USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > The voters and tax-payers of De Kalb County, Illinois; containing, also, a biographical directory a history of the county and state, map of the county, a business directory, an abstract of every-day laws > Part 10
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
In the Winter of 1836-7, the Legislature being in session at Vandalia, the Hon. Henry Madden, then representing the interests of the settlers of LaSalle, Kane and sundry other counties, not then organized, and on the 4th day of March, 1837, a bill was passed, through the influence of Mr. Madden, to create the County of DeKalb, from the west half of the county of Kane, provided a majority of the legal voters in Kane should on a given day vote for such new county. Therefore, in pursuance of organic law, the Commissioners' Clerk of Kane County ordered an election to be held at the house of Frederick Love, for the election of county officers in the new county of DeKalb, July 3, 1837. The day of the election of county officers at last arrived, and Levi Lee, Rufus Colton and Robert Sterrett were elected County Commissioners ; Joseph C. Lander, Sheriff: Jesse C. Kellogg, Recorder. The County Commissioners elect immediately repaired to the house of Rufus Colton, where each administered the oaths of office to the other, as authorized in the Act to
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Create the County of DeKalb : appointed Jesse C. Kellogg, Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court ; Eli Barnes, County Surveyor; and Lysan- der Darling, County Treasurer : ordered a special term to be held in a few days, at the same place, to lay off the county into Justices' Districts and Election Precincts ; and before the guns of the glorious 4th came booming over " the land of the free and the home of the brave," DeKalb was a sister in the sisterhood of counties in the great State of Illinois.
An act was passed by the Legislature, that all that tract of country, beginning at the southeast corner of township thirty-seven north, range two east of the principal meridian, thence north to the northeast corner of township forty-two north, range two east of the third principal meridian, and thence along the northern boundary of township forty-two, in ranges three, four and five, east of the third principal meridian ; then south, on the southeast corner of township thirty-seven north, range five east, thence west on said township line, to the place of beginning, shall form a county, to be called DeKalb. Section eight, of the same act: for the purpose of fixing the permanent seat of justice, for the County of DeKalb : Benj. Thurston, of LaSalle County ; James Walker, of Cook County ; and Germanicus Kent, of Winnebago County, are hereby ap- pointed Commissioners, who, or a majority, being first duly sworn before some Justice of the Peace of this State, as is required by the fifth section of this act, shall meet at the house of Frederick Love, in said county, on the first Monday in June next, or as soon thereafter as may be, and shall proceed in all respects as is required in the fifth section of this act, provi- ded, that the qualified yoters of Kane County shall meet at the usual places of holding elections in said county, on the first Monday in May next, and vote for or against the County of DeKalb ; and if a majority of said voters shall be in favor of making the said county, then the County of DeKalb shall be created ; but if it should appear that there is a majority against the division, then the said county shall remain as it now is. The election was held, resulting in the establishment of the new county and the election of its officers. On Tuesday, the 11th day of July, 1837, the first regular session of the County Commissioners' Court, for DeKalb County, was held at the house of Rufus Colton, and con- tinued to be held there until the location of the county seat. The first formal action of the Board was to select and appoint Jesse C. Kellogg, as Clerk of their Court, and the next was the important busi- ness of laying out five Election Precincts and Justices' Districts. They were: First, Kingston District and Precinct, commencing at the northwest corner of the county, running south twelve miles, thence north- east, crossing the Sycamore River, so as to include Benj. Stevens' land, and then north to the county line. It was ordered that elections be held in this precinct, at the residence of Levi Lee. Geo. H. Hill, John Whitney and James Hait, were appointed its Judges. The second was Sycamore Precinct, including the northeast corner of the county, and extending as far south as Chartres Grove, but not including the present village of Sycamore. The elections were to be held at a school house near Lysander Darling's, and Wm. A. Miller, James A. Armstrong and Samuel Cary were made its Judges. The third was named Orange District, and comprised the territory south of the Sycamore District, as far as Lost Grove, in the present Town of Cortland. Elections for this district were ordered
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at Rufus Colton's house, and F. Love, James Root and Eli Barnes, were made its Judges. The fourth was named Somonauk District, and com- prised the territory south of Orange District, ten miles in width and about twenty in length, to the south line of the county. Elections were ordered to be held at the houses of Messrs. Woodruff and Lane. Wm. Davis, T. A. Witherspoon and Simon Price, were made Judges. The fifth district was called Paw Paw, and comprised the southeast portion of the county. No recorded provisions were made for elections in this district, and it was subsequently abolished ; but afterwards, upon the indignant protest of some of its people, was re-established.
