The History of Will County, Illinois : containing a history of the county a directory of its real estate owners; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics.history of Illinois history of the Northwest, Part 23

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago : Wm. Le Baron, jr. & co.
Number of Pages: 980

USA > Illinois > Will County > The History of Will County, Illinois : containing a history of the county a directory of its real estate owners; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics.history of Illinois history of the Northwest > Part 23

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TWELVE-MILE GROVE.

Twelve-Mile Grove, now a part of Wilton, having two sections of land, mostly timber, attracted some squatters at an early day. As early as 1832, Samuel Holcomb settled at the northeast end of the grove, and Abram Huyck, in 1835. From 1837 to 1840, Frank Chamberlin, James Adams, Horace Fish, Weir Leavitt, Jabez and Hiram Harvey settled there, and many others soon after. The Kennistons, Nelsons and others were somewhat later. Considerable his- torical interest attaches to this grove, on account of the fact that it was orig- inally an Indian Reservation consisting of two sections of land, reserved by the same treaty of which we have elsewhere spoken, and is generally known as the " Se-natch-wine Reservation." One section was reserved to Joseph Laughton, an Indian who seems to have borrowed a whiteman's name, and the other to Se-natch-e-wine, which is commonly corrupted to Snatchwine. The man who bore this name seems to have been a chief. We find that his name occurs often in the Indian history of this region. We find it also in the treaties of 1815-16 with the Pottawatomies, spelled Sou-nou-che-wome. The name, in its corrupted form, is perpetuated in a stream in Bureau County-Snatchwine Creek-and a township in Putnam County has the same name. We have not been able to find the meaning of the name. It is not given in the treaties referred to. It is a great pity that more of these names have not been preserved, as some of them would be appropriate now. For instance :

Pierce-mack-ie-the man who walks crooked.

Mark-sua-ma-nee-the man who is sick when he walks.

Oh-ho-shin-ga-the man who cooks little in a small kettle.

Shou-ga-tong-the horse jockey.

Now-ja-ming-he-the man who has no heart.

These names we can readily see would be very convenient to have even now.

In this grove was once an Indian village, of which Se-natch-e-wine was chief. This reservation of two sections was deeded by the chief in question, and Joseph Laughton, to James Kibbin, in 1840, and one section was conveyed by him to the Nelsons. Of course, while the title was unsettled, there were more or less squatter and conflicting claims, the history of which we cannot go into. The title was considered defective until confirmed by act of Congress. An old chief's grave was still conspicuous when the white settlers came. He was buried in the usual way-in a pen of saplings, in a sitting posture, with his gun, pipe, kettles, etc., all ready for use in the happy hunting grounds. Mr. Nelson once obtained a perfect skeleton, teeth all preserved, from the ground

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

now under cultivation. The plow still turns up Indian relics. Laughton and Snatchıwine, with other Indians, visited the grove after it had become settled and inclosed. Coming to the fences which had been built, they cut a passage through them until they reached the site of their old village, where they camped for some days.

" Old Put " was a noted character in the settlement. His notoriety, how- ever, was of a kind not likely to attract new-comers, and some of the settlers determined to rid the grove of his presence. They did this most effectually. The means resorted to was a coat of tar and feathers and shaving his head, when he was let go. He stood not upon the order of his going, but went, and the grove knew him no more. The Indian name of this grove was Na-be-ne- ka-nong. As Capt. Cuttle says : Please make a note of it. The translation of the word is "Twelve miles from any other place," hence the name by which it used to be known. The stream known as Forked Creek runs through the grove.

WASHINGTON AND WILL.

Some other of the eastern towns of the county are of comparatively recent settlement. Being outside the Indian boundary line, and being almost entirely prairie and at a considerable distance from timber, they were settled slowly at first. The opening of the Illinois Central Road and the Chicago & Danville Road, has, however, rendered them accessible, and they have rapidly filled up, mostly with Germans.

The township of Washington, lying directly south of Crete, began to be settled about 1850. The earliest settlers were Jesse Dutcher, Jacob Barney and Charles Fuller, who were soon followed by John Rose, Wm. Strain, Peter Abercrombie, Mr. Selvey, and the ubiquitous John Smith, and a little later Joseph Maxwell, Clinton Fuller and John Bows were added. The Germans then took possession, and have become a power in the county.

