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 33
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New Lenox .- J. Van Duzer, 1850, 1 year; A. McDonald, 1851, 1 year : B. F. Allen, 1852,' 1 year; G. McDonald, 1853, 1 year ; J. C. Kerchival, 1854-55, 2 years ; Dwight Haven, 1856-57, 2 years ; J. C. Kerchival, 1858, 1 year ; Dwight Haven, 1859-60, 2 years ; A. Frank, 1861-63, 3 years ; T. Doig, 1864, 1 year ; Dwight Haven, 1865, 1 year; T. Doig, 1866-67, 2 years ; Dwight Haven, 1868, 1 year ; T. Doig, 1869, 1 year ; C. Snoad, 1870-71, 2 years ; J. Francis, 1872, 1 year ; P. Cavanaugh, 1873, 1 year : Thomas Doig, 1874, 1 year; John Francis, 1875, 1877-78, 4 years ; now in office.
Town of Plainfield .- L. Hamlin, 1850, 1 year ; J. Ballard, 1851, 1 year; A. Culver, 1852, 1 year; L. Hamlin, 1853, 1 year; Cyrus Ashley, 1854, 1 year; Winthrop Wright, 1855-56, 2 years ; A. Culver, 1857, 1 year ; D. Vandersoll, 1858, 1 year ; A. Culver, 1859, 1 year; Winthrop Wright, 1860, 1 year ; W. P. Caton, 1861-68, 8 years ; A. McClaskey, 1869-76, 8 years ; Hervey Stratton, 1877-78, 2 years ; now in office.
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362
HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.
Peotone .- M. Wright, 1858, 1 year; S. Goodspeed, 1859-60, 2 years ; J. P. Dean, 1861-62, 2 years ; F. Fahs, 1863-64, 2 years; S. C. Guion, 1865-67, 3 years ; S. Goodspeed, 1868-69, 2 years ; T. Gilkerson, 1870, 1 year; R. Crawford, 1871-72, 2 years ; David L. Christian, 1873, 1 year ; R. Crawford, 1874, 1 year; Michael Collins, 1875-76, 2 years ; J. B. Sollitt, Sr., 1877, 1 year; Michael Collins, 1878, now in office.
Town of Reed .- John Kilpatrick, 1850, 1 year; T. T. Tilden, 1851-53, 3 years ; A. Yates, 1854, 1 year; R. S. Nobles, 1855, 1 year; R. Warner, 1856-57, 2 years ; J. Martin, 1858, 1 year; F. D. S. Stewart, 1859, 1 year ; T. T. Tilden, 1860-61, 2 years ; F. D. S. Stewart, 1862-63, 2 years; M. Stewart, 1864-1865, 2 years ; S. P. Stewart, 1866-67, 2 years ; E. Gano, 1868-69, 2 years ; William Conner, 1870-72, 3 years ; Thomas Hennebry, 1873, 1 year ; William Mooney, 1874, 1 year ; H. Le Caron, 1875, 1 year; J. R. Marsh, 1876, 1 year ; John Young, 1877-78, 2 years, still in office.
Town of Troy .- J. H. Robinson, 1850-51, 2 years ; John McEvoy, 1852, 1 year; John T. Randall, 1853-54, 2 years ; P. Rowan, 1855, 1 year ; G. Kinsella, 1856-58, 3 years ; J. Dillon, 1859-60, 2 years, died in 1867; N. Hull, 1861-62, 2 years ; H. W. Searles, 1863-64, 2 years ; J. Dempsey, 1865-1867, 3 years ; D. C. Searles, 1868, 1 year ; William McEvoy, 1869-71, 3 years ; David Murphy, 1872-73, 2 years ; James McDonald, 1874-75, 2 years ; D. C. Searles, 1876-78, 3 years ; now in office.
Town of Wilmington .- John Frazier, 1850, 1 year.
The town was then divided into Wilmington, Florence and Wesley.
