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 25

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 25

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

the safer course was to go to the fort at Chicago. Thither, accordingly, they made their way, under the protection of the company elsewhere mentioned, where they found the fort full of settlers that had fled thither for protection. The crowded state of the fort rendered their stay there exceedingly uncomfort- able, and they suffered nearly as much as from their fears of the Indians. The settlers in Yankee Settlement also fled to Chicago. The alarm had been car- ried to the Settlement by Hiram Pearson, of Chicago, and Daniel Mack, of Hadley, who had started for Danville, and who encountered fugitives from the West somewhere near the Des Planes River. They returned at once and gave the alarm, and the families were quickly gathered together and went to Chicago. While there the refugees organized a company of twenty-five, chose Holder Sisson, of Yankee Settlement, their Captain, and started out on a scout to ascertain, if possible, the whereabouts of the Indians. They stayed the first night at an old settler's of the name of Lawton, on the Des Planes, went thence on to Naperville, then down to Walker's Grove, stopping the second night at Fort Beggs. They then proceeded on toward Ottawa, and at Holderman's Grove they met a party from Ottawa, and both parties went to Indian Creek, where they found the mutilated and decaying bodies of fifteen persons, including six children. Having buried these, they went on to Ottawa, where they found the remnants of a regiment which had skedaddled from the encounter at Stillman's Run. They then returned, over the same route, to Chicago. On their return they found the body of the Dunkard preacher; neither his long, reverend beard, nor his peaceful character had availed to save him from the treacherous savage. After a few weeks' stay at Chicago, the discomforts of the fort were so great that the settlers from Yankee Settlement returned, and built a fort on the Sisson-Hanford place; and those from Walker's Grove returned to that locality.

Scott had arrived at Chicago, bringing with him a foe more dreadful than the Indians even. This caused a more sudden stampede from than there had been to Chicago from the country. Lanfear, and his ox-team, of the Yankee Settlement, were pressed into the service by Scott to take his supplies to Galena. At this time there was a Pottawatomie village or encampment between Fraction Run and Big Run, Lockport, and remained there a year or two after. A story is told of this fort to this effect : Runyon, wishing to put the courage and watchfulness of its inmates to the proof, disguised himself as an Indian, and with rifle and tomakawk approached with stealthy step. He came near paying dearly for his experiment, as the defenders were about to fire upon him, when his wife, with the sure instinct of a woman, discovered the disguise and pre- vented the catastrophe. The settlers on Hickory Creek, Jackson's Grove and Joliet Township, and all down the river, being, many of them, from Indiana, sought safety in that direction by a hasty flight. A number having collected near Gougar's, they sent Robert Stevens, David Maggard and one of the Nor- mans to reconnoiter. They saw some Indians on the prairie near the Lilly-

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Cache, who seemed to be driving off cattle. They returned and reported, giving it as their opinion that they were Pottawatomies. It was afterward ascertained that this was so, and that they were on their way to assure the settlers that there was no cause for alarm. But the settlers had by this time become so excited that they commenced at once to flee, and to notify all the region of their danger. Every horse, pony and ox-team was at once brought into requisition. The chattels of the settlers were hastily loaded, and women and children placed in the wagons, while the men with their guns rode the horses as guards. When the settlers gathered together on the prairie, there were some seventy or eighty, with twenty teams, mostly drawn by oxen. The stampede, as we have heard it described by some of the survivors, was at the same time terrible and ludicrous. They tell of one who, hatless and coatless, with his supplies of flour, sugar and bacon hastily loaded on his horse before and behind him, was too badly scared to wait the tardy movements of the main column, and put out at the utmost speed of which his horse was capable, throw- ing overboard one article after another of his impedimenta in order to increase his speed, never pausing until he reached the Kankakee. Some accounts have it that he got on to his horse " hindside afore," and that he did not stop until he reached the Wabash. But the narrator, we fear, was given a little to exagger- ation, as even historians sometimes are-a thing very much to be deprecated. But if true, he no doubt presented the boldest front he had to the enemy. The fugitives met a company of armed men from Indiana, who had come out to aid and protect the settlers. Some of the fugitives, having cooled off a little, returned with them. It was this company which built the fort, of which we have spoken, on the bluff, and which was named "Fort Nonsense " by the early settlers. Mr. Jesse Cook, named in the list of early settlers of the town- ship, was one of those who returned and who helped build the fort. Mr. Cook also relates that, on returning to their homes, they found that the friendly Pot- tawatomies had shown their friendship by taking care of the pigs, chickens and provisions they had left in their flight-such good care that the settlers never had to take care of them any more.'

