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HISTORICAL 

ENCYCLOPEDIA 



OF 



ILLINOIS 

EDITED BY 

Newton Bateman, LL. U. Paul Selby, A. M. 



AND HISTORY OF 



CARROLL COUNTY 



edited by 
Chaki.es L. Hostetter 

VOLUME II. 
ILLUSTRATED 



CHICAGO 
munsell publishing company 

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In the first century of the Christian era, Tacitus (perhaps the 
greatest of Roman historians) wrote that the object of historv 
was "to rescue virtuous acts from the oblivion to which the 
want ot records would consign them." 





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PUBLIC LIBRARY 




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PREFACE 



In eonipiliiig this history of Carroll County the ohject has heen to record 
facts relating to the lives of people who settled in this locality, beginning \yitli 
the first settlements of an unoccupied country, to the end that a permanent 
record might he made which will be accessible for an unlimited time to those 
who have an interest therein. The life of a man, his achievements, what he 
has accomplished during his life, can be perpetuated in no better way, or 
preserved longer or more permanently than by the art of printing. It enables 
us to read the past, a reverence for which, a distinguished author says, is the 
basis for all sound progress. 

For a work of this kind facts have to be sought for ; no one volunteers informa- 
tion ; it has to be dug out of musty records or drawn from dormant and uncer- 
tain luemorics. One often finds very little wheat among a great deal of chaff. 
It has been an interesting work, liecause it relates to the very beginning of 
the settlement of a new land, heretofore unknown and uncivilized. Interesting 
also because it covers a time of unprecedented progress in the arts and sciences; 
in the application of modern genius and thought to the amelioration of the 
physical conditions under which the pioneers lived and toiled. Changes have 
taken place that have indeed been marvelous, and beyond the imagination of 
the most visionary pioneer. Conditions now are so different from those under 
which our grandfathers and grandmothers lived, that intelligent comparisons 
are almost impossible. Nearly all things are new and the former things have 
passed away. The age of iron and invention is now supreme. So wonderful 
and rapid have been the changes which can be recounted by persons now living 
that it is utterly impossible to predict what the future may bring forth. 

The principal reason for undertaking this work was to presei-ve many of 
the facts concerning the early history of this county, which otherwise would 
soon have been obliterated by the passing of time. It is now nearly a hundred 
years since the first permanent settlement was made in Carroll County, and 
very few of the adult settlers of the first fifty years are now living. 

Friends of the undertaking have helped where they could. j\lany more no 
doul)t would have lent the editor a helping hand had they been called upon. 
We are especially under obligations to the following persons for valuable assist- 
ance and information furnished, which has added greatly to the interest of the 
work: Henry Elsey, of Elkhorn Grove; \V. H. Hurless, for the use of the old 
files of the Mirror; George A. Royer, Secretary of the Old Settlers Association, 
for the use of their records: Bernie Holland, Secretary of the Sailors niid Sol- 
diers Association, for the use of their records; W. H. Dresback, of Lanark; 



F. :\r. Sclmlts, of Chadwiok; S. J. Holland, of Thomson; H. N. Parsons, for 
his history of York Township, and to Nathaniel I\[iles, for his very interesting 
sketeh of ilount Carroll. 

To others credit has been given in the work, especially to ]Mr. Samuel Pres- 
ton, for much interesting information which has been taken from his pul)lished 
articles on '"The Pioneers of Mount Carroll.'' 

The editor also has had access to the notes of Dr. Henry Shinier, which he 
had made in contemplation of some time writing a history of the County, 
ilueh of this matter will be found in the chapter taken from the manuscript 
of the Hon. James Shaw, which he had placed in the hands of the publishers 
prior to his death. 

The compilation of this history has been made intennittently at such times 
as could be spared from business hours, and ou this account it may be lacking, 
in a few cases, in continuity ; nevertheless to make the work accurate and trust- 
worthy has been the first consideration. 



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INDEX 



CHAPTER I. 

PHYSICAL CPIARACTERISTICS OP^ CARROLL COUNTY. 

Western boundary — Magnificent Trees — Came — Dyson's Lake — Drain- 
age Ditch — Apple River — Rush Creek — Ridge Road — The Peca- 
tolikee — The Waukarusa — Savanna Ridge Road — Johnson Creek — 
First County Ditch — Flowing Wells — High Hill — Improvements 
— Lead Jlines — Iron Mines — Coalite IMines — Indian ]\Iounds — Mr. 
Pidgeon's Work — Traditions of De-Coo-Dah — Plum River Indian 
Jlounds — Arnold's Grove Indian ]\Iounds — ilounds in Mount Car- 
roll Township — York Township ilounds — Stone Relics — The Dalles 
of the Waukarusa — The Prairie 617-626 

CHAPTER II. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CARROLL COFXTY. AS DELIVERED BY 

HON. J A:\1ES SHAW. AT LANARK, ILLINOIS, ON JULY -i, 1876 

AT A FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION THERE 

HELD AND OLD SETTLERS MEETING. 

Ancient Owiici'siiii) — Noi-tinvcstcrn Tci'ritory — Jo Daviess County — 
Savanna First Town — New County Otficer.s — County Commissioners 
Court — First Circuit Court Held in the County — Removal of County 
Seat From Savanna — Court House Built — IMembers of the Legisla- 
ture — Early Settlenient.s — First Settlement in Carroll County — 
Savanna Settled — First School House — First Trail — Tavern Rates — 
Cherry (irove Settlement — Elkhorn Grove Settlement — IMarking the 
Way— Yoi-k Township Earlv Settlers-^IIow They Canu — York 
Townshiji Named — Preston Prairie and Blount (Jarroll Settlements 
— 1837 Original Jlill Company Formed — First Religious Meeting — 
The JMill (,'ompany— Stag Point— First School— First Mail— The 
Seminary — The Academy — Early Settlement in W^ysox — Indians — 
— A Pioneer Lost — Jumping a Claim — Shelving Rock Shanty — 
Rattlesnakes — Inventive Genius — Names of Places — Straddle Creek 
— Early Settlement — Agricultural Society — Early Premiums 
Awarded — News Papers — Magnitude 1876 — Wai- Record (127-651 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PIONEERS. AVHERE THEY CAME FRO:\I. AND HOW THEY 

GOT HERE. 

Canal Boat Traveling — Steam Boat Trip — Covered Wagons — Prairie 
Fires — By the C4reat Lakes — Tliose Who Did Not Come — Postage — 
Battled With ^Many Diffieulties — Happiest People — Savanna Pio- 
neers — Left Galena 1828 — Strong Hands. Stont Hearts — Bob Upton 
— Savanna A Trading Post — Rivers Commercial Highways — Black 
Hawk War — Flight. Anxious ^Mothers — Love of Pioneering — David 
Emmert and His Family. Samuel jM. Hitt. Nathaniel Halderman — 
Building the ]\Iill at ]\lount Carroll — Boarding the Hands — Store 
Built — Lodging the People — Caroline Wade — Land. Sales — Hard; 
Times, Scarcity of ]\loney — Baptismal Pool — The Graveyard, First 
Grave — First Newspaper Printed in ilount Carroll — Pioneers Con- 
tinued. Doctors Abraham and John L. Hostetter — First Bank — 
Breaking out of the Civil War — Depreciated Currency — John 
Ir\ine. Sr. — AVeddings. Birlhs and Deaths in the Log Cabin — ]\Iiss 
Anna Hostetter . . . .^ 651-665 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE FORTY-NINERS. 

Gold Accidentally Discovered in California — Ways of Getting There — 
Excitement Spreads — Lives of the Gold Jliners — First Party From 
Mount Carroll — Pierce and Youtz Drowned — The Barber Incident 
— Hardships Endured — The ]\Iarch Began — Those From Savanna — 
The Emmert Party — Evan Rae Elected Captain — Shottenkirk's 
Diary — Snow Constantly in Sight in June — Crossing Green River — 
Daring Act of Heroism — Another Party Leaves ilount Carroll — The 
Mumma Party— Government of the Gold Seekers — Franklin Lang- 
worthv's Book — Abandon Wagons, Pack on Animals — ^Mount Carroll 
lS5-4-^The Return 665-672 

CHAPTER V. 

ORGANIZATIONS. 

Protective Leagues — First Lyceum — Horse-Thieves — Prairie Bandits — - 
Vigilantes — Elkhorn Grove Compact — The Grange ^Movement — 
Granges — Protits of Iu.siTrance — Fraternal Insurance — Mutual Fire 
Insurance 672-677 

CHAPTER VI. 

SOLDIERS AND PATRIOTIC ORDERS. 

The Grand Armv of the Republic— Nase Post No. 80— Ob.iects— Wo- 
man's W. R. C. No. 95. .Mount Carroll— Shiloh Post No. 85— 
Shiloh W. R. C. Lanark— Illinois W. R. C. Gazette— Objects of the 
W. R. C 677-682 



CHAPTER Vll. 

PATRIOTIC ORDERS— Continued 

R. M. A. Hawk Post, 4()ti— W. R, ('.. Savanna— George Kridlcr Post. 575 
— W. R. C, I^Iillc'dgeville— Hohiian I'ost. 57!) — Reoapturcd Flags — 
■\V. R. C. Thomson — Holdeii Putnam I'ost, 646 — Camp Sons of Vet- 
erans — W. R. C, Slianuon — Div .John L. Ilostctter Post, 785 W. — 
R. C. Chadwick— R. .M. A. Hawk Post, 4(1(1 Sjivanna 682-688 

CHAPTER Vll I. 

THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS SOCIETY OF CARROLL COUNTY. 

Orgaiuzed at Lanark — ^Milledgeville Meeting — -Monument Committee — 
Action of the County Board — Committee Appointed by Board — Re- 
port of Joint Committee — Dedication of the .Monument — The Pro- 
cession — The Speeches — History of the Monument — Inscriptions — 
The Statues — Height of Monument — Reunion .Meetings — Savaiuia 
Selected as Place of Meeting " 688-693 

CHAPTER IX. 

CARROLL COUNTY. LMPROVEMENT AND PROGRESS. 

Stage Lines — Prairie Fires — Finances — County Incorporated — Census 
1840 — Census I!»l() — Decrease Accounted foi- — Former Citizens 
Scattered — Emigration — Progress — The Threshings — The Banner 
Corn County — County Ofificers — Railroads, Valuation — Rural 
Routes— Valuation of Property — Taxes 693-698 

CHAPTER X. 

CHAD\VICK .\XD F.\IR II.WEN TO\VXSHTP— LANARK AND ROCK 

CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

Cnadwick — Fair Haven Township — German Settlers — Laiuirk — Old 
House — Fourth of July, 1876 — Early Days— Bu.siness. 1!)]1 — Water- 
works — TeleplioiU' System — Factories — Rock Creek Township — First 
Settlers 698-702 

CH.M'TER XI. 

CHERRY GROVE— FREEDOM— LLAIA, TOAVNSHIPS. 

Cherry Grove — Stiige Lines — Racine and Mississippi Railroad — Geoi-ge 
Town— Wood Lots— Forest Fires— Wild Ginseng— Early Settlers — 
l>iiicoln and Douglas Deliate — Freedom Township — Arnold's Grove 
— Hunting Grounds of Ihc Iiiiiians — Early Settlers — Wages — Horti- 
culture — Orchards — Lima Township 702-705 



CHAPTER XII. 

VILLAGE OF MILLEDGEVILLE— WYSOX— ELKHORN GROVE 

TOWNSHIPS. 

Milledgeville— Original Plat— AVysox Township— Early Settlers— Elk- 
horn Grove Township — Tiie People — Log Rollings — Old Center 
School House — :\Iethodist Church— Hand Saw-:\Iill — First Water 
Power :\Iills— A Go-Devil— A Dutch Oven— The Sucker Trail— A 
Pigeon Trap — Choice Dishes — Intoxicating Liquors — A Valuable 
Load — Names of Early Settlers — War Record — The Underground 
Railroad — Hazlehurst 705-713 

CHAPTER XIII. 

MOUNT CARROLL, CITY AND TOWNSHIP— SALEM TOWNSHIP. 

City of Mount Carroll — Mayors — Public Library — Caroline Mark Home 
Business Enterprises — Churches — Civic Societies — Frances 
Shimer School — Jlount Carroll Towniship — First Mill — First School 
— Occupation of Farmers — Salem Township — Interesting Incidents 
— Cyclones — A Log School House — Special Crops 713-721 

CHAPTER XIV. 

SAVANNA CITY AND TOWNSHIP— VILLAGE OF SHANNON AND 

TOWNSHIP. 

Savanna City — Buildings — Banks — Telephone Company — ^lanufaetur- 
ing — Fishing — Newspapers — Early Settlers — First School Teacher 
— Religious Organizations — Business Urms — Cemetery Association 
— Electric Light Plant — Savanna Township — Shannon — Grain 
]\Iarket — Lumber — The Shannon Telephone Company — Shannon 
Township — First Settlers — Tlie Wheat Crop — Fii-st Threshing 
Machines 721-727 

CHAPTER XV. 

VILLAGE OF THOMSON— TOWNSHIPS OF YORK, WASHINGTON AND 

WOODLAND. 

Thomson — Creameries — Melon ^larket — Centennial Celebration — York 
Township — First Settlement — Bluffville — First Fair — Argo — Law- 
yers and Ministers — Old Point Bluif — Washington Township — 
Early Settlers — Wolves — Arnold "s Landing — Portsmouth — IMarcus 
Train Robbery — Woodland Township — Saw-Mills — Hay Family — 
Cheese Factory 727-733 

CHAPTER XVI. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

The Part of Biography In General History — Citizens of Carroll County 
and Outlines of Personal History — Personal Sketches Arranged In 
Encylopedie Order 735-935 



PORTRAITS 



Bashaw, William C23 

Bashaw, Mrs. William 622 

Beattie, James P 630 

Beattie, Mrs. James P 630 

Becker, Egbert T. E 638 

Becker, Sarah C 640 

Browning, Matilda 648 

Browning. William F 648 

Busell, David C 656 

Cliambers, Jacob L 664 

Chambers, Mrs. Jacob L 664 

Colehour, Mary J 674 

Colehour, Samuel P 672 

Connell, John R 682 

Connell, Mrs. John R 682 

Cushman. Josiah B 690 

Demmon, Eliza 700 

Demmon, John F 698 

Deuel, Horace C 708 

Deuel, Martha B 708 

Diehl, Fred S 712 

Ecknian, James A 716 

Eckman, Mrs. James A 716 

French, Norman D 720 

Fulrath, Adam 724 

Galpin, Daniel A 726 

Galpin, Mrs. Daniel A 726 

Hacker, William P 730 

Hacker, Mrs. William P 732 

Hartficld, Ernest M 736 

Hathaway, James 743 

Hawk, Ella 748 

Hawk, Hugh C. ..." 746 

Henze, Fred C 753 

Henze, Mrs. Fred C 752 

Hoerz, Cora E .758 

Hoerz, David 756 

Hoffman, John 762 

Hoffman, Mrs. .John 762 



Holland, Smith J 766 

Holland, Mrs. Smith J 766 

Hostetter, Charles L 617 

Landon, George W 770 

Landon, Mrs. George W 770 

Livengood, Zachariah T 774 

Livengood, Mrs. Zachariah T 774 

Mackay, William 778 

Mark, Caroline 782 

McNamer, Hiram 786 

McXamer, Marie 786 

Jleyer, Frederick, W 790 

Meyer, Mrs. Frederick W 790 

Miller, Daniel M 908 

Miller, Herman 794 

Miller, Mary L 908 

Myers, George 798 

Nipe, Amelia 848 

Nipe, William E 802 

Parker, John C 806 

Parker, Mrs. John C 808 

Patch, Benjamin L 812 

Rauser, Christian G 816 

Rauser, Jlrs. Christian G 816 

Root, George A 822 

Root, George A 826 

Root, Helen F 824 

Root, Marvin 820 

Runnels, Burget F. 830 

Schick, Eli 834 

Schick, Jones 836 

Schick, Mary E 838 

Shaw, James 843 

Shepard, Adelia 848 

Shepard, Martin 846 

Smith, Margaret A 854 

Smith. W'illiam W 852 

Snivcly, John R 858 

Snow, Charles P 862 



Snow, Sarah A S64 

Spealman, Joseph, 868 

Spealman, Mary 870 

Sprecher, Louis H ST-l 

Sprecher, Nancy J 876 

Stedman, Ira JI 880 

Stedman, Mrs. Ira M 880 

Steffens, Joseph 884 

Steffens, Orinda 886 

Strickler, Jacob H 890 

Sword, Samuel 894 

Sword, Mrs. Samuel 894 



.898 



Thorpe, Phoebe A 902 

Turner, Elmira 908 

Turner, Joshua 908 

Turner, Silas E 906 

Turner. Mrs. Silas E 906 

Warner, Joseph A. and Family 912 

Watson, Otho 916 

Watson, Sarah 918 

Wolf, Amos 932 

Wolf, Mrs. Amos 924 

Zelenka, Henry 928 

Zelenka, Mrs. Henry 928 



Taylor, James and Family 

Thorpe, Lucius 902Zuck, John H. and Family 932 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Carnegie Library 660 

Caroline Mark Home 634 

Castle Rock .618 

College Hall T04 

County l-'ann Houses 668 

Court House 617 

Dearborn Hall 694 

Devil's Back-Bone 618 

Electric Light Station .678 

Falls of the Waukarusa 634 

First Log House in Carroll County 653 

First Store in Mt. Carroll 644 

Giants Tea Table 626 

Hathaway Hall 704 

Map of Carroll County 617 

Mi-tcalf Hall , 686 

Old Stone Court House 653 

Poets Rock 634 

Scene Across the Campus 686 

Scene on the Waukai-usa 626 

Soldiers' Monument 617 

Stone House at Wilderberg 660 

Tennis Court 694 

The Old Mill 660 

The Twin Sisters 018 

Water Works Plant 678 




^^ v^;:^£5t=^^ 






,*!;i5*°- 






HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



CHAPTKR I. 



