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 35
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In 1849, a store was built by Woodbury upon the East Side, and supplied with a stock, such as is usually found in country establishments of the kind. The building is now standing, and used as the office of the Steel Company.
While the foregoing events were taking place, a settlement was being estab- lished at Udina, commenced in 1836 by one of the Merrills, from the Granite State, and followed by his father, brothers and uncle, their names being Richard, two Asas, Gilman and Jesse. Richard died after a short residence in the West. As their settlement was upon the Chicago and Galena stage route, they had the benefit of stages in 1837, and of a post office, which was named Udina, about a year later. Asa Merrill was the first Postmaster, and his office was a log house, standing where John and James Robinson now live. Not one representative of the family can now be found in the vicinity of their old settlement. The post office was the first in Elgin Township. The office at South Elgin, or Clinton- ville as it was then called, was established about the time that the railroad was laid. The first preacher was one of the itinerant representatives of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, who traveled through the county in 1835. The first birth was that of a child of Sidney Kimball, born in November, 1837, in a house situated on land now owned by C. H. Larkins. Returning to South Elgin, we find a bridge constructed across the river at the point where Woodbury Mill stands, about 1850. A portion of it was subsequently carried away by a freshet, and repaired. Later, the entire structure was removed and the present iron one erected. In 1852, a paper-mill was commenced in this village, by Dr. Erastus Tefft, and operated for several years, first in the manufacture of wrapping and later for roofing paper ; but at length it collapsed. During all the early years of the history of this village, B. W. Raymond took a prominent part. Dr. Joseph Tefft, however, is the most closely identified with its rise and progress. Dr. Collins soon removed to St. Charles, and left him the only physician in the township. A physician's practice then varied considerably from that of the present day. The doctor's extended from the south line of the township northward for twenty miles or more, and so far east and west. There were no good roads, and his journeys were made upon an old gray horse, which the settlers still living remember well. He rode at all seasons, and was
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often obliged to swim streams, as bridges were unknown in the township when he begun his practice, or cross traekless prairies in the darkest nights, with no landmark but, the light from some distant cabin, glimmering like a sickly fire- fly, or befogged will-o'-the-wisp. In 1859, the Free Methodist Society had sprung up and become sufficiently strong to erect the church edifice still stand- ing in South Elgin. About this time, the dairy business began to receive attention. Previously there were not over 800 cows in the entire township. Now there are at least 12,000. The country, which was every acre of it claimed at that time, produced only about 4,000 pounds of butter and 1,000 pounds of cheese per annum. Now there are 2,000,000 pounds of cheese, and 550,000 pounds of butter made annually in the same area. Aside from the vast amount of milk required in the manufacture of these luxuries of civiliza- tion, three car loads are sent daily to Chicago, and the condensing factory uses the milk from 1,000 cows. The first butter factory in the West was the one at Elgin, now under the management of the Elgin Butter Company. Now the reputation of both the butter and cheese of this city is known from Liverpool to San Francisco, and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The cheese factory at Udina was erected by a stock company, composed of the farmers in the neighborhood, in 1870, and has been in operation ever since. Only a small business has been done during the years 1876 and 1877, owing to the financial troubles, which have injured all the industries of the country. The factory at South Elgin was opened in the Spring of 1873, by Tefft & Hoag, the present proprietors, in a building now occupied as a store by Charles Hoag. In March, 1874, the building now used was put up, and there the great celebrity of the butter and cheese manufactured by the company has been attained. The factory possesses peculiar advantages from having three large springs near at hand, of unusual size and containing water at a very low temperature, while the amount of milk received compares favorably with that of any other factory in the United States. A variety store was opened in Udina some fifteen years ago by Wesley Fletcher, and is now used as a dwelling by Milton Harger. There is now but one store in that part of Elgin, and it is kept by Charles Bean.
The South Elgin Fork Factory commenced operations April 1, 1875, under the proprietorship of James H. Gifford. Ten hands are employed, and 200 dozen hay, manure and spading forks manufactured per month. The business has proved successful and the forks hold a high rank in the market. Iron rakes are like- wise made in great numbers. The machinery of the establishment is operated by water power.