Robert Stevens and David Maggard also returned and concealed themselves for a few days in a cave under the bluff on the west side of the Des Planes. Most of the families returned the next Spring. There was also a block-house . built, which was standing many years after the writer came, in Reed's Grove, but whether built before or after the stampede we do not know.

It will be seen from this record that Will County figured in the Black Hawk war. True, no bloody battles occurred on its soil, but there were many races.

* We find the following statement in a biographical sketch of Gurdon S. Hubbard, which may seem to conflict with what we have given. We conclude, however, that the companies referred to are the same : "In the Spring of 1832, on Sunday morning, news reached Danville of the hostilities of Black Hawk's band, and that they were killing the settlers on the Des Planes and Du Page Rivers. He (Mr. Hubbard) persuaded Col. Moore, who commanded the Vermilion County Militia, to call out his regiment at once, without waiting the orders of the Governor, and to march for the seat of war. Mr. Hubbard furnished transportation, and bought provisions and ammunition, and the follow- ing Tuesday, the regiment took up its march with ten days' rations. Arriving at Joliet, a rude stockade was built, one company left, and another sent to Du Page, where another stockade way (had been) erected, where they left another company, and the balance joined Gen. Atkinson.

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No heroes spilled their blood in defense of their hearths and homes, but they took good care that the savages should not spill it for them. At least four, and perhaps more, forts were built, and their pewter plates and spoons were freely sacrificed for the common defense, and Joliet (Campbellstown and McKeestown), are monuments of the bloody slaughter of Indian Creek.

COUNTY ORGANIZATION.

After the Black Hawk war, which was soon brought to a close by the vigor- ous movements of Gen. Atkinson, while Gen. Scott was fighting the cholera, the tide of immigration set in strong to the West. No region presented a more inviting prospect to the farmer than that embraced in Will County. Here, too, were mill-sites up and down our streams inviting the manufacturer, and any quantity of sites for towns and cities to catch the eye of the speculator.

The earlier settlements as they were initiated, both before and after the war, we have pretty fully detailed. By 1835, our population had so greatly in- creased that a new county was called for. Chicago was so remote that it was very inconvenient to be obliged to go there as often as the exigencies of business required. Juliet began to be talked of as a county seat.

During the Winter of 1835-36, through the efforts of our citizens, especially James Walker and Dr. A. W. Bowen, who went to Vandalia as members of the Third House, and who were both shrewd and influential men, an act was passed creating the county of Will. It received its name from Conrad Will, a member of the Legislature who had died just before. Gov. Ford, in his history, says, that he was chiefly remarkably for his good nature. We accept the name as a just compliment to our people. Dr. Bowen got inserted in the act a provision locating the county seat not only in Juliet, but on the public square which Camp- bell had had the sagacity to appropriate for that purpose. Thus the East Side made a second point on us of the West Side (it had already got the postoffice). An election was ordered in March for a Sheriff, three County Commissioners, Recorder and Coroner. A convention was called to nominate the county offi- cers. This was held in the upper room of the old Demmond Block, which had just been erected. And here the West Side made a point. This conven- tion was called without regard to party, and was largely attended by the sub- stantial settlers throughout the county. Of course they would make out a good ticket. They nominated Holder Sisson, Thomas Durham and James Walker, for Commissioners ; Robert Stevens for Sheriff; George H. Woodruff for Recorder (here is the point), and E. M. Daggett for Coroner. The ticket met with some opposition as to Recorder, and Sheriff especially, but it was tri- umphantly elected. In those days we could make a good run, if nothing else. The principal tactics we used was to keep out of sight, which we think was sagacious. It is worthy of note here that at this election those living on the East Side were obliged to go to Philip Scott's on Section 23, and those living on the West Side to Plainfield, in order to vote. Robert Stevens declined to qualify as Sheriff, and

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

in the Fall, at the first regular election, " Uncle Fenner Aldrich," who had lived at Plainfield, was chosen in time for the first Circuit Court.