Town of Wilmington -A. J. McIntyre, 1851-52, 2 years ; H. R. Whipple, 1853-55, 3 years ; J. J. Camp, 1856-57, 2 years ; R. S. Nobles, 1858, 1 year ; J. D. Henderson, 1859-60, 2 years ; D. U. Cobb, 1861-62, 2 years ; A. J. McIntyre, 1863-64, 2 years ; F. Mitchell, 1865, 1 year ; E. R. Willard, 1866-67, 2 years; J. H. Daniels, 1868-70, 3 years; S. C. Camp, 1871-73, 3 years ; R. C. Thompson, 1874-76, 3 years ; S. Silliman, 1877-78, 2 years ; still in office.
Town of Wheatland .- D. W. Cropsey, 1850-51, 2 years ; S. Simmons, 1852-53, 2 years; F. Boardman, 1854-56, 3 years ; Robert Clow, 1857, 1 year; S. Simmons, 1858-60, 3 years; Rob- ert Clow, 1861-76, 16 years ; J. M. McMicken, 1877-78, 2 years, still in office.
Town of Wesley .- John Frazier, 1851, 1 year; H. Warner, 1852-55, 4 years ; David Wil- lard, 1856-61, 6 years; John Frazier, 1862, 1 year; D. Willard, 1863, 1 year ; S. S. Case, 1864, 1 year; David Willard, 1865-69, 5 years; Sylvester Jones, 1870-73, 4 years ; Guy M. Beck- with, 1874, 1 year; H. Warner, 1875-78, 4 years ; still in office.
Town of Wilton .-- William Dancer, 1850, 1 year ; James Kibben, 1851, 1 year ; H. Hervey, 1852-55, 4 years : W. T. Nelson, 1856, 1 year; William Mills, 1857, 1 year.
The town of Peotone was then set off.
Town of Wilton, continued .- William Mills, 1858, 1 year; A. Warner, 1859, 1 year ; M. O. Cagwin, 1860-63, 4 years ; M. Dennis, 1864, 1 year; W. B. Bass, 1865-67, 3 years; J. Kenis- ton, 1868-70, 3 years ; S. Smith, 1871-73, 3 years ; Samuel G. Nelson, 1874-78, 5 years, still in office.
Town of Will .- S. Storer, 1859-61, 3 years ; H. N. Ingersoll, 1862-63, 2 years; F. P. Lilley, 1864, 1 year ; H. N. Ingersoll, 1865, 1 year ; F. P. Lilley, 1866-67, 2 years; James Maxwell, 1868, 1 year ; F. P. Lilley, 1869-73, 5 years ; J. B. Sollitt, Jr., 1874-76, 3 years; John I. Rice, 1877, 1 year; R. Patterson, 1878 ; still in office.
At the July session of the Board, all that part of the town of Reed lying east of the section line dividing Towns 3 and 4, and running south, through the township, was set off into a new town, and named Custer-thus making it sure that the name of the hero of a late Indian battle should be preserved ; and at the September session of the Board, there was a new Supervisor for the town of Custer-George W. Petro, 1876-78, 3 years.
363
HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.
Town of Washington .- R. Richards, 1856, 1 year; J. White, 1857, 1 year; E. C. Richards, 1858, 1 year ; Z. Dewey, 1859-60, 2 years ; H. Bahlman, 1861-62, 2 years ; R. Dunbar, 1863-64, 2 years ; F. Kouka, 1865, 1 year; R. Dunbar, 1866-68, 3 years ; H. Mathias, 1869-70, 2 years : F. Wilkie, 1871-78, 9 years ; now in office.
Besides the county officers whose names are given in the preceding lists, Will County has furnished men to the Legislature, Senatorial and Congressional Districts of which she has formed a part, and to the State and United States service, as follows :
Governor .- J. A. Matteson, 1852.
Secretary of State .- David L. Gregg, 1851, also Commissioner to Sandwich Islands.
Members of Congress .- J. O. Norton, 1852, 1854, 1862; Henry Snapp, 1871, to fill vacancy.
State Senate .- John Pearson, 1843, resigned ; Joel A. Matteson, special, 1843 and 1848 ; Uri Osgood, 1852; G. D. A. Parks, 1856; Henry Snapp, 1868, resigned ; J. F. Daggett, 1871, to fill vacancy ; William S. Brooks, 1872; A. O. Marshall, 1874 and 1878.