PHYSICAL CIIAKACTERISTICS 
CARROLL COUNTY. 



OP 



ning sloughs foriuiug uiuuy wooded islands. The 
principal of these Is Turkey Slough in the 
southwest toruer of the county, between this 
and the nieanderiiiix slough, so called. Is Rig 
Island, ne.\t east Little Island and Marble 
Island, and Marbli- Slough, su n.-iuied after an 
early settler. 



MAQNiriCENT TREES 



WESTEBN BOUNDABY — MAGNIFICENT TREES — GAME 
— DYSON'S LAKE — DRAINAGE DITCH — APPLE BIVEB 

— BUSH CREEK — BIDGE BOAD THE PECATOLIKEE 

— THE WAUKABISA — SAVANNA BIUOE ROAD 

JOHNSON CREEK — FIR.ST COUNTY DITCH — FLOW- 
ING WELLS — HIGH HILL — IMPROVEMENTS — LEAD 
MI.NES — IRON MINES — COALITE MINES — INDIAN 
MOUNDS — MB. PIIXiEON"S WORK — TBADITIONS OF 
DE-COO-DAH PLUM BIVEB INDIAN MOUNDS — AR- 
NOLD'S GROVE INDIAN MOUNDS — MOUNDS IN 
MOUNT CARROLL TOWNSHIP — YORK TOWNSHIP 
.MOUND.S — STONE REI.K S — THE UAI.I.KS OF THE 
WAUKABUSA — THE PBAIBIE. 

Before entering upon the history of the people 
who made their homes in this beautiful country, 
it may be well to consider the natural conditions 
they found here ; conditions which determined 
them to cast their lot here, and to build up com- 
munities and create a new civilization for them- 
selves; a country and a civilization which they 
might leave as an inheritance for the genera- 
tions that should follow them. 

WESTEBN BOUNDARY 

The great Mississippi river, any school boy or 
girl will tell you, is the longest river in the 
world, It bounds the county on the west; the 
thread of the main channel of the river is the 
state and county line. The eastern Imnk of the 
river In the south part of the county is bordered 
with timber Interspersed with bayous and run- 



in early days these islands were covered with 
magnificent trees, s^ome were nut bearing trees, 
the fruit of some was a very large hickory nut 
and there were smaller shellliark hickory nuts 
and walnuts in great abundance. Here the 
scjuirrels, of which there were several varieties, 
did not want for a plentiful store of nuts for 
winter use. Neither did the early settlers who 
greatly relished this addition to their not exten- 
sive bill of fare. 



The waters were filled with the finest kinds 
of game fish, and game of all kinds was very 
abundant, on the islands; and on the waters 
there were several kinds of wild geese and a 
great variety of ducks, and there were also wild 
turkeys and deer, and pigeons In great numbers. 

THE SAND RIOOE 

r;ast of the islands Is a treeless almost level 
plain, called tlii> Sand ridge, about five miles in 
width, not much above the level of the river In 
high water, extending from below Savanna 
south between the bluffs and the river, to the 
southern iHiundary of the county. 

DYSON'S LAKE, DRAINAGE DITCH 

Situated near the eastern boundary of this 
plain, in Mount Carroll and York Townships Is 



617 



618 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



Srufish lake, called also Dyson's laUe, after 
William Dyson, a iMoneer of 1837. who took up 
n claim on the western shore of the lake. At- 
tempts have been made to drain this lake by 
digging a ditch through low-lying marsh ground 
northward to Plum river, but they have only 
succeeded in lowering the surface of the water 
in the lake a few feet, and draining a part of 
the surrounding lands temiiorarily ; the ditch 
has invariably been tilled up with sand and 
mud, washed into it by heavy floods in the 
streams to the east of it, particularly Deer 
creek, which flowing west past Hickory Grove, 
carries down from the hills a great deal of the 
soil, which is deposited in the ditch, especially 
when the waters in the Mississippi and Plum 
rivers are high. There is very little fall from 
the lake and consequently no current running 
northward to carry the sediment out of the 
ditch, on account of which conditions it seems 
to be an impracticable undertaking to drain Sun- 
fish lake. The first ditch was dug in 1S71 by 
the county and cost nearly seven thousand dol- 
lars and was paid from the sale of swamp 
lands successfully drained by the county ditch, 
running south through the Willow island tract 
of land. The last attempt to drain this lake 
was made by the owners of laud to be benefitted 
under the drainage law. The ditch, however, 
filled up as before and an attempt is now 
being made to pump the water out of the lake 
into the ditch. 

APPLE BIVEE — RUSH CBEEK 

Apple river flows through the northwest corner 
of the county and empties into the Mississippi 
river on Section 11. Range 2, Washington 
Township. At its nmuth is .\]i|ilc River Island. 
X little farther east Rush creek flows through 
the center of the same township, on Section 17; 
in an early day it was McKillups dam and 
water power. This stream empties into the 
great river on Section 28. where the Burling- 
ton Railroad crosses this creek. A little west 
of the bridge near Marcus station, is where the 
iKitcd train robbery occurred in ]902. One of 
the principal tributaries of Rush creek is Camp 
creek. It gets its name from the fact that 
during the Blackhawk War and about the time 
of the attack on the fort at Elizabeth a large 
body of Indians were camped at the largo spring 



in the beautiful valley which is the headwaters 
of the creek. 

.MCJ-AKLAXD's BAY 

A little further down the river from the mouth 
of Rush creek is McFarland's bay, in early days 
used as a favorite and safe place for wintering 
rafts of pine logs that were then floated down 
the river from the pineries, also for wintering 
steamboats. Below the bay the river Hows 
quite close to the high bluffs, in early days 
called the Council Bluffs of the upper Mississippi 
river. They are the highest bluffs anywhere 
along the river and the most picturesque ; here 
can be seen high upon one iierpeudiiular bluff 
the profile of an Indian face, in these bluff.s is 
also the noted Bob Upton's cave. In earl.v days 
steamboats burned wood and got large supplies 
from Savanna. At one time, great piles of red 
cedar taken from the bluffs above the town were 
to be seen at Savanna waiting for the arrival 
of some steamljoat. This gave some of the early 
settlers the impression that the much talked of 
Savanna where they were to land, was "only 
a wood pile." For some years the railroads 
consumed great quantities of wood to make 
steam in the engines; they got large sui)plies 
from timber along the river, most of which be- 
longed to Uncle Sam, — conservation of the for- 
ests had not then been thought of. When wal- 
nut wood became valuable the great walnut 
trees, centuries old, were felled by the wood- 
man's axe. Below Savanna is the big slough 
through which Plum river enters the Mississippi 
river, west of this was Savanna lake. 

RIDGE ROAD — THE PECATOLIKEE 

Between the valley of Rush creek and Plum 
river valley is a ridge road from which fine 
views are had over both valleys. Plum river 
is the longest stream in the county. The gov- 
ernment surve.v gave its Indian name as Pecato- 
likee and marked it, "navigable," up to "Bow- 
en's Ferr.v," just below where the mill dam of 
Bowen's mill used to be. In the north part of 
Woodland its two branches East and West Plum 
river come together, the east branch Is fed by 
Crane's run, on which was Crane's fort ; further 
up is the Lyn Grove branch, which rises near 
Lyn Grove on Section 10. Cherry Grove Town- 
ship and Cherr.v Grove branch, on Section \?>, 




CASTLE ROCK ()\ THE WAUKARUKA 




THK I'W IN SLSTERS 




DKMLS HACK-BONE 



■ o 



:/ 



HISTORY OP CARROLL COUNTY 



019 



Freedom Townsliip. on whiili hi yoars 
liv \v;is I'.dlinsor's saw mill. 



Willow island tract, leading south iiilo White- 
side connty. aditcd to tlio area drained. 



THE WAUKARUSA 

In the south part of Woodland township the 
waters of the Wankar\isa How into I'liun river, 
and about twenty rods lielow its junction on 
Section :V2. there was a sulphur siiring, so 
marked on early maps. The Wauliarusa takes 
its rise south and east of Shannon, the Badger 
springs starting one of the head branches. Cedar 
creek is a small stream that flows into it from 
the south a little above its junction witli Plum 
river, the Pecatolikee. At the head of Cedar 
creek tliere is a spring which feeils a fish pond 
made by Samuel Preston, in wliieli he r.aised 
many tine tish. 

SAVANNA HIDGE BOAD 

Plum river and its branches drain the entire 
north half of the county. Along the dividing 
line between Plum river valley and Johnson 
creek valley on the south, there is a ridge road 
to Savanna. From this road there are beauti- 
ful views over the valley on either side extend- 
ing for many mile.s, and toward the west as far 
as the Iowa bluffs along the great river. When 
the early settlers came from Savanna, having 
disembarked there from a Mississippi steam- 
boat, after a long and wearisome journey, and 
traveled along this road and looked eastward 
over the beautiful prairies, there spread out be- 
fore them, they thought they had indeed reached 
the "Promised Land." 

JOHNSON CKKEK. FIHST COUNTY DITCH 

The southern half of the county is drained by 
sn.aller streams. Johnson creek in the west part 
has its beginning near the center of Salem town- 
ship, flows through the southeast corner of 
Mount Oarroll township, thence through York 
toward the Mississijjpi river bottoms. There 
originally it was lost in the sands, but some 
CL'terprising farmers of that township made 
dykes on both sides of the channel so as to con- 
fine its waters in flood time, thus recovering 
from the floods and consoquent standing waters, 
some of the most valuable l.-uid in thi- enunty. 
The county ditch, .lug in isci;. tlir.mgh the 



FLOWING WELLS 

In the northeast corner of York township on 
wliat was the Tomlinson fnrm is an artesian 
well. It was bored by some strangers, who 
came to this county prospecting, thinking that 
they would find coal becau.se there was a shale 
saturated with some kind of oil cropping out in 
the neighborhood. They were skeptical of the 
V. ay the geologists read the Iwok of stone, viz. : 
that coal is not found in this geological forma- 
tion, and the deeix>r they bored the farther they 
were getting from the coal bearing rocks ; they 
bored down through a very hard rock and at 
five hundred and fifty feet struck a white sand 
stone so soft they could not secure a core, and 
water rose to the surface in a fine flowing well. 

In the city of Savanna they get a fine flow of 
>vater by boring about four hundred and fifty 
fj?et. and two of these wells supply the city 
with water. 

At Mount Carroll the city had a well 
drilled with the intention of going deep enough 
to get .flowing water, but no water was reached 
except in small quantities, until at a depth of 
two thou.sand five hundred feet the white sand- 
stone was struck and the water rose to within 
forty feet of the surface; it has been frequently 
analyzed and fomid to be of the very finest qual- 
ity. This well Is listed as one of the deep wells 
of the earth. 

Kock creek, the headwaters of which begin 
just south of the city of Lanark, flows south to 
the southwest corner of Wysox township, where 
it is joined by Otter creek which takes its rise 
in the east half of Itock creek township; further 
east is Klkhorn creek whose headwaters drain 
Lima townshiii. It was so named on account 
of the elk horns that have been found in the 
grove of the same name, some of which are still 
preserved by citizens of the county. Further 
east and near the county line is Eagle creek; in 
an e.irly day < n sertion Ki was Kagle creek mill 
dam. 

moil llll.l, — IMPROVE.MENTS 

On the ridge between the valleys of the Wan- 
karnsa and Itock creek a little cast and north of 
the southeast corner of Section 10 in Salem town- 
ship is what is called High Hill, said by the gov- 



620 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



ernment surveyors to be the highest point iu the 
cc'unty. Near here the roads cross, the one 
running east and west is called Cyclone Ridge, 
from the fact that on Jlay 18, 1S9S a cyclone 
passed along this road doing a great deal of 
damage. From this high hill there is a beauti- 
ful view looking out over the once prairie 
country, which was then treeless but is now 
dotted with farm houses, school houses and 
country churches with small clusters of trees 
and orchards about them. Spread out before 
the observer are variegated colored, cultivated 
fields, chauging color with the seasons of the 
year. Here and there c-au be seen the roofs of 
immense barns and innumerable smaller build- 
iiigs for the housing of the farmer's grain, stock 
and machinery, and commodious dwellings in 
many of which at this day, are all the modern 
conveniences which tend to make life comfort- 
able, gas, light, heat and water systems, while 
wind mills and pumping engines enable the 
farmers to be no longer dependent upon springs. 
The numerous lines of poles remind the ob- 
sener that neighbor can talk with neighbor 
over the telephone, and all the world at large. 

MINES — LEAD 

From an early day considerable mining has been 
done for lead ; principally in Woodland and 
Mount Carroll townships, although some lead 
has been mined in Savanna. 

The geologists say, the mode of the occurence 
of the galena in the upper mines of the 
ilississippi river is extremely simple. The geo- 
logical age of the groups of strata in which the 
ore is found is lower silurian. In these mines 
the principal lead bearing rock is a crystaline 
limestone from two hundred and fifty to two 
hundred and seventy-five feet in thickness where 
liot partially removed by erosion. The upper 
portion of this formation is somewhat argil- 
laceous; the middle a very pure heavy bedded 
dolomite; the lower silurian rock containing 
numerous flinty masses. This group of strata 
is locally known as the upper magnesian lime- 
stone. It is separated from a rock of very 
similar character, called the lower magnesian 
limestone, by three groups of strata, which 
are commonly designated as the blue lime- 
stone, the buff limestone and the St. Peter's 
sandstone. The first of these is thin bedded, 
highly fossillferous purely calcareous rock. At 



Savanna large masses of the rock are composed 
of casts of pentamorits ; some triloliitfs :ire also 
found there. The blue limestone is from fifty 
to seventy feet in thickness ; the buff fifteen to 
twenty and the sand stone eighty to a hundred. 
The blue and buff limestones are about the same 
geological age as the Trento and Black river 
groups of the New York geological survey. 

The yield of the upper mines is gradually 
diminishing: and this will continue to be the 
case, since the extent of the lead bearing rock 
is limited and the vertical range of the crevices 
confined to a moderate tUiekness. There is no 
probability that paying mines will be discovered 
in the lower magnesian limestone. This cor- 
responds with the experience of the miners in 
this county ; the crevices do not extend very 
deep and are usually very narrow and very 
few of them; no caves as in the mines about 
Galena, which often contained large quantities 
of lead ore. The early miners in Carroll county 
were usually stopped by the water coming 
into the shaft, in later years improved ma- 
chinery was used and the water lowered but 
with no favorable results. No great strikes were 
e\er made in these mines; sufficient mineral 
however was found to pay fair wages for the 
labor expended. The ground most dug over was 
the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter 
oC .Section 3 in Mt. CaiToll township. This was 
r-alled the Still House Forty Lead Mine. 
Whether it was dug over so much on account of 
it;- being productive of mineral or because it was 
convenient to the still-house, is a question. 