We need hardly say that the Board of County Commissioners answered to our Board of Supervisors, transacting the business of the entire county. Their first meeting was held at the "Juliet Hotel," then kept by Thomas H. Black- burn, on March 14, 1836. They appointed Levi Jenks, a west sider, County Clerk and School Commissioner, and Charles Clement, Treasurer of the county. They divided the county into ten election precincts, as follows :

1. Du Page Precinct-Consisting of Town 37, in Ranges 9 and 10 (now the towns of Du Page and Wheatland). Elections to be held at the house of David K. Clark. Harry Board- man, Seth Wescott and Isaac Scarrett to be Judges of Election.

2. Plainfield Precinct-Towns 35 and 36, in Range 9 (Troy and Plainfield). Elections at house of Chester Ingersoll. Oliver Goss, W. W. Wattles and R. W. Chapman, Judges.

3. Canal Precinct-Town 36, in Ranges 10 and 11 (Lockport and Homer). Election at house of Luther C. Chamberlin. Charles Gray, Selah Lanfear and Comstock Hanford, Judges.

4. Joliet Precinct-Town 35, Range 10 (Joliet). Elections at the house of Thomas H. Blackburn. Isaac Merrill, Thos. H. Blackburn and Alonzo Castle, Judges.

5. Hickory Creek-Town 35, in Ranges 11 and 12 (New Lenox and Frankfort). Election at house of Chester Marshall. Mansfield Wheeler, Lewis Kerchival and John I. Davidson, Judges.

6. Jackson-Town 34, Ranges 9 and 10 (Channahon and Jackson). Elections at house of Jasper Willson. Henry Watkins, Seymor Treat and Joseph Shoemaker, Judges.

7. Forked Creek-Towns 32 and 33, in Ranges 9 and 10 (Reed, Wilmington, Florence, Westley and Custer). Elections at house of Robert Watkins. John Kilpatrick, Hamilton Kee- ney and Thomas Cox, Judges.

8. Rock Village-Towns 32, 33 and 34, in Ranges 11 and 12 (Manhattan, Greengarden, Wilson and Peotone, and two townships now in Kankakee County). Elections at house of Sam- uel Davis. Archer Caruthers, Samuel Davis and Hugh Carmichael, Judges.

9. Thorn Creek-Town 34, in Ranges 13 and 14 (Monee and Crete). Election at house of Minoris Beebe. Minoris Beebe, -, Judges.

10. Kankakee-Towns 32 and 33, in Ranges 13 and 14 (Will and Washington, and two townships now in Kankakee County). Elections at house of Enoch Sergeant.

All Election Precincts also to be Magistrate Districts, and elections were ordered for Justices and Constables.

Some of these precincts were soon divided. Canal Precinct was divided the next year into Lockport and Spring Creek (now Homer), and Channahon was set off into Van Buren Precinct, and other changes soon followed. At this first session also, the county was divided into seventeen Road Districts, and Super- visors appointed, and all able-bodied men between the ages of 21 and 50 re- quired to work five days on the roads. Trustees of School Sections were also ap- pointed. Viewers were also appointed to lay out the first county road from Juliet to Plainfield and on to county line. (The first road projected, and not a good road yet !)

They also ordered a writ of adquod damnum (as the records have it), but whom it hit or what it did, we can't say ; perhaps it is lying around loose yet. It was something about a cut-off from the Kankakee to the Des Planes. Jenks made the two first words into one, but we presume it hurt just as badly. They also fixed the price of tavern charges at 25 cents a meal, 12} cents for

(DECEASED) JOLIET

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lodging, and 64 cents for drinks. We regret to say that this is not now in force.

All cities have their golden age, when everything is bright and lovely, when the best men are exalted, and the people rejoice. If this period of which we write was not the golden age of Will County, pray tell us what period was. Think of it! The best men in office, a good square meal for 25 cents, lodging for 12} cents, whisky for 6} cents, no tramps, no burglars, no gas bills or ice bills, no book or map agents, no lightning-rod peddlers, no oily-tongued interviewers to persuade you that being a representative man and an old settler you ought to have your history and portrait in a book ! But, alas, those times are over and gone.