In October, 1837, the Commissioners appointed by the Legislature, to fix the county seat, met at the house of Mr. Frederick Love, as directed by the law of organization. On the third day of their meeting, the Commissioners determined upon placing it where the court house now stands. They set a long pole upon the green prairie, placed on it a streaming flag, and declared it to be the location for the county seat of the new County of DeKalb. Capt. Eli Barnes now advanced, and christened the new town Orange. No objection was raised to this, and for some years thereafter the point was called by that name. Through the advice of J. S. Waterman it was changed to Sycamore.
FIRST COURTS-COURT HOUSE, ETC.
At the February term of the Commissioners' Court, it was ordered that, as no court house was yet built, the first term of the Circuit Court should be held at Rufus Colton's residence. The following jurors were selected : Grand Jurors-George H. Hill, Nathan Billings, Wm. A. Miller, Lysander Darling, John Whitney, John Esterbrooks, Wm. Miles, Henry Madden, Eli Barnes, Phineas Stevens, Alpheus Jenks, Russell D. Crossett, John Maxfield, Wm. Davis, Maltby B. Cleveland, D. S. Bullard, Zachariah Wood, Ralph Wyman, Benj. Stevens, Joseph A. Armstrong, Henry B. Barber, Reuben Nichols and Justin Crafts. Petit Jurors-C. W. Branch, E. F. White, Abner Jackson, Peter Lamoise, Clark Wright, John Elliott, Clark L. Barber, Joseph A. MeCollum, Russell Huntley, Ora A. Walker, John Corkins, Solomon Wells, H. N. Perkins, Jacob Cox, Lyman Judd, Henry Durham, F. A. Witherspoon, John Sebree, Marshall Stark, Jere- miah Burleigh, John Riddle, Wm. Russell, Watson Y. Pomeroy and Ezra Hanson. Three of these are yet living, viz: H. N. Perkins, Marshall Stark and Ezra Hanson.
The total county tax levied on the first year of its existence, as a county, was two hundred and sixteen dollars and fifty cents; but Mr. James Phillips, the Deputy Sheriff, who was also collector, reported that after a hard winter's work in collecting, he had been able to get together and pay into the treasury, eighty-four dollars and thirty-seven cents. In August, of the same year, three new Commissioners were elected-E. G. Jewell, Burage Hough and Henry Hicks. They were all in favor of the county seat then located, and issued an order that the October term of the Circuit Court be held at a house now being erected by Eli Barnes, at or near the seat of justice in this county ; but the house did not get completed in time for the fall term, therefore the court was not held at this place. A meeting of the Commissioners was held in
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
September, at which they considered the expediency of building a court house and jail ; but no definite plan was devised. Mr. Madden, who was still a member of the Legislature, had, during the last winter's session, caused the passage of an act providing that a vote should be taken first for or against the removal of the county seat from Orange. The vote was finally taken, and was voted down, by seventeen majority, in the whole county. At a meeting of the County Commissioners in December of the same year, they took action to find upon what section of land the county seat had been located. The county had not yet been surveyed by the United States. For this purpose the Commissioners duly autho- rized and directed. Eli G. Jewell to obtain the services of a surveyor, and bring a line or lines from some survey made under the authority of the United States, down to the county seat, and there canse a number of town lots, not exceeding eighty, to be laid out, platted and recorded.
Frederick Love was appointed first School Commissioner, and was also granted a license to keep a hotel. Love's log cabin was said to be as public a place as any in the county. He called it Centreville, and hoped that at some future day it would become the county seat. In September of this year, Shabbona, the old Indian chief, employed Mr. James S. Waterman to survey the two sections of land which the gov- ernment had granted him. During this year, the firm of Jenks & Co. built a mill on the Kishwaukee, in the present Town of DeKalb. There was a large frame barn built 'near this point. It was one of the first frame buildings in the county, and was used on several occasions for the ' religious services of the quarterly meetings of the Methodists. In this year, Henry Durham, of Genoa, was granted a merchant's license. A few years later the village of Genoa had become the largest and most lively village in the county ; but at this time very little business is done at this point, as the county seat is too near by.