THE IBON MINES 

Ten years ago some gentlemen from St. Paul, 
Minn., prospected quite extensively on Sections 
10 and 30 on the farm of Samuel B. Adams for 
iron ore and other minerals. They leased a 
number of other tracts for the same purpose. 
It was thought at one time that they would 
develop quite an extensive iron mine, and the 
matter of building a branch railroad from 
Savanna up tlie Plum river valley, to haul 
the ore to Chicago smelting furnaces was talked 
of; but what ore was taken out, said to be 
a fine quality of hematite ore, was hauled to 
Savanna by wagon loads and thence shipped by 
rail to Chicago ; but not finding it in sufficient 
quantity to warrant the erection of furnaces at 
the mine or the building of a railroad, the 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



621 



mine was abandoned. There were indications 
of a more valuable metal which the prospectors 
expected to find by going deeper into the earth, 
but so much water interfered with the sinking 
of the shaft, that project was abandoned. .Some 
of the farmers in that ueigliborhood still think 
there are valuable minerals to be found under- 
lying their farms. A more certain fortune how- 
ever is to be gained by tilling the fertile soil 
on the surface. 

THE COALITE MINE 

This is situated on the farm that belonged to 
the late Beers B. Tomlinson on the southeast 
quarter of Section S'j in Mount Carroll town- 
ship. 

A strata of bituminous shale was discovered 
in boring for coal. The vein Is about six feet 
thick and covers over one hundred acres, so far 
«s explored. The shale after undergoing a cer- 
tain process was found to make a very tine in- 
expensive paint, especially useful in preserving 
iron. 

To manufacture the paint a company was 
forme<l at Freeport and incorporated, called the 
Natural Carbon Paint Company. The late 
Michael Schauer of Shannon, until his recent 
death, was president of the company, which 
bought grounds and some buildings and erected 
others on the north bank of the Pecatonica 
river at Freeport. Not having sutfleient means 
to carry on the manufacture of the paint they 
leased the plant to a large paint manufactur- 
ing company of Chicago, who are preparing to 
do an extensive business. The process is to 
roast the shale in closed retorts, some gas comes 
off which is burned for heating the retorts, 
and tarry oil comes off, which has mcdiiinal 
properties, which have not been thoroughly in- 
vestigated but it was found that there was a 
large percentage of carbolic acid in the tar. 

The plant is now used for reducing the shale 
to a dry powder, which is shipped to Chicago 
where it is manufactured into paint. The capa- 
city of the plant is to use about a car load a day. 
It has to be hauled by teams from the mine to 
the Mount Carroll station and loaded on the 
cars. This mine is not very far from the cutoff, 
on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul rail- 
road, and eventually a switch will probably be 
run into the mine and shipments made by rail. 
This same kind of bituminous shale is found at 



another place in the county much nearer the 
railroad and more convenient for shipping or 
being manufactured into paint. 

INDIAN MOUNDS 

Quite a number of Indian mounds are to be 
seen in different parts of the county. They are 
always objects of interest, and the unanswered 
questions arise, as to what human hands raised 
them, and when, and for what object? Certain 
it is, they were made by the aborigines and 
they are the only record there is of the exist- 
ence on this continent of an ancient people. 

A very interesting work on the mound build- 
ers was written by William Pidgeon of Mount 
Carroll, called the Traditions of De-Coo-Da h ; 
published by Thayer, Bridgeman & Fanning 
N. Y. 1853. This work has been considered by 
aicheologists to be a very valuable contribution 
on the subject of which it treats. 

In our neighboring state of Wisconsin, great 
interest has been taken in the preservation of 
these prehistoric remains. The Wisconsin Ar- 
cheological Society, the State Federation of < 
Womens' Clubs and local historical societies, 
have taken it in hand to procure the title to the 
land on which the mounds are found, and to 
convert these plats of ground into small parks, 
wherein the mounds can be preserved from de- 
struction. These parks are used by the public 
for holding field meetings, picnics and so forth. 

MB. PIDQEON'S WORK, TRADITION OP DE-COO-DAH 

The title to Mr. Pidgeon's work, shows its 
scope, '"Traditions of De-Coo-Dah and Anti- 
quarian Researches ; comprising Extensive Ex- 
plorations, Surveys and Excavations of the 
wonderful and mysterious earthen remains of 
the mound builders of America." 

"The Traditions of the Last Prophet of the 
Elk Nation Relative to their Origin and Use, 
pud the Evidences of an Ancient Population 
more numerous than the Present Aborigines." 
By William Pidgeon. 

"Embellished with seventy engravings descrip- 
tive of one hundred and twenty varying rela- 
tive arrangements, forms of earthern effigies, 
anti(iui' sculptures, eti'. 

Mr. Pidgeon was one of the pioneers of Car- 
roll county, his daughter was the wife of John 
li. Christian, the first watchmaker and jeweler 
in the town, who sold clocks and i-egnlat('<l the 
time for all the inhabitants. He told when the 



622 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



sun was on the meruliau from the shadow that 
his door jamb made with reference to a crack in 
the floor of his shop and thus obtained the cor- 
rect time. Tradition has it, that Mr. Pidgeon 
was a very intelligent gentleman, quite a learned 
man, spoke several languages. In conversing 
with the Northern Indians and with De-Coo-Dah 
he employed an interpreter. It is said Mr. 
Pidgeon's treati.se was first written in blank 
verse after the manner of Homer, but the sub- 
ject being such a matter of historical fact, his 
publishers advised rewriting it in prose. It is 
further said that he wrote the book over the 
cattle pens, where he was employed in feeding 
the stock on the slops from the distillery in 
Mount Carroll. 

PLUit BIVER MOUNDS 

In Chapter XXII, page 175, he gives this ac- 
count of the "Unfinished Earth Works on Strad- 
dle Creek, Illinois :" 

"There is. at the junction of .Str.-iddle creek 
with Plum river, four miles west of Mount Car- 
roll, a group of mounds some of which are ap- 
parently complete, but many others are in an 
uufinislied state. 

"De-Coo-Dah represents these works to liave 
been constructed by a people who were ac- 
customed to burn their dead. The rings or 
circular mounds shown in the cut, page 59 are 
from twelve to twenty feet in diameter, and 
about two feet in height. The earth appears to 
have been thrown from within, forming a ring 
and leaving the interior in the form of a basin. 

"Each family formed a circle that was held 
sacred as a family burying place or funeral 
mound; and when one of the family died, the 
body was conveyed to this place, and fuel being 
prepared was placed in the basin and burned. 
After the body was entirely consumed a thin 
covering of earth was spread over the ashes. 
The next death called for similar ceremonies, 
and so on until the enclosure was filled. Then 
the ring was raised about two feet, and 
thus prepared for further use; and this process 
was repeated as often as became necessary, the 
diameter of the circle being gradually diminished 
at the erection of each addition to the ring, 
giving it finally a conical form. Some of the 
rings shown in the cut are full, and present a 
flat surface. There are also two battle burial 
iiiounds attached to this group. I sank a shaft 



in one and was fully satisfied of the correctness 
of the traditional history, from the fact that 
after sinking about ten inches, I struck a bed 
of earth and ashes mingled with particles of 
charcoal, extending to the bottom of the shaft, 
which I sank some twelve inches below the 
bottom of the surrounding surface. This mound 
was constructed in the form of a tortoise with- 
out head, tail or feet, and I presume it contains 
the ashes of a portion of that nation." He exam- 
ined several other mounds and found them con- 
structed in the same manner and composed of 
the same material. 

Continuing. Mr. Pidgeon says, "In the vicinity 
of this group and about forty perches to the 
south of it, there is another complete group, 
where tumular burial was practiced, without 
fire. The traces of bodies in decomposition are 
evident. Drs. A. and J. L. Hostetter sunk shafts 
ill two of these mounds, in one of which they 
found the jaw bone with the teeth of a human 
being apparently of gigantic proportions. They 
still retain it in their drug store at Mount Car- 
roll. I presume however, that this was a relic 
of some recent deposit, as there were also other 
• bones in better state of preservation in the same 
mound. The other mound adjacent to it was 
ff uud upon examination to contain nothing more 
than the usual strata of decomposed matter. 
After a thorough examination of the group, I 
was satisfied that there had either been a 
change at some past era, in the common mode 
of burial, or that region was inhabited by an 
immense population, at different eras, who prac- 
ticed tumular burial in different ways. The 
traditions of De-C\io-Dah sanction the latter con- 
clusion ; and it is further corroborated by the 
fact that, west of the Mississippi, as far as our 
researches have extended, we have found in all 
burial mounds examined, the traces of fire in 
deposit of charcoal and ashes, while on the east 
side of that river from the junction of the 
Missouri to the Fall of St. Anthony we have only 
found an occasional isolated mound of that 
d(;scription with the single exception of the 
group on Plum river. 

"From these facts in connection with the tra- 
ditions of De-Coo-Dah, respecting the ancient 
liihabitants of these regions, as of various 
languages, customs and color, we are led to the 
conclusion that at least two distinct races of 
men have occupied this territory at different 
eras, and that both became nationally extinct, 




< 




a 



-J 

►J 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



623 



anterior to the occupation of the present Indian 
race." 

Tliat tliese mounds are ancit'Ut we know, from 
tlie fatt that tlie Xortli American Indians were 
never Ivnown to have erected tumuli at any era 
known to history or tradition. Tliey did how- 
over use the.se ancient mounds as places for 
burying their dead, in shallow graves. 

AUNOLU'S GROVK I.NDW.V MOUNDS 

AlHiut two and one-half miles north of Mount 
Carroll, on the north side and close to the 
.\riiold's (Jrove road, in the field of Mrs. .John 
Souders. are four very interesting Indian 
mounds. They are conical mounds about sev- 
euty-five feet apart, built on the top of the ridge, 
raised four or five feet above the surrounding 
surface, each about thirty feet in diameter at 
the base, and eight or ten feet across the top. 
which is depressed, forming a basin in the c-enter. 
Aliout forty years ago some jirofessional men of 
Mount t'arroll dug into one of these mounds, the 
most esisterly one i>erhaps. as it is disfigured 
now ; they found nothing but bones of some 
human skeletons. There was then growing on 
some of these mounds walnut trees two feet in 
diameter. The.se mounds are being rapidly 
destroyed, the depression on the center holds the 
water from rain and melting snow, and the hogs 
running in the pasture have made hog- 
wallows in the top of the mounds, gradually 
carrying the dirt out so that they have become 
quite deep holes, of irregular shape. It is un- 
fortunate that something cannot be done to pre- 
serve these ancient monuments. 



MOUNDS IN MOU.VT CVRBOLL TOWNSHIP 

On the ridge on the IJristol farm, on the 
southeast quarter of section li), there are three 
or four conical Indian mounds, and about two 
miles south of these on the edge of the bluffs, on 
the old .lames Wil.son farm, in section 20, there 
are several Indian mounds. These have been 
superficially examined and bits of skeletons and 
some relics found. The bluffs here overlook the 
lakes in the Mississijipi valley, where there was 
an abundance of game. All the mounds thus far 
mentioned are on high ground, from them there 
is a tine vitjw of the surrounding country. 



YORK TOWNSHIP MOINDS 

There are three distinct Indian mounds on 
the northeast quarter of section 20 about two 
and a half miles northwest of the village of 
Thomson. These are on high ground overlook- 
ing the slough and the woods along the Missis- 
sippi river. These mounds are in a row north 
and south almost touching each other at the 
base and are ten or twelve feet above the 
level of the ground. From a distance they look 
quite prominent in the landscape. They seem to 
be made of sand from the surrounding land 
with a few rocks that must have been trans- 
ported to the place. In excavating so as to 
m.'ike an examination of the mounds these rocks 
interfered so that a thorough examination was 
not made, by a party that undertook it some 
thirty years ago. All that this party found in 
digging into the mound was the bones of the 
fingers of a human hand. 

In the same neighborhood on lower ground, 
there is one large Indian mound, said to be fif- 
teen rods across at the bottom. It seems to have 
been made of earth brought from a distance 
and originally was raised about twenty feet 
above the natural surface. Where it is located, 
it has the appearance of having been an island 
and if is supposed the earth of which it is com- 
posed was brought there in canoes, and the ob- 
ject in making it so high was to have the top 
al»ove the high water in the Mississippi river. 
It was first dug into by some college students 
from the south of Thomson; some thirty skel- 
etons were unearthed by this party. Another 
explorer found in the mound a finger bone that 
had a thin thread of gold around it. The bodies 
all lay with their feet toward the center of the 
mound as appeared from the skeletons found. 

Nearly every year there is .some one digging 
in this mound, out of idle curiosity to see what 
they can find. It is also being plowed over for 
farming purposes, and will .soon bo a thing of 
the past. Something ought to be done to arouse 
sufficient interest in the public so that all the 
n:ounds in the country will be preserved and 
protected from despoliation and destruction. 

STONE RELICS 

Many Indian arrows of great variety as to 
shape and size have been found in the county; 
also stone axes, weighing from two or three 



624 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



ounces to thirteen and a half pounds, some of 
them very artistic and with perfectly grooved 
heads; skinning stones, amulets and a great 
variety of celts and some Paleoliths and some 
Neolithic heaps of small stone. These relics 
are all in the hands of private individuals. 
Dr. Rinedollar of Mount Carroll has a very fine 
collection, among which are fifteen stone axes 
nearly all of which are grooved, and over five 
hundred arrow heads, about a peck, besides 
many other fine specimens of the work of the 
men of the stone age. Captain J. F. Allison had 
at one time, when he lived at Mount Cnrrull. a 
very fine collection of stone axes, found in this 
county. 

A permanent organization ought to be formed 
for the county, for the purjxjse of preserving 
historical treasures so that the collections may 
not be dissipated, and some of the specimens 
perhaps lost beyond recovery. 

During the World's Pair in Chicago, a very 
fine collection of stone arrow heads and stone 
axes, made by George Winters of specimens 
found in Carroll and Jo Daviess counties, was 
sold to the Illinois World's Fair Commission. 
After the fair it was given to the Arcbeological 
Exhibit of the University of Illinois. 

THE DALLES OF THE WAUK.\RVSA 

These now famous walls of rock and beau- 
tiful scenery begin just below the city park. 
Mount Carroll, at Point Rock park, as it is ikiw 
called, and line the creek on either side for sev- 
eral miles. They are at some places a hiuidred 
feet or more In height almost perpendicular. In 
pioneer days they were crowned with great tall 
pines that towered an equal distan<-e towards 
the sky. These walls of rock are so close to- 
gether at some places, they form what might be 
called a mountain gorge. They shut out the 
sunlight, except for a short time during the 
day, and in the hottest days in summer furnish 
a delightful shade and cool resort. At other 
places they also modify the climate in winter; 
so that at one place, it is as mild as the climate 
of St. Louis and Southern Illinois; here the paw 
paws grew and nowhere else so far nortli. 
These bushes used to fill the narrow valley along 
the stream, together with other shrubs and flow- 
fcra that belonged to a more southern clime. The 
rocks, which were not entirely perpendicular, 
were covered with vegetation, and were fes- 



tooned at all seasons of the year with various 
kinds of flowers and vines; in some of the damp 
nooks hanging moss drooped from the branches 
of the cedars. In winter they were covered 
with the cedar, and the beautiful dark green hem- 
lock ; that drooping over the rugged bluffs 
seemed to try to cover their nakedness. Inter- 
mingled with the green of the cedar and hem- 
lock, was the bitter sweet with its bright red 
berries. 

In spring time these lovely valleys were car- 
peted with flowers, the trilliums and hepaticas, 
pink, white, and some tinged with delicate blue, 
and the anemones and the bluebells, and as 
spring wore away and the great floods in the 
creek subsided, so as to make the many fords 
passable, one could see far up the rugged bluffs, 
the beautiful columbines, growing out of the 
crevices of the rocks and covering jutting 
benches or steps that were only accessible by 
giant strides. There were many ferns, among 
which was the beautiful maiden hair fern and 
that wonder always of children, the walking 
fern, which in shady places had taken possession 
of the great moss-covered rocks that lay scat- 
tered about the shady valley of the creek. Here 
also grew that sweetest scented of flowers, the 
orchis spectabilis, of the same family as the lady 
slipper, which grew so bountifully in the woods 
in those days. Later in the fall of the year 
high up on the overhanging precipices where 
there did not seem to be .soil enough for any- 
thnig to grow but the mosses and the lichens, 
of which there was a great variety, grew the 
beautiful blue hair bell with its long black stem 
and bell shaped flower, the same that is so much 
prized by travelers in the mountains of Switzer- 
land. 