After finishing the county business, which took them four days, the County Commissioners voted themselves $6 each, and adjourned. A dollar and a half a day was not a very big salary steal.

Let us note that at the end of the year Mr. Clement was allowed $16.60, being 2 per cent on the money he handled. Having made his pile, he retired and gave place to Bennett Allen.

MORE JOLIET HISTORY.

The first stone building put up in Joliet was the block of two stores built by Demmond, of which we have already spoken. Mr. Demmond moved his store into one part as soon as finished, and soon rented the other. It was necessary that a building of so much importance should be dedicated. This could be done properly only by a ball, and it was determined by the proper authorities that there should be one as soon as the floors were laid and before the partitions were put up. The boys at once canvassed the county for girls. Most of us knew where to find them. The result was an extensive and suc- cessful affair. The fame of it reached Chicago, and some couples came down to it. Among these were a Mr. and Mrs. Garland, a newly-married couple lately from Michigan. Of course the hotel accommodations were limited in those days. Mr. and Mrs. G. put up at the Higley House, the chambers of which could not properly be spoken of in the plural number, as there were no parti- tions. Mrs. G. made herself somewhat unpopular on account of the fastidious- ness she exhibited in objecting to inviting "tired nature's sweet restorer" in so promiscuous a style, although nature was very tired indeed, having danced till 4 o'clock. She actually refused to go to bed until a partition had been extemporized by means of a sheet suspended from the rafters ! But when she afterward came to live among us, and we learned to know her many good qualities, we forgot her unpardonable prudery, and loved her long and well.

OLD WILSON STORE.

The next stone building was on the east side, and was put up in 1836, by the Wilson brothers, who had come on here from Albany, and opened a store on Chicago street in one of Dr. Bowen's buildings. This is the old stone

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building next south of the City Hall. Deacon Brandon, as we have said, built this store. It is one of the buildings that are historic. The Wilsons opened a store there, where they traded some years, and were succeeded by J. A. Matte- son, where he kept a store and depot for the cloths which he manufactured, part of the time with George Bradner for a partner. There, at one time, Alex- ander McIntosh, now pretty well known in Will County, was his clerk. Major Safford was also for a long time his clerk. He has lately died in Cairo, where he was a banker. The upper story was rented for a court-room and Clerk's office by the County Commissioners, until the old Court House was built-we mean the predecessor of the present old Court House, long since taken down, as the present one ought to be. Afterward, it was occupied by the Episcopal Church for religious worship. Our worthy citizen, S. O. Simonds, taught a private school there. S. W. Stone, and, we think, K. J. Hammond, taught there also. We can trace its history no further; time would fail to tell it all; for a long time, now, it has been occupied for a dwelling.

Among other experiences of the old store we ought, however, to note the fact that in 1851, while occupied as a store house for wool by Matteson, it was struck by lightning, and perhaps that is why the northwest corner is now tumbling out. We suppose when a stranger visits Joliet and one of our citizens wishes to show him the points of interest, he is shown the Opera House Block, the new churches, the dwellings of Mr. Fox, George Woodruff, J. E. Henry, the Centennial and Aiken Blocks, etc .; but in the mind of the writer, and per- - haps that of some others, these old buildings, however rusty or decayed, awaken far greater interest. They are full of memories; they are historic. And we have often thought, what if their old walls could speak-what if they were all phonographs-what if they had anticipated Edison and had recorded every word, and every sight and act as well, of the various persons that from time to time had acted or spoken within them. And what if, at one's bidding, the walls should give out again the sights and sounds which they had absorbed-all the scenes of joy and sorrow, all the acts of piety and of sin, all the oaths and prayers, all the words that soothe and comfort, and all the words that irritate and wound, all the whispers and vows of love, and the pledges of friendship, both those that have been kept and those that have been broken-what, we say, if some Edison should yet discover the secret of unraveling it all to the listener, what revelations there would be, even in the commonest houses, the rooms where any one has dwelt even but a few years! How many haunted houses there would be! Perhaps, reader, there are rooms into which we should not want to go. But this is not history.

