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 42
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* This was probably the second death in the Township. J. B. Moore's, who died at the house of his son-in-law, was the first.
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
was covered, raised his bid, and obliged him to pay over sixteen dollars an acre for one of the lots, while the other was raised to such a high price that he refused to contend for it longer, and it was struck off to another man. Mr. Isbell was naturally enraged, and, going to Chicago upon his earliest opportunity, entered at the land office the claims of his neighbors who had wronged him, and pur- chased them at Government rates. The owners declared him a thief. and threat- ened to shoot him, but he coolly replied that he would re-deed the land on con- dition that the balance above the appraised sum which he had paid for his ten acres should be returned to him, together with the price which he had paid for their land. Resistance was useless, and the gentlemen reluctantly con- sented.
Even at that early time, malefactors had begun to disturb the peace of the generally tranquil township, and there is a report of money having been stolen from one of the settlers and an innocent man being charged with the offense. Hog and stock thieves were not uncommon in the county previous to 1840, and Kaneville had her quota. The anecdotes of their unlawful proceedings are, some of them at least, amusing, and two of them, although the scenes recorded occurred outside of Kaneville Township, may be recorded here. The name of Rev. Mr. Elmore is prominent in the history of the northern part of St. Charles as an educated and philanthropic preacher of the Baptist persuasion. He was never wealthy, although his acres were broad and fair, and he was often per- plexed, during the first years of his residence in the county, to obtain a com- fortable subsistence for himself and family. One Fall, in regard to the date of which deponent testifieth not, he had prepared several hogs for the market, and was nearly ready to butcher them, when on an evil morning he awoke, and, proceeding to feed them according to his usual custom, he found no trace of them left. He rubbed his eyes to be sure that he was awake, and then exam- ined the premises, but with no satisfactory results. There was not a single clue to the mystery. They had gone, and had evidently " gone up," too, for there was no indication of their having escaped upon the surface of the earth. He had read of children being " spirited " away, but the thought of three or four hogs, each weighing 500 pounds, being conveyed from this world in that manner was of itself sufficiently absurd, and was forthwith dismissed. After a few inquiries among his neighbors, he gave up all hope of recovering the prop- erty, offered a prayer for the thief, we suppose, as was his duty, and settled down to the practice of the more careful economy which his reduced circum- stances necessitated. Years rolled on, successive Autumns changed to Winters, Winters to Springs, and Summers to Falls, but the lost pork never returned and was at length forgotten. Nearly a decade had passed, and Mr. Elmore's land had increased in value and his condition in life become more favorable, when a stranger approached his gate one day with a flock of sheep.
" I believe these sheep belong to you," said the man.
" You must be mistaken," replied Mr. Elmore. "I have bought no sheep."
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
" Do you remember, a number of years ago," continuned the stranger, " that you lost some fat hogs one night ?"
The reverend gentleman assured him that the circumstance was still vividly impressed upon his mind.
" Well," he replied, "the man who stole those hogs lives in Wisconsin. During the years which have elapsed since that night, the crime has rankled in his bosom until he has been driven to seek peace of mind by making ample restitution. He accordingly presents you with these sheep, sufficiently valu- able to pay the principal and interest for the pork, and requests that you will accept them, asking no questions, and thus restore him to the condition from which he fell when he stole those hogs."
He opened the gate, and the sheep ran into the yard, while Mr. Elmore again rubbed his eyes, not quite sure that he was awake. Then, bidding him good day, the man walked rapidly off, and Mr. Elmore never saw him again.