The township of Will, lying east of Washington, was settled about the same time. John McKenzie, we believe, was the first settler, in 1849, and in 1853 J. M. Gridley, Joseph Baldwin, Mr. Lyons and H. N. Ingersoll ; in 1854-5, John B. Sollitt, F. P. Lilly, P. McMahon, Robert Patterson, William Consta- ble and William Pickard. Rev. S. C. Gilbert, a veteran home missionary, preached the first sermon, in 1854. This is also entirely a prairie township. New York, New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, Ohio and Virginia, of the States, and England, Scotland, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Prince Edward Island have furnished the tillers of its fertile acres.

PEOTONE.

Still another prairie township is Peotone, which was also settled from 1849 down. David B. Booth and James Allen were the earliest on the ground, and were soon followed by Samuel Goodspeed, P. Armstrong, Ralph Crawford, J. C. Cowing and others. The Illinois Central Railroad passes through the south- east corner, and a flourishing station of the same name as the town has grown

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

up on Section 24. Its population has also been gathered from various States and countries.

GREENGARDEN.

North of Peotone lies another prairie township, known as Greengarden, and before township organization, as Vermont Precinct, and was settled about the same time, being commenced in 1847 by M. F. Sanders and George M. Green. Levi Blanchard and James Hudson came in 1848, the latter-named being a preacher. From 1850 on, the township filled up rapidly, and is now largely German. The streams emptying into the Kankakee, known as Forked Creek and Prairie Creek, have their rise in this township.

MONEE.

In the township of Monee, lying between Greengarden and Crete, there were a few settled quite early. In 1834, John S. Dilley ; In 1835, John M. Chase, N. C. Tibbitts, S. W. Cooper, Nicholas Young and Ruel Carney ; and in 1836, S. W. Gaines, Aaron Bond, Otis Philips, Hollis Newton, and a Mr. Hall. This town- ship has about three sections of timber in the northeast corner, which will account for its earlier settlement. There is also a little grove in the southeast corner of the town. The first school was opened in 1836, by Otis B. Philips. It has filled up in later years largely with Germans. It has a flourishing sta- tion on the Central Railroad, of the same name.

. We believe we have now noticed the first settlements (except Joliet) in the county, and given the names of most of the settlers down to 1837, and, in some instances later. Our aim has only been to relate the beginning of things, leav- , ing later history and other names, and statistics generally, to the township his- tories. Of course the rush of immigrants in the subsequent years was so great as to forbid our giving names. It now remains to notice the first . settlements within the present limits of the city of Joliet.

JOLIET CITY.

In 1833, Charles Reed, whose name we have given as one of the first set- tlers at Reed's Grove, and which frequently occurs on our earliest records, both as grantor and grantee, made a claim on the southeast quarter of Section 9, T. 35, R. 10 E., and built a log house on the same, and commenced to make a dam and other preparations for a mill. Mr. Reed had purchased several tracts of canal land from the State, in 1833, as did others of the first settlers, the canal land being then in market. He, however, never had any title to this quarter, except a squatter's right, which he sold, together with his improve- ments, to James McKee, as we have elsewhere noted. James McKee was a Ken- tuckian by birth, but came here from Jacksonville, in this State. He was pro- vided with a float, or a right to enter any vacant land belonging to the State, which right had been granted to Sylvia Hall, on account of her suffering as an Indian captive, of which we shall speak by and by. This float, as the assignee of said Sylvia and her husband, Mr. McKee laid upon the fractional quar-