The old wooden block on North Chicago street which made such a famous bonfire a year or two ago, was built about the same time with the Wilson store, and was long the center of business on the East Side. The next stone block was the old one on Bluff street, consisting of six stores, and was built in 1837. We gave something of its history in "Forty Years Ago," and will not repeat it

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here. There is more unwritten history absorbed by its walls, than perhaps any other building in Joliet. What visions come and go through the halls of memory when we chance to walk by it !

The National was built, at least commenced, in 1838, by J. J. Garland and John Curry, two old citizens, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Garland died first. He was an active and valuable man here, a member of the old Union Church organized by the Foots, and one of the fruits of that revival, and his wife also. Col. Curry more recently deceased, is better known to the present generation, having been long in business here. He was a brother-in-law of M. H. Demmond, and one time a partner. He came in 1836, from Oneida Co., N. Y., and died in March, 1872, at the age of seventy.

OTHER OLD BUILDINGS.

The next hotel built upon the East Side, after the Juliet Hotel, was the Exchange, built in 1837, by Abel Gilbert. The upper story was hurried up and finished first, into a ball-room, in order to get ready for a Fourth of July ball, with which the boys on the East Side resolved to dedicate it. They were spurred on by the happy memories of the one in Demmond's Block, and deter- mined that this one should excel it both in numbers and eclat. The West Siders were, however, permitted "to jine." Some did. An efficient committee was appointed to gather in the girls. Every precinct, even away up to " Yellow Heads," was explored, and teams sent to bring them. The girls did not need much urging, but came right along, as they still do, we suppose. O. W. Still- man, Sul. Demmond, Ed. Wilcox and Allen Pratt, the old "bach" from Bos- ton, and others, were among the efficient managers. Of course it was a grand success. The ball opened at 4 P. M., and closed at 4 A. M. Allen Pratt was especially happy and successful as a general-in-chief. He knew what Boston style was. It was on account of his eminent services on this occasion that at a sort of adjourned meeting at Higley Hall the next night, some of the West Side boys, feeling that he had done them great credit, and that his services should have some public recognition, crowned and embalmed him. If you want to know how that was done, you must ask Judge John M. Wilson of Chicago, or Judge J. C. Newkirk, of Hudson, N. Y. We don't suppose that any one else could tell the story, although there are several boys still left who witnessed both the ball and the after part; but not having judicial minds, it is not safe to rely on their statements. There are many traditions against which we warn the public. Another hotel soon after claimed a share of public patronage, and ministered to the pride of the East Siders. This was the "Waving Banner," built, we believe, by Matteson, and opened under the happy auspices of mine host Jacob Patrick. This was afterward called the Washington, and still stands somewhat " depalliated " at the upper end of Chicago street, a monument of the enterprise of 1837. We suppose a good many things happened in this ancient hostelry which would be very interesting if we could get some Edison

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to unwind them. It was a great center, though situated on the circumference, for political meetings, military displays and Fourth of July demonstrations. But perhaps we are spending too much time on these old Joliet buildings. We con- fess to a tender regard for them, and feel that like old men, they are too apt to be forgotten for what is fresh and new, and it is not without a pang of grief that we see one of them take fire and burn up, although we know that it will be replaced by something better, and gives friend Page an opportunity to show the efficiency of the Fire Department. And yet we must mention one more, King Gambrinus would never forgive us if we failed to note the first brewery established in the city of Joliet, and we presume in Will County. Have you noticed that old rookery of wooden buildings which stands upon the tow-path, a little way above the middle bridge ? That was the first brewery, established in 1838, by Beltz & Erhard, two of our earliest German citizens, the advance guard of the great host that has since invaded Will County, and who now form so large and valu- able a class of our citizens. It was built near, or over, one of the finest of natural springs we ever saw. Its waters were cool and pure and sparkling and perennial. Whether they were improved after passing through the various proc- esses which converted them into lager, we shall let each reader decide for him- self. But we are reminded of a little story. It is said that when lager was first introduced into the West, which must have been about this time, an old toper who had always taken his whisky straight, was induced to try a little by way of experiment. He carefully carried the foaming amber to his lips, and tasted a little, made a wry and disgusted kind of face, tasted again and deeper, and then threw the glass at the head of the astonished Teuton, exclaiming "by - wormwood and Epsom salts !"

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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 25

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