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 36
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Religious exercises commenced in Elgin upon the first Sunday after the arrival of the Gifford family, when Miss Harriet Gifford read a sermon in her brother James' log cabin. Later, regular services were held each Sabbath in the same dwelling, conducted by Russell Kimball or Deacon Philo Hatch, the latter having settled upon the East Side, upon the lot since known as the Webb place. The James T. Gifford house seems to have been the first public build- ing for all purposes-preaching, courts and public meetings-and was even of more importance than town houses to larger places.
On the 4th of July, 1836, the first celebration of the people of Elgin, or " State Road," as it was still called, occurred, as follows ; The road previously blazed to Meacham's Grove was such that the wayfaring man might err therein unless diligent attention was given to the blazed trees through the woodland and the furrows across the prairie. Accordingly, several teams were attached to a fallen tree at Elgin, and the settlers, turning out en masse, drove them to a point half way between the two places, leaving a deep track the entire way, and were there met by a delegation from the grove with a similar path marker, and all were refreshed by an Independence dinner of corn cake, cold bacon and coffee.
At an election held for Lake Precinct, at the house of Thomas H. Thomp- son, within the limits of the present township of Dundee, on the first day of the same month, Jonathan Kimball was chosen Justice of the Peace, and S. J. Kimball Constable for Elgin.
On the 10th of October following, the first election in the town of Elgin was held, at the public house of Hezekiah Gifford, erected the same year, upon the site afterward occupied by the Presbyterian Church. Political life, thus commenced, received new vigor on the 9th of October, in the following year, when the second election in the place occurred at the same hotel, which was then owned by Eli Henderson. On this occasion, James T. Gifford was elected Justice of the Peace, and Eli Henderson, Constable.
The year 1836 is remembered as the date when the first religious society was regularly organized in the town. In February of that year, Rev. John H. Prentiss, of Joliet, and Rev. N. C. Clark, then of Naperville, met, by invita-
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tion, a small congregation at the house of J. T. Gifford, where, after a sermon by the former gentleman, it was determined to form a church as soon as con- venient.
In the following May, the determination was carried into effect, under the direction of Father Clark, of the Congregational denomination. Mr. Clark subsequently removed to Elgin, where he enjoyed for many years the love and reverence of all his townsmen, and died lamented by all.
The first male white child born in Elgin appeared upon the stage of life November 28, 1836, and is now well known to the citizens of the place as Joseph Kimball. The first death, that of Miss Mary Ann Kimball, a daughter of P. J. Kimball, occurred in May of the same year; and the first marriage, at the house of Jonathan Kimball, when his daughter was joined in wedlock with Sidney Kimball. It will be observed from the above that the Kimball family was sufficiently numerous to form a respectable hamlet by themselves.
The first cemetery was situated upon land now owned by Mrs. Horace French, and there the body of the lady mentioned above was buried. The later burying ground was laid out in 1844, and the remains of many of those depos- ited in the former ground were disinterred and removed there. Through the care of a former sexton of this necropolis, a perfect record has been kept of all bodies deposited therein-a volume which cannot be too highly appreciated.
In 1836, the Indians left, to the great joy of the settlers; for, although friendly and generally harmless, they were a source of constant dread to the timid, and were more bold and impudent in their importunity than the tramps who now traverse the country, from Maine to California. The thought that a licensed rattlesnake sleeps upon the doorstep is not pleasant to a brave man, even if he knows that the reptile may be propitiated by an abundance of food, and by carefully observing the rule to go around him ; and a very similar senti- ment may be said to have existed in the minds of the early pioneers toward their red neighbors. They dared not use them otherwise than respectfully. Their demand for "pennyack," "quashkin " and " goonatosh " always received an answer of peace and a liberal donation, even if the settler had scarcely enough of these supplies to last his own family a single day, for he knew that the slightest insult would rouse the war hounds from the lair. Despite all the sentiment which has been wasted upon them, a careful study of their habits, from the most favorable reports of those acquainted with them, will convince any sane man that the " abused" Pottawattomies were, even in the most favor- able ligat in which we can view them, a lazy rabble of armed thieves and va- grants. In the year of their departure, the Elgin people received a terrible fright, by a courier arriving in the village, from the north, with a report that the Chippeways had dug up the hatchet, and were on their way toward Fox River in overwhelming numbers. A public meeting was called and measures of defense at once taken, but the Indians failed to make an appearance, and the settlement was troubled with reports of them no more.