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

ter on which Mr. Reed had commenced his preparations for a mill. McKee proceeded at once to the erection of a mill on a somewhat larger scale than had been planned by Reed. Reed's millstone, we remember, was made from a large hard-head, or nigger-head, as they are sometimes called, and for a long time lay upon the old mill-yard. The dam was considerably above the present stone one built by the Canal Trustees, about where the lock-house now stands. The re- mains of it may be seen when the basin is drawn off. A flouring-mill was raised in the Fall of 1834. The raising of this mill was a notable event, in which the writer participated. The frame was built, of course, of heavy, green oak timber, and it required a previous canvass of the surrounding country to get together enough men to raise it. The old frame is still standing, being the building just above the Jefferson Street Bridge. Of course, the building of the present dam below it, rendered it useless as a mill, and it has since been occu- pied for various purposes. For a long time, Cook & Stillman had it for a livery ; then Charles Ward, for storage; and it now seems to be chiefly used as a boat house for our amateur boat clubs. A saw-mill was also built below and adjoin- ing the grist-mill, which used to do a famous business manufacturing oak and black walnut lumber. Charles Reed, who, as we have already said, is entitled to be called the founder of Joliet, was born in Virginia in 1874. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and a witness of Hull's cowardly surrender. He came to the grove which bears his name in 1830; Joseph and Eli Shoemaker accompanied him ; we suppose they came immediately from Indiana. When the Black Hawk war occurred, he, with the other settlers escaped to Indiana. Mr. Reed moved to Joliet in 1833, as we have said; he afterward removed to Winnebago County, where he died in 1863. He was appointed by the Gov- ernor one of the appraisers of Canal damages. He was one of the kind of men made for pioneers, restless, honest, enterprising, fearless and hospitable. He was also sagacious and a good judge of land and locations. It is said that the principal thing which made him select this locality, aside from its water-power, was the fact that it was on the old Sac trail, which showed it to be on the short- est and best route from Detroit to the Mississippi. It is an unfortunate thing for Chicago that it is so far one side of this great thoroughfare. This is prob- · ably what has retarded its growth. We are sorry for it, but we can't help it. Mr. Reed, after his sale to Mr. McKee, made a claim on the west half of the section, and built a log house just under the hill on which W. A. Strong's house stands. But as there was to be no recognition of claims on canal lands, under the new canal law, he did not long remain. The house was afterward occupied by Judge Piersons and family, and was the scene of a mournful tragedy. Mrs. P., in an insane fit hung herself. This gave the old log house the reputation of being liaunted. But J. C. Van Auken and family afterward occupied it, and, we believe, were never disturbed. This is the same place which Mr. Joseph Campbell, who came here in 1839, from the land of oaten cakes, bought at the sale of canal lands, and is now the beautiful property of W. A. Strong, Esq.

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

James B. Campbell, who was Treasurer of the Board of Canal Commis- sioners, appointed under the act of 1829, held a float from the State also, by virtue of an act of the General Assembly granting preemption rights, etc., giving the right to locate any quarter of unsold canal lands. This was the float originally given to the other Hall girl. He located his float on the opposite side of the river, on the fractional quarter of Section 9, Township 35 north, Range 10, containing 66.90 acres, receiving for the deficit thirteen acres on what is now Eastern avenue. His choice has certainly been justified by time. He laid off the original town of Joliet, and held a public sale of lots in June, 1834. Mr. Campbell, however, never took up his residence here, but, we think, resided at Ottawa for some time. He was, however, well known all over the canal route in an early day. Some of our present property owners have heard, in recent years, of his widow-perhaps have interviewed her or her lawyers-as she re-appeared very suddenly, a few years since, claiming dower in the lots which Campbell, by attorney, had conveyed to various parties. Some settled with her by paying different amounts. They might have saved their money, as she soon went where all earthly rights and claims are not of much account. At this sale, the lots brought from $19 to $108. The sale was held in a building then just put up by the Bailey Brothers, on the lot now owned and occupied by Mrs. Kinney, which they had bought before the public sale. This was the first frame house put up in the city, and the lumber was sawed at Sayer's mill. This sale was a great event. From "Walker's Grove" to the "Head of Hickory," from "Treat's Mill" to "the Sag," and from " Bourbonnais" to "Blue Island," and even from the promising village of Chicago, the people gathered to the number of perhaps two hundred. A bountiful collation was prepared by the ladies of the neighboring settlements, who were present to dispense it.

Campbell's town was recorded as "Juliet," whether after Shakespeare's heroine, or his own daughter, or by mistake for Joliet, the writer cannot deter- mine. There are various theories ; take your choice. The name was changed afterward, at the suggestion of S. W. Bowen and others, by an act of the Leg- islature introduced by D. L. Gregg, Esq. And here we wish to notify all peo- ple, both in America and Europe, that the proper way to spell it is-Joliet. Please do not waste so many l's and t's and e's when you write it, and although we are a jolly people, please do not pronounce it Jolly-ett, but Zho-liet; accent on first syllable. If you wish to go to the root of the subject, the primary meaning of the word is pretty, which makes it all the more appropriate for our city.

Early in March, 1834, Albert W. Bowen, a physician in pursuit of a loca- tion, came to this vicinity and boarded a while with Lewis Kerchival. He had the sagacity to foresee that a town would grow up in this locality, and made a claim on Section 2, in this township. He also built a small frame house on Section 10, near where the Union School House now stands, in which he lived after

nel

(DECEASED) JOLIET.

