USA > Illinois > Kane County > The past and present of Kane County, Illinois : containing a history of the county a directory war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion statistics history of the Northwest etc., etc > Part 20
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
From Vermont, whose chief products, say the old geographers, are men and good horses, came the Bradleys, Corless, Austins, Ordways, Hewitts, Sher- mans, Wanzers, Lobdells and Dr. Goodwin, of Dundee : the Ransteads, Buz- zells, Calvin Pratt, Dr. Tyler and the Abbotts, of Elgin ; Starks and Rich, of Rutland ; the Allens, of Hampshire ; the Fersons, father and six boys, S. S. Jones, Minard, the Wheelers, three brothers, Dick, Adam and Dr. Charles, of St. Charles ; the Conants, Kelseys and Lillies, of Geneva; D. W. Annis, the Merrills, the Youngs, the Whites and Wheelers, of Blackberry, and the McDoles, Paulls, Thompsons, Seaveys and P. Y. Bliss, the old veteran, of Sugar Grove. Col. Lyon came from Vermont, and so did Harry Boardman, whose father settled the estate of the hero of Ticonderoga, as the administrator of the rough old patriot. They both settled at Batavia. Ralph C. Horr, the first Justice of the Peace in Aurora, and Rob Mathews came from the same Green Mountain State, and the Angells, who live north of Aurora.
The New Hampshire men were, among others, Dr. Hale, of Dundee; the Merrills, Asa, Barzillai and Gil., all of whom have gone to the " undiscovered country ; " the Manns, of whom Adin and William R. only now remain ; the Welds, who have three doctors left, and the whole tribe of Kimballs. whose , sons and daughters in and about Elgin are legion. J. P. Bartlett, of Campton, Ephraim and Otho Perkins and the Dearborns, at St. Charles, and the Pin- grees, of Rutland, are also to be counted in the list of the Granite State. Maine gave some Pennys, and St. Charles got them all. The Carrs settled at Nelson's Grove.
The Nutmeg State, notwithstanding her " blue laws," sent us some splendid material for government work, among whom we find Charles Hoyt, Seth Stowell, R. W. Lee and W. G. Hubbard. The first two were prominent citi- zens of Aurora and Plato, and the latter are still so numbered among the solid men of Kaneville and Elgin.
Little Rhody remembered and gave from her " ten-acre lot," among others, the Carpenters, of Carpenterville, and Charles McNamara, who appropriated Waubansie's cemetery and a large tract beside to his own use, but according to law, nevertheless.
The Empire State sent out an army, first and last, who not only viewed the land, but entered in and took possession thereof and sent back for new recruits to fill up the vacant and waste places. The Genesee Valley, where the finest cultivated farms in the Union are to be seen, is represented by the Roots, Wil- sons, Churchills, Smiths, Waldrons, Kemps, Grimes and Lords, who settled in Batavia, Kaneville and Elgin in 1835-9. Oneida County gave her quota, and among them we find the Giffords, Hezekiah, James T. and Abel; the Hatchs and the Raymonds, Augustine and George B., of Elgin ; and Isaac Marlett, of Aurora. About Schenectady and Albany once lived the Wilcoxes, Mallorys, Kelly, Mansfield, the Pecks, the Lawrences, the Jenneys, Herricks, Barritts and John Hill, but they all turned their faces westward, and lo ! are
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
their names not written in the records of the towns of Elgin, Dundee and Rutland ?
From the grassy meadows of Orange County, which boasts its high-priced butter, came good old Father Brewster and took up the magnificent farm that lies in four townships and two counties, DuPage and Kane. P. R. Wright came from the Genesee country, and the great metropolis sent us William V. Plum, of Aurora. The Bairds, Howards, Irwins, Conklins, Ingersols and Browns, of St. Charles, and the Padlefords and Andersons, of Elgin, came from Buffalo, and the Truesdalls, Shermans, French, Prudens, Hindsdells, Campbells and Augustus Adams, of Elgin, and the Dunhams and Mark Fletcher, of St. Charles, and G. W. Gorton, of Aurora, had their homes in Central New York. The McCartys, Joseph, Samuel and David, came from Elmira in 1834, and laid the foundation for the leading city in numbers and political influence of the county-Aurora. The Quakers of Madison County were moved by the spirit of emigration, and per consequence we find the Teffts, Mitchells, Gilberts and Knoxs pitching their tents in Elgin and vicinity, but, unlike the Arabs, have not " folded them and silently stolen away." Dan Smith, of Dundee, came from near Ogdensburg, and old Gen. McClure from the lake region, and T. H. Thompson from Tompkins County. Washington County was represented by the Van Nortwicks, Barker and House at Batavia, and Chemung County by E. D. Terry, Wyatt Carr, Charles Bates and Burr Winton at Aurora. N. B. Spaulding, formerly Sheriff of the county, and O. D. Day, of Aurora, came from Otsego. The Stolps, of Aurora, came from Syracuse, and George R. Makepiece from Utica. Edwards, Bosworth and Hunt, of Dundee; Allen P. Hubbard, the first Clerk of the Circuit Court; James Risk, once Sheriff; R. C. Mix, W. H. Hawkins, John Scott, the Gibsons, Sawyer, Anson Pease, Esquire Rawson and Platt, of Blackberry, were all Knickerbockers. From Plattsburg, of glorious memory, came America Gates, who had three brothers, the quartette bearing the name of the four continents. Europe, Asia, Africa and America, and the Wilders. Old Cortland gave the Allens and Z. Squires, of Aurora. There are others, no doubt, who came from these two great sections of the country, whose names have been omitted ; but we cannot name all of the good men who have helped to give Kane County her proud position in the Empire State of the West, for she counts such men by the hundreds among her citizens.