In 1876, the South Elgin Steel and Malleable Iron Works commenced the manufacture of skates and small castings, under the control of a joint stock company, with an authorized capital of $15,000. At one time about thirty men were employed. The foundry was entirely new, with blast furnace and capacity for forty molders. A very superior skate was made, probably the best
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Andrew Fingree
UNIVERSALIST MINISTER OF PINGREE GROVE.
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in the market for the price, but owing to general mismanagement, as all the stockholders freely admit, the machinery and buildings were recently sold at Sheriff's sale.
Mr. Panton, the present owner of the West Side Flouring-mill, has a cheese and butter-tub factory which gives employment to six coopers and which con- tains machinery operated by a shaft extending from the adjoining mill.
Another general cooper shop, in the same village, is owned by Charles Klock-steam being the motive power-and requires the services of twelve workmen. According to the testimony of Mr. Hoag, of the neighboring fac- tory, Mr. Klock makes a very superior butter tub.
Aside from the above, South Elgin possesses a tannery, owned by Gahan & Hutchins, employing five men : also three stores, two on the East and one on the West Side.
It now remains for us simply to notice the progress made in the schools of the township since the days when its institutions of learning were limited to the little log school house in the grove near South Elgin. There are now nine school districts outside of the city limits, all of which contain comfortable houses and support schools during the greater part of the year. They are numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11. District No. 2 contains a brick edi- fice a number of years old. All the other houses, including No. 8, the one in South Elgin, are built of wood. The estimated valuation of school property is $25,300.
Elgin Township is Congressional Township 41, North Range 8, East of the Third Principal Meridian. It contains thirteen and a half miles of railroad ; Fox River crosses it further to the east of the center than in any of the other river townships in the county. Tyler Creek traverses its northern sections ; while other small streams flow from the center southward. It is thus well watered, but contains little waste land and is peculiarly adapted to the dairying business, which has been pursued by the inhabitants with such magnificent results.
CITY OF ELGIN.
With some unimportant changes in the relative positions of the savage hordes who occasionally made it their hunting ground, the land now occupied by the city of Elgin remained, in the early Spring of 1835, as it had been since the discovery of the continent.
Early explorations had been confined to the east and south, and, though Scott's army had cleared the way three years previously, the vast resources of this valley were at that date undeveloped; no cabin appeared with the curling smoke from the fire of the pioneer, and no claim lines betokened the earliest settlement. Desolation reigned 'in the midst of the "Garden of the World," and silence, interrupted only by the chirp of some feathered songster, the bark
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of the prairie wolf or the triumphant yell of the dark hunter, as he brought down the vigilant buck.
But the settlers were on their way, and in order to fully comprehend the immediate causes which led to the peopling of Elgin, it will be necessary to retrace our steps to the previous year, when there dwelt in the county of Oneida, State of New York, a man by the name of Hezekiah Gifford. Having heard of a land in the West, fertile beyond all that he had ever scen, wealthy in water privileges, and abounding with ample supplies of wood, "a land of streams," of fields already cleared for the harvest and waiting for the plowman, he sold his property in the East and repaired to Buffalo. Taking passage thence on a steamer for Detroit, with a Mr. Duryea, with whom he had formed an acquaintance in Buffalo, he arrived, after a stormy voyage, went by stage thence to St. Joseph, when he boarded a schooner and was landed in due time safe in the native mud of Chicago. That city-now the pride of the West-was then scarcely a suitable dwelling-place for a colony of prairie dogs or gophers. Its dirt-begrimmed cabin walls and vile streets, in which pigs and geese wal- lowed in filthy happiness, presented no attractive features for any higher orders of creation ; while in place of theaters during the week, and churches on Sun- days, the inhabitants enjoyed daily dog-fights and drunken rows. There were, however, some good and law-abiding citizens even in that hamlet, and the gen- erally depraved condition was owing, in great measure, to the lower classes of emigrants who sought refuge there, and the reeking saloons which were kept open for their especial benefit. While wending his way along the streets of . this " beautiful West," Messrs. Gifford and Duryea deseried a man approach- ing with a yoke of oxen, and hailing him ascertained that his name was Ferson, and that he lived upon the banks of Fox River, the goal for which they had started when they left New York. They accordingly secured places in his cart, and, taking the old army trail, after a weary journey, in which they were fre- quently obliged to walk, were at length landed at the log hut owned by Mr. Ferson and his brother, on the west side of the river, where St. Charles now stands. Having partaken of their hospitality in the shape of some good veni- son steaks and coffee, and obtained the rest of which they were so sorely in need, they proceeded down the river, following an Indian trail to Aurora, where they found a lone cabin and its owner, Joseph McCarty, near by digging granite boulders to form the first dam. From this point, they went to the pres- ent site of Yorkville, thence to Indian Creek and Somonauk, and finally to the vicinity of Blackberry, where they found a man by the name of Hollen- beck, comfortably settled; and having taken up claims near him, returned to New York, where Mr. Gifford directed his steps to the home of his brother, James T. Gifford, in Yates County, and related the story of his adventures.