General Assembly .- James Walker (town of Plainfield), 1836; David L. Gregg, Joliet, 1840; Addison Collins, Homer, 1842; William E. Little, Joliet, 1846 and 1848; John Miller, Dupage, 1846 and 1848; O. H. Haven, Joliet, 1849, to fill vacancy ; J. O. Norton, Joliet, 1850 ; S. W. Randall, Joliet, 1850; G. D. A. Parks, Joliet, 1854; Hiram Norton, Lockport, 1858; Charles E. Boyer, Lockport, 1862; A. J. McIntyre, Wilmington, 1864; Robert Clow, Wheatland, 1866 and 1870; George Gaylord, Lockport, 1868; William S. Brooks, Joliet, 1870; John H. Daniels, Wilmington, 1870; Jabez Harvey, Wilton, 1872; Amos Savage, Homer, 1872; John S. Jessup, Wilmington, 1872; H. H. Stassen, Greengarden, 1874; William Mooney, Reed, 1874; Frederick Kouka, Washington, 1876; L. H. Goodrich, Reed, 1874 and 1876; D. H. Pinney, Joliet, 1876.
United States District Attorney for Northern Illinois .-- Jesse O. Norton; appointed by Johnson.
Circuit Judges .- John Pearson, 1857; Hugh Henderson, 1849; S. W. Randall, 1854; J. O. Norton, 1857 ; Josiah McRoberts, 1866, still in office ; Francis Goodspeed, 1877, still in office ; J. E. Streeter, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Nebraska.
District Attorneys .- Uri Osgood, 1836; William A. Boardman, 1845; S. W. Bowen, 1851 ; F. A. Bartleson, 1857; Henry Logan, 1861; S. W. Munn, 1864; C. A. Hill, 1868 ; E. C. Hager, 1872; J. R. Flanders, 1876.
Canal Trustee for Stute .- Josiah McRoberts; appointed in 1853.
Surveyor General of Oregon .- John B. Preston, of Lockport ; appointed in 1850.
· Delegates to Constitutional Convention, 1847-48 .- J. O. Norton, of Joliet ; Hugh Henderson, of Joliet.
Delegate, to Constitutional Convention of 1861-62 .- Francis Goodspeed, of Joliet.
Delegate to Constitutional Convention of 1870 .- William C. Goodhue, of Joliet.
Penitentiary Commissioners .- N. D. Elwood, of Joliet, on first Board; G. D. A. Parks, of Joliet, 1864 ; John Reid, 1867.
State Board of Equalization .- William P. Caton, of Plainfield, 1867 ; Amos Savage, of Homer, 1876.
United States Assessors .- Henry Snapp, H. B. Goddard.
United States Collectors .- Charles M. Hammond. 1867; Horace Weeks, 1872; W. R. Penning- . ton, Deputy.
Joliet Postmasters .- A. W. Bowen, from the establishment of the office, in 1835, to the administration of Taylor; J. T. McDougall, 1850, Taylor's administration ; M. K. Brownson, 1853, Fillmore's administration; Calneh Zarley, 1854, Pierce's administration ; Calneh Zarley, 1858, Buchanan's administration ; J. L. Braden, 1861, Lincoln's administration ; H. N. Marsh, Lincoln's administration ; Alonzo Leach, 1865, Johnson's administration ; Anson Patterson, first term of Grant's administration ; James Goodspeed, second term of Grant's administration; James Goodspeed, Hayes' administration.
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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY. .
AN OMISSION.
We have already discovered one omission which was made in the list of early settlers on Hickory Creek, to wit: Asher Holmes, who came in the Spring of 1835, from Chautauqua Co., N. Y. He has been dead twenty years or more, but left a widow who still lives, and sons who perpetuate his name.
No doubt we have made other omissions ; if so, it has been involuntary, and no one will regret it more than the writer.
PARTING WORDS.
The writer has now probably appeared in the role of a historian for the last , time. Without feeling that he had any special fitness for the work, he has been led to undertake it by a desire to preserve the names and memory of the original settlers of Will County, and also of the brave boys, their sons, and the sons of the later comers, as well, who hazarded, and in many cases lost, their lives to save the Union. While the record may be somewhat imperfect, it is believed to be in both cases substantially correct. That he has been permitted to discharge this duty affords him no little satisfaction, although it has greatly interfered with his legitimate calling.