When the country was new the.se dells were 
free to every one and were certainly very gi'and 
and beautiful as nature had finished them. The 
entrance to the dells was by Poet's Kock. The 
usual way of seeing them was on horseback ; 
horseback riding was a common means of trav- 
eling in those days. Parties were frequently 
formed for the purpose of going "down to the 
cave." Indeed there was no other way in early 
days to traverse the dells, on account of some 
twenty-seven times the creek had to be forded 
to go down as far as the cave. To gallop over 
the open prairie, and then plunge into the shady 
recesses of the dells was not an infrequent pas- 
time of the young people of the pioneers. 



HISTORY OP CARROLL COUNTY 



625 



The cave was a great crevice in the wall of 
rock, aud extended hack from the face of the 
bluff a hundred feet or more, was enlarged, and 
extended deeper into the ground by the miners 
digging for lead, which here was found in tiny 
veins running through the solid rock, so that it 
and some side chambers could be traversed by 
man for several hundred feet. To get into the 
cave it was necessary to cross the creek at this 
place, either in a rude boat or perhaps a canoe 
made from a hollow log or on a temporary 
bridge of poles or planks made by ingenious 
youths, so that their best girls, they were all 
best to some of the swains — could get into the 
cave. In later years the fords were improved 
so that one could drive down to the cave, mainly 
through the interest which Judge Patch had 
taken in baring them repaired after every flooil, 
which would t)ften make them impassable and 
sometimes even change the course of the creek, 
as it does not run straight along its narrow 
way, but meanders from one higli bluff across 
to another, then back again, and the valley it- 
self was by no means in a straight line, but 
wound about, some places doubling on itself 
in cutting through the hills, so that in travers- 
ing a distance of nearly two miles in a straight 
line it winds about for three miles or more. 
Below the «ive is the grotto and along the 
way are many curious formations which have 
been given fanciful names, some of which have 
not been an improvement on those of the early 
pioneers. What is now known as Point Rock, 
where one enters the dells, was called Poet's 
Rock by the young people of the pioneer days. 
Here the swains of early days were wont to 
retire to indite those tender eiiistles which won 
the hearts of the maidens of pioneer days. 
After this period was passed through the rock 
became a trysting place for happy lovers. 

In many places civilization has marred the 
beauty <if these dalles, particularly where they 
extend through the village; here a dam was built 
auoss the narrow valley to raise a water jiower 
of twenty feet fall for the Mount Carroll mill. 
In the early days this dam formed a beautiful 
clear lake, very deep and filled with many 
kinds of game fish. In the summer time it was 
fine for boating and bathing and in winter for 
Bkating, more than a mile in extent, passing uii 
by Day Spring and Day Spring Hollow, which 
latter jilaces are now fortunately enclosed in the 
grounds of the Caroline Mark Home, and will in 



time be made into a beautiful park. When the 
first settlers came. Mount Carroll was the site 
of au Indian village, and when the mill dam 
was being built where the mill pond now is the 
skeletons of their tepees were still standing. 
Here it is told that an Indian squaw riding up 
the stream on her pony placed a foot on either 
bank and the white man called It Straddle 
Creek, but the Indian name is Waukarusa. 
wliich means, waist deep. 

Passing further up the stream and two miles 
from the city, are what might be called the up- 
per dalles of the Waukarusa. Here the natural 
growth of forest trees has been preserved, and 
the valley between the bluffs is still filled with 
great tall walnut, sugar maple, linden, ash and 
many kinds of oak and other trees, so that 
within the space of a few acres every kind 
of tree to be found in this latitude can be seen 
growing. Here also grows in great abundance 
the thong wood, of so much use to the Indians 
in tying together the bark with which tliey 
formed their canoes and wigwams. 

An ancient oak may be here seen that was 
probably growing when Columbus discovered 
America, a stately monarch of the forest, — 

"What gnarled stretch, what depth of shade is 

his," 
"There needs no crown to mark the forest's 

king." 

The body of this tree at its smallest girth is 
over ten feet in circumference ; about fifteen feet 
from the ground it divides into two enormous, 
almost perpendicular branches, one of which is 
over six feet in circumference, and the other 
over seven; it is sixty feet high and spreads 
seventy feet in width. In very early days this 
oak sheltered a hunter's log cabin ; the hearth- 
stone of its fire place still remains to mark the 
spot where it stood ; from which place can be 
seen in the distance, looking south, a spring 
where the deer and elk in early days used to 
come from the prairies to drink of its cool aud 
refreshing waters. The oak and the violet, 
which are here such near neighbors, were a few 
years ago voted by the graded schools of Illinois 
to be the state tree and the state tlowcr. This 
old oak overlooks a high bluff where there 
is a perpendicular wall of rock rising from the 
running water below, some fifty feet in height, 
.•iiid for several rods in length in a straight line, 
the top is fringed with low bushes and at the 



626 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



upper eud of the perpendicular wall of rock is 
n conveuieut crevice. This place was used by 
the Indians iu the early days for destroying 
great numbers of bufifalos. Large herds of these 
annuals roamed over the prairies of Illinois in 
early days. Like many wild animals, they were 
in the habit of following a leader, and were not 
easily deflected from the course he was pursu- 
ing. The Indians taking advantage of this fact 
substituted one of their number disguised as a 
bi'fifalo, with a bison skin with head, ears and 
horns and no doubt the tail, so that the deception 
of the dumb animals was quite complete. The 
Uerd was then surrounded by the Indians and 
put to flight towards the one in disguise, who 
imitating the motion of the erstwhile leader fled 
towards the cliff with the whole herd following 
niton his heels. He took shelter in the crevice of 
the cliff. The herd having gained great 
momentum iu that direction could not stop, if 
they would : those in the rear forced the fore- 
most on until they nearly all went over the brink 
of the precipice to their utter destruction. 

In the early days, all along the Waukarusa 
"liriglit old inhabitants." so called by the In- 
dians iu a word translated from the Indian 
tongue, were entirely too numerous for one to 
be at ease when walking through the woods. 
This is another of several good reasons parties 
had for going down to the cave on horseback ; 
these "bright old inhabitants" being very 
poisinious rattlesnakes. The reader will be glad 
to know that they are now exterminated in this 
neighborhood and it is seldom that one is found 
anywhere In the whole county. 

The catamount, that terror of the woods, lived 
in a cave below the cliff near this ancient oak, 
when the country was first settled by white men. 
He no doubt stretched his lithe body along the 
huge limbs of the old oak and with glaring eyes 
the blood-thirsty month was ready to drop down 
ol; his prey, the little rabbit that sought shelter 
in the depths of the tree's hollow trunks, or the 
gentle fawn that was enjoying the grateful 
shade under its spreading branches. 

In those days of the early settlers the wild 
pigeons came to this country in such great flocks 
as to form clouds that darkened the sun ; they 
used to light on the old oak in great numbers to 
feed upon its acorns. 



Further down the stream, above a deep pool, 
there is a mass of rocks covered here and there 
with shrubs and cedars and tall trees, over which 
one can look when stauding upon the hillside 
:iliove. This place and scenery gave to the 
author of the, "Merchant Prince of Cornville," 
some of his ideas, which have since become of 
world wide notoriety, especially in theatrical 
circles. This play is claimed by its author to 
C(,ntain the ideas which made such a great suc- 
cess of Edmoud Rostand's great works "Cyrano 
De Bergerac." and "L'Aiglou," and "Le Chan- 
tacler." So near akin Is all the world that the 
palaces of Taris hark back the echoes from the 
fern clad cliffs of the little stream in Illinois 
now called the Waukarusa. 

THE PBAIRIE 

Above the upper dells the explorer emerges 
upou the beautiful prairie, which extends for 
miles towards the rising sun. In early days it 
was thought these prairies would never be set- 
tled and farmed, although they are the most 
fertile lands in the country, because there was 
no water, no wood for building or fuel, nor for 
making fences to enclose the cultivated fields, 
to keep off the roving bands of cattle that 
grazed at large for miles around. The beauty of 
the scene was however, impressed upon the 
early settler. In the springtime the prairie was 
a delicate green ; among the blades of grass 
were such tiny flowers, as the violet and 
the strawberry, and many others of delicate 
tints and of unknown names ; these covered 
valley and knoll, making a trackless sea of 
billowy verdure. The observer soon became 
aware that he n;ust take note of his bearings, 
or he would be lost among the greeu knolls, as 
there was nothing to mark his way. The hori- 
zon was an unbroken circle of green which met 
the sky. As the season advanced toward mld- 
sunmier in the grass were delicate tiny flowers, 
— tlie violet and others more conspicuous and 
gaudy. In the autumn, yellow was the pre- 
dominating color of the flowers which were 
then very beautiful. The prairie had a beauty of 
its own, which beggars description ; it has van- 
ished forever ; we shall never see its like again. 




GIANT'S TKA-'IAMLE IN THE UALLE8 OF 
THE WAIKARUSA 




SCENE ON llli; W AlKAUrSA NEAl! Till': CWK AT WILOKUHinu; PLACE 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



627 



CHAPTER II. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CARROLL 
COINTY, AS DELIVERED BY HOX. JAMES 
SHAW, AT LANARK, ILLINOIS, ON JULY 
4. 1S7(> AT A FOURTH OF JULY CELE- 
BRATION THERE HELD AND OLD 
SETTLERS MEETING. 



A.NCIENT OWNERSHIP — NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY 
— JO DAVIESS COUNTY — SAVANNA FIR.ST TOWN — 
NEW COUNTY 'OFFICER.S COUNTY COMMISSION- 
ERS COURT — FIRST CIRCUIT COURT HELD IN THE 
COUNTY — REMOVAL OF COUNTY SEAT FROM 

SAVANNA COURT HOUSE BUILT — MEMBERS OF 

THE LEGISL.\TURE — EARLY SETTLEMENTS — FIKST 

SETTLEMENT IN CARROLL COUNTY" SAVANNA 

SETTLED — FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE — FIRST TR.VIL 
— TAVERN RATES — CHERRY GROVE SETTLE- 

MENT — ELKHORN GROVE SETTLEMENT — MARKING 

THE WAY YORK TOWNSHIP EARLY" SETTLERS — 

HOW THEY' CAME — Y"ORK TOWNSHIP NAMED 

PRESTON PRAIRIE AND MOUNT CARROLL SETTLE- 
MENTS — 1S37 ORIGINAL MILL COMPANY FORMED 
FIRST RELIGIOUS MEETING — THE MILL COM- 
PANY" — STAG POI.NT — FIRST SCHOOL — FIRST MAIL 
— THE SEMINARY — THE ACADEMY — EARLY' SET- 
TLEMENT IN WYSO.X — INDIAN.S — A PIONEER LOST 
— JUMPING A CLAIM — SHELVING ROCK SHANTY' 
— RATTLESNAKES — INVENTIVE GENIUS — NAMES OF 
PLACES — SIRADDI-E CREEK — EARLY' SETTLEMENT 
— AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY — EABLY PREMIUMS 
-VWAHDED — NEWS PAPERS — MAGNITUDE 1S7C — 
WAR RECORD. 

Till' ruitcd Shilcs liy Viirious iroalies witli 
tUi" Indiiins from IS114 to 18:?2, bad e.xtiiifjiiished 
tlicir titles to llic ImikI in ttie Rock river val- 
ley and about tbe (iaieiia lead mines: tlie red 
men remained, bowever. until about tbe time 
of tbe RIackbawk war, before tliey permanently 
removed lo their new homes west of Ibe Mis- 
sissi|i|ii river. Independent of this occni)a- 
tion .-ind ownei'sbip of tbe soil by the aljo- 
rinines, France and Ensland, as each gained 
asoendeney in tbeir new world dominions, ruled 
tbe nortbwest by turns, until it was con(iuered 
from tbe latter, by tbe bold and beroic e.vpedi- 



lions of (k-orge Rogers Clark, wbose campaigns 
in Illinois reduced tbe Britisli posts of Kas- 
kaskia and Fort Vinceiuies between the Ohio 
and Mississippi rivers. 

ANCIENT on .NERSIIIP 

An ei)itome of tbe history of this ancient 
ownership may fitly introduce this attempt to 
elotbe in historic narr.ilive tlie following: pages 
of our local annals. 

Tbe history of Illinois up to l.Sdlt may be 
eiiitomized nearly as follows. (Jriginally its 
territory, with that of oilier northwestern 
states, was a part of New or Canadian France, 
and was partially under French control. 

Tbe Jesuit missionaries were tbe first white 
men wbo discovered the Mississippi river and 
traversed its tributary streams. Tbey came 
to tell the story of the Cross and evangelize 
the wild tribes of the prairie and the woods. 
Their relations or journals are the sources of 
our early northwestern history and primitive 
settlements. Their heroism and adventurous 
discoveries founded tlie empire of New France 
in the new world. From the mouth of the St. 
Lawrence river to tbe Father of Waters their 
early labors to proselyte the Indian races were 
constant and unremitting. The charm of a 
certain spirit of romance hangs over tbeir lives 
thus tilled with the iiassion, beauty and beroic 
achievements of a fervid religious enthusiasm. 
Nor are incidents almost tragic in their sadness, 
wanting to complete the historic picture or 
story. There is no death scene in the history 
of those days more touching than the death-bed 
of Maripiette, one of the explorers of this very 
territory, yielding up bis spirit in prayer to the 
(lod who gave it, by the banks of the small 
river which hears his name on the eastern shore 
of Lake .Michigan, on May 1".). K!".". The patlios 
of that de.Uh-bed scene is touching in tlie e.\- 
treme. 

Between 1715 ami 1720, this Northwestern 
Territory was made a jiart of Louisiana and was 
tbenceforlb governed from New Orleans instead 
of Quebec. The southwest bad had its ups and 
downs and tierce conllicts had been waged in tbe 
n<!\v slates of Florida. Lousiana and Texas, be- 
tween colonies, soldiers and emissaries of France 
and Spain. By the treaty of Great Britain and 
France, (Treaty of Paris, 1703), all the north- 
western territory including Canada, was ceded 



628 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



by the latter power to the former, and Captain 
Sterling in behalf of Great Britain, opened a pro- 
visional government at Fort Chartres in Ran- 
dolph County in ITGo. In the following year Illi- 
nois and the northwestern territory was placed 
under the supervision of Canada, and governed 
from thence for many years as a British Prov- 
ince. Meantime the Revolutionary war broke 
out. In 1778, General Clark, one of the most 
heroic soldiers and leaders of his time, organized 
the expedition referred to and after incredible 
hardships and heroism, captured Fort Vineennes 
on the Wabash, garrisoned by British troops, un- 
der General Hamilton and restored this whole 
country to the American Colonial government. 
It was placed under the jurisdiction of the State 
of Virginia, which in October, 1778. was organ- 
ized into the County of Illinois of the Indian 
Territory. At that time there were two grades 
of territories recognized. In the first grade the 
appointed judges and governor made the laws. 
By a vote of the people in 1812, Illinois passed 
to the second grade, in which a territorial legis- 
lature consisting of a council and House of 
Representatives, made the laws and exercised 
the functions of government. This first legisla- 
ture consisted of four councilmen and seven 
representatives. 

STATE DIVIDED INTO COUNTIES 

In 1800 acting governor Pope by his proclama- 
tion divided the state into two counties; St. Clair 
and Randolph, and they were the only counties 
for three years prior to 1812, at which time by 
a vote of the peojile of these two counties, the 
territory passed to the second grade of govern- 
ment. In September of the same year four 
niore counties were organized and an election 
was ordered which elected the four councilmen 
and seven representatives of the first legislature 
chosen in the state. 

As the state grew and passed into its state 
existence in 1818. the carving process went on. 
and new counties were constantly organized. 
Peoria county when organized extended from 
the Illinois river on the east to the northern 
boundary line of the state. 

JO DAVIESS COUNTY FOBMED 

Finally in 1827 Jo Daviess county was organ- 
ized out of the northern part of this large ter- 



ritory. It embraced what Is now the counties of 
Lee, Ogle, Carroll and Whiteside and some other 
territory yet unorganized. In 1836 Ogle was 
carved off from Jo Daviess and afterward Lee 
was carved off by dividing Ogle into two coun- 
ties. Meanwhile Carroll county remained a part 
of Jo Daviess, and its first settlement, its first 
county government and its first resident Jus- 
tices of the Peace appear while It was yet a 
part of Jo Daviess county. A few of the oldest 
citizens in 1876. remembered, when Carroll 
county was still a part of Jo Daviess and 
Galena was the county seat, of the former 
county. 