During the year 1839 a new court house was erected, and the survey of lines, ordered by the County Commissioners, had been brought down from Winnebago County, where some government surveying had already been done, and the village of Sycamore was staked out by James S. Waterman and Capt. Eli Barnes, who deserve a great deal of credit for the beautiful wide streets. The first building erected in this village was built for a hotel, by Capt. Eli Barnes, and is used to this day as a hotel. The County Commissioners ordered Mr. Jewell to sell lots at public auc- tion, and with the proceeds to contract for building a court house and jail.
When the time arrived for the June session of the Circuit Court, a two-story building, twenty feet by thirty, had been erected, and the County Commissioners were summoned together and ordered their clerk of the court to notify the judge of the Circuit Court that the new court house was ready for occupancy, and requested that he direct the circuit clerk to keep his office in the court house. Capt. Barnes served the order upon the judge, sitting in court at Coltonville, and there was a large crowd of citizens assembled, to see what the judge would do. When the judge decided that the court must be removed to Sycamore, a shout of triumph went up from the Sycamore crowd. Judge Ford took his record under his arm, State's Attorney Purple bundled up his papers, the sheriff, the lawyers, juries, and the balance of the crowd, followed suit, and, led by Capt. Barnes, took up their line of march for the new
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court house at Sycamore. On their arrival, a public dinner, at the new hotel, was served up in good style.
When the party arrived at the new court house, they found that the Commissioners' declaration was rather more than its condition warranted. It had no doors nor windows, and the floor was laid with some loose boards covering one-half of the upper story. A question arose whether, process having been made returnable at Coltonville, suits could not be tried at another locality ; and, except a few agreed cases, no litigations were had, and the court soon adjourned.
At the June session of the Commissioners' Court, the county was divided into three assessment districts. Franklin, Kingston and Kish- waukee constituted the first district, and H. G. Page was chosen assessor. Sycamore, Orange and Ohio constituted the second district, of which Austin Hayden was chosen assessor. Somonauk and Paw Paw consti- tuted the third district, Stephen Arnold, assessor. Each assessor was paid for three days' service, for assessing his share of the entire property of the county. The land in the towns of Franklin, Kingston and Genoa, which had previously been surveyed by the United States and put into market, belonged to the Rockford or Polish survey.
During this year an act was passed authorizing a vote upon the removal of the county seat. The laws in these early times were not circulated till six months after the sitting of the Legislature ; and before any opponents of removal were aware of the existence of such an act, the time had arrived for a vote upon the question. A poll-book was opened at Coltonville, a dozen votes or so were cast for removal to that place, and the terms of the law were considered complied with. The seat of justice technically was removed. But J. C. Kellogg, the County Commissioners' Clerk, refused to deliver the books. He was arrested and tried before Justice Harvey Maxfield, and, after a war of words, was discharged.
The grand struggle for the county seat was finished at the August election of 1840, by a defeat of the opponents of Orange, now Sycamore. The village of Sycamore contained about twelve houses. The hotel, kept by Capt. Barnes, was the great center of population. The court house was occupied for a school house, and also for religious meetings. An aet had been passed on the 3d of January, to " permanently locate the seat of justice for the county of DeKalb." The County Commission- ers ordered the following report to be placed upon their records, which explains the final settlement of the vexed question of the county seat : "I, John R. Hainlin, Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of said county of DeKalb, and Frederick Love, Probate Justice of the Peace, and Harvey Maxfield, Justice of the Peace, in and for said County of DeKalb, do hereby certify that, at an election held in the several precincts of said county, on the third Monday in August, A. D. 1840, in pursuance of an aet entitled . An Act Permanently to Locate the Seat of Justice of the County of DeKalb,' approved January 3, 1840, there were given two hundred and forty votes in favor of the removal of the scat of justice of De Kalb County from Coltonville. There were given one hundred and forty-three votes against the removal of the seat of justice from Colton- ville ; showing a majority in favor of the removal of the seat of justice from Coltonville of ninety-seven votes ; and there were also given at that
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
election two hundred and seven votes in favor of Sycamore to be the seat of justice of DeKalb County; and there were given at said election one hundred and thirty-seven votes in favor of Brush Point, to be the seat of justice of DeKalb County ; showing a majority of seventy votes in favor of Sycamore to be the seat of justice.
