired, yet, in view of the hindrances with which it has been beset, it has accomplished much, and as a public agency for the dissemination of knowledge, intelligence and virtue, it has commended its merit to opponents and supporters indiscriminately.
The support of the schools, according to the act of 1855, and subsequent amendments, is derived, first, from the State fund created and maintained by the levy of certain assessments for educational purposes, upon the real and personal property listed in the State, which is paid out to schools pro rata, according to the number of children in each district less than twenty-one years old ; second, by a distribution of the interest of a township fund, derived from the sale of the sixteenth section in the township, the proceeds of which have been invested for this purpose. The amount necessary to the support of the schools, over and above that provided as above set forth, is made up by the Directors of the school district to be benefited, by whom it is certified to
288
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
the Township Treasurer, thence to the County Clerk, by whom the amount certified is levied upon the real and personal property of the district.
The following statistical summary, for the year 1879, shows the result of common-school efforts in the county for that year :
CENSUS OF MINORS.
Number of males under twenty-one years of age. 8,033
Number of females under twenty-one years of age. 8,021
Whole number under twenty-one years of age.
16,054
SCHOOL CENSUS.
Number of males between six and twenty-one. 5,547
Number of females between six and twenty-one. 5,606
Total.
11,153
SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
Whole number of school districts 148
Average number of months school sustained. 6.88
PUPILS IN ATTENDANCE.
Number male pupils enrolled. 4,363
4,329
Total number enrolled.
8,692
TEACHERS.
Total number male teachers.
125
Total number female teachers
166
Total of teachers
291
GRADED AND HIGH SCHOOLS.
Number of graded schools.
11
Number of high schools ..
3
Number of ungraded schools 141
5
Total schools.
160
SCHOOLHOUSES.
Number of stone schoolhouses.
24
Number of brick schoolhouses.
31
Number of frame schoolhouses.
98
Total number of schoolhouses
153
ILLITERACY.
Whole number between the ages of twelve and twenty-one unable to read and write.
10
RECEIPTS.
Balance on hand October 1, 1878
$21,237 45
Amount of State and county funds received. 13,460 54
Amount of interest on township fund. 2,797 64
Amount of special district taxes 33,476 44
Amount from sale of school property
77 75
Amount from sale of district bonds.
101 00
Amount of railroad and other taxes.
1,688 47
Amount for tuition. 183 71
Amount from all other sources.
200 00
Total
$73,223 00
Number female pupils enrolled.
Number of private schools.
289
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
EXPENDITURES.
Amount paid male teachers
$18,976 07
Amount paid female teachers ..
11,348 79
Amount paid for new schoolhouses
966 27
Amount paid for school sites and grounds.
352 32
Amount paid for furniture
62 45
Amount paid for fuel and incidentals
4,599 10
Amount paid Township Treasurers.
1,214 76
Amount paid interest on notes
97 33
Amount paid principal of notes.
655 66
Amount paid for repairs and improvements.
2,729 14
Amount paid for other expenses
4,299 04
Total.
$45,377 93
Highest monthly wages paid male teacher.
$160 00
Highest monthly wages paid female teacher 60 00
Lowest monthly wages paid male teacher.
18 00
Lowest monthly wages paid female teacher
8 00
Average monthly wages paid male teachers
39 65
Average monthly wages paid female teachers
23 47
Whole number of examinations for certificates held during the year. 15
Male applicants for first grade.
15
Male applicants for second grade ..
141
Female applicants for first grade.
7
Female applicants for second grade.
209
First-grade certificates issued ..
14
Second-grade certificates issued.
199
Number of schools visited by Superintendent
141
Grand total number of deys' attendance of pupils.
750,295
No course of study for the schools has been adopted, but much attention has been given to proper classification. While the schools are by no means graded, yet there is a tendency on the part of teachers to systematize their work. There is almost a uniformity in text-books used in the different schools, which does much toward taking the place of a course of study.
Instruction in most of the schools is confined to the common-school branches. Teachers are becoming more skilled in the use of text-books, and have abandoned that slavish system which consists in memorizing the text-books only. The aim in all work done is to make the pupil master of the elements of an education that will benefit him the most, and prepare him for the duties of after life. In these efforts the teacher is yearly becoming more successful.
During the past twenty years, county institutes have been held in various parts of the country. These have been faithfully conducted, and are among the most useful means employed for the teachers' improvement. They have ordi- narily continued one week, and the ablest talent to be found in the State has been usually called in to assist, and, though the attendance of teachers has never been made compulsory, the number present has varied from 100 to 160 at each session.