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
In the Fall of 1836, a frame addition was made to Gifford's Tavern, which was originally of very moderate dimensions for a public house, being only 16x24 feet. Until April, 1875, this addition was standing.
Not long after this, the Elgin House, kept for many years by a man by the name of Tibballs, was erected by William S. Shaw, at the corner of Chicago and Center streets, where it was considered one of the most magnificent hotels in the West. A part of it is now the Elgin House, kept by William Spend- love. Tibballs left Elgin when the railroad came, confident that grass would thenceforth grow in the streets ; and in the Spring of 1851, the hotel was con- verted into a seminary, under the management of Misses E. and E. E. Lord, now of Chicago.
The closely contested election for Governor, in 1837, and the Congressional contest between Stephen A. Douglass and John T. Stewart, aroused a vast amount of enthusiasm in Elgin, and nearly every legal voter is supposed to have cast his ballot. The election was held at Eli Henderson's house, and resulted in 47 votes for Carlin and Anderson, Democratic candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor; while Edwards and Davidson, Opposition, received 26 votes. The number cast for Douglas was 45, to 26 for Stewart. The Con- gressional District included nearly all Northern Illinois.
In 1837, Mr W. C. Kimball came to the growing hamlet and set about developing its resources with Mr. S. J. Kimball and James T. Gifford. A dam. was built across the river by Folsom Bean, a mill-race dug upon the West Side by Mr. Kimball and upon the east by Mr. Gifford, while the former put up a saw-mill and the latter quite a good grist-mill, which stood for years at the head of the race. Later, it was used for a slaughter-house, and finally burned by incendiaries. An old settler states that it required all the men then living be- tween St. Charles and Alconquin to raise the saw-mill. It is still standing.
In June, 1838, Dr. Tefft, who, as has been heretofore seen, had been in the township since 1835, removed to the village, where he built the first frame house in the place, upon land now occupied by the market. About the time of his arrival, another physician, Dr. Elmore, settled upon the place now occupied by Mr. Carpenter. In the following year he commenced keeping hotel in the house built by Hezekiah Gifford for that purpose, and left the town shortly after.
About the same year, one Judd, Elgin's first blacksmith, made his appear- ance in the village. Previously, a brother of Judd had preceded him and burned a coal-pit for the coming smith. While engaged in this work, a small shanty provided for his accommodation caught fire and burned down. This was the first conflagration in Elgin. The blacksmith left about 1839, and was followed by another worker in iron and steel-Jason House by name.
Several other arrivals should be noticed at this time, among them B. Healy, the first harness-maker; Harvey Raymond, Burgess Truesdell, Alfred Hadlock, William Shaw, John and Vincent Lovell. Elgin people, as we have seen, had suffered great inconvenience, during the early years of the settlement, from the
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lack of a bridge. On one occasion, it is said that two young ladies, who were visiting upon the West Side, were obliged to take off their shoes and stockings and wade the river to reach the opposite bank. Such a state of affairs began to appear extremely scandalous to the village, and the citizens resolved upon the immediate erection of a bridge. A rude wooden structure was accordingly raised in 1837, one of the abutments standing immediately in front of, and within two or three feet of, Healy's shop, so much has the channel of the stream been narrowed since that day. In 1849, the bridge was carried away by a freshet, and was replaced by a more substantial one of the same material, which remained until 1866, when it was removed for a handsome iron one. The Elgin people now imagined that they had secured for themselves a permanent bond between the river banks, and one which would defy alike the wear of time and the fury of the elements. What, then, was their disappointment when it went down beneath the weight of a drove of cattle, and when, after being replaced, a portion of the new structure shared a like fate on the 4th of July, 1869. The curse of Sisyphus seemed to have been imposed upon them : but they bravely recommenced their work, and this time with success, for, after the third attempt, the bridge has held itself in place. A new iron bridge of different design was constructed in 1870 from a point near the watch factory to the oppo- ยท site side.