It is no small satisfaction, also, that he was permitted to see the region we now call Will County, when it was yet in its pristine beauty ; its prairies, fresh from the Creator's hand, still the lair of the wolf and the wild deer, while the canoe of the Indian still shot along its streams, and the solitudes of its forests echoed the crack of his rifle, and the paths worn by his moccasined feet were still the guiding trail of the emigrant ; and then to have lived to see those ver- dant wastes clothed with flocks and herds, with waving harvest-fields, and the vast forests of rustling corn, in whose depths armies might ambush ; to see its soli- tudes become peopled with 50,000 civilized and intelligent human beings; its streams forced to subserve the ends of manufacture and commerce; to see the trail of the Indian obliterated by the railway track, and the ox-team and prairie schooner displaced by the locomotive and the rushing train ; to see the land- scape dotted with happy homes, churches and schoolhouses, and the silence of its wastes broken by
"The laugh of children, the soft voice Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn, Of Sabbath worshipers ;"
to have been permitted to witness all this change during the years that have come and gone in quick succession while the panorama has been unfolding be- fore him -- this he counts one of his chiefest satisfactions. And while the mem- ory delights to linger over the past, and the imagination to recall the lovely pictures presented to his eye forty-four years ago, he is not of the number of those who say or feel that "the former times were better than these."
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M. E. Little (DECEASED) JOLIET.
THE LIBRARY OF THE UNDERSITY OF ILLINOIS
TOWNSHIP HISTORIES.
JOLIET TOWNSHIP.
The interest which attaches itself to all that is connected with the explora- tions and discoveries of the early French travelers in the Northwest increases as time rolls on. That history read in the blazing sunlight of the present day, has all the fascination of a romance, and, after more than two centuries gone by, the names of many courageous and devoted men rise up in peerless grandeur. Penetrated with enthusiasm, and bearing high the cross, Marquette, La Salle, De Frontenac, Joliet, Hennepin, De Charlevoix, the Chevalier de Trull, and so many others, made their way into unknown lands, and through perils, and in the midst of savages, in the face of sickness and privation, desolation and danger, they planted the flag of civilization in this great section of country, known as the Northwest. In this beautiful valley of the Des Planes, some of these early French explorers wandered a hundred years before the oldest of us were born. But in our attempt to write a full and complete history of Joliet Township, we do not propose to go back to the days of Marquette and La Salle, and of Joliet and Hennepin, but shall commence at a period still green in the memory of some who are yet living, and whose minds run back with much dis- tinctness to the early settlements in the Des Planes Valley. But few more beautiful localities are to be found in the State of Illinois than this valley, and the country generally, as embraced in the township of Joliet. Its hills and bluffs and picturesque grottoes, its fine rolling plains, and its timber-bordered streams, present a variety of scenery of which the great prairies are wholly des- titute. The town is watered by the Des Planes River, which enters its borders from the north, and, passing through the city of Joliet, runs in a southwesterly direction to its confluence with the Kankakee. Hickory Creek flows in from the east, and empties into the Des Planes at Joliet City ; while several smaller brooks, together with the Illinois and Michigan Canal, pass through the town- ship, so that no section could be better watered or better drained. Underly- ing the surface of a great portion of the town, perhaps the whole of it, are beds of stone, which for building purposes is almost without equal in this or any other country ; and the numerous quarries, more particularly referred to in the chapter devoted to the city of Joliet, give employment to hundreds of men, and are, perhaps, the most extensive.business carried on in the city, or even in
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368
HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.
the township. The railroad facilities of Joliet are excellent. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis; the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern, and the "Joliet Cut-off" of the Michigan Central, center in the city of Joliet, and traverse the township in every direction, affording means of transportation and of travel. The canal, too, is a valuable auxiliary, as well as a competitor, in moving the large quantities of freight from this sec- tion. The township is bounded on the north by Lockport, on the east by New Lenox, on the south by Jackson, on the west by Troy, and is known as Town 35 north, Range 10 east of the Third Principal Meridian, with a popula- tion, in 1870, aside from the city of Joliet, of 2,940 inhabitants. It is about one-half or, perhaps, two-thirds fine rolling prairie, while the remainder, prin- cipally along the Des Planes River and Hickory Creek, is well timbered-or was at the time of the early settlement of the country-and is, in places, rather hilly.