In such vivid colors did he portray the beauties of the Fox River country, that James T., who was a man of unusual energy, determined to sell his farm at the earliest opportunity and emigrate West in the Spring. Meanwhile, Heze-
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
kiah visited his father's family, in Oneida County, and some friends, in Che- mango County, where he married, and, returning to his brother, who had dis- posed of his property during his short absence, both started with a team and lumber wagon, which was loaded with tools and provisions for man and beast, and arrived in Chicago on the 24th day of March, 1835, having driven the entire distance. Having received glowing accounts of a place then called Mil- waukee Bay, now Milwaukee, they directed their course northward from Chicago with a man named Goodwin ; they did not meet a single soul on the way, and were so poorly supplied with the necessaries of life, they were obliged to divide their few biscuits with their horses. Arriving at their destination, they ascer- tained. to their great disappointment, that all the land about the present city of Milwaukee had been claimed, and accordingly formed the determination to pro- ceed southwesterly to the country visited by Hezekiah in the previous season. The horses which they had ridden from Chicago were accordingly delivered to Mr. Goodwin, who was about to return, and the Giffords took up their line of march across the country, but were soon obliged to return, having lost their way ; and, wandering to the south of Milwaukee, reached the lake at the site of the present city of Racine. Here they became acquainted with one Jack Jumbeau, one of the waifs which the earlier French occupancy had left upon the shore of life, a half-breed trader and trapper, and a fair type of the coureurs du bois, so frequently alluded to in Parkman's admirable History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac. Jack told them that he knew the country well, and that by taking the trail from his door they would reach Fox River in half a day. They, therefore, made the attempt again, and this time successfully, for, at the period stated by the trapper, the stream appeared in the distance, and they were soon upon its solitary banks. Following it to the south, they walked for miles without meet- ing a sign of human habitation or of life until, as they were beginning to be wearied by their tedious journeyings, they discovered a lone Indian in a canoe, whom they hailed and induced to convey them to the opposite bank. Their inquiries of this dusky Charon in regard to settlers were answered unsatisfac- torily, and, night coming on, they slept upon the ground without supper. Upon the earliest break of day, they were up and on the march. Creeks were waded and marshes crossed, yet still nothing but a wilderness spread out before them. At length, after they had been some thirty hours without a morsel of food, Hezekiah Gifford observed a small hut in the distance. With quickening paces they hastened to obtain the succor which it promised, but the "ancient mari- ner's " disappointment awaited them. There were no children playing near its doorway, no obstreperous cur ran out to meet them. " The silence was un- broken," and when they shouted, there was no response. Approaching and peering in, they beheld the body of a dead Pottawattomie warrior, in a sitting posture, wrapped in his blanket and adorned with many trinkets, indicative of his rank and importance. This was all that the hut contained, and it was merely a rude sarcophagus, common among the Indian tribes. Their feelings
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can better be imagined than told, for they were nearly famished, and starva- tion stared them in the face.