CF ONE

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

the arrival of his wife. Dr. Bowen, who had been a practitioner for nine years in Herkimer County, N. Y., commenced the practice of his profession, and also engaged largely in speculations. He acted as agent for Jas. B. Campbell in the sale of lots, and soon added East Joliet and Bowen's Addition to the town. Dr. Bowen procured the establishment of a post office at Joliet, and was the first Postmaster, holding the office several years, until Taylor's election. He was one of the most conspicuous men in our early history. Major Bowen, of the One Hundredth, who gave his life for the Union at the battle of Frank- lin, Tenn., was his son. Dr. Bowen has for some years resided at Wilmington, and bears well his 77 years of busy and useful life.

In the Fall of 1833. Charles Clement, having some dimes which he thought would grow faster somewhere else, left New Hampshire, and, anticipating the advice of Horace Greeley, came West. Passing through the swamps of Michi- gan Territory, he struck out on horseback from Niles, followed the old Sac trail through Northern Indiana and Illinois, and crossed the Des Planes at a ford north of the city. Seeing no marks of the coming city except the old log cabin of Maggard, he rode on west to Walker's Grove, and from there down to Peoria. He returned in the Spring of 1834 to Walker's Grove, where he heard of Juliet as a point of promise, and he bent his pilgrim steps hither. This time he struck lower down and found James McKee laying the founda- tions of McKee's Town, or West Juliet. Convinced that this was the spot for his dimes, he planted 1,250 of them at once by purchasing an acre of land of James McKee, west of his mill-yard, which acre embraced land which became the blocks on the northeast and northwest corners of Bluff and exchange streets, and extending west to Broadway. Events have fully justified his choice. From that time to the present, Mr. Clement has mostly resided at Joliet, and been one of our prominent citizens and property owners, and his dimes have fast multiplied. . He was the first Treasurer of the county. He has held other positions of trust, and been found faithful. He now enjoys the distinction of being the " oldest male inhabitant " of the city, and though the writer stands next in the succession, he hopes Mr. C. will long enjoy the honor. His first . enterprise in building consisted in putting up a frame house on the ground now covered by Bush's Block, which became afterward the American House, and which was soon occupied by the family of his brother, Daniel Clement, who, with a millwright named Clark, came on in May of the same year. It was here that the hands, among them " Uncle Dick Hobbs," were boarding when the writer came in September.

In June of the same year, M. H. Demmond from Herkimer County, N. Y., and George R. Makepeace explored the West, and finally made a plant in the same locality, each purchasing another acre for the same sum of $125, of James McKee, Mr. Demmond's acre joining Clement's on the north, and Mr. Makepeace's still further north, on the north side of Oneida Street. They returned to New York, settled up their affairs and in September came on with

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

their families, following the Sac trail from Niles hither. A sister of Mrs. Demmond's, now Mrs. Foltz of Centre street, a hired man of the name of Jenny, and a verdant youth subsequently known and described as "Long George," and sometimes as "Deacon," and at rare and happy intervals by those whose sense of justice is keen, "Judge," accompanied Mr. Demmond. We wish we could illustrate this history with a bird's-eye view of Juliet at this time, September, 1834. The pen cannot be expected to do it justice. Com- ing in through the Hickory Creek timber, crossing the tall grass and weeds of Spring Creek bottom, the first building which greeted the eager eyes of the traveler, was the palatial mansion of Dr. Bowen, of which we have spoken- sixteen or eighteen feet square. Crossing the slough somewhere near the pres- ent Cass street, then covered with grass and weeds in which we could almost be lost, two other dwellings loomed upon the vision. These were occupied by Thomas Cox and Benj. F. Barker. One of these was afterward moved, and altered by J. O. Norton, and is still extant on North Chicago street. Farther south there were perhaps three other buildings just erected. One of these became historic as the "Juliet Hotel," and stood on the corner north of the Cen- tral Presbyterian Church. This was moved a little east a few years since, and has been cremated. Another was the Bailey house. On the west side of the river, which was then crossed by a ford below the island, was the old log house built by Reed, with an addition by McKee; the Clement house of which we have spoken; another which had been built for Mr. Demmond, per contract made by him on his first visit; and further north, a log house just above Cross street, in which lived a Mr. Campbell, and which soon after and for a long time was the home of Barton Smith, Esq., and family. The Maggard house was so far to the north as not to be included in the city limits during its existence. Men were busy building McKee's dam, laying the foundation for the mill, digging the race, and hewing the timbers. Such were at this time all the indications of the future city. To watch the daily progress of the mill, eat Mrs. McKee's hot biscuit, and drink her coffee, and explore the suburbs, were the only re- sources for driving off the blues for the first few weeks; and a hard time the writer had of it, no mistake. At this time, Deacon Brandon-it is wonderful how many Deacons we are able to get into this history-was lying upon his back, sick with bilious fever, in the McKee addition, and swallowing unlimited quan- tities of calomel, not a cheerful sight for the eyes of a new-comer. He was Mr. McKee's mason. We must not forget a block-house and palisades, built upon the highest part of the bluff, where H. N. Marsh's house now stands, during the Sac war. To this spot the writer often retired to dream of the future city-and of the girl he left behind him. In the course of the Fall and Winter the mill was erected and also a saw-mill, which was rented and run by Dan. Clement and Clark. Mr. Demmond moved into the house he had built, and opened a store in one of the rooms, after the arrival of his goods, via the lakes, which were "hauled" from Chicago with "prairie schooners." The