In the early settlement of Joliet Township and City, the Empire State con- tributed much of the population, both of city and township. So far as we have been able to collect the names of early settlers, and the localities from whence they came, up to and including 1835, together with the date of settlement, we give them in the following tabulated statement, which we have taken consider- able care in preparing :
Major Robert G. Cook.
New York. 1831
John B. Cook (his father)
New York. 1831
Philip Scott.
New York 1831
Reason Zarley
Ohio. 1831
Robert Stevens.
Indiana 1831
David Maggard
Indiana 1831
Benjamin Maggard Indiana 1831
Jesse Cook.
Indiana 1831
Daniel Robb ..
1831
William Billsland.
Indiana. 1831
Aaron Moore
.Ohio.
1832
R. E. Barber
Vermont 1832
Col. Sayre.
New Jersey. 1832
Seth Scott.
New York
1832
Charles Clement.
.New Hampshire. 1833
Rev. George West.
M. E. Minister 1833
Rodney House.
Connecticut. 1833
Charles Reed.
Indiana 1833
William Hadsell.
New York. 1833
Dr. A. W. Bowen
New York 1834
Elias Haven.
New York 1834
Philo A. Haven.
New York 1834
Orlando H. Haven. New York
1834
James Haven.
New York. 1834
Dr. David Reed.
New York. 1834
M. H. Demmond
New York
1834
Wm. B. Hawley
New York. 1834
Benj. F. Barker New York 1834
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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.
Benjamin Richardson
From the East. 1834
James Rockwell.
Connecticut 1834
Abner Cox.
Indiana 1834
I. P. King.
Indiana.
1834
Joseph Zumalt.
Indiana
1834
Jacob Zumalt. Indiana.
1834
Charles Sayre New Jersey 1834
James McKee. Kentucky 1834
Daniel Clement.
New Hampshire. 1834
Richard Hobbs
Indiana.
1834
N. H. Clarke.
1834
Thomas H. Blackburn
1834
O. D. Putnam.
1834
Harlow Webster
1834
Geo. H. Woodruff New York 1834
N. H. Cutter Massachusetts 1834
1834
Chas. W. Brandon New York 1834
James C. Troutman Ohio 1834
Edward Perkins
New York. 1834
Fenner Aldrich
1835
Hervey Lowe
New York.
1835
F. Collins Hoosier
1835
Oliver W. Stillman
Massachusetts
1835
Robert Duncan.
Detroit.
1835
Thomas Culbertson
Delaware
1835
Charles W. Hopkins
New Jersey
1835
S. W. Bowen
New York
1835
Dr. Zelotus Haven
.New York.
1835
Hugh Henderson.
New York.
1835
Wm. A. Boardman
New York 1835
Russell Frary
New York 1835
Michael Shoemaker
New York 1835
John L. Wilson New York
1835
Richard L. Wilson
New York. 1835
Charles L. Wilson
New York.
1835
Abijah Cagwin
New York. 1835
H. N. Marsh New York. 1835
J. Beaumont .. New York 1835
George Higley Ohio.
1835
Levi Jenks
New York 1835
William Walters.
Indiana.
1835
O. F. Rogers New York 1835
Rev. J. H. Prentiss .New York
1835
George Squire
1835
Wm. A. Chatfield Indiana 1835
C. C. Pepper.
New York 1835
Francis Nicholson
New York.
1835
W. R. Atwell
New York.
1835
John M. Wilson New York. 1835
Allen Pratt. Massachusetts 1835
Barton Smith. Indiana. 1835
Jonathan Barnett. New York 1835
E. M. Daggett. Indian 1835
Jay Lyons
370
HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.
George Howlitson
Scotland 1835
Asa Rowe
1835
Elias Hyde.