Aurora and the vicinity were notorious as the abiding places of thieves and robbers, who carried on a good trade in ill-gotten spoils. One of them, a lank and ungainly reprobate, "stole a pig and home he ran." He was arrested and indubitable evidence given of his guilt. B. F. Fridley was engaged to defend him, and, if the story is true, informed his client that his only hope was in taking "leg bail." The day of the trial arrived, witnesses were called and examined, and a clear case proven against the defendant. The counsel for the plaintiff deemed it unnecessary to say a word, and delivered the case to the jury without any attempt to influence them. Fridley then arose and delivered an eloquent harangue. He ranged the fields of law from the days of Black- stone to his own times, he reveled amid the clouds of fancy, built up men of straw and knocked them down again, and ended with a splendid peroration in which he appealed to the jury, in the name of the American eagle and the principles of eternal justice, to protect accused innocence from the defaming tongue of slander. "Now," said he, " gentlemen of the jury, I have proven this man's innocence beyond the possibility of a reasonable doubt !" and with this he emphasized his last word by a tremendous blow upon the table, which knocked it over in front of the Sheriff, whereupon the "innocent client" darted from the door as if all the warlocks and witches in " Kirk Alloway" were at his heels. He had gained at least a half mile before the Court awoke from his astonishment, and then pursuit was useless .*
One of the earliest roads in the County was laid through Kaneville Town- ship, from Sugar Grove to Ohio Grove. The first claim mentioned as pur- chased at the Government sale by James Isbell was located on Section 21. M. M. Ravlin and John Bunker were the first Justices of the Peace, and were elected in 1845, under the old precinct division of the county. In the same year, Rev. Thomas Ravlin purchased the claim on which Kaneville village now stands of Willard Inmann, for about three dollars per acre, and afterward
* We give this story merely as one of the popular legends of the county, not believing for a moment that so hon- orable a gentleman as B. F. Fridley ever connived at the escape of villainy from justice.
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
entered and purchased it of the Government. His house stood near the present site of the Baptist Church. The Avon post office was short lived, and, in 1848, the office at Kaneville village was established under N. N. Ravlin, and was at first supplied by the Sugar Grove office. The name of the township was changed upon the year of its establishment as follows : Nearly all Northern Illinois formed at that time one Congressional District, and " Long John" Wentworth was the member of Congress from that district. A petition was presented for a post office, to be called Royalton ; but upon making the appli- cation it was ascertained that there was another office of the same name in the State. Not wishing to disappoint his constituents, Long John substituted, upon the spur of the moment, the name of Kaneville, and told the people that they might change it at their convenience if it was not satisfactory. It met with general approval, and instead of changing the name of the office, the town- ship also was henceforth known as Kaneville. The village has been supplied with daily mails and stages for about fifteen years from Blackberry Station. About 1852, William Hall built a small hotel, which was the only public place of entertainment in the village until 1869, when B. & A. Carey erected the present ample addition. In 1855, preparations were made by the Baptist Society to build its first house of worship, which was dedicated in October of the same year. The church has greatly increased since its organization, and is now prosperous. A Methodist Episcopal Church was organized early at Black- berry, and removed to Kaneville about the same time as the Baptist organiza- tion, where for several years it enjoyed, with the latter congregation, alternate preaching at the old village school house. A church edifice was at length erected, in which Rev. S. Stover preached the first sermon, and this building was replaced in the Fall of 1875 by the present elegant structure. The old school house was superseded in the Summer of 1857 by the building still in use, in which N. F. Nichols, now a lawyer in Aurora, was the first principal. The first store in the village, as well as in the township, was built in the Fall of 1852, by one Goodwin, sold to Hathorn, and at length went into the possession of B. A. Coy, who sold to J. H. Scott, the present proprietor. It has been much enlarged since its erection by Goodwin, and contains an unusually large stock of goods for a country store, the sales amounting to from $35,000 to $40,000 per annum. Frank Perry started in business at his present stand, on the opposite side of the street in 1874. A Catholic Church was organized early in Kaneville Township, and subsequently removed to Lodi, in the history of which a sketch of it will be found. The township contains at the present time eight school houses, all frame buildings, and a majority of them well adapted to the purpose for which they were constructed. The one in District No. 8 was put up in 1872, at a cost of $1,000; and the one in District No. 3 in 1876, at about the same price. The entire valuation of school property is $6,500; the assessed valuation of the township, $586,542. The farms of Kane- ville Township are surpassed by few in the world, and the farm houses are
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
among the most elegant in the county. The original houses of the old settlers have disappeared, as the above statement would imply, and owing to the excel- lence of the soil, stimulated by the wise and frugal management of the land- owners, they were able, when the time came, to rebuild, to replace the log huts and slab shanties by mansions, many of which might well be used as archi- tectural models by the farmers throughout the entire country. Their clean white walls may be seen across the rolling prairie for miles, contributing to the general beauty of the scene, and contrasting strongly with the dark fields of corn which every Autumn sun will find waving around them. The population of the township, by the census of 1870, was 1,003. It lies south of Virgil, joins Blackberrry upon the west, and is Congressional Town 89, North of Range 6, East of the Third Principal Meridian.