CARROLL COUNTY ORGANIZED 

This brings us to the organization and 
political history of Carroll county, the proper 
subject of this history. As early as 1837 peti- 
tions had been addressed to the Legislature, 
asking for a separate county organization, signed 
by the citizens of Savanna and many others. 

SAVANNA FIRST TOWN IN COUNTY 

The town of Savanna had been laid out by 
Luther H. Bowen. with whom was associated a 
man by the name of Murray. One John A. C. 
Clark seems also to have laid off the north part 
of the town : but none of these plats seem to 
have been recorded until after the complete or- 
ganization of the county. 

The first petition for county existence con- 
tained the novel request that the court house of 
the new county should be erected on "Murray's 
Scjuare," in the new town of Savanna. 

The act organizing the new county was ap- 
proved and became a law on the twenty-second 
day of February, 1839. It provided that an 
election should be held on the second day of 
April following ; for the purpose of choosing the 
seat of justice for the county, and of electing 
county officers. This act contains some novel 
provisions, requiring the owners of lands on 
which the county seat might be located, or the 
town of Savanna, in case it should be located 
there, to donate land or town lots and also to 
donate thirty-five hundred dollars in cash to 
be paid to the county for the erection of a court 
house and other public buildings in six, twelve 
and eighteen month installments. 

This election was held on the eighth day of 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



629 



Ai)ril, 1S39. .Savanna received one hundred and 
twenty-sis votes. That vote was phired on 
record and certified to be the majority of all the 
votes cast, liy John Knox, I.tH)nard Goss, Alvin 
Iluinplirey, J. C. Owings and Henj. Church, act- 
ing justices of the peace in and for the original 
county of Jo Daviess. Savanna thus became 
the county seat of the new county. Returns of 
first elec-tion were to be made to these justices 
of tlie peace, who were to canvass the returns 
and declare the result, which was done in due 
form of law. 

THE NEW COtJNTY OFFICERS 

The new county was attached to the sixth 
judicial circuit ; and courts were to be held in 
it twice a year, at such times as the judge should 
designate. We tind afterwards that he held the 
circuit court or terms of court in the months of 
September and May. 

Township organization had not then come into 
fashion in this [lart of the state but a County 
commissioners court, composed of three commis- 
sioners did the legal and other business of tlie 
county. 

Sample M. Journey, Garner Moffett and Luther 
II. Bowen, were the first commisisoners 
elected. At their second meeting in June, 1S39, 
they drew lots for the terms of duration of their 
office, Luther II. Bowen drew the one-year 
terra, S. SI. Journey drew the three-year term. 
and the two-year term was left for Garner Muf- 
fett, he getting what is called IIobson"s clmiiv: 
but I cannot find that Moffett ever qualified or 
took part iu the county business until about the 
close of the year 1S39. 

COUNTY COMMISSIONEBS CODET 

The first meeting of the county commissioners 
court was held iu Savanna, April 13, 1S39. They 
appointed Elijah Bellows and .Vlvin Daviiis the 
first assessors of the county. Norman D. French 
the first collector, laid off the county into ten 
road districts; assessed four days' road l.'ibor 
upon each man if necessary to have so much ; 
granted a license or two to keep tavern, and 
did some other liusiness. I find afterwards that 
the fees of the alwve assessors, were seven dol- 
lars to one and seventeen dollars to the other. 
William Goss was the first clerk of the county 
commissioners court ; Hezekiah Frances was the 



first sheriff; John C. Owings was the first pro- 
bate justice ; Mason Taylor was the first cor- 
oner ; Uoyal Cooper was the first recorder ; I^evl 
Warner was the first surveyor; Leonard Goss the 
first notary public; and Vance Davidson was the 
first public administrator. The commissions of 
these officers all bore date early iu the year 
Ib'od ; several of them were re-elected and served 
term after term in succession, especially was 
this true of Francis Owings, Taylor, Cooper and 
Warner. 

The first county order issued by the commis- 
sioners was to Captain James Craig for ten dol- 
lars and fifty cents for a copy of the law or- 
ganizing the county. Captain Craig was the rep- 
resentative for Jo Daviess county, who intro- 
duced the bill, in the legislature to incorporate 
the county. 

FIRST COURT HELD IN THE COUNTY 

On the twelfth of September 1839, the first 
term of the circuit court was held in a build- 
ing two blocks south of the present residence 
(1875) of Dr. Woodruff, a sort of a public build- 
ing in which all public gatherings were ac- 
customed to convene for public meetings. 

The following are the names of the grand and 
petit jurors which were selected by the county 
commissioners court for this term. Grand jur- 
ors lor .September term 1839 ; John Knox, A. 
Painter, Herman McNamar, Daniel Storler, 
Thomas I. Shaw, E. W. Todd, Francis Garner, 
John C. Owings, George Swaggert, Nathan Fisk, 
Samuel I'restou, David Masters, Beers Tomlin- 
son, Aaron Pierce, Thomas Rapp, John Eddowes, 
John Beruard, John Laswell, Stephen N. Arnold, 
Elijah Sterns, William Dyson, Jr., William Dy- 
son, Sr., and Daniel Christian. 

Pettit jurors for the same term : William 
Ayres, Aaron Robb, William Jenkins, Isaac 
Jones, John Her, Sumner Downing, Nelson 
Swaggert, Irwin Kellogg, Vance L. Davidson, 
Alouso Shannon, John Orr, David Ashby, George 
W. Brice, William Eaton, Levi Newcomer, John 
Johnson, John Cuunuings, George Christian, 
Paul D. Otis, Ellas P. Williams, Royal Cooper, 
David L, Bowen, William Bundel and John Ful- 
ler. These were among the prominent old set- 
tlers, most of them are dead now, sleeping quiet- 
ly in their coHined sleep ; some went off to other 
states and localities; while a very few may yet 



630 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



linger among the living In the little county they 
helped to organize and build up. 
■ At the first term of the court the docket con- 
tained eight cases; five of them were appeals 
from assessments of damages, highway cases I 
suppose; two were forcible entry and detainer 
suite; one was a trespass on the case suit; most 
o! these cases were continued or dismissed ; and 
the only attorney on record I find, was a man by 
the name of Wakefield, who must have starved 
to death if he depended on legal fees for a. 
living. 

At the next term of court, May term 1840, 
there were twelve cases on the docket. Martin 
P. Sweet, Judge Drummond, a Mr. Chase and a 
Mr. Hoge appear as attorneys of record. Judge 
Drummond had two divorce suits and they were 
the only chancery cases of the term. In fact 
these two chancery cases are the beginning of 
the chancery record in Carroll County. The 
cases were: Jeremiah Humphrey vs. Hannah 
Humphrey and Dudley C. Humphrey vs. Lavinia 
fJumphrey, both were commenced by the hus- 
bands and both husbands were supposedly made 
happy by obtaining the divorces sought. At the 
same term there were two slander «uits Robert 
Ashby vs. Peter Bashaw and Oliver Bashaw, 
both suits seemingly dismissed without a trial 
or hearing. Soon after this the names of E. B. 
AVashburn, Judge Heaton and otliers whose 
names became prominent or distinguished as 
lawyers, began to appear on the dockets as then 
jjracticing law in Carroll County. A part of 
Pierce's tavern was used as jury rooms; fifteen 
dollars were appropriated per term to pay for 
jiutting these jury rooms in i>rder, except at 
one term when the appropriation was only five 
dollars, to fix up a jury room in the Mississippi 
house for some kind of court purposes. 

Judge Stone of Galena held most of these 
early courts. Judge Brown succeeded him, of 
whom many ancedotes were told, some of them 
still linger in the memories of some of the older 
lawyers. 

EEMOVAI> OF THE COUNTY SE.VT FROM SAVANNA 

As settlements spread over the county and 
emigrants sought this part of the state, the 
question of removing the county seat to a more 
central location began to b.e agitated. This agi- 
tation was chiefly urged on by the Mount Car- 
roll Mill Company. It culminated in the passage 



of an act by the legislature, approved March 6, 
1843, appointing Moses Hallett, of Jo Daviess 
county; John Dixon of Lee county and Nathan 
Belcher of Rock Island county, commissioners to 
select a proper and more central location. On 
the 17th day of May of the same year they met 
and selected forty acres of land donated by 
Nathaniel Halderman on behalf of the Mill 
Company, on the hill in Mount Carroll, where 
the churches now stand, stuck a stake there 
where the public square was to be. and named 
the site Mount Carroll. This land and ten 
acres donated by George W. Christian was laid 
off into town lots and these lots or some of 
them were offered at auction on the twentieth 
of November, A. D. 1843. This plat was laid off 
by the commissioners, was afterward vacated 
by the legislature February 5, 1851. Savanna 
had got out hewed timbers for a block house jail 
at this time but had failed to build a court 
house. The Jtlill Company were not satisfied 
with the location of the town plat as made by 
the commissioners, and the result was that no 
lots were sold by the county at the sale adver- 
tised to take place. Thereupon Nathaniel Hal- 
derman offered to build a substantial court house, 
making the offer for the Mill Company, if the 
county would deed back the forty acres donated 
to the county by the company, and also cancel 
a subscription of one thousand dollars which the 
company had made towards erecting a court 
house and public buildings; this offer was ac- 
cepted. 

FIRST COURT HOUSE BUILT 

The building of the court house was com- 
menced in 1843 and completed so that the public 
offices were removed into it on the first Monday 
of September, 1844. The right to use the court 
house for church purposes and for other meet- 
ings and gatherings was reserved for ten years 
by those who erected it. The first gathering in 
this young temple of justice was a Fourth of 
July celebration in 1844 before the building was 
completed, and in those days revival meetings 
preiiching and other meetings on public occasions 
were regularly held there. Thomas Hoyne of 
Galena made the oration, at this meeting to cel- 
ebrate the day. 

What reminiscences of those early days this 
old court house could tell, could its now scat- 
tered rocks be gathered up and endowed with 



.^ 



Bmh 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^I^^^^^Hl^ 




f^m 




m 


|SB 


^^^H^ ^^^^ 


^jmH 



J 






3 




liW 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



631 



speech; but like everything else it had to give 
place to the progressive spirit of the new civi- 
lization. 



COUNTY OFFICERS 

It is not ni.v puriioso now to trace this comity 
seat mutter further. The history of the county 
from that time down to the present, shows that 
November twenty-first 1S49, George W. Harris 
qualified as the first county judge and Norman 
I). French and George W. Knox as associate 
judges. Harris resigned a year after his elec- 
tion, and was succeeded by David Emmert, and 
he by Tlxomas Rapp. C. VanVechten, Judge Gray 
and John Wilson and later by Hon. B. L. Tatch, 
who held the office for many years, (until suc- 
ii'cdcd by A. V. Wingert. and he by John D. 
Turnbaugh, the incnmltent in 1910). 

The county clerks and clerks of the county 
commissioners court have been William B. Goss, 
John Wilson, T.eonard Goss, Valentine Bohn, 
I'.tnj L, Patch, It. G. Bailey, R. M. A. Hawk and 
perhaps otliors who filled the office in those early 
(lays I The incuMilieuts down to the present 
lime have been: E. T. E. Becker, F. A. Smith 
and Andrew B. Adams.] 

The county was but a brief period under the 
supervision of the judge and his two associate 
judges. We find that April S, 1S50, the first 
meeting of the supervisors took place and ad- 
joined for the want of a quorum, to the 23d diiy 
01' April ; on that day the new board met and 
organized. Tlie following were the names of the 
supervisors i)reseut at the first meeting and 
there is no record of any absentees: Jared 
Bartholomew, Da. ol P. Holt, Rollin Wheeler, 
Sample M. Journey, George Sword, Monroe 
Baile.v, Henry F. Lowraan and John Donalson. 
Jared Bartholomew was elected chairman. 

There has been no change since in the system 
of our county government and the system is so 
familiar to all our citizens, that it may be dis- 
missed without further comment. It is the good 
Uepul>lican system adopted by all the counties 
ii; the northern part of the state. 



mSINESS OF THE PROBATE COURT 

As a matter of interest it may be proper to 
state that the first busiuess done by the probate 
court, was the lu'obating of the will of Peter B. 



Newell. l)y John C. Owings, jirobate justice of the 
peace, September 5, 1S39. The first marriage 
license issued, as shown by these early rei^'ords 
was to Marshall B. Pierce, to marry Julia A. 
Baker, which was dated August 27, 1839. Ben- 
jamin Church J. P. tied the knot. The fir.st 
deed recorded was from Bowen and Murray to 
David Ii. Harrison and was dated May 2G, 1S37 
and was recorded July 4, 1839. 



MEMBERS OF THE LEGISL.\TORE 

The names of the men who have represented 
the county in the legislature, so far as I can find, 
are ditticult to state accurately on account of the 
changes fre<iueutly made in the representative 
districts and our changed connection with ad- 
joining counties. 

I give as nearly as I can, however, the names 
of those who have been connected with public 
affairs and who have been residents of the 
count.v, since it was organized with their call- 
ings and professions so far as I know them. 
J. M. Hunter, senator in 27th General Assembly, 
a lawyer and served one term of two years ; 
H. A. Mills, banker, senator; W. P. Miller, 
l.iwyer, ISth General Assembly; Rowland 
Wheeler, merchant. 19th Assembly ; Porter Ser- 
geant, merchant. 20th General Assembly, two 
years ; James DeWolf, farmer, 21st General As- 
semlily, two years ; Benjamin L. Patdi, lawyer, 
22iid General Assembly, two years; J. F. Chap- 
man, merchant, 23rd Assembly, two .years ; 
Daniel W. Dame, farmer, 24th Assembly ; Elijah 
Funk, farmer, and surveyor, 25th General As- 
sembly, two .vears ; Adam Nase, ex-sherilT and 
carpenter, 20th General Assembly; James Shaw, 
law.ver, 27th and 2Sth General Assembly, four 
years; N. D. French, farmer, 39th General 
Assembly. [James Shaw was speaker of the 
House of Representatives during one long ses- 
sion and one or two .idjourned se.s.sioiis. John 
.M. Stowell. merchant, was our representative 
I.S77; Emanuel Stover and Henry Bitner, Dem., 
1881; (Jeo. I,. Hoffman, attorney, 1883; Simon 
Greenleaf, editor, 1885; I.evi I. Bray, farmer, 
ISSit; Dan"! I, Berrj", attorney, 1891-95; J. N. 
Brandt, farmer, Dem.. 1.S!)3: David < '. P.ussel. 
farmer. lSil7-99; C. W. .Middlekaul'f. .ittoniey, 
.ind I'.. \. I.eclitenberger, nierchanl, Dem.. i:i(i1 ; 
and W. \V. (;ill<'spie, farmer, 1!)(i:;-(KI. | 



632 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



POLITICS OF THE COUNTY — CIBCUIT JUDGES 

The politics of the county up to the organiza- 
tion of the Republican party was always Whig 
by a small majority. In 1S40 it gave its first 
vote for Harrison. In 1844 the electoral vote 
was cast for Henry Clay, as near as I can deter- 
mine. In 1848 it went for Taylor ; in 1852 Gen- 
eral Scott was its choice. Since then its vote 
has been true blue for the Republican party 
nominees, with some local exceptions. 

The circuit judges, as near as I can determine, 
have been Judge Stone, Judge Brown, Judge 
Williiuson. Judge Drury, Judge Heaton, Judge 
Eustace, Judge Crabtree, Judge Cartwright, 
Judge Garver, Judge Tuthill, Judge Shaw, Judge 
Eaum, Judge Farrand and Judge Heard. 

THE EABLY SETTLEMENTS 

The early settlers located in favorite spots, 
where they could procure wood for fuel and 
building and fencing their crops, and water for 
themselves and their stock. These locations 
and settlements were known as neighborhoods. 
The working of the Galena Lead Mines, just 
north of Carroll County, first attracted settle- 
ments and emigration to this part of Illinois. 
They first led to annual migrations from central 
Illinois and other southern localities. 