It is likely that a test of this kind brought out all the voters. It is supposed that three hundred and eighty-four was about the number of voters then in the county. John Riddle, one of the early settlers of the town of Franklin, was this year appointed assessor of District No. 1; Frederick Love, of District No. 2, and Stephen Arnold, of District No. 3. They were only six days each in assessing the whole county. A tax of $334.70 was collected by Amos Story, county collector.
In 1840 a stage route was established from St. Charles to Oregon, and Timothy Wells and Charles Waterman were the proprietors. The State Road from Ottawa to Beloit, Wisconsin, running through DeKalb County, was laid out in 1841, by J. S. Waterman.
In this year Andrew J. Brown, Esq., the first resident lawyer in the county, was admitted to practice, the County Commissioner's Court cer- tifying that he was of good moral character. He settled in Sycamore.
In 1842, E. I .. Mayo, receiving a similar certificate from the county board, became the second resident lawyer, and was elected the first county judge.
During 1842 the State Bank failed, and overwhelmed the people in destitution and ruin. The public officers found it difficult to get enough money out of the treasury to pay their salaries and the postage on letters. John R. Hamlin was Clerk of the Commissioners' Court, Recorder and Postmaster, and out of these combined offices managed to get money enough to pay his board. But this state of things did not long continue. Not more than a dozen years had passed when it became necessary for the Recorder to employ four or five assistants. At this time the Recorder's office was considered worth eight thousand dollars per annum.
The Circuit Court held its session in September, 1842, and was pre- sided over by Judge John D. Caton, since the most eminent judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois, an able amateur scientist and author, and now a resident of Chicago. S. B. Farwell was State's Attorney; Jesse C. Kellogg, Clerk, and Morris Walrod, Sheriff. Judge Ford, afterwards Governor Ford, was the first Judge of the Circuit Court of this County, was a warm and true friend of the West.
The first brick dwellings in the county were erected at Sycamore by J. S. Waterman and the brothers Mayo, in 1846. This year DeKalb County, upon the call of the President of the United States, furnished quite a number of men for the Mexican War.
NEW COURT HOUSE.
At the March term of the County Commissioners' Court, in 1849, the building of a new court house was discussed at length, and three Commissioners were appointed to contract for the building. E. P. Young, Kimball Dow, and Jesse C. Kellogg were appointed. It was to be placed where the court house now stands, and to cost not exceeding six thou- sand dollars. But this was only to be done on condition that individual citizens should contribute fifteen hundred dollars of the amount.
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
The Commissioners also passed an order authorizing the erection of a county jail by the same committee, at a cost not exceeding fifteen hun- dred dollars ; but nothing seems to have been done under this order.
The required amount was raised for the new court house, and the work commenced at once. The building committee was also authorized to sell the old court house and town lots owned by the county at auction, and to apply the proceeds to the payment of the county orders issued for the construction of the new building.
TOWNSHIPS ORGANIZED.
At the election in 1849, 750 votes were cast in favor of the adoption of the township organization, and only one against it. Marshall Stark was elected Sheriff ; W. H. Beavers, County Clerk ; William Fordham, Recorder ; Sheldon Crossett, School Commissioner ; and E. L. Mayo, Probate Judge. But a new election was held in November, under the provisions of the new constitution, at which Martin M. Mack was elected Circuit Clerk and Recorder; U. B. Prescott, County Clerk; William Sheppardson, County Treasurer ; and James H. Beveridge and George Hill. Justices of the Peace.
In December, the County Commissioners appointed William A. Miller, William J. Hunt and Robert Sterritt, to divide the county into townships. They divided it into thirteen towns, as follows : Genoa, Kingston, Frank- lin, Vernon, Liberty, Sycamore, Richland, Orange, Shabbona, Clinton, Squaw Grove, Somonauk and Paw Paw. Some of these township names have been changed : Vernon belonged to the present town of South Grove ; Orange to DeKalb and some adjoining territory ; Liberty, to May- field ; and Richland, to Cortland and Pierce.