Mercantile enterprise was first displayed in Elgin by the appearance, in 1836, of a frame store on Block 9, upon the north side of Chicago street. In the same year in which it was raised, Samuel Stoars commenced selling goods in a small log store, and was soon after joined in business with F. Bean, the partner- ship continuing for several years. The dam, built by the latter, went out the following April, but was replaced by another during the Summer.
Chicago was now beginning to rise from the mnd, and a market could generally be found there for all the Western products. A reliable authority states that from 1838 onward, wheat never sold for less than thirty cents, nor corn for less than twenty cents per bushel, and pork was often firmat $1.50 ; and at that time prices seldom rose far above these figures. Let farmers who complain of the present hard times read this and be happy. As early as 1835, Mr. J. T. Gifford had sketched a plan of that part of the city now known as J. T. Gifford's plat of Elgin, extending from Division street on the north, to Prairie street on the south, and from Chapel street to the east bank of the river ; but there is no record of a survey among the plats in the Recorder's office until August 3, 1842, where we are informed that a described tract upon the east side of the river was regularly laid off in lots and streets, for the proprietor, James T. Gifford, by J. P. Wagner, County Surveyor. On the 12th day of Feb- ruary, in the following year, a similar service was performed by the same gentle- man for W. C. Kimball, the proprietor of the West Side. Settlers for all points West had been pouring into Elgin almost daily for more than a year, when, in 1838, B. W. Raymond and his partner, S. N. Dexter, appeared in the village
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
and bought one-half of the J. T. Gifford claim. To Mr. Raymond Elgin is greatly indebted for many of the improvements which followed, for although not an actual resident, he displayed a remarkable interest in its progress, contributed liberally for the establishment and support of the Elgin Academy, was for a long time one of the leading merchants, was a partner in the foundry of Augustus Adams & Co., instrumental in establishing the woolen mill built by S. N. Dexter, in 1844, and in securing the location of the watch factory, of which he became President. During the year 1838, the Baptists, who had met for some time in the house of Hezekiah Gifford, organized a society under the Rev. J. E. Ambrose, and for several subsequent years met with other religious organizations in a frame building, 25x30 feet, which stood at the northeast cor- ner of Du Page and Geneva streets, and is still well remembered by the Elgin people as the Elgin Chapel. It was raised principally through the liberality of Mr. Gifford, and was used both for church and school purposes, and was sur- mounted by a small tower, and the first bell hung in the village. Several denominations were nurtured during their infancy within its walls. We will have occasion to allude to it again. From 1839 to 1840, no extensive enter- prises were launched, but the steady growth of the town continued during the interval, and new arrivals constantly appeared. In the latter year, great interest was taken in the Presidental election, the Whig element having attained con- siderable strength in the village. As a list of the voters may be of interest as illustrative of the increase in the population during five years, and the political changes since that day, we give the following as recorded. The names prefixed with a W. represent those who voted the Whig ticket:
Colton Knox, Edward E. Harvey Geo. W. Renwick, David Hunter, (W.) Erasmus Davis, Philo S. Petterson, (W.) Benjamin Hall, (W.) Thomas Frazier, (W.) Wm. V. Clark, (W.) Thomas Hammers, (W.) James P. Corron, Wm. Conley, Thomas Calvert, Aaron Harwood, Lewis Ray, Charles H. Hayden, Joseph S. Burdwick, Anthony Phillips, Caleb Kepp, W. S. Shaw, (W.) Luther C. Stiles, Asahel B. Hinsdell, Seth Green, George Hammer, Justice Stowers, Hiram Williams, Jonathan Kimball, Joseph Tefft, Wm. C. Kimball, (W.) Burgess Truesdell, (W.) Charles W. Mappa, (W.) George Hassan, (W.) Asa Merrill, John W. Switzer, James Hoag, (W.) Otis Hinckley, (W.) Abel Walker, Francis Wells, Samuel Waterman, David Hammer, David Welch, John Hill, (W.) George E. Smith, (W.) James Sutherland, (W.) Finley Frazier, Daniel B. Taylor, Geo. W. Hammer, Geo. R. Dyer, (W.) Lorenzo Whipple, (W.) Erastus Bailey, (W.) Ly- man Rockwood, Guy Adams, (W.) Myron Smith, (W.) Lewis Tupper (W.), Ralph Stowell, Whitman Underwood, (W.) Halsey Rosenkrans. Lyman Williams, Jonathan Tefft, Jr., (W) Moses Wanzer, (W.) Norman Stephens, (W.) S. A. Wolcott, Ransom Olds, Jas. M. Howard, (W.) Ralph Grow, (W.) Perry Stephens, (W.) Calvin Carr, Ira Earl (W.), Solomon Hamilton, (W.) Asa Gifford, John B. Scovell, (W.) John Lowell, (W.) E. A. Mittimore, William B. Howard, (W.) Aaron Bailey, Alfred Hadlock, Wm. W. Welch, (W.) Harvey Gage, Elisha
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Sprague, John Flinn, Pierce Tobin, (W.) Benjamin Burritt, (W.) N. C. Clark, (W.) Walcott Hart, Benjamin Williams, Geo. W. Kimball, (W.) Harvey Ray- mond, (W.) Charles B. Tucker, Jesse Abbott, Isaac Stone, John S. Calvert, (W.) Hezekiah Gifford, Amos Tefft, (W.) Wm. R. Mann, Lewis Eaton, Abraham Leatherman, (W.) Peter Burritt, Daniel Leatherman, Samuel Parker, Nathan E. Daggett, (W.) Craig Duncan, (W.) Thomas Mitchell, (W.) Calvin Hall, Adin Mann, Isaac West, Jonathan Tefft, A. W. Hoag, (W.) Anson Leonard, John Guptill, Joseph Corron, (W.) L. S. Tyler, George Hammer 2d, Amos Clark, Elijah Clark, (W.) Philo Sylla, (W.) James H. Scott, (W.) Philip H. Sargent (W.), Solomon H. Hamilton, (W.) John Ternworth, (W.) Vincent S. Lovell, Sidney Heath, (W.) James Parker, (W.) Orange Parker, James Todd, (W.) Chaplin W. Merrill, Horace Heath, Richard A. Heath, Hiram George, (W.) William A. Moulton. Simon Deke, W. M. Bellows, Abel Pierce, (W.) Joshua E. Ambrose, Benjamin Adams, Samuel Minard, (W.) Asa Rosenkrans, (W.) P. J. Kimball, Jr., (W.) Charles Merrifield, (W.) Byron Smith, (W.) John June, S. P. Burdick, Owen Burk, Aurelius Barney, Chas. S. Tibballs, (W.) Artemus Hewett, (W.) Christopher Branham, Daniel Guptail, (W.) Humphrey Huckins, (W.) Henry Serman, Marcus Ranstead, (W.) A. D. Gifford, (W.) Alphonso Whipple, Josiah Stephens, (W.) Alfred Gurlean, (W.) Geo. Sawyer, Samuel Kimball, Geo. F. Taylor, (W.) P. M. Goodrich, (W.) Anson Under- wood, (W.) Jas. H. Rowley, (W.) Jolin Cromer, (W.) David Corlis, (W.) Geo. W. Rowley, (W.) Alexander Plummer, Wm. W. Welch, Luther Herriek, (W.) Halsey Adams, Alfred C. Ordway, Samuel Hunting, Russell F. Kimball, Abraham Cawood, (W.) E. K. Mann, N. K. Abbott, (W.) Horace Benjamin, (W.) Thomas Bateman, Samuel J. Kimball, Berry Branham, Wm. Plummer Kimball, A. S. Kimball, Joseph Kimball, Charles Kimball, (W.) Aaron Porter, (W.) Gould Hinman, (W.) A. R. Porter, Jason House, (W.) Jarvis Smith, (W.) Seth Slawell, Franklin Bascomb, Mark Adams, (W.) Stephen De Long, James West, Thomas Burbanks, Moses Gray, Elijah Waterman, Almond Fuller, (W.) Jas. T. Gifford, John Ranstead, D. B. McMellen, Isaac Hammer, (W.) Isaac Otis, Rowland Lee, Alexander McMellen, Folsom Bean, Judah H. Fuller, Philo Hatch, Amos Stone. It will be seen that this list contains the voters of the entire township.