C. B. Dodson and the Herringtons, James and Crawford, came from the Keystone State, and so did David Dunham. The Lakes, Theodore, who died January 12, 1876, and Zaphna, who made the town of West Aurora a begin- ning, were Buckeyes from Ohio.
New Jersey, which, in the early days of which we write, was not the State. of Camden and Amboy, sent Henry Warne, who with his three stalwart boys, John, Elisha and Gid, made his claim good to many broad acres in Campton and Blackberry, and Wm. Lance, the centenarian, made his home in the latter town in May, 1834, and lived on the old homestead till he fell asleep, with
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
a record made up of 104 years of varied experience. Both families are represented by numerous branches in the county to-day.
New Brunswick cannot be classed with New England, although it is but just a step from one to the other, but having sent of her "blue noses," who have been eminent citizens of the county, it is not proper that they should be left out, and we note them now. They were Robert Moody, the old Justice of St. Charles, whose court was an institution of the early days of the county, and his brother Archibald, whose estate was the first administered on in the county, three Young brothers, Samuel, Gideon and Joel, the Grays and J. T. Wheeler, at St. Charles, and the Stringers and Bishops of Elgin, and Reads of Campton. Dr. Eastman came from Canada also.
Christopher Payne is said to have been the first actual settler in the county, though Haight came and took up a claim at Geneva, in June, 1833, but left it again and did not return till the next year. Payne came in October. 1833, and located at the head of the Big Woods, just east of Batavia. He came from the South direct to the county, but was originally from New York State, so that State has the credit of giving the first settler to the county. Payne came to Naperville, in 1831. The Winter of 1831-32 was one of unusual severity. No provisions were to be had any nearer than the Wabash, from whence he came, and thither he and another party took up a weary and perilous march of 140 miles for food. They had ox teams and camped out every night in groves, being compelled to lay by many days from the fierceness of the winds and the severity of the weather. They took a bee-line from Naperville to the Wabash, and finally arrived safely home with food sufficient to last them through the Winter. He counted that trip the hardest and most perilous undertaking of his life.
The land of the Druids, Wales, sent a colony of the Cymri into Big Rock, the pioneers of whom were John Pierce, from South Wales, and Edward Whildin and Maurice Pierce, from North Wales, the first named coming in the Spring of 1836, and the latter during the same year, and the settlement of the town by the Welsh is due more to them than any one else. In 1837, Richard Roberts and R. Whildin came. In 1840, a large addition was made to the Welsh colony, among whom were Morgan Lewis, William Griffith, William Ashton, Thomas Evans and John Whildin, all from North Wales. Thomas Meredith, father of our " Tom," came in 1842. The Davis families, the Jones', Williams', Hughes', Vaughns, Thomas', Michaels and Owens, are all from the land of the leek.
There was an old Welshman named Manchester, who managed to exist by his wits, stopping where night found him, and paying for his board and lodging with his tongue, who used to travel up and down the country in a very early day, and was in his way a very noted character. He had a panacea for all the ills flesh is heir to, and whenever any one complained of being sick, no matter what the symptoms were, whether headache or a sore toe, he invariably gave
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his universal prescription, which was: "Keep your head cool, your feet dry and your heart free from anger and vain ambition, and you will do."