This system was not deemed sufficient, and, in 1879, a Normal Institute was established, holding one term of four weeks, from July 14 of each year. The enrollment reached 128, and was attended with the most satisfactory results to all concerned. Township institutes have been conducted in a number of places in the county, all tending toward one great object-better teachers, and with them better schools.
THE PANIC OF 1857.
Such was the condition of affairs when the spring of 1857 aroused the inhabitants of the county from their season of hibernation to renewed labor, and a faith in the future intensified by experience. As spring graduated into summer and the heated term was drawing to its close, appearances failed to
77 00
Amount paid for apparatus.
290
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
indicate the coming of the storm that threatened to involve the entire country in ruin. During the latter part of August, the suspension of the Life Insurance and Trust Company at Cincinnati, with liabilities quoted at five millions. came with unexpected suddenness, and created a havoc in financial ranks from which recovery has only been accomplished after years of industry, pluck and unmeas- ured confidence. This crash was succeeded by others, as is well known, with similar depressing and ruinous results. These warnings preceded the advance of the foe into the West, and caused people to reflect on what might be in store for them. There were many, doubtless, admonished by their prophetic souls of what was coming ; but, a majority, flattering their peace of mind with the thought that the city and county would escape unscathed, declined to outline their connections regarding impending troubles until too late to provide any remedy to mitigate their severity. There were some, however, who saw the horizon dark and portentous with the coming storm, and put their house in order to resist its violence. When it came, as a consequence, if not protected entirely, they were sufficiently so as to escape permanent paralysis.
Its immediate presence was first manifested by the falling-off in trade, the absence of new arrivals, the depreciation in property values, and other insignias of coming calamities which, though strange to the West and her people, carried with them a dread of what was to follow in their wake. Soon after, more pro- nounced symptoms were to be observed. Lots and lands were without markets, and none but the choicest of either was worth the cost of assessment. Vision- aries, who had dwelt in castles constructed by fancy, fled from the scene of their creations, appalled at the storm which they had aided in provoking. Sub- stantial merchants, who heard the muttering, hastily, and in every instance when it was too late, sought to take their latitude and ascertain how far they could be driven from their true course and yet survive. Nearer and nearer approached the crisis, closer and closer came the advance of that intangible agency, which was to wreck so many hopes, strand so many enterprises and commit the fruits of years of labor to an adversity both remediless and hopeless.
The crash succeeded these premonitions of its coming, and carried all before it. Hundreds were irretrievably ruined in an hour, and men who felic- itated themselves upon the possession of resources, ascertained, when beyond salvation, that these resources were unavailable. Some survived, but the majority went down in the storm, and were heard of no more.
The events which followed this crisis are familiar to many who are alive to-day. Gloom and discouragement usurped the places of hope and prosperity. Farm lands were cultivated only that the necessaries of life might be harvested. In some remote instances they lay idle. There was no money in the country, and this absence of a circulating medium prevented the sale of the crops. Mer- chants, for similar reasons, were unable to buy or sell commodities, and the most terrible distresses followed, threatening almost permanent poverty, if not complete annihilation. In 1861, when the war broke out, there was a brief revival of business and exchange for a season, which gave a temporary impetus to trade, but in a brief time business resumed its sluggish channel. Thus were cast the lines of life in Stephenson County-not in pleasant places, truly.
Inquiry was instituted to discover, if possible, the cause of these unfor- tunate effects, and the endeavor made to ascertain if their recurrence could be prevented. In all former revulsions, it was reasoned, the blame might be fairly attributed to a variety of co-operating causes, but not in the case under con- sideration. There were no patent reasons for the failures, of which that of the
291
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
trust company was the beginning, a failure unequaled in its extent and dis- astrous results since the collapse of the United States Bank. Reasonings in- duced the conclusion that the ruin which at one time hung over the country and the people, was due almost entirely to the system of paper currency and bank credits, exciting wild speculations and gambling in stocks. So long as the amount of the paper currency, bank loans and discounts of the country should be left to the discretion of irresponsible banking institutions, which, from the very law of their nature, consult the interests of the stockholders rather than the public, a repetition of these experiences would come at intervals. This had been the financial history of the country for years. It had been a history of extravagant expansions followed by ruinous contractions. At suc- cessive intervals the most enterprising men had been tempted to their ruin by bank loans of mere paper credit, exciting them to speculations and ruinous and demoralizing stock operations. In a vain endeavor to redeem their liabilities in specie, they were compelled to contract their loans and their issues, and when their assistance was most needed, they and their debtors sank into insolvency.