New York 1835
S. B. Hopkins New Jersey. 1835
In 1836 we may notice among the arrivals in the new settlement, George Woodruff, Joel A. Matteson, R. Doolittle, Edmund Wilcox, Uri Osgood, Thomas R. Hunter, E. C. Fellows and Francis L. Cagwin, from New York, and Otis Hardy and H. Hartshorn, from Vermont ; Orange Chauncey, Albert Shepard, James Stout, Thomas, Edward and Bennett Allen, John Curry, J. J. Garland, W. J. Heath, J. C. Newkirk, William Blair, Rufus Calton, Stephen Hubbard, Dr. Little, Henry Fish, M. Worthingham, David L. Roberts, Isaac H. Palmer, E. E. Bush, Theodore Woodruff, H. K. Stevens, David Richards, G. W. Cassedy, and a great many others, whose native States we have not learned. A number of these, together with others mentioned, will receive additional notice in the history of the city of Joliet, as well as in the general history. But immigrants were coming in so fast that it is impossible, after this long lapse of time, to keep trace of them. A confusion of dates. occurs in the attempt, something like that of tongues at the Tower of Babel. We have enumerated, in the foregoing table, the settlers both in the city and township of Joliet, and as already mentioned, a preponderance of them were from New York. Among the first from that State were Major Robert G. Cook and his father, John B. Cook, and Philip Scott, who settled in the town- ship in the latter part of 1831. The elder Cook was a Revolutionary soldier, and was old and feeble when he came to the settlement. A few of the early settlers who still survive remember to have seen him carried in the first Fourth of July procession had in the infant city. He died about 1833-4, and was one of the first deaths to occur in the town. Robert Stevens was born in Kentucky, but mostly reared in Ohio, and emigrated to Indiana, where he remained some years, removing to Illinois and to this township in 1831. He settled just east of the present city of Joliet, where his widow still lives. He arrived in the Spring of that year in time to raise a crop of corn. During the fright that prevailed in the scattered settlement incident to the Black Hawk war, Mr. Stevens took his family to Danville, and sent them under safe escort to Indiana, while he returned and "put in a crop." David and Benjamin Maggard and Jesse Cook were also from the Hoosier State, otherwise Indiana, and made set- tlements in 1831. Jesse Cook made a settlement in what was called Trout- man's Grove, and now lives in the southern part of the State, and is quite an old man, but full of energy for one of his years. David Maggard, who is noted for having built the first house in the present city limits, as elsewhere mentioned, and Stevens, after he returned from seeing his wife safe beyond Indian outrages, worked their farms together, as a matter of safety and protec- tion againt surprise from the Indians. As a further means of safety, instead of occupying their cabins at night, would sleep in a cavern on the west side of the river, which they would always leave before daylight, that no lurking savage
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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.
might discover their place of refuge. Maggard's settlement was on the west side of the river, nearly opposite the Rolling Mills, while Stevens', as already stated, was on the east side. Usually at evening they would retire to the west side, and while Stevens cooked supper Maggard would stand guard, or rather sit guard in a tree-top. One evening he had mounted guard in a tree, and be ing tired from his day's labor, went to sleep and dropped his gun. The Mag- gards were related to Stevens' first wife, who survived the hardships of a fron- tier settlement but a few years. Robert Stevens was the first elected Sheriff of Will County, after it was detached from Cook, and with an utter indifference to the honors pertaining to office unknown at the present day, he declined to qual- ify and left the office to those more anxious to serve the dear people. William Billsland and Daniel Robb were likewise Hoosiers and came to the neighbor- hood in 1831.