Another branch of the great Celtic race, namely the Irish, colonized at Rutland. They first came in 1839 or 1840. Owen Burke came to Elgin in 1840, and was there two years before going to his farm. He came direct from the Green Isle, but at and about the same time, from 1840 to 1842-3, a large number came in from the canal and settled in and about Rutland. Among them were the following leading ones : The Farrells, Halligans, Hennessys, Gallighans, Donohues, Dewires, Clintons, O'Briens, and Coyles. They were mostly all Catholics, and staunch Democrats. The Hays', Haydens and Free- mans are also large freeholders in Rutland. The Irish people have, as is well known, settled in all parts of the county, but the only Irish colony was in Rutland and the western part of Dundee. They came by families direct from the old sod, and built their altars and gathered around them, as in their old homes they had left in Erin across the sea.
In the north of Ireland, King Robert Bruce established, in the fourteenth century, colonies of Lowland Scotch, who were descended from the Saxons, Danes and the old Vikings of Norway, who successively overran and conquered the " tight little island" from Land's End to the Highlands. From the de- scendants of these colonies in the north of Ireland came the Moores, Rileys, Christies, Eakins, Hunters, Lynchs, Hoods and Atchisons, and settled in the southern and western part of Rutland.
" Auld Scotia" sent us a direct importation from her lowlands of sturdy, hardheaded Presbyterians, who took as naturally to Abolitionism, when they struck the soil of the land of freedom, as they did to the principles of John Knox. They settled in the towns of Dundee, Elgin and Plato, and came by families, and the first ones as soon as 1839-40. There was an association called the " Aberdeen North American Investment and Loan Company," which, by its manager and agent, W. Taylor, bought large tracts of land in all of the northern tier of counties in the State. There is an agreement on record in the Recorder's office of the county between the said company and Taylor, defining his power and authority, acknowledged before John Blaikee, "Provost and Chief Magistrate of Aberdeen, Scotland." At the same time, there were established some Scottish banks in Chicago and Milwaukee, which transacted the business of the Scotch colonies, beside that of many others. Messrs. Mur- ray & Brand established one, a private bank, at Chicago, and bought largely of the lands of Kane County. George Smith, one of the institutions of the Northwest for fifteen years, had his principal bank at Chicago, which he man- aged himself, with a branch at Milwaukee managed by Alexander Mitchell. His bank was known as the "Wisconsin Fire and Marine Insurance Com- pany," and he issued notes which were always redeemable in gold, and were justly considered the soundest currency in circulation for ten years or more. George Smith's vast wealth was pledged for its redemption, by George Smith's.
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- word, which word, it is needless to say, was never broken, in that particular at least.
It was the discovery of a counterfeit $10 bill on this bank that took Allan Pinkerton from the cooper shop and started him on the road which has led to his world-wide fame. A stranger came into Dundee one summer afternoon in 1850, and Pinkerton, who was then a Deputy under B. C. Yates, High Sheriff of the county, going out of his cooper shop on the hill, down into the village, met him, and, being somewhat struck with his appearance, accosted him casually, and soon fell into familiar conversation with him. The stranger was somewhat wary at first. but Pinkerton's frank, bluff ways and broad Scotch accent reas- sured him, and he began to be communicative. Pinkerton soon learned enough to satisfy himself that the stranger had something valuable to discover, too much so in fact for development then and there, and therefore it was arranged that on the next day the two should go to some retired spot and the stranger would unbosom himself to his new friend. An evening of social chat and enjoyment was spent, and the stranger retired for the night. The next day Pinkerton and the stranger took their way to the mounds that rear their beautiful rounded summits to the northwest of the village, and there upon the greensward, beneath the umbrageous shade of the old oaks, the stranger laid before the canny Scot several packages of crisp $10 notes on the Wisconsin Fire and Marine Insurance Company's bank, made from plates engraved by the stranger himself, who pro- cecded to develop the whole plan of operations and what he desired his new friend to do in the premises. Pinkerton's virtue was at once alarmed (?), and assuming an air of insulted dignity he drew from his pocket a pair of iron brace- lets, and clapping on the stranger's wrists, had in limbo one of the sharpest counterfeiters of his day-" Old Craig." He brought his prisoner down to Geneva, where he was locked up. but was never brought to trial, he being fortu- nate enough to break out and take himself out of the jurisdiction of the court. From that time Allan Pinkerton left barrel making and gave his attention to detective business, with what success the whole world knows.
The Scotch families who came into Dundee were the Pinkertons, Robert and Allan, the Dempsters, Allisons, Binnies, Crichtons, Thompsons, Hills, Alstons, Egglestons, Archibalds, Griffiths, Howes, Todds, Duffs, McCullucks, Campbells, Morrisons (Murdoch and his boys), and McAllisters and McQueen.