VIRGIL TOWNSHIP.
The Spring of 1837 found the territory now embraced within the township of Virgil unsettled, save by three isolated families who had sought homes there during the previous season. The extensive sloughs spread over the region traversed by the crooked and insignificant Kishwaukee had delayed the peopling of these otherwise rich and desirable sections for many moons after the alluvial lands along Fox River had been subjected to the plow and the smoke had arisen from settlers' cabins throughout the entire valley, from Algonquin to Ottawa. The old Oregon and St. Charles Road had been laid out two years before the period of which we write, and traversed for miles a country in which there was not a single white inhabitant. North of this, and likewise extending from east to west, the road from St. Charles to Coltonville, the defunct capital of De Kalb County, was surveyed by Capt. Barnes, in 1837. Thus Virgil be- came one of the few townships in the county which had roads before it con- tained inhabitants. Aside from the cause mentioned which retarded the settle- ment, and which has now in a great measure disappeared, leaving Virgil one of the best farming townships in Northern Illinois, there was one procceding from other than natural sources. Early in 1836, Luther Merrill, with his family, from the State of New Hampshire, found his way to the eastern edge of the town- ship, south of the center, and, having erected a miserable l'og hut, laid claim to all the country extending from the southern line of the town north to Lilly Lake, near the residence of James Outhouse, and west to De Kalb County. An old settler declares with reckless hyperbole that his claim included all God's creation, and that he would have taken De Kalb County in addition if the rest had not been all that he could conveniently watch. The general ver- dict of those who knew him pronounced Mr. Merrill a man of unusual energy. His family has now left the country. The land monopoly which he formed had the effect which might have been expected, until settlers utterly disregarded his
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
claim, as they should have done from the first, and established themselves upon reasonably large tracts, without asking his consent or paying his exorbitant prices.
Itinerant preachers had visited Virgil previous to 1837, and it is difficult to decide who was the first of these missionaries. Though not inspired with the zeal of the Jesuits who had entered Illinois more than a century and a quarter before, they were still, as a class, devout and conscientious men, working for the glory of God and the good of their race rather than for any personal ambi- tion or emolument. We will start with one who left St. Charles in the Fall of 1838, on the Oswego Road, and, following him on his journey to De Kalb County, will there leave him to pursue his way, but will rejoin him as he enters Virgil on his return trip by way of the only remaining road across the town- ship at that time. He is an honest and consistent follower in the path that John Wesley laid out, and as he enters upon an old gray horse the country since named Virgil, his eyes are opened for sinners to save. It is late in the Fall, and the occasional patches of woodland, dyed in carmine and gold, and resplendent beneath the last ray of the setting sun, inspire his mind with vague fancies of the beautiful as he rides along. He is not a man of sentiment or one accustomed to commune with Nature, yet even for him the glory of the scene through which he passes has its inspiration. But the thought that the hour of supper has arrived inspires him more, and now, a small cabin appearing, he de- termines to alight and ask the hospitality which his stomach demands. He is kindly received, as all travelers were in those days, and is soon seated by the rude fire-place, asking questions. From the replies given he ascertains that the name of his host is John B. Moore, former resident of Wood County, Ohio, and . that he came to Chicago, with his family, consisting of wife and nine children, in July, 1836, and, continuing his journey thence without delay, crossed the Fox River at Geneva, and at length reached the residence of an old friend, James Isbell, in Sugar Grove, where he stopped two or three weeks. Finding much of the land there claimed, and hearing of the rich tract at the north taken up by Merrill, he had determined to proceed thither. With his large family of sons and the Isbells, he had mustered quite an army, and, without asking leave of any one, had built his cabin and established himself in the new quarters. Mr. Merrill had visited him while he was erecting his abode, but, seeing so many men engaged in the work, had made no objections ; and from that day the Merrills and Moores had continued the policy of carefully avoiding each other. Mr. Moore further informs his guest that it was a wild country when he came, and that he had seen 500 Indians encamped just south of him, in 1836. Having remained until morning, and performed the ceremonies which his piety suggested, the preacher continues his journey with refreshed body and a self-satisfied mind. Mr. Moore remained upon the place where he found him until about 1841, when he died. His son, John O. Moore, now resides a little west of the old farm which is the present home of Thomas Anderson.