Reason Zarley, to whom is generally attributed the honor of making the first permanent settlement in Joliet Township, came to Illinois in 1829, from Ohio, and to this neighborhood in the Spring of 1831, where he made a permanent settlement. He was a soldier in the last struggle of the United States with Johnny Bull, and was one of the few survivors of the bloody affair of Brownstown, where 100 American soldiers were attacked by 800 savages and 400 English, but little less savage than their red allies, and from which few of the former escaped to tell the tale of carnage. He was in the army, also, at the time of Hull's disgrace- ful surrender. Mr. Zarley is mentioned as a prominent and influential man, foremost in every enterprise calculated to promote the interest of the city and country. When he died, a Chillicothe (Ohio) paper noticed his death, as one of the pioneers of that section of the country. So far as can be obtained with any degree of reliability, this comprises all who came to the township during the first year of its settlement. And the next year (1832), but few additions were made to the little community, doubtless owing to the fact that the Black Hawk or Sac war was raging in all its terror, and the mutterings of the storm extended to this locality. Aaron Moore, a brother-in-law of Jesse Cook, came from Olio ; R. E. Barber, from Vermont ; Seth Scott, a brother of Philip Scott, from New York. These are all that we have any account of settling here this year. But in 1833, the colony was augmented by the arrival from New York, William Hadsell ; from Connecticut, Rodney House; from Indiana, Charles Reed ; from New Hampshire, Charles Clement and Rev. Geo. West, a Methodist preacher. Where Rev. Mr. West came from, we have been unable to ascertain. Reed, one of the very first settlers of the city, and Charles Clement, generally acknowledged as the "oldest living inhabitant," will be noticed further in the city's history. William Hadsell is living, but old and infirm, both mentally and physically, and his memory is too feeble to give any information of special interest in this his- tory. The year 1834, witnessed the greatest influx of new-comers of any year since the pale-faces had first "broke ground " in this section. During the year, the Empire State sent out to the new settlement Dr. A. W. Bowen, Geo.
372
HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.
H. Woodruff, Elias Haven and three sons, Philo A., Orlando H., and James Haven, Charles W. Brandon, Dr. David Reed, M. H. Demmond, Edward Per- kins, William B. Hawley and Benjamin F. Barker. Benjamin Richardson was from the East, probably from New York; from Indiana, Abner Cox, Richard Hobbs, J. P. King, Joseph and Jacob Zumalt ; from Connecticut, James Rockwell ; from New Jersey, Charles Sayre ; from Kentucky, James McKee; from New Hampshire, Daniel Clement, a brother to Charles Clement, who had come out the year before ; from Massachusetts, N. H. Cutter ; from Ohio, James C. Troutman ; and Jay Lyons, N. H. Clarke, Thomas H. Black- burn, O. D. Putnam, Harlow Webster, whose native States cannot now be as- certained. Dr. Bowen was from Herkimer County, N. Y., and is noticed else- where as the first physician in the town. He arrived in March and made a claim on what was afterward known as the "Luther Woodruff Place, " and dur- ing the early part of the Summer, built a cabin near where the Union School House now stands. Soon after his settlement, he opened a store, which he after- ward sold to Frary. He lives at present in Wilmington, and receives an extended notice in the general history. Hon. George H. Woodruff, to whose able pen we are indebted for our general county history, is one of the few old landmarks still left in Joliet. The Havens came in the Fall of this year, and Philo and James went to California during the gold excitement, where they still live. The old gentleman died several years ago. Dr. Zelotus Haven was a brother of Elias, but came to the settlement the next year. Dr. David Reed also came in the Fall, and was the next physician after Dr. Bowen, and located on the west side of the river. Benjamin F. Barker came soon after Dr. Bowen, and built the first dwelling on the east side of the river, in the present city of Joliet. Charles Sayre, a nephew of Col. Sayre, was a tailor by trade, and the first in the town. Brandon came during the Summer. He was a stone mason, and built a house one mile below the present city. Martin H. Demmond arrived in June, and was one of the first merchants of the place. Perkins settled in Five-Mile Grove, in the southern part of the township, as the place was then called. Hawley settled during the Summer. Benjamin Richardson settled first in the Plainfield neighborhood, and came here in 1836. He was a chair maker, the first of that craft in the township. Abner Cox, Richard Hobbs, J. P. King and the Zumalts all made settlements during the year. Hobbs was, for many years, a Justice of the Peace, and his courts, in those primitive times, furnished the legal fraternity with numerous anecdotes, illustrative of the pioneer days. James McKee is mentioned in the general history of the county in another part of this work, as one of the enterprising men of that early day. He bought a claim from Charles Reed, and upon it erected a mill, the frame of which, is yet standing, but devoted to other purposes. Though not the first mill in Will County, it was built on a far more pretentious scale than had ever been attempted in this part of the State. McKee was the first Justice of the Peace on the west side of the river. Daniel Clement came
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