In Rutland, there is a Grant and a McGregor, descendants, maybe, of the old clansmen who, meeting at a narrow pass in the highlands of insufficient width to allow one to pass by the other, refused at each other's bidding to lie down and let the other pass over his body, but drew their brands and began a bloody, desperate fight :
" Each looked to sun and stream and plain As what they ne'er might see again ; Then foot and point and eye opposed, In dubious strife they darkly closed."
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But, neither party gaining any advantage, they grappled one another in a fierce, murderous endeavor to throw each other over the cliff. They could each say to the other :
" No maiden's hand is round thee thrown ; That desperate grasp thy frame might feel Through bars of brass and triple steel ! They tug, they strain, down, down they go,"
to the bottom of the abyss at the foot of the precipice, stark and stiff as " Red Murdock."
If the Rutland Grants and McGregors are descendants of those plucky fighters, they have forgotten the old feuds of their ancestors, for the farms of the two families lie side by side, and, for aught that appears, are the best of " neebors."
The McCornacks, Alexander and William, true as steel to their principles of right, and the Glens, also made their homes in Rutland, and the Sheldons, Shirras, Whites and Thomas Martin settled in Elgin, and so also did the Frazers, descendants of the old Gaelic Highlanders. Walter Wilson and his son, John C., came in 1834 from Glasgow, and located west of St. Charles village about two miles, and John C. is living near his original farm yet. He says the family lived in their wagon all one season, till they got their cabin up, and then they had no floor but mother earth for two years after, and the first panel door brought into county he brought in 1836, from Chicago.
Robert Moody, although coming from New Brunswick into the county, was a full-blooded Scot. There came a colony of Scotchmen and settled southwest of Aurora, but they are all in Kendall County now. They gave their old home names to their localities, and so we find, on the maps of the county, McGregor and Rob Roy Slough and Creek. Rob Roy Slough was quite a noted landmark in the early records and surveys of the county.
The Scotch colony has given the world another man whose fame has reached as wide a range as Pinkerton's-William Dempster, the sweet ballad singer, whose strains and melodies have entranced courts of Kings and Presidents and charmed the common people everywhere. Wherever the language of music is understood, there have Dempster's Scottish songs found him friends and admir- ers. As we think of him, it almost seems as if we could hear the plaintive warblings of "Highland Mary," blending with the stirring notes of " Bonnie Dundee."
The Scotch colonists in Dundee were great sticklers for their religious views ; and though they, for a while, sat under Father Clarke's mild, persuasive preach- ing, when Mr. Davis came into the pastorate they began to grow uneasy, and, finally, went off by themselves and established a church, and have worshiped in their own forms ever since.
Peter Innes, also, came from the land of Wallace and Bruce in an early day, and settled in Aurora, and has been long noted for his strict integrity and
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
temperance principles. Peter says his worst fault is building houses for other people to inhabit. Another loyal son of the land of the thistle, and who glories in the tartan and the memories of historic Scotland, is Malcolm Robert Bruce, of Aurora, for aught we know a lineal descendant of King Bobby himself. He has as much persistence as the ancient Bruce had, as his well-fought contests with the city authorities of Aurora over his LaSalle street front will witness. He had some experience, too, in the rebellion of 1848, in Ireland, with Mitchell, O'Brien and their compatriots.
In the town of Hampshire and the western part of Kaneville, there is dwelling a sturdy, thriving class of worthy citizens, known as Pennsylvania Dutch. The first ones came into the county as early as 1844 or 1845. Old John Wales, the old "Justice of the Peace," entered land in Hampshire as early as June, 1845. Mr. Wales did as much, or more probably, to induce the settlement of his people in Kane County, than any one else. He was followed by Aurand, Litner, the Reams brothers, Becker, Munch, the two Klicks, Kearn, Gift, Ebert, Wertwine, Hubner, Swartzenderfer, Gilkerson, Getzelman, Levy, Shallenberger, Waidman, Hauslein, Zeigler, Heins, Tyson, Daum, Kemmer- ling, Deuchler and Garlic. They or their immediate descendants are still liv- ing in Hampshire and vicinity.
In 1850 or soon afterward, they organized a church, called and known as the Evangelical Association of North America, and built a house of worship.
Those who settled in Kaneville and the adjoining portions of DeKalb County were summed up by Dr. Potter thus : "Runkel, Schneider, Wolf and Platt, Biser, Hummel and Gerlack, Zeigler, Lintner, Labrant, Mower, Kaler, Kessler, Schweitzer, Sower, Ramer, Eberly, Kulp and Grimm, Myers, Haish and Mose Hill, the slim Berrier, Bartmess, Rowe and Shoop, with Koonz and Cuter fill the group."