The township organization being now complete, a"Board of Super- visors was elected to take the place of the County Commissioners, who had hitherto managed the county business. The first Board of the county consisted of thirteen members, as follows: Henry Durham, Genoa; John Sheeley, Kingston ; Clark Bliss, Franklin; John S. Brown, Vernon ; Mulford Nickerson, Liberty ; James Harrington, Sycamore ; D. F. Finley, Richland ; Thomas R. Hopkins, Orange; William Marks, Shabbona ; Reuben Pritchard, Clinton ; Abram L. Hemenway, Squaw Grove ; Lyman Bacon, Somonauk ; Pierpont Edwards, Paw Paw.
The first meeting of the Board was held at Sycamore, in October, 1850. Among its first acts was the changing of the names of Orange Township to DeKalb, Richland to Pampas, Liberty to Mayfield, and Vernon to South Grove. The reason why these changes were made was that other towns in the state had already appropriated the first chosen names.
During this year the new court house was completed, and was con- sidered a very fine structure for those days.
RAPID ENTRY OF LAND.
During the year 1852 the most rapid entry of land occurred in the history of the county, being stimulated by the prospect of railroads. In view of this, settlers and speculators rushed in and purchased nearly all the Government lands remaining in the county.
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY.
During this year the first Agricultural Society of the county was organized and held an exhibition.
The railroad running from Chicago to Dixon was built in 1853, and gave a powerful forward impulse to the county.
This year the Board of Supervisors resolved to purchase a County Poor Farm. Messrs. Taffan and Tindall were appointed a committee and were authorized to locate a County Farm in one of the two middle tiers of townships. The farm of A. H. Cartwright, on the road between Sycamore and DeKalb, was purchased for that purpose.
DEKALB COUNTY AND THE REBELLION.
The following summary of the services of DeKalb County in the War of the Rebellion is taken from Mr. Boies' valuable History of the County, embracing nearly the whole of the first general chapter of Part Second of that work:
" Decidedly the most interesting, most honorable and most eventful portion of the History of the County of DeKalb, is that which relates to the gallant deeds of her brave sons, their sacrifices and sufferings in that tremendous struggle for the life of the nation-the'War of the Great Rebellion. *
* * The political character and predilections of the great majority of the inhabitants of our county impelled them to espouse with more than ordinary fervor the cause of the Government in its struggle with the Slaveholders' Rebellion. From the first settlement of the county, it had been the home of a strong, active, zealous party of anti-slavery men ; men who were avowed abolitionists, who gloried in that name when it was a term of reproach ; who not only voted for, but labored and expended their money for the freedom of the slave. Scattered here and there over the whole county, were numerous well-known stations on the " under-ground railroad ;" homes of thrifty, hard-working, God- fearing haters of oppression, in which, it was well understood, the panting fugitive escaping from Southern slavery, would be sure of finding rest, refreshment, a safe shelter, a warm welcome and means to help him on to other stations on the route to what was then his only safeguard, the flag of England on Canadian soil.
The homes of the Beveridges and the Hubbards, of Somonauk ; of the Townsends, of Mayfield; David West's, of Sycamore ; and E. S. Gregory, at Genoa, were well known as homes and places of refuge for the fugitive negroes ; and many an interesting story of their experiences in aiding and secreting these oppressed people, are now told with a freedom that, before the downfall of American slavery, would have been dangerous.
Long before the formation of the Republican party, whose corner- stone was hostility to slavery extension, the majority of the voters of the county were of that class who made hatred of slavery the cardinal prin- ciple of their political creed. It was natural that when the devotees of the slave system sought to rend in twain the Union of the States, in order to protect their institution, and with fratricidal hand attacked the defenders of their country's flag, these men should rally to its defense with earnest enthusiasm. But their zeal for the defense of the country was only more fervent than that of their political opponents. Inspired by the noble utter-
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ances of their great leader, Stephen A. Douglas, whose patriotic devotion to his imperiled country burst the bonds of party, and shed over the last months of his too short life a sublime eternal radiance, the great mass of the Democratic party in the country, with some noted exceptions, rallied at the first outbreak of the war to the defense of the country, gave their support to the government, enlisted for their country's defense, or encour- aged their enlistments, and gave their services, with patriotic sincerity, to the work of preserving the Union.
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