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

Kings, who lived near the mound, hauled several loads. The goods were stored in Chicago at the old warehouse of Newbury & Dole, on the north side of the river. Probably few living remember the first warehouse of Chicago. Mr. Demmond had a prosperous trade, owing largely, no doubt, to his young and popular clerk; but the accommodations were limited, and he soon planned greater things. He purchased during the Winter the land of McKee, except three acres sold, and another acre reserved for McKee, and the water-power, mill- yard, etc., and in the Spring commenced the erection of the old Demmond block, now owned by John D'Arcy. He laid off " West Juliet," and was soon busy selling lots, his clerk, who had spent a year in diligently looking at the bindings of a large law library, being conveyancer.

FIRST WINTER.

The following is probably nearly a correct list of the persons who spent the Winter of 1834-5 within the present city limits : A. W. Bowen and wife, Wm. H. Blackburn and wife, Thomas Cox and wife, O. D. Putnam, Henry Bone and wife, the two Baileys, George West and wife, N. H. Cutter, Benj. F. Bar- ker and wife, Eri Dodge and wife, Jay Lyons, Edward Perkins and James C. Troutman, on the east side of the river ; and M. H. Demmond and wife, Miss Murray, G. H. Woodruff, James McKee and wife, Richard Hobbs, Charles W. Brandon, Daniel Clement and wife, Charles Clement, N. H. Clarke, D. Mag- gard, Asaph Webster, wife and son, Mr. Campbell and wife, a family named Lumereaux, and probably one or two others, on the west side. Mr. Makepeace and wife went to Fox River.

FIRST CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.

During the Winter of 1834-5, the Rev. J. H. Prentiss, of Onondaga County, N. Y., came on here, under the auspices of the American Home Mis- sion Society, and believing that there were already some here who needed preaching to, and that there would probably soon be many more, determined to locate here, and during the Summer of 1835, came on with his family and es- tablished a mission. He first preached in a little stone house that stood on the southeast corner of Broadway and Western avenue, until a house was built by Demmond, E. Haven, McKee and J. Beaumont and others, for school and church purposes, on Hickory street, on the edge of Comstock's Pond. The house is still extant with considerable revamping, and is occupied as a residence by Mr. Tyrrell. It was long used as a school house and meeting house. Here the famous pedagogue of the early days, John Watkins, once taught. He has been called the first teacher at Chicago and at Joliet. Mr. Watkins was a worthy man and teacher, and we are sorry to take from him the honor of being first on the ground. But Mrs. Kinzie, in " Waubun," tells of an earlier one in Chicago, and a daughter of B. F. Barker says that a Miss Persis Cleveland taught the first Juliet school in the old block-house. If this was so, the writer protests that he never saw her on his frequent visits to that locality. John Wat-

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

kins now lives in Joliet, almost blind, and is occasionally seen upon our streets. If not the first pedagogue in Chicago, he must have been next, as he taught school in the same log house where Father Walker preached and lived in the days of his early labors in that city. S. W. Stone, a later acquisition to our city, taught in the same building, on Hickory street, as early as 1845; and some of our young men, who are not so very young, first learned "how to shoot "-paper wads under his administration.

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The History of Will County, Illinois : containing a history of the county a directory of its real estate owners; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics.history of Illinois history of the Northwest, Part 23

Author: Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Chicago : Wm. Le Baron, jr. & co. Number of Pages: 980

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago : Wm. Le Baron, jr. & co.
Number of Pages: 980