The French voyager, LaSeur, in the year 1700, 
first discovered lead ore in Jo Daviess County, 
which joins Carroll on the north, and named 
the stream which flows through Galena, Fever 
River, or first, perhaps, the River of the Mines. 
It afterward took the former name on account 
of the fevers and other diseases prevailing there. 
The miners crowded there in great numljers and 
suffered much from periodic fevers and ague. 
Prior to the working of the mines by white 
men the Indian squaws had sometimes e.Kca- 
vated the lead ore and subjected it to their 
rude smelting processes. Great fortunes were 
subsetjuently amassed in this business and many 
who here secured fortunes went to Chicago and 
helped to make that city a colossal center of 
commerce. Early in 1819 a man by the name 
of Bontillier settled on the east side of Ga- 
lena River (Fever River) where the city of 
Galena now stands, and he is said to be the 
first white man who settled there. A little 
later in the season Jesse W. Shull had estab- 
lished a trading post there, or near there, and 



he was .soon joined by .V. P. Vanmeter and Dr. 
Samuel Muir. who had the honor of nam- 
ing the future wealthy city to grow up there. 
These men traded with the Indians, and married 
Indian wives. About 1S23 and 1824 the won- 
derful Galena mines began to attract the atten- 
tion of the adventurous western and southern 
people. Permission was obtained from the In- 
dians to mine in certain defined territories. A 
Colonel Johnson came with a number of men 
and claimed exclusive right to work the mines 
bj some sort of government permit. In 1826 
and 1827 large diggings were found, and a great 
excitement sprang up all over the state. 

Captain Thomas surveyed and laid out the 
town of Galena ; government permits were given 
to settle on the lots, and these were the only 
titles the first settlers had to their new homes 
or could obtain until 1838. In 1827 there was 
supposed to be sixteen hundred miners scat- 
tered about these hills and valleys. Indian 
troubles began to brew. General Gaines of the 
regular army and Dodge of the volunteer 
forces scoured the country with troops and the 
general government about this time paid the In- 
dians some twenty thousand dollars for their 
claims to these mineral lands. 

Peoria, on the Illinois river, had been settled 
soon after Galena, and mails were carried on 
horseback by way of Peoria to Galena from Van- 
dalia, the then capital of the state. In those 
days mining excitement ran high like the Cali- 
fornia fever of 1849, or the Black Hills fever 
of 187G. Every spring the covered wagons, 
prairie schooners, from southern Illinois, Mis- 
souri, Tennessee and other places, wended their 
toilsome journeys to the mines of northern Illi- 
nois. They came in the spring, delved and dug 
all summer, sold out their outfits, and returned 
to the south later in the fall. Their appearance 
in the spring was at the same time the sucker 
fish filled the small streams and tributaries of 
Fever River ; the people became known as 
"suckers," and this name attached itself to the 
Inhabitants of the state who became known as 
suckers. 

This great annual travel followed these early 
trails; passed by conspicuous mounds and 
groves and over natural fords in the streams 
and wore its tracks so deep into the prairies 
and woodlands that they may be traced in fa- 
vorite siwts even yet. One of these ancient 
highways or trails crossed Rock river near 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



633 



I'roiihetstowii. in \Vliitt>si(ie L'lpiiuty; ;iiintln'i- 
at Dixon's Ferry and others liigber up Rock 
river. The Lewiston trail which crossed 
near Prophetstown passed up through Carroll 
County, crossed Johnson's Creek near Amos 
Shoemaker's farm, passed over the ridge on the 
old Shannon farm (Section 2(5, Mount Carroll 
Township), crossed the ridge west of and near 
Mount Carroll and continued hence north to 
Kli/.abeth and Galena. 

The old Sucker trail crossed at Dixon's 
Ferry, ran through Buffalo Grove, Chamber's 
Grove and Cherry Grove, crossed Plum river at 
the old Harris place where there was a stage 
station and ixjst office. At one time John C. 
Owlngs plowed furrows across the prairies from 
his house to Buffalo Grove to give direction to 
this travel north and south. Kellogg's trail, 
made in 1820, passed east of this county be- 
tween Polo and Mount Morris. Boles trail was 
from the old Kellogg trail ; it began twelve miles 
south of Dixon and was the same trail referred 
to as the Sucker trail a few lines back. An- 
other trail and old military route between 
IJocU Island and Prairie du Chien crossed the 
western part of Carroll County, along the sand 
ridge and near the sloughs and timber belt of 
the Mississippi river between Fulton and Sa- 
vanna and from thence ran north toward Han- 
over and Galena. As early as 1S2C or 1827 a 
Peoria man named Bogardis had attempted to 
establish a ferry at Dixon, but the Indians 
burned his boat and drove him away. In 1S2S 
a Frenchman named Joe Ogle made a more sue 
cissful attempt, perhaps because he married an 
Indian s(iuaw, and was respected by the Indians. 
Previous to the opening of this ferry the heavy 
wagons of the miners and stages then passing 
through Cherry Grove had to be taken apart and 
ferried across Rock river In Indian canoes, 
while the oxen and horses were made to swim 
the stream. April 11th. 1839, John Dixon, 
afterward named by the Indians "Xachusa," 
"White hair head," arrived at Rock river, 
bought out Ogie for eighteen hundred dollars, 
and gave his name to the ferry and subsequent 
city which soon grew up. By this time Galena 
had become quite a mining center of, perhaps, 
tive hundred inhabitants, and had a newspaper, 
til" "Miners Journal." 

-has settlements sprang up at first at the 
cross'.ng of the streams and at beautiful groves, 
as it was then believed people could not live 

2 



through the winters in the open prairies. At 
first rude tavern stands and ferries were the be- 
ginnings of permanent occupancy. Soon, how- 
ever, the fame of the beautiful Rock river and 
its rich surrounding prairie lands was spread 
abroad through all the southern settlements and 
through the middle and eastern states and men 
were prospecting everywhere for the inirpose of 
permanent settlement and making prairie homes. 
Iidians swarmed over the face of the country in 
those days. The Sacs and Foxes had the seat 
of their empire at Rock Island; The W'inne- 
bagoes lived around Dixon and up and down 
the beautiful Rock river ; the Pottawatomies oc- 
cupied the territory about Lake Kushkonoug, 
higher up Rock river. 

Prior to this treaties liad been made with 
the Indians to extinguish their titles, but the 
Indians had not yet left, and did not respect 
the solemn treaties they had entered into. 

When the white men saw iue country it is 
not strange they were charmed with It, nor is 
it strange that the red men were unwilling to 
give it up without a struggle. 

Oh. beautiful Mississippi river, river of the 
rocky bed, the shining silvery flow and the 
limpid sweet waters ; more than the Mohawk or 
the romantic Wyoming or any classic stream of 
Italy's fabled mountains ; bordered everywhere 
by virgin prairies, landscapes all flecked with 
the wild flowers, and of unexampled fertility 
and dotted with island-like groves as Edens ; 
the haunts and the homes of the red deer; the 
si'.aggy buffalo and the wild red man. No won- 
der the miner and the adventurous explorer 
hastened home, packed up the family penates 
and goods, and came hither, to carve out new 
homes in the virgin wilderness and flowery 
prairies. 

At this time a stage line had been established 
from Peoria and central Illinois, even before 
Ogle started his ferry across Rock river. Be- 
fore this the hor-ses and stage coaches had to be 
ferried and forded across in the old pioneer way 
or in the Indian style. 

When the troops who served in the Black 
Hawk war returned home they spread the fame 
of the Rock river country far and wide ; that 
and the restless love of adventure and the fame 
of the lead mines roused a spirit of adventure 
which sent a wave of emigration to northwestern 
Illinois and the famous lead mines. 

The early settlements and mining camps took 



634 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



their names from the groves that had been 
named by the hunters and travelers. In 
Carroll Cbunty the names of Cherry Grove set- 
tlement. Buffalo Grove settliMiient. retain their 
names to this day. Burr Oak Grove, in Stephen- 
son County, had been settled in 1S29; Buffalo 
Grove in Ogle County in 1.820 or 1830, by a Mr. 
Chambers, a Mr. Ankeny, and other settlers 
were already at Elizabeth and Rush creek at 
even an earlier da.v. and in all the surrounding 
counties the idoneers were flocking in ; the 
loads were spotted with prairie schooners, con- 
taining the families of the mover.s and their 
household goods. 

FIBST SETTLEMENT IN CABKOIX COUNTY 

The first settlement in Carroll County was 
made at Savanna in 1828. In November of 
that year George and Vance L. Davidson, Aaron 
Pierce and William Blundel, with their families, 
moved from the lead mines to Savanna with ox 
teams. The place was then known as the Coun- 
cil Bluffs of the Uijper Mississippi. The council 
house of the Indians still stood there and the 
Pierce family moved into it, until the log cabins 
could be built. This council house was two 
stories high ; was built with poles and covered 
with liark of trees and would hold one thousand 
people. In this house the Pierces lived and 
entertained travelers and traded with the In- 
dians, who came across the river in canoes or 
on the ice In winter. [All that portion of 
Savanna between Main street and the bluffs was 
heavily timbered but the trees were all dead. 
having been girdled by the Indians and the 
ground under the dead trees was cultivated by 
them. Some of these trees were of oak and 
three feet in diameter. The Indians used to 
have their war dances near where Stranskey's 
shop was afterward built, and a hundred Indian 
Canoes would sometimes be moored, or rather 
beached, along the bank of the river, returning 
from Davenport or Dnbucjue. at which places 
there were Indian towns. [M. B. Pierce, in Sa- 
vanna Times, Jany. 5th, 1.87G, Old Settlers' 
Record fly leaf. Ed.] Wild rushes and tall 
grass grew in abundance about the place. On 
these the oxen lived the first winter. AVood 
was hauled, fence rails were split, and the 
c^abins built during the winter, and in the 
SI ring the groinid was plowed for the crop of 
1829. 



In May. 1820, the wife of Captain John B. 
Rhodes was born. She was the first white child 
born in Carroll County, and was born in the old 
Indian Coinicil House, where her father and 
mother, the Pierces, temiwrarily resided. The 
nearest neighbors on the east were at Dixon, 
on the north at Hanover, on the south at Al- 
bany, on the west was the Mississippi river, be- 
yond this there were no white inhabitants. 

The Indians were numerous and friendly. 
Game and fish were abundant, so were mos- 
quitos. gallinippers. raccoons, blackbirds, crows 
and other birds of prey, in fact, the first corn- 
fields had to be guarded from the depredations 
of the latter, and especially from blackbirds 
and crows. River navigation was done mostly 
in keel boats by cordeling, poling, sailing and 
rowing, and the usual time of a trip from St. 
Louis was thirty days. Skiff voyages were 
often made to St. Louis. In .luly. 1820. .\aron 
Pierce and Marshall B. Pierce, his son, went 
to Bond County iu this state, where they had 
first made a temporary settlement upon coming 
to the west, and drove their horses and cows to 
Savanna, these lieing the first stock brought to 
the county. In the spring of 18.S0 or 1831, 
.lohn Bernard settled on the place known as 
the Hatfield place. Messrs. Hays and Roiiinson 
the same spring took up the farm lately occu- 
r)ied by (ieorge Fish. A man by the n;une of 
Corwin took up or owned the fann recently 
invned by Xoah McFarland. Corbin built his 
house, or nest, in a tree eight feet from the 
ground to keep out of the way of snakes, which 
were very abundant there. These men were all 
b.-u-helors, but subsequently married and be- 
came the heads of families. 

In 1832 the Black Hawk war broke out. The 
tamilies of these early settlers were then moved 
to Galena for safety, the men remaining to 
cultivate the crops and protect their property. 
They built a small block house near the point 
ol the bluff where the residence of the late M. 
Dupuis now stands. This fort stood the Indian 
fire all one afternoon without loss of life to the 
settlers, but their horses and cattle were not 
so fortunate. The day the fort was fired on a 
man by the name of Bob Upton, who belonged 
to the settlement, and was a wild, generous, 
dare-devil, drinking sort of a man. but liked by 
every one, had quite a heroic adventure. He had 
been out hunting at the time of the attack, near 
the Whitton farm, and had shot a deer. He 




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HISTORY OF CARRODL COUNTY 



635 



was in the act of cutting its throat when he 
saw a liand of i-edsl;ins advauciug in a circle 
with tile evident object of securing his capture. 
He tirst loaded his gun and then ran for dear 
life. Tlie bullets flew and sung around him, 
and it is said one of them cut the strap of his 
(ilil-fasliioiied powderliorn. Imt Bob readied tlie 
bluff above Savanna in safety. Hearing the 
tiring on the fort, he concealed himself in a 
cave in the rocks about half a mile above the 
town, ever since called Upton's cave. There he 
remained until darkness covered the land. When 
night came the men in the fort made their 
escape, contisi-atcd a .skiff and started up the 
river for Calena. Upton, from his place of 
refuge, beard the ascending boat, hailed it, and 
made bis escape with the rest. It is tradition 
tliat as the lioat drew near the shore its inmates 
earnestly urged bim to jump in before the skiff 
v.as witliin forty feet of land. It is also said 
tliat l)efore leaving the fort the inmates drew 
lots to see who should tirst go out and recon- 
noiter and find a boat. The lot fell to Aaron 
rieric, uluise fear made his hair almost lift his 
bat dtt" : but he did liis duty manfully, neverthe- 
less, and tile crew .safely readied (Jaleiia. This 
block liouse and little battle is referred to 
in one of the early histories of Illinois. Will- 
iam H. Goss had Ijecome a citizen of Savanna 
.111(1 was in tlie fort at the time of the Indian 
attack on it. Tradition has it that he was 
compelled to climb iipon the roof and let him- 
self down the chimney as the Indians had 
command of the regular entrance, where he 
could have gotten into the fort. 

SAVANNA SETTLED 

AbiJiit Is.'i.S the country commenced settling 
up more rapidly, and many more located iu 
S;ivaiina. In ]S.'iJ Luther H. Bowen came to 
the West, and was engaged as a surveyor, run- 
ning tlic bimndary line of the state. About 1830 
b( laid out the town of Savanna. He died about 
ISTti. having been intimately associated with all 
its leading interests for forty years. The first 
post ollice in the county was estatilished there, 
and Mr. Bowen was appointed postmaster. He 
also opened the first store the town had. .Tames 
White also opened a store soon after Mr. Bowen 
(lid, and others did the same. Savanna was 
then the only settlement of any size between 



the villages of Galena and Rock Island, and for 
many years afterward it was a place of as much 
importance as either. It was the trading post 
at, far east as Rockford. Freeport as late as 
1S34 was yet the Winnesheik's Indian village. 

In 1S37, Elias Woodruff, John Fuller, David 
L. Bowen and otliers well known afterward, had 
located there. By 1840 Savanna was a village 
(•(■ntaiiiing two hundred inhabitants. Besides 
those already named John B. and Thomas 
Rhodes, W. L. B. Jenks, Royal Cooper, Leonard 
Goss, John Wilson, Porter Sargent, Fred Cham- 
bers and many others whose names I have not 
obtained were leading citizens in early days. 
Aaron Pierce built his tavern where the resi- 
dence of Captain Thomas Rhodes stands, in the 
winter of 1836 and 1837. It was afterward 
moved down town and was known as the Cham- 
bers House, and has. since the writing of the 
above, been burned. In 1837 Luther H. Bowen 
built the Woodruff House, which, for a time, 
was kiKiwii as tlie Mississippi House. 

FIRST SCHOOL 

About this time Dr. Elias W(iodruff taught 
the first school in a log house where the lower 
blacksmith shop stood. He was also the physi- 
cian for the town, and in those days of fever 
and ague and other sickness, and faithfully 
attended the sick, pay or no pay. A Mr. Craig 
built a saw mill in 183.5, at Bowen's Mill site, 
but the ne.xt year Luther and David I/. Bowen 
owned the mill. 

Ill is:'i!l Porter Sargeant built the iMUvdcr mills 
near where the flouring mills of Messrs. Bowen 
and Kitchen were located. Tlie father of Lewis 
W. Beniis and some eastern capitalists were 
largely interested in the jwwder mills. They 
manufactured blasting powder for tniuing pur- 
poses chiefly. In 184.5 two of the buildings blew 
up, killing young Balcolm of the York settle- 
ment, severely injuring EInathan .Jacobs and one 
(U- two others. James Wilson was superin- 
tendent of the works at that time. The mill 
was promptly rebuilt. Afterward, when the 
company ceased to run the mills, several fisher- 
men went into the abandoned building, and in 
an attempt to light a pipe, another explosion of 
loose powder took place. One of the men, a Mr. 
Hicks, was killed ; another named Smith was 
Icrriblv burned, .iiid a third was badly Injured. 