Weakened by hunger and travel, they continued southward. Night again settled around them, and with it rain, and they awoke, wet and chilled, from a sleep disturbed by the howling of wild animals near their cold couch. Early in the day, they came to Nipersink Creek, in the present county of McHenry, and were obliged to wade the stream, which was waist-high, holding their clothes above their heads. Having reached a point near the present town of Algon- quin, they were rejoiced at the sight of a human figure moving in the distance. Approaching, they found, to their great joy, that the stranger was a white man, who was at the time engaged in the pioneer employment of splitting rails, and informed the travelers that he worked for Samuel Gillan, whose cabin was near. James Gifford was so rejoiced to hear this that he exclaimed in ecstacy, " Oh, now we'll have a good meal !" and the hired man conducted them to the door, where they were kindly received by Mr. and Mrs. Gillan, and were soon enjoying the good meal anticipated. After a refreshing sleep and a hearty breakfast, they left the dwelling of their liberal host, and a few miles further brought them to the present site of the city of Elgin, where they were enchanted with the beauty of the scenery-the rapidity of the clear stream, the woodland on either bank, almost free from underbrush, and the fields as beautiful as if already waiting the harvest-and here they determined to locate. Accordingly, James T. laid claim to the land still known as "James T. Gifford's plat of Elgin," while his brother took up a tract further south, upon the same side of the river (east), and including the grounds now occupied by the National Watch Factory. Having learned from Mr. Gillan that a Mr. Welch was living at the head of Little Woods, within the present limits of St. Charles Township, they then proceeded to his place, as a mere act of courtesy, and afterward re- turned to Chicago for their horses and wagon. As they were about to leave. that place, two days after, on their return, a man stopped them on Randolph street ; stated that his name was Joseph Kimball ; that he was looking for a mill site ; inquired if they knew of a good location, and their place of residence. On being told that they came from Fox River, the gentleman inquired the way there, received his directions, and the Giffords started for their claims. It may here be mentioned that James T.'s cabin was built within the present limits of the little triangular square near the present residence of Mr. Davidson.
A description of the mode of constructing the houses in the Elgin of that day may not be uninteresting, as contrasted with the modern architecture. The shanties were built of logs, unhewed, and consisted of one or two rooms, accord- ing to the amount of time at the disposal of the builder. In case there were two, they were known as double log houses, and were constructed by piling up two pens side by side. The roofs were of shingles, two feet long and more, split from oak logs, and generally unshaved, and, there being no nails in the settlement, they were bound down by poles laid across them and extending the
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full length of the roof, each tier of shingles resting upon two similar poles which formed the rafters, and ran lengthwise, instead of obliquely, as in these dangerous days. The first binding-pole, and the nearest to the eaves, was held in its place by resting upon two or more wooden pins driven through the shingles, the next one depending for support upon several sticks of proper length, the lower ends of which rested upon the lower pole, while the upper ends formed a base. Thus the entire row of poles were held in position by the pins underneath the lower one. The floors (when they had any) were of , puncheons, and the doors, of the same material, were hung upon wooden hinges. Uncouth as these first cabins must have been, they are said to have afforded excellent shelter for the inmates. The grotesque roofs seldom leaked, and the corn dodgers eaten by their ample fire-places tasted (according to the testimony of the old settlers) as good as the finer fare of the present day by a modern coal stove, behind the solid protection of brick walls.
Mr. Hezekiah Gifford's cabin was built near where the residence recently owned by George S. Bowen stands. The Giffords had not long returned from Chicago when Samuel J., G. W., Russell and Jonathan Kimball, parties with whom Joseph Kimball had communicated, made their appearance at the settle- ment, and announced their intention of making claims in the vicinity. The two previous settlers were, of course, rejoiced at this prospect of having near neigh- bors, gave the visitors a hearty welcome, and the claim lines were soon staked out, Mr. Samuel J. Kimball choosing the land now owned by Walter and Joseph Kimball, his house being still in existence near the residence of the latter; while Mr. Jonathan Kimball also took up a tract upon the West Side, within the present corporation limits. G. W. Kimball settled at first a number of miles south, but subsequently moved to Elgin, where he has since died. Russell Kimball also settled within the city limits, but removed at an early day. Mr. Joseph Kimball, who had made the inquiries of the young men in Chicago, died while on a journey East for his family. During the early Spring of this year, the Giffords went to a small settlement upon the banks of the Du Page and purchased four yoke of oxen, and from thence James T. went to Chicago, where he found his brother Asa* and Mrs. Hezekiah Gifford, who had just arrived from. the East. Accompanying him back to Fox River, Mrs. Gifford was for six weeks the only white woman in the settlement. She had but just established herself in her new home when a company of the "noble sons and daughters of the forest" called upon her-not for the purpose of paying their respects, as civilization would have suggested to their untutored minds-but to beg for flour and other supplies, which the savage is unable to obtain save by trade with the settlers. Often they would bring her fish and venison, which they would offer to exchange for these products so rare among them as to be regarded as dainties, and on one occasion when the lady was alone a band of about twenty walked into the cabin and one essayed to help himself to flour. Mrs. Gifford, although
* Now living in Cook County.