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
But the missionary proceeds on his tramp. He has made inquiries of Mr. Moore, concerning all the settlers across the country to the DeKalb line, and already feels quite well acquainted with them; so he ought, for he knows their family histories better than they do themselves. He soon approaches the res- idence of the first one, which is of logs, like the one just left, while various improvements in the vicinity indicate that the settlement was made at least two years before. And such our friend knows to be the fact, for the house was built by James Outhouse, a previous owner, who had come from St. John, New Brunswick, in the Fall of 1836, with his wife and two children, and hav- ing learned of the Merrill claim, had left his family at Blackberry, and traveled across the country to the cabin of the pretended owner of some thirty-six square miles, where he was informed that he could have 200 acres for $300, and not a cent less. With this assurance he returned to Blackberry, and was told by D. W. Annis. that he would not pay any such outrageous price; that $100 was enough, and that if Merrill was not satisfied with that amount, he would furnish men enough to build a log house upon any part of the land which Outhouse should select, and help him to defend it. Accordingly Mr. Outhouse presented this view of the case to Mr. Merrill, telling him that the land which he claimed had never cost him a cent, and that he might take $100 for 200 acres, or he should take the land by force, and pay him nothing for it. After chie consideration, Merrill concluded that he would accept the offer. Outhouse moved to the land already mentioned, but sold, in 1837, to William Kendall, who immediately disposed of it to two Pennsylvania Dutchmen, Mallo and Spangler, who were in possession when our missionary passed it, and who resided there some five years. Mallo was noted throughout the township as the first brickmaker. It appears that the brick which he manufactured were not used in building any houses in the neighborhood, but merely for chimneys and wells. Next west of this land, arose the low shanty of one Klinepeter, another Pennsylvanian, who had come to the country about the same time as his coun- trymen on the cast; but before reaching his house, the traveler had passed a sight very common in that part of the country then, but uncommon to him, as he had recently come from the East. Looking off to the south, a dark cloud appeared spread over the prairie, but moving rapidly toward the spot where he was concealed by some low bushes along the road side. Drawing his reins, he waited for the nearer approach of the objects, to solve the mystery. In a few moments a vast herd of decr was clearly distinguished; and as they approached, the reverend gentleman counted forty-five* before they took fright, and changed their course for the nearest grove. The traveler watches them until they dis- appear, and then drives on. The man who was then occupying the neighboring shanty remained upon the place until his death ; and several years later, his widow married a Mr. Smith, who now occupies the farm. Here the traveler bids farewell to the settlements of Kane Caunty, and a little later crosses the
*Several of the settlers have assured us that they have seen as many as fifty in a single herd.
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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
line. Returning several days later, upon the other road, he arrives in the mid- dle of the afternoon at the cabin of Milton Thornton (who removed from his original claim some four years ago to Geneva), and there our traveler inquires his way, and asks about the settlers along the home ronte, then drives along to the residence of the Read family, of whom he has learned everything of the last stranger, for he is an inquisitive man, as has already appeared. He has learned that the father's name is Joshna, and that he has but recently arrived from New Brunswick with his family of seven sons and several daughters, and that one of the older daughters is the wife of James Outhouse. who had sold his claim to his father-in-law, and removed to the farm which he now owns in Campton Township. Musing on the changes constantly going on in this west- ern country, the parson draws his horse up at the house, to obtain a drink. While he is thus employed, we will give a brief sketch of the Reads, who settled a large part of the township.