In the same year (1840), the legal profession was first represented in Elgin, the practitioner being Edward E. Harvey, a former student of Joseph Churchill, Esq., of Batavia, and a brother of Geo. P. Harvey, still a resident of the city. Mr. Harvey was a good speaker and a successful lawyer, remaining in Elgin until 1847, when, having received a commission as Captain, he raised a company of volunteers and led them to the seat of war in Mexico, where he died in the following year, near Cerro Gordo, at the age of 32. In 1841, Isaac G. Wilson, the son of Judge Wilson, of Batavia, settled in Elgin and commenced the legal practice. He was a thoroughly educated attorney, being a graduate of the Cambridge, Mass., law school, and held the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court
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in& McHenry County. Having practiced in Elgin until 1849, he was then elected Judge of the County Court, and in 1850 removed to Geneva. In 1852, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, which office he held until 1867; he is now practicing his profession in Chicago. From 1846 to 1850, Judge Wilson and Sylvanus Wilcox were law partners. The practice thus ably commenced was continued by-Edmund Gifford, from 1845 to 1861; Paul R. Wright and A. J. Waldron; Charles H. Morgan, from 1847 to 1863; E. S. Joslyn, from 1852 to the outbreak of the rebellion; John S. Riddle, from 1857 to 1862; Thomas W. Grosvenor, from 1858 to 1861; Joseph Healy, E. W. Vining, A. H. Barry, R. N. Botsford, J. W. Ranstead, Wm. II. Wing, W. F. Lynch, Eugene Clifford, Henry B. Willis, Cyrus K. Wilbur, John McBride and others. Many of the above left their professions to serve their country in the late war, and some died from wounds received upon the battle field.
Several of the medical profession have already been noticed. Among others who followed, Dr. Anson Root deserves especial notice as one who assisted in building up the town, having purchased one-fourth of the original James T. Gifford claim and settled with his family, about 1839, in a log house, which occupied a position near the present residence of J. A. Carpenter. His death occurred in Elgin in February, 1866. In the following years (from 1839), Drs. Treat, Fairie, R. S. Brown, E. Tefft, C. Torry, J. Daggett, E. Sanford, V. C. McClure, O. Harvey, T. Kerr, Paoli, E. Winchester, Peebles, B. P. Hubbard, E. A. Merrifield, B. E. Dodson, Wetherel, D. O. B. Adams, N. F. Burdick, Fred Bartels, Berkhauser, George Wilbar, Cutts and Pulaski successively appeared in the town, and forming leagues with the naturally salubrious climate, have generally succeeded in keeping the population in an excellent state of preservation. But in 1845, intermittent and bilious fevers, which had so afflicted all the settlements, became epidemic and raged with fearful havoc. The inhab- itants became panic-stricken, and fled the place; nearly every remaining settler was prostrated with the prevalent disease, and it is even asserted that one man, whose wife had died from its effects, could with difficulty find sufficient assistance to bury her in a decent manner. James T. Gifford removed to a little village in Wisconsin, with the hope of protecting his children from the general destruction, but the pestilence followed him, and two of his family died there. Returning after the health of the village was restored, he remained in active business until August, 1850, when he fell a victim to the Asiatic cholera. He was one of the noblest and most generous men that ever lived, a philanthropist by nature, and his memory is still cherished by the inhabitants of the city, to the prosperity of which he contributed so largely. The spot where his cabin stood, although now in the heart of the town, has been set apart from the encroachments of business blocks and dwellings, and is devoted to the public. as was the life of the truly good man who once dwelt there.