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nearly frightened to death, assumed a bold air, and gave the audacious gentle- man a push which sent him reeling across the cabin and produced shouts of laughter from his companions, who always admire a brave "squaw." They soon left the dwelling without taking further liberties, but meeting Mr. Gifford, were conducted back and presented with all the flour that he could spare. Indeed, it may well be doubted if any could be dispensed with for a less impor- tant consideration than the friendship of the savages, for the scarcity of mills throughout the country was sorely felt at this time. Journeys were made to Green's Mill (now Dayton), and a settlement near Joliet, where a set of mill stones had been attached to a saw-mill, but both of these buildings were contin- ually crowded with customers, and grain was not unfrequently stored in them for a week, awaiting the proper time for grinding. As a previous writer has suggested, they " ground slowly," like the mills of the gods, but, unlike them, not particularly small. But Mr. James T. Gifford, equal to any emergency, conceived the idea of constructing a cheap substitute, for pulverizing the wheat and corn nearer home. An immense stump was hollowed out to form a mortar, within which a huge pestle was fitted, and attached to a long pole, balanced upon a post like the well-sweep which raised the " old oaken bucket;" and here the grain was pounded as occasion demanded.
And now the settlers began to feel the need of a road to the outer world, and accordingly one was staked to Meacham's Grove, since known as Blooming- dale. Late in the same Spring, James Gifford visited his former home in the East, and upon his return was accompanied by his family, consisting of his wife and five children, and also by his two sisters, Experience and Harriet, the latter of whom still resides in Elgin.
In June, 1835, P. J. Kimball, Sr., settled upon the spot where Mr. Bor- den's dwelling now stands, and with him came two ladies-rare accessions to the Fox River settlements then-Mrs. Kimball and her daughter. And now the hope, presumptuous though it at first seemed, began to dawn that there might one day be a town in that beautiful valley, and Mr. James T. Gifford startled his brother and sister-in-law one day by saying, without previous warn- ing, " What shall we call the town ?" Hezekiah arose in astonishment, while his wife nearly fainted, but, regaining her breath, she gasped some reply which indicated that she was not a credulous woman and was not to be imposed upon. " Well," said James T., "I have a Scotch name for it, and a short one, ' Elgin.' " It should here be observed that Mr. Gifford was very fond of the old tune by the same name, which Burns has immortalized, and likewise of old " Dundee," and that he had previously applied the latter to a small village in New York. But Mrs. Gifford could not recover in a moment, and now ven- tured to inquire if they really supposed stages would ever run there. " To be sure we do," replied both the brothers, and, in 1837, the energetic James T. having laid out in the previous year the Galena road as far as Belvidere, Mrs. Gifford saw two stages pass in one day into Elgin. Mr. Gifford had
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labored diligently to secure the passage of the stages through the town, as there was some effort made to establish the line by way of St. Charles. He even went to Washington and spent several weeks there, at his own private expense, presenting inducements for a mail route through his place. His labors were signally successful, and the place formerly know as State Road became legally Elgin. The first post office was established in his house in January, 1837, the mail being carried a short time from Chicago on horseback. The same log building served also as the first school house in the Summer of 1836, Miss Harriet Gifford being the " wielder of the birch and rule." Her juvenile mon- archy contained but ten subjects, who are said to have been governed with skill and kindness.
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