The original homestead was situated upon Section 24, where Charles, the second son. now resides. Eliphalet, the oldest son, located on land purchased of Mr. Hackett, and lying partly in Campton-the portion in Virgil being upon Section 24. Charles purchased, at an early day, a claim on Section 29, of Henry German, a brother of Lyman German, now of Geneva, both of whom settled in Virgil in 1837, Lyman's claim being just north of his brother's, on Section 20. Joseph Read, the third son, was a mechanic in New Brunswick when the remainder of the family left, and was unable to come to Illinois until 1840. In 1859, he died in Missouri. Richmond, the fourth son, took up the claim which he still owns in the northern part of the township, Section 12. Otho took the tract where he still resides, on parts of Sections 21, 22 and 28. George purchased the farm on which Charles first settled, and Albert settled on Section 13.
Having satisfied both his own and his horse's thirst, the missionary hastens on as it is becoming late, and passes, on a brisk trot, the shanty of Henry Whitmarsh, from New York, whose settlement, he had learned, only dated from the previous year ; and, in the course of a half hour's drive, arrived at the cabin of the original claimant of all the land which he had passed during the previous hour and a half. Although the earliest settler in the township, Mr. Merrill's habitation was no better than those of the settlers who had but just arrived. It was built of rough logs like all the rest, but, unlike some of the others, it had no floor but the native prairie mnd, in which the children of the proprietor burrowed like pigs in the sty. Believing from what he saw and had heard, that prayers would be as needful in that locality as anywhere, our missionary dis- mounted and was met at the door by a lady, who was evidently above her un- favorable surroundings, and he was here permitted to remain until morning. Some of the good brethren in Virgil Township had given notice, in expectation of his arrival, that upon the following day, which was Sunday, there would be preaching at a designated place in the neighborhood. The orthodoxy of that
-
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day was tedious to unbelievers, and our missionary's sermon was divided into no less than twenty-four heads, all of which were elaborately subdivided. Mr. Merrill was doing his fall plowing, but decided to rest during part of the day from courtesy to his guest. He accordingly plowed until meeting time, then he hitched his horses to a tree and was an attentive listener until the preacher had reached his " Tenth " or " Twelfthly," when he yielded to the suggestions of the evil one and returned to his work .* In fine, it may be doubted if the labors of the good missionary on this occasion met with more than moderate suc- cess, since his hearers were more interested in the unregenerated gentleman in the neighboring field than in the labored discourse of the zealous preacher. It is a fact worthy of note, that of all the claim speculators scarcely one died in comfort- able circumstances ; and Merrill was no exception to the rule. About 1838, he built a frame house in the place of his original cabin, and some years later removed to Iowa, where he became poor previous to his death. Joseph Gray now lives upon his old homestead in Virgil. Israel Seaton was the builder of the old frame house, which was probably the first in the township. There was much speculation in claims in Virgil in 1837, many of them being sold for three times as much as they were worth, after the land sale in 1842. Merrill found a ready market for his land during the former year, for it was then that the greatest number of settlers came to the township. Among them may be mentioned, aside from those already given, Daniel Smith, who located just north of John B. Moore, Daniel McKinley (deceased) and Harrision Chambers, now in Batavia. John McKinley settled west of the Kishwaukee timber, and later, about 1840, his father-in-law, Henry Krows, received part of his claim and settled thereon. Nearly all in that part of the township were New Yorkers. Lyman German's log house, erected in 1837, upon the bank of the creek, was standing until about three years ago. Just south of Daniel Mckinley, a young man, named Massicar, built a house at an early day, but never lived there, having disposed of his property to one of the early purchasers. Just north of the Merrill homestead, Jeremiah Massingham settled, and sold, while the country was still new, to A. Dobson, a foster son of Joshua Read. Massingham became widely known among the settlers from driving a breaking team in con- nection with the Hacketts. West of him, and near the Kishwaukee timber, was John Scott, a great man in his day, for he was County Commissioner before the township organization, and early Supervisor, Notary Public, etc. He died in St. Charles in the Fall of 1877. A nomadic hunter, by the name of Chap- man, lived east of Mr. Scott, but left the country early, having sold to a gentle- man from Canada named Seaton. These, with Silas Shumake and Daniel Smith, who settled on the place now owned by his heirs, complete the list of the early settlers from 1836 to '38.
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