The doctor used his license as a poet to make Mose Hill do duty in the euphony of the rhyme, but he was neither slim nor a Dutchman.
Besides those named in the doctor's versification, there were Van Valken- burg, Harter, Gusline, Gusler, Keyser and George Dauberman, all in Kane- ville. They came in 1846 and afterward, buying their land of Uncle Sam in the. Fall of the first named year. Their religion is the same as that of their Hampshire brethren, and they have a church just across the line from DeKalb County. They hold their camp meetings alternately at Lone Grove and Pigeon Woods, and attend them en masse. They are devoted pietists, and get up considerable excitement in their revival meetings, which are held every Winter. A description of their family worship may be interesting here. When the day's work is over, the father or head of the house reads some portion of the Scriptures, and then all, large and small, join in singing a hymn, after which they all kneel and the head of the family offers a prayer. He closes his petition, when the mother takes up the supplication and pursues it to such length as she chooses, and when she closes, the oldest child, whether male or
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female, offers his or her prayer, and is succeeded by the whole flock more or less, according to age, down to the lisping infant who can just say, "Now I lay me down to sleep," when all respond with a hearty amen, and arise and prepare for bed. They usually use their native tongue in their worship, and, although not understood at all scarcely by their English speaking guest, who may be a witness to their solemn order, yet the fervor which characterizes their exercises never fails to interest the beholder.
In and near Aurora there settled some of the Mohawk Valley Dutchmen, and among them we find the Grays, Wagners, Adam Phy, Kecks and Van Alstines. The Van Siekles and Van Fleets came from New Jersey.
The old Vikings of Norway and Sweden, whose descendants are known as Scandinavians, Danes and Finns, are numerously represented in Geneva, St. Charles, Elgin, Campton and Virgil. Among the first ones were Gunner, Anderson and Anderson Gunderson, who furnished much litigation for the Circuit Court, and merriment as well, when the title of the various suits they had upon the dockets were called, and Andrew Peterson, John Hokanson and Carl Olson. In 1853-5, the great body of Swedes came first to Geneva and St. Charles.
Eben Danford was then in full blast, making his double motioned iron reapers and mowers at Geneva, and many of the Swedes settled on the east side of the river. They also settled at St. Charles, buying up the Little Woods in small tracts and clearing off the stumps, and have now snug little home- steads all over that once famous neck of woods. They pushed west almost into Campton and Virgil, and north into Elgin, and have made most excellent citizens. Some of our best artisans are Swedes, as the National Watch Fac- tory at Elgin, and the car shops at Aurora, and various other manufactories of the county will abundantly testify. Among the noted ones are C. P. Gronberg, the reaper inventor ; B. Kindblade, who will make anything from a cambric needle tog an electric engine or piano-forte; Peterson, the watchmaker ; Rys- trom, the carriage manufacturer ; and another Peterson, in Geneva, who makes ladies fine shoes. The leading men among these are the Lungreens, Peter and sons (Charles and August), Peterson, England, Nord and Abrahamson, at St. Charles, and A. P. Anderson, at Batavia, who is by, the way, a shining example of what industry and continuity will do for a man to gain him a competency. But a very few years ago Anderson was a journeyman tailor in Geneva, and to-day he is the owner of as fine a stone block as there is in Batavia, besides other good property. He has attended strictly to business, and is now reaping the fruits of his active, judicious efforts ; also B. Kindblade, of Batavia ; An- drew Rystrom, formerly one of the city fathers of Geneva; and Landborg, the blacksmith, at the latter place. This people are, as a general thing, frugal and industrious, and make the best of help on the farm, in the manufactory, or in mercantile pursuits. The Swedish girls are noted for their tidiness and skill in domestic affairs, and many of them have become so far metamorphosed into
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HISTORY OF .KANE COUNTY.
Yankees that they have married into Yankee families. and are mixing up their blood with the genuine Bunker Hill crimson. They were at first Lutherans (or a branch of that denomination) in their religious affiliations, and great stieklers for their church rules and demands. They paid their big and little " collects" with a promptness that would make the face of a tax collector in this year of grace radiant with joy. Christmas is their great holiday. Their churches then are trimmed with festoons and wreaths of evergreens, and ser- vices begin as early as two or three o'clock Christmas morning, and last all day, and for the whole week succeeding. They have a central church at Geneva, whither they come from all directions every Sunday, rain or shine. There has been, within the past three or four years, quite a secession from the Lutheran Church to Methodism among them.
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