Deplorable, however, as were the prospects, the people indulged in bright hopes for the future. No other nation ever existed which could have endured such violent expansions and contractions of the currency, and live. But the buoyancy of youth, the energies of the people, and the spirit which never quails before difficulties, enabled the country to recover from this financial embarrass- ment. Its coming was long delayed, but it came at last and dissipated the troubles existent, without permitting the people to forget the lesson these troubles inculcated.
The wheat crop of 1861 was sold for gold and silver, and, though the price paid was comparatively less than was expected, it was the beginning of the end of the crisis. As the war continued, and fresh levies were made upon the State and county, the demand for supplies increased proportionately, and necessitated their production. The demand augmented almost with every month, until in 1863 it had become so generous that it seemed as if the denials and privations of the people were about to yield precedence to days of plenty. The crops were constantly on the move, money became easier, and merchants experienced diffi- culty in keeping pace with the wants of their customers. Lands increased in value, and the area upon which cultivation had been wholly or in part aban- doned, was replanted and harvested with profit. The towns also revived under these benign influences, and that better days had come indeed, was a conclusion both cheerful and universal.
The experiences through which this people passed in these years of woe, were not, however, without results to the county and city, which have proved advantageous and beneficial. Speculators, adventurers, soldiers of fortune and visionaries were weeded out. The dross was separated from the pure gold; the country was shorn of its superficial inhabitants, and men only remained, consoling compensations for the ruin that had been wrought, who are motive powers by which communities are sustained and characters for manhood and integrity created.
The decade in which were included occurrences of which mention has been made, consisted of a series of years, characterized by events, as has been seen, which tended to the civilization of the age, the education of the world by example, and the discipline of humanity by experience. Commencing at a period in the history of Stephenson County, when the days of trial were yield- ing place to more auspicious seasons, running the gauntlet of an experience both varied and checkered, and closing amid surroundings calculated both to encourage
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
and approve, illustrates how nations, peoples and communities, like indi- viduals, are subject to causes and motions, to results and promises, as unex- pected as they are gratifying, and as incomprehensible as they are irresistible.
The ensuing ten years were passed in war and rumors of war by the nation, in which the county, through its volunteers, enacted the role assigned them in this drama for real life, with a fidelity that has commanded perpetual applause. When the war began its initial struggles with peace, not a few of those who subsequently became identified with the contest, hoped for a peaceable solution of the difficulties that threatened to result in separation, and discouraged the expectation of war. The maintenance of the Union and enforcement of the laws was urged without dissent, but many believed that these objects could be better accomplished by the employment of influences other than those sought to be invoked.
During these inaugural struggles a temporal prosperity was shadowed in the near future, and, notwithstanding the signs of depression apparent in every department of local progress, this promise was not without a prospect of realiza- tion at an early day. Business to some extent was restored, but it was up-hill work, and enterprises hesitated before development, with more of apprehension than had ever before been felt. Emigration had come in with the railroads years previous, and the county was generally settled ; yet increased facilities for trade and an extended territory only partially roused business men from their coma condition of despondency, and but partially revived corporations that had become lifeless through inactivity and embarrassments. What a contrast to ten years before! "'Twas Greece, but living Greece no more." The contrast struck a chill into many a saddened heart, and not a few, still revolving the changed condition of affairs, turned themselves adrift, "the wide world before them where to choose."
When the surrender of Sumter cut off all hope of compromising the exist- ing differences and compelled a decision as to what side should command their support, the people of Stephenson County, like the rushing of a mighty wind, became united in their tender of support to the Federal authorities. There was no half-way sympathy and love manifested for the Union ; it was united and complete. Treason was made odious ; its toleration not permitted. The war brought with it, at home and in the field, the same features witnessed elsewhere. The lives of the citizens were cast in patriotic grooves ; pronounced in the sup- port of the cause, in procuring the enlistment of troops ; and all that loyal impulse prompted or could accomplish was done to remind the volunteers that those who remained behind were waiting and watching on their return. The soldiers who left their lives on the field of battle, in the hospitals or prisons, in putting off the corruptible and assuming the immortal, are not forgotten, but remembered as their forms seem to fade away through the gloaming when the sunlight filters through green leaves and hazy clouds.
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