But, returning to 1840, we find an important change in process in the business part of Elgin. Previous to that date, it was believed that the " hub "
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
of the town-the grand center from which all the mercantile interests were to radiate-was to be the part of Center street near its intersection with Chicago street, but about this time Mr. Raymond erected the store formerly occupied by Stewart's bakery, and, subsequently, business centered there. The post office was also moved to the building since known as Roberts' meat market, which also served as the office of Judge Wilson. A little later, great financial difficul- ties arose, and threatened, for a time, to suspend the progress of the town. The Illinois State Bank, the great source of supply to the West, refused to redeem its notes, and went down amid the ruin of thousands ; but the Marine and Fire Insurance Company's notes were substituted as legal tender, and Elgin once more continued in her upward career to success. About 1840, Burgess Truesdell established an extensive cocoonery in the village, and quantities of the silk manufactured went into the market, but not proving financially successful the enterprise was relinquished.
The first train entered Elgin early in February, 1850, and the occasion was one of great rejoicing to the inhabitants. The village remained for two years the western terminus of the Chicago and Galena track, and the swarms of ex- plorers, settlers and pleasure-seekers for all points West were landed at her depot, where crowds of hackmen met them with their discordant yells and efforts to carry them to any hotel in town, or wherever they might wish to travel west of the place. The old depot still stands near the building recently erected near the old Raymond store, used later by the Stewarts as a bakery. That corner is historic, and those years were years of wonderful progress for Elgin. Hotels sprang up, business prospered, and the streets were filled with residents and strangers daily. Among the new publie houses was the one erected by P. J. Kimball, Jr., near the depot, and, when the road crossed the river, Mr. W. C. Kimball built the Waverly House, still well-known through- ont the Northwest. But like all the towns along the river, Elgin was doomed to a season of great business stagnation, and the night was approaching. The railroad was continued west, business left with it, and during the years which followed, the only life which the village contained proceeded from several im- portant manufacturies, among them an extensive tannery, owned by B. W. Raymond. For a time, it was hoped that the Fox River Valley Road would be completed to the great lumber districts of Wisconsin, and thus open a trade in that product, but the road ended at Geneva, Wis., and the village sunk down deeper than ever into the lethargy which the removal of the western terminus had produced. Great manufacturing companies, however, were induced, by the favorable situation and the wise liberality of the citizens, to establish their shops and factories in the town, and thus, as will be seen, the dying commercial interests were revived.
In February, 1854, Elgin became a city, with Dr. Joseph Tefft for the first Mayor, and Charles S. Clark, R. L. Yarwood, L. C. Stiles, P. R. Wright, E. A. Kimball and George P. Harvy the first Board of Aldermen. The gen-
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eral financial cloud of 1857 lowered gloomily over the young city, but she had begun to recover her wonted prosperity, when the news of the capture of Fort Sumter threw the entire place into the wildest indignation. In one week after the tidings were received, the first company for the first regiment of Illinois volunteers was ready to leave for the battle field. No town in the county has a more glorious war record than Elgin, as will appear upon a careful scrutiny of statistics given upon another page of this work. The first company was mus- tered into the service upon the 15th of April, 1861, and was again mustered in, after its first term of service had expired. 'Another company entered the service from Elgin, with the Thirty-sixth Regiment, in 1861; a third was con- tributed to the Fifty- second in the same year, and later in the Fall, a fourth to the Fifty-fifth. The Forty-eighth Regiment was enrolled in 1862, and in it went a large quota from Elgin. She also contributed a company to the Sixty-ninth Regiment-three months men-and on the 5th of September, 1862, sent two companies for the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh. The Elgin Battery was mustered into the service in the Fall of the same year; and in the Summer of 1864, two companies left the place with the One Hundred and Forty-first Reg- innent. Aside from the above glorious list, individuals left as volunteers in other regiments, throughout the entire struggle. Scarcely a battle was fought, with- out some representatives of the patriotic little Bluff City participating therein, and the names of some of them are immortal. But long before the outbreak of the war, and years previous to other events above recorded, the
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