636 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



The same year L. H. Bowen and Royal Jacobs 
built a small grist mill just above the saw mill 
on the same stream. 

FIRST TEIAI, 

While the circuit court was held iu Savanna 
one of the most noted trials was a murder case 
on change of venue from Jo Daviess County. A 
prisoner by the name of Mathews had killed a 
man in the mines. Every citizen in the county, 
liable to act as a jury man, was summoned, and 
most of them passed upon before the jury was 
finally inipanelled. The prisoner was ac- 
quitted. 

[The difficulty of procuring jurors for this 
trial, on account of Savanna being so far to one 
side of the settled portion of the county, was 
one of the chief reasons for moving the county 
seat to a more central location.. — Ed.] 

TAVERN KATES 

The county commissioners were iu the habit 
of fixing tavern rates, a:mong other duties they 
performed ; and I find that on the few occa- 
sions they did so, the price of meals was fixed 
at twenty-five cents, and drinks of whiskey at 
six and a fourth cents, or a iiicayune, as those 
coins were then called. 

THE CHERRY GROVE SETTLEifENT 

In the spring of 1S30 Thomas Crane came to 
Cherry Grove, made a squatter's claim, and be- 
came the first settler there. He built the first 
house on what is now known as the Laird farm. 
When Judge Shaw wrote his history of Carroll 
County, it was situated on the Northern slope 
of the Cherry Grove ridge, near a fine spring. 
It was built of logs, with a large chimney in 
the center, which had a fireplace on either side, 
the chimney forming part of the jMrtition be- 
tv/een two rooms iu which there was one door. 
This was called Crane's fort. An old settler 
says that when a boy he used to chop bullets 
out of the posts that formed the palisade, also 
out of the trees near l)y, which would indicate 
fighting there at one time. The house was 
picketed in regular Indian fort style by setting 
up .split logs on end, pointed at the top and eight 
or nine feet high, with port holes between the 
pickets and inclosing a small yard about the 



cabin. Soon afterward he sold the claim to 
Samuel M. Hitt of Maryland, who afterward 
became a resident of Ogle County. 

[This Crane's Fort was a station on the stage 
line from Peoria to Galena. In May, 183.3, the 
county commissioners of Jo Daviess County 
commissioned Levi Warner to lay out the road 
between Galena and Peoria, from which place 
many settlers came into this county, coming up 
the Illinois river in steam boats, which at Pitts- 
burg flew a flag, "Bound for Peoria, Illinois." 
He certified the distance to be one hundred and 
forty- five miles, twenty-six and twenty-five 
hundredths chains. At Crane's Fort the survey- 
ing party remained over Sunday, From thence 
to Galena he notes Crane's branch, east fork 
of Plum river, and main Plum river. South of 
the fort on the line of this survey was Cham- 
ber's Grove, where Isaac Chambers settled in 
1S31. Ed.] 

Francis Garner made a claim to a large tract 
of land at Cherry Grove ailjuining the Crane 
claim, having selected the location while a sol- 
dier of the Black Hawk war. In 1834 he moved 
his family from the southern part of the state, 
bringing a wife and seven children, some of 
whom lived here in 1876. 

In 1833 William Thomson settled west of the 
Crane place, and John C. Owings settled at 
Owing's Point, being the west point of the grove. 
In the same year Levi Walden settled iu the 
grove, and one year later George Swaggert came 
and for a time kept a tavern at the Grove. Mrs. 
Swaggert died December 5th, of the year of her 
arrival, and was the first buried in the Cherry 
Grove Grave Yard. She had selected the place 
of her burial before she died. 

In 1835 Garner MofCett came with his wife 
and three children. He bought a claim and 
lived in the original log cabin on it from 1830 
to 1848. In 1837 William Daniels made his 
claim where George Reasoner now lives, and in 
the same year George W. Harris came with his 
family to look after the interests of Hitt, who 
had large claims in connection with others in the 
county. Harris moved into the picketed house 
and for three years kept a tavern and post 
office there a few years, and then moved to the 
"Old Harris Place." on Plum river, now known as 
the Noble farm. Here he kept stage house and 
I)ost office until 1847, the stage route having been 
diverted from Cherry Grove to pass through 
Mount Carroll. The writer well remembers 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



637 



when the first stage coach left the old stone hotel 
HI Mouut Carroll, there was much more excite- 
ment iu the little town than when the first train 
arrived at the station about twenty years later. 
Before this time the Mount Carroll people had 
to go to Cherry Grove, six miles away, for their 
mail, once or twice a week; now (1912) it is de- 
livered at eveiT farmer's door every day. Ed.] 

With Harris' folks came Peter Myers, his 
wife and son I'aul, and John Her and family. 
After about three years Harris built the old 
Cherry Grove House for Hitt on the ridge uear 
the old fort. This was a frame house of some 
jiretensions in architecture. It was used for a 
hotel and kept by Harris for several years. The 
travel from Rock river to Galena passed by it. 
The building was afterward moved to Lanark, 
and is now the livery stable connected with the 
Taber House. About 1840 Cherry Grove was 
the only stopping place of any importance in 
that i)art of the country, and many of the early 
settlers made this their temporary stopping 
place. A heavy line of stage coaches then 
traveled through this settlement between Peo- 
ria and (ialena. 

In 1S3S Sarah Moffett was born. She was the 
daughter of Garner Moffett, and was the first 
child born at Cherry Grove. She married Eman- 
uel Stover. Garner Moffett died in 1856. He 
was much respected, and held many of the offices 
at that time, and was an honest man. 

James Mark came to Carroll County in 1837, 
without money or property, and a year or two 
later made a claim of what became the great 
Marks homestead. 

Nathan l-'isk and family came and located on 
the north side of the Grove. 

Israel Jones located out in the prairie at the 
big springs. In those days it was thought that 
people could not live on the bleak prairie away 
from the groves and timber. 

In the same year A. G. Motl'ett claimed a tract 
of land lying south of the J. Owings place. 

Bradstreet Robinson had settled east of the 
grove iu 1S3"J. The elder Beattie and the elder 
Mr. Laird (father of John Laird), came also 
about this time and either made claims or 
bought out a claim. 

Mr. Brotherton came also at an early day, and 
soon after 1840 John 'Wolf and many others 
settled in or near the Cherry Grove settlements. 

The stockade house was built near a big 
spring on the farm formerly owned by Emanuel 



Stover and the claims were made along the 
stream and grove and extended indefinitely out 
into the prairie towards Carroll creek. George 
Swaggert .soon left Cherry (irove, and settled in 
what is now called Arnold's Grove, buying out 
the claim of William Thomson, who had located 
there and made a claim at Cherry Grove. He 
scld out this place about 1840 to Daniel Arnold 
and Henry Strickler ; and went to Missouri 
where he spent the most of his money. Finally 
he returned and settled on the Swaggert place 
about two miles southeast of Mount Carroll. 
Bowman's Grove was settled by .Vdam Dag- 
gort about the same time. Adam Daggert kept 
a post office at his place for several years. 
After Harris removed from Cherry Grove, the 
stage line was diverted to pass through what 
is now Hostetter's Grove and Daggert's Grove. 
Daggert kept the mail in a box and every one 
who came for mail looked it over and selected 
his own If he could read the writing on the 
letters. Mr. Owings was one of the early set- 
tlers and was honored with many of the local 
offices. He sold out in 1868 and removed to a 
place near Marshalltown, Iowa, where he now 
resides. 

ELKHORN QBOVE SETTLEMENT 

In the month of November, 1834, George W. 
Knox found a trail leading from Kellogg's old 
station at Buffalo Grove to the east end of Elk- 
horn Grove, to the place now owned by Uncle 
Harry Smith. John Ankeny had settled there 
in 1831, but had been driven out liy the Indians. 
He came back in 1833 or 1834 and lived on the 
Harry Smith place. Just west of there was an- 
other house built by Thomas Parish in 1830 or 
1831. He was probably the first settler In the 
grove. 

Levi Warner, the first county surveyor of the 
county, in 1834 lived In a house on the south 
side of the Grove; one of the Belding family 
lived with him. They were both surveyors and 
kept batchelors' hall. The place is now oc- 
cupied by John II. Ilaynes. [We should not 
omit here Mr. Warner's episode, with refer- 
ence to the house of John D. Winters near the 
present site of Elizabeth, who ran the line 
of stages from Galena to Peoria. At this 
place Mr. Warner "took some bearings," that 
were not mentioned in Guntlier. He was then 
a bachelor thirty-eight years old. His life had 



638 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



been spent with his compass and chain, snr- 
ve.ving the western wilds. At this house re- 
sided a comely widow named Martha Winters, 
formerly Martha Bailey of Cincinnati, Ohio. 
This fact no doubt made an impression on Mr. 
Warner's mind and through the sights on his 
compass he often saw this welcome cabin of Mr. 
Winters", for in the spring of 183.5 he returned 
again to this cabin and married the charming 
widow Winters on April 1:2. who survived to be 
his companion through life. One daughter was 
born to them, who is the wife of Lewis Rey- 
nolds of Elkhorn (irove. She was the first 
white child born in that township. Ed.] 

In the winter of 1834 and 1835, Alvin 
Humphrey settled at the northwest corner of 
the grove and about the same time Levi Newman 
and a man by the name of Scott settled on the 
west end of the grove, and Tilton Hughes and 
Caleb Dains settled at the southwest corner. 
In the fall of 1S.S4 a man named Peter, a mill- 
wright, built a house on the creek bottom, some 
thirty rods east of the mill, near Milledgeville. 
.Sickness discouraged him and he gave up his 
claim to Jesse Kester, who l)uilt a saw mill and 
a small corn cracker mill. Kester sold out his 
claim to A. C. Knox. The latter built a grist 
mill and had it in operation in 1839. In 1835 
John Knox made a claim and planted the first 
orchard in the county, on the south side of the 
grove. 

The first child born in Milledgeville was Eliza 
J. Knox, and the first death was that of Albert 
Knox, both chidren of A. L. Knox. The first 
celebration of the Fourth of July was at the 
house of Alvin Humphrey in 1837. The oration 
was by Felix Conner ; Elijah Eaton built the 
first saw mill in 1837. In 1835 L'ncle Harry 
Smith and Sample Journey had arrived. Miles 
Z. Laudon, Father Hunt, Elder Paynter, Steven 
VanDusen and several others whose nardes were 
somewhat prominent, came afterward and later 
Milledgeville had grown into quite a village so 
that a post office was established there In 1844, 
with Jacob McCortie as postmaster. 

[In early days the roads over the prairie were 
traveled so little and the tracks were so scatter- 
ing and grown up with grass that travelers 
sometimes lost their way. This led to plowing 
the longest furrow in a direct line that was ever 
plowed in Carroll Count.v. Mr. Humphrey, of 
Milledgeville. father of Mrs. VanVechteu, offered 
to furnish the plow and team, two yoke of oxen. 



no doubt, to any one who would mark the road 
to Mount Carroll and Savanna. So Mr. Spencer, 
father of Mrs. John Uegeman, held the plow and 
made a furrow from Thomas Ransoms" in Elk- 
horn Grove township out to Lewis Blisses' in 
Mount Carroll township; from there the road 
was traveled so much it was plain. An old set- 
tler, Jabez Todd, who lived in Elkhorn Grove 
township used to like to puzzle the young set- 
tlers, by making this statement; that when he 
came to this country he settled in ,Io Daviess 
County, and has lived at the same place ever 
since; how could that be when Elkhorn Grove 
is in Carroll County? Ed.] 

When settlements first commenced, before any 
road was regularly laid out the leading trail 
passed through the grove up to where John C. 
Owings lived, at Cherry Grove, thence on to 
Galena ; this trail left the old Peoria Trail 
twelve miles south of Dixon, crossed Rock river 
south of Gass Grove, passed through Sugar 
Grove and thence by the present site of Wilson"s 
Mill to and through the center of Elkhorn 
Grove. In 1832 Samples M. Journey was mar- 
ried to a daughter of Mr. Aukeny who then 
lived at Buffalo Grove. All the neighbors ex- 
cept Kelloggs' family were Invited to the 
feast; there was a feud between the Ankeny 
and Kellogg families about their tavern stands 
in Buffalo Grove, hence the latter family was 
not bidden to the wedding, but a large com- 
pany danced all night and no doubt did .lustice 
to the feast. Journey must have taken up his 
residence in Carroll County soon after this 
event. This is all I have found of the very 
oldest settlers of Elkhorn Grove. 

MONEY BAGS 

In those days a number of rich men iirospect- 
ing out west started one day from the west end 
of the grove to go to the residence of John C. 
Owings. which could plainly be seen over the 
wide intervening prairies. When half way 
across, such a feeling of loneliness came over 
their spirits that they stopped ; rearranged their 
money belts, and came to the grave conclusion 
that this prairie country was nothing but a wil- 
derness and would never amount to anything; 
whereupon they departed from it as fast as pos- 
sitile. Think of that, you farmers who now 
rate your farms at one hundred dollars per acre 
in this very part of the conutr.y. 







S'^X.^ /:&^ /2^-^^c 



w 









HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



639 



YORK township's EABLY SETTLERS 

Hon. Xoruian D. French was among the first 
settlers in this part of the county. He came to 
uortliern Illinois in the fall of 1S32. He .spent 
the foUowinj,' winter chopping wood in the lead 
mining districts near Galena, living in a dug-out 
which had formerly been used as a miner's 
tump. After his day's work was done he re- 
paired to the camp, and each evening whittled 
out an a.\ handle, the sales of which paid his 
hoard. The summer of 1833 he spent at Buffalo 
(irove. In 1S34 he was engaged on the govern- 
ment survey, and helped to block out Carroll 
County into government townships. He was also 
engaged on the surveys of Whiteside and Rock 
Island Counties, and was one of the party that 
laid out the sites of Rock Island, Daveniwrt and 
other cities now of considerable importance. He 
helped stake out the first traveled road from 
Rock river via Union Grove and Bluffville to 
Savanna. In pursuance of these duties he car- 
ried the chain on foot about seven hundretl 
miles. During the winters when surveying could 
not be carried on he spent his time in hunting 
and trapping. Thus he passed the winter of 
1833 and 1S34, about two hundred miles west of 
Dubuque, with five companions. The furs of 
beaver and otter which they gathered, were 
brought down the Des Moines river in the spring 
and shipped to Cairo. During his hunting and 
trapping he became well acquainted with Chief 
Black IlawU, also Chief Keokuk, spoiuling 
several nights in Black Hawk's wigwam. In 
the same manner he became acquainted with 
the famous W. Y. Ives and Missouri Dixon and 
other noted trapper^ and hunters of early days. 
■When the surveying was finished he went into 
business in a miner's .supply store at Platteville, 
Wis., but his health failing he was forced, in 
the fall of 1S37, to go on his farm in York 
township, where he lived for fifty-three years. 
Mr. French was the father of York township. 
and was Identified with all its interests from 
the beginning. In 1839 he was appointed the 
first tax lollcctor for the whole county, col- 
lected two hundred dollars as the whole tax of 
the county and often traveled many miles to col- 
lect ten cents. He was a member of the 29th 
General Assembly of Illinois, representing the 
counties of Carroll and Whiteside. He was a 
member of the Old Settlers Association from its 
organization in 1S74 and the vice president from 



York township until the time of his death. In 
the absence of the president-elect of that organi- 
zation he presided, and being called upon for a 
speech, he said that his facilities for obtaining 
an education in early life were very limited; 
that he would sooner undertake to open up a 
new farm upon the prairie than to try to interest 
an audience by making a set speech. "We are 
here," he said, "not to make long speeches, but 
to brighten up old memories." Settlers living 
within twenty miles of each other were called 
iieighlxirs. In 1S32, when he came to the north- 
ern part of this state, from Vermont, he crossed 
Rock river at Dixon's Ferry, kept by one Dixon, 
proceeding north he found a few settlers at 
Elkhorn Grove. At Cherry Grove also were two 
or three settlers. In 1833 he hired out as a 
farm hand in the fall of that year, and In 1834 
he helped to survey the county into townships. 
At one time, in 1833, he lost his way in a fog 
and after two days' fasting he turned up in 
Savanna. He first made the claim which he 
new owns in 1835, broke ground in 183(5, built a 
cabin in 1837, raised his first crop in 1838, and 
has raised a crop every year since. 

ORIGIN OF SUCKERS 

Continuing, Mr. French said: "It was cus- 
tomary in those days for people living in the 
south part of the state to take their teams and 
some milk cows and go up in the spring at the 
same time as the sucker fish in the streams to 
the lead mines near Galena; work at mining 
through the summer, sell out their stock and 
trappings and return in the fall, which gave to 
these people the name of "Suckers." 

.Vt a meeting of the Old Settlers' Associa- 
tion, in 19(10. a short time previous to his 
death, lie was again called upon for a speech, 
and told how he made his log cabin, made shakes 
for the roof and a puncheon floor; went on 
font from Savanna to Chambers Grove before 
there was any road made, keeping the divide, 
between Straddle Creek and I-ittle Rock and 
.Tohnson's Creek. 

[His father. Jacob French, was a native of 
Massachusetts, his mother, Pamelia Dartt, wag 
born in Connecticut. In 1840 his sister, Pamelia 
I'ierce (nee French) came from Vermont. She 
was the first white lady to make an overland 
trip from Chicago to Savanna. October 23rd, 



640 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



1849, he married Miss Mary Duusbee, at Cam- 
bridge. Vermont. Ed.] 

Otber settlers who came early to York were 
William Dyson and Russel Colvin, who came in 
the spring of 1S36. Dyson built the first cabin 
on the old Dyson farm. The next year his two 
sons became settlers, and a brother of N. D. 
French, Harvey French, took up a claim near 
the claim of his brother. These settlements 
were west of the bluffs on the Mississippi bot- 
toms. In 1S3S the beautiful bottom lands in the 
valley of Johnson creek were taken up ; Lewis 
St. Orr built the first house on the farm where 
William Carroll now lives. 

COL. BEEBS TOMLINSON 

[Mr. Samuel Preston, in his Pioneers of Mount 
Carroll. (1S94). says: "On the first of March, 
183S, there stopped at father's a man on horse- 
back, saying that he was on hunt of a place to 
locate a colony from York state. He needed no 
further endorsement, when we found that was 
his mission, for his words and actions stamped 
him as a leader. He was a lumberman, and 
was caught in the financial crash of the year 
before while on his way to market with a large 
lot of lumber. But Colonel Beers Tomliuson 
was not a man to 'cry over spilled milk,' and 
came west to retrieve his loss. We directed him 
to Johnson's creek valley, before mentioned, 
which took his fancy. He hired father to go with 
a team and strike a furrow around half the town 
of York. He claimed also the grove of timber 
on the south part of Sections 35 and 36 in Car- 
roll Township. Claim secured, Mr. Tomlinson 
started for his home in York state, riding his 
horse to Chicago, but as horses were hard to 
convert into cash, he traded his for lake fish 
and shipped them home.'' 

"In December (1838) Col. Beers Tomlinson 
returned with his son and Monroe Bailey. They 
came with a span of horses and wagon by 
land all the way from Steuben county. New 
York. Their first object was to secure grain to 
winter their team. Hearing that Alvin Humph- 
rey of Elkhorn Grove had corn yet to husk, 
they went there and procured a job husking on 
sl'.ares. Humphrey was a hog dealer and driver, 
buying hogs down in the central part of the 
state and driving them up into the lead mines. 
He always kept a large number on his farm, of 
the kind called in those days, "shad-bellies," 



from their resemblance In shape to that fish. 
Col. Tomlinson and Mr. Humphrey both were 
not slow in cracking jokes, and Tomlinson said 
to Humphrey : "Mr. Humphrey, if the old say- 
ing be true, you must have a very choice variety 
of pork here." "How so?" asked Mr. Humphrey. 
"The nearer the tioue the sweeter the meat" 

Col. Tomlinson's next move was to find shelter 
tor the winter, which he did in a cabin in 
Woodland Township, owned by Nelson Swaggert. 
Then they commenced work to haul logs to 
Christian and Company's saw mill, to get lumber 
to build on their claims. Charles and Monroe 
Bailey did the chopping and the colonel the 
hauling, showing themselves masters of the lum- 
ber business by soon stocking the mill with logs 
as fast as cut. They hauled the sawed lumber 
on to their claims. Colonel Tomlinson built his 
house on the southeast quarter of Section 35, 
in Mount Carroll township. 

Monroe Bailey made a claim for his father, 
Joshua Bailey, on Section 1 in York Township 
and Section C in Fairhaven Township, lately 
owned by Ansel Bailey. In the autumn of 1839, 
Joshua Bailey came with his sons,. Elijah, Ansel 
and Ira. and moved into the cabin Monroe had 
prepared for them. 

Mr. Preston also sa.vs in regard to Col. Tom- 
linson that he was in the war of 1812, having 
raised a company. He was chosen its cap- 
tain. It is said by one of his York neighbors, 
who was one of the company, that while ren- 
dezvousing the first night was spent in a hall ; 
the captain introduced a new military order not 
found in Scott's Tactics. The hall floor was 
scarcely large enough for the men to lie down 
except in what is called spoon fashion, a posi- 
tion which it was necessary to change fre- 
quently, and all had to do it at the same time ; 
so when Captain Tomlinson, who remained 
standing, thought they had lain on one side long 
enough, would give the order, "right spoon" or 
"left spoon." Ed.] 

About 1838 Daniel Ken.von and Cornelius 
Shoemaker took up their abode as permanent 
settlers of the town. In 1840, 1841 and 
1842 settlers came more slowly than 'in subse- 
quent years. In the latter year Horace Me- 
lendy and Hiram Balcom were among the 
settlers then coming. They went to work 
in the Savanna Powder Mill and when that 
building was blown up, Balcolm was killed and 
many others were injured. Balcolm was univer- 




J/^ir^c^2^ ^. /^yL i^ dc^t^ 



THE Sf" ■"'*^, 



..ONS 1 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



641 



sally luoiinied. as he as a man of fine promise. 
It 1843 and 1844 there was a large increase of 
settlers in this localit.v. They came as a rule 
with families, who since have been and are now 
permanent citizens of the township. 

The early settlers of York township are made 
up of prominent families largely related to each 
other. The French. Balcom, Bailey, Melendy, 
Cole, Dyslin and others will always be noted In 
any history of the town.ship, in fact Uncle Jo 
Cuslnnan, tlie liist<iri:in of the town, and a man 
whose biographical knowledge of the first fami- 
lies, is not excelled by any citizen of the county, 
says that the Ualcoms and Baileys, with their 
relatives, nearly made up the census of the 
town taken a few years ago. 

In 18.">0, York with other towns of the county, 
passed from the old form of town government 
and ele<-ted .Monroe Bailey as its first supervisor 
under the new system of government. The town 
has been (jiiite prosperous. Its leading citizens 
are solid substantial men with heads of their 
own. Indeed we are in the habit of referring 
to York people as a little nation of themselves. 
Monroe Bailey about 1843 or 1844 brought from 
Albany, New York, the first thrashing machine 
e^er set up in the county. 

FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE 

In 1844 the Bluffville school house, where the 
Bailey church now stands was built. Levi Kent 
taught the first school in it. The pupils were 
some of them full grown and a little rude, and 
Mr. Kent had trouble with some of them. A 
remark of Herman Edgerly, in connection with 
this schiKil, lias lieninie a tradition. He offered 
if they would let him teach the school, he would 
guarantee that the scholars who lived to spring 
would know something. 

A child of Herman Colvin was the first child 
born in the town, and a child of Harvey French 
is supposed to be the first one who died in the 
town. Both of these events occurred soon after 
the families to which they belonged came, but I 
cannot give the exact year. A great many of 
these early settlers are now sleeping in their 
quiet graves; and still a goodly number survive, 
several of whom are over eighty years old. 
Those settlers were a long lived people. I'ncle 
Joe Cushman estimates that the average dura- 
tion of their lives was something like seventy 
years, a remarkable fact, when we consider that 



they underwent the hardships of the early 
pioneer days and conditions. 

HOW THEV CAME 

Most of them emigrated to the wild west in 
the old fashioned style, in covered wagons drawn 
by ox teams. The conveyances took the name of 
prairie schooners. John A. Melendy stated to 
me that the team of horses he drove through 
from A'ermont took over a month to make the 
journey, and were in as good condition the day 
he reached Rock river and crossed it at Oregon 
City as the day the team started on its long 
journey. 

TORK TOWNSHIP NAMED 

In 18.34 N. D. French helped stake out the first 
traveled road from Rock river via Union Grove 
and Bluffville to Savanna. A bridge was built 
at or near Bluffville, this was to turn the Lewis- 
ton trail through Savanna. York was at first 
called Harlem Precinct, but the name was 
changed to York by request of the state 
auditor, when Township Organization was 
adopted. At this time or a little before in 1833, 
there were ten families at Rock Island, one at 
Hampton, six or seven at Port Byron, one at 
Cordova and those already named at Savanna. 

PRr.STON PRAIRIE AND MOVNT CARROLL SETTLEMENTS 

The first settlement at Preston Prairie, was 
made in the spring of 183G. as near as I can 
determine, by Samuel Preston who located his 
claim where his worthy son of the same name 
now resides. In February of that year, the two 
Prestons, Samuel Sr., and Samuel Jr., started 
from Bureau county in a one horse pung or 
jumper with blankets provisions, etc., and landed 
at Cherry Grove, where Swaggert then kejit a 
tavern. Their adventures on this trip were 
varied ; they slept one night before the end of 
their journey, under a shelving rock, midway 
between the present Preston homestead and Ful- 
rath's mill, and in the morning found themselves 
covered with snow. 

.\t that time Paul D. Otis drove stage through 
Cherry Grove. John D. Winters owned the stage 
line, and a man liy the name of Mathews was 
superintendent. Mathews and Otis were then 
contemplating making a large joint claim where 
Mount Carroll now stands, which they after- 
wards made. Mr. Preston made a claim of the 
mill site where Chalfnnt's mill was afterwards 



642 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



built, iu addition to his farm of tlie prairies. 
He had hardiy finished making his mill claim 
when Otis and Mathews came along with hatch- 
ets to take it up for themselves. 

The elder Mr. Preston intended to open a 
tavern to accommodate the travel then coming 
to and going out of Savanna eastward and 
toward Elkhorn Grove. Before he could get his 
log cabin built, or his family moved to his claim, 
he was called on to entertain travelers. The 
second day found two young men. who had 
been surveying a road from Elkhorn Grove to 
Savanna, calling for quarters and entertainment. 
They slept in a covered wagon and their meals 
were chiefly roasted potatoes. These early trav- 
eUrs were Nathan Ford and Royal Cooper. Two 
hayricks were built during the season near to- 
gether and the space between was covered over 
with ixiles and hay. and iu this enclosure trav- 
elers were put to bed to sleep. Cherry Grove 
was the only voting precinct in the county. 

Nathan Downing arrived in the autumn of 
this year and settled where John Kinney now 
resides. In the spring of the next year, 1S3T, 
the first child was born into Dowling's family, 
she was a girl baby who in the course of time 
became the wife of Gideon Carr. 

Keziah Everts made a claim this year where 
Frank Trail formerly resided. Samuel L. 
Bailess, a Virginian, made a claim near where 
the fair grounds now are ; laid out a town and 
named it Richmond from the capital of his 
native state. He made liberal offers to settlers, 
and two or three houses were built. Otis and 
Mathews were dissatisfied as they claimed the 
same land, but Bailess lield on to the possession : 
and in this case possession turned out to be nine 
points in the law. Mathews built a cabin near 
by and his father moved into it. 

0BIGIN.\L MILL COMPANY FORMED 

In 1837 the orginal mill company, consisting 
of Daniel Christian, Nathaniel Swiugley. Sam- 
i;el L. Hitt and George Swaggert was formed. 
The company bought out Otis and Mathews, who 
had located a large claim covering the mill site, 
and the land where Mount Carroll now stands, 
paying them fourteen hundred dollars for the 
claim. The claim covered section 1, east half of 
section 2. nortlieast quarter of section 13. and 
the north half of section 12. Heman Downing 
bought all the claim of his brother Nathan. 



Their father Abner Downing made a claim on 
section 15 lately owned by Sumner Downing. 
Dr. E. C. Cochran made a claim where William 
Petty now resides. Daniel Christian had arrived 
in 1S:57 and iu that year or the spring of 1838, 
had moved his family into the cabin vacated 
by Mathews ; he had eight children. George 
W. Christian afterwards settled where Herman 
Coel now resides. Daniel Christian built to the 
old house and occupied it until the time of his 
death. His son .loseph Christian lately resided 
there. 

This year Hitt and Swingley built a saw mill 
west of Mount Carroll on Carroll Creek. Wil- 
liam Mackay and John George hired this mill 
and ran it the first year. This year Heman 
Downing ereetetl a frame barn and all the set- 
tlers far and near, turned out to help raise the 
heavy hewn oak timbers. 

In 1S3S Mr. Hinkley took the claim now owned 
by Daniel Crouse, and L. H. Bowen had a great 
barn raising on Tim Doty's place. This was the 
first frame building erected on the place, or in 
the township. George V. Stewart settled on a 
ciaim, lately owned by Samuel Haynes, 

In 1S39 John O'Neal came with his family and 
settled on the old Swaggert place, southeast of 
Mount Carroll, Mr, Swaggert claimed the loca- 
tion, and afterwards at the head of ten men, 
drove O'Neal off, took the rifle with which 
O'Neal was trying to defend him.self and his 
castle from him by force, and maintained his or- 
iginal claim. Mr. Preston in his Pioneers of 
Mount Carroll gives the following account of 
this incident, we have no means of determining 
which is correct. 

"This same year came John O'Neal in ad- 
vance of his family from York State and he and 
George W. Stewart laid claim to a part of sec- 
tion seventeen in Salem township, where the tel- 
egraph road crosses Johnson Creek, and put up 
the body of a cabin. But they got notice that 
Hank Hopkins of Savanna claimed that land, 
and was coming the next day to tear the cabin 
d<l^^•n. They each armed themselves with a gun 
and went inside the cabin to await the onset, 
'Hank.' came with a half dozen pals from 
Cherry Grove, and Stewart related the scene as 
follows : 'They climbed right up on the cabin 
with our guns pointing right at them, and rolled 
the logs down over our heads.' "Did yon have 
your gun cocked?' Stewart was asked. 'No, 
I was afraid it would go off.' " 



HISTORY OP CARROLL COUNTY 



643 



O'Neal tlieu took up another location where he 
aftenvarJs built a large brick house, and kept 
travelers for many years on the road to Savan- 
na, west of Mount Carroll about three miles. 

In l.s:j7 David Masters uiade a claim and 
afterward built a cabin near the place where the 
Mount Carroll railroad depot now stands near a 
beautiful i)iue and maple grove yet standing. 
These trees it is said by some writers were car- 
ried from Elkhoru Grove and planted there, but 
this is not likely as there were many of the same 
kind growing along the creek, much nearer his 
place. Ed.l 

FIRST BEUGIOUS MEETING 

The first religious meeting was held on the 
prairie in 1839 by a Presbyterian by the name of 
Whipple at the house of Heman Downing. The 
first school was taught in an upper room of 
Mr. Preston's house by Miss Sarali Jane Haw- 
ley. This year a Mr. Leonard became the owner 
of the mill site claimed by Mr. Preston and built 
a small grist mill. The mill stones were taken 
from a quarry of limestone near by, and may yet 
be seen in the old Chalfant mill now owned by 
Adam Fulrath. 

In 1840 Lewis Bliss and Benjamin Church 
built the house where Jacob Ilartman now re- 
sides on the old Stearns farm and fitted it up for 
a tavern stand. At this time a contest took 
place for a post office on the prairie. Previously 
the settlers had obtained their mail matter at 
Cherry Grove. Heman Downing and Mathews 
were applicants for the new post office. Both 
were Whigs and the Jeff ersonian Democracy was 
in i)ower. The Downing men inserted in their 
petitions the statement, that he was a Democrat, 
but Luther IL Boweu who forwarded the peti- 
tion to Washington and who was a sound Demo- 
crat, simply endorsed on the back of the Down- 
ing petition, "he is a Whig." Mathews got the 
appointment, but a new administration discon- 
tinued tlie office the next year. 

THE Mir.L COMPANY 

No sketch of early Carroll county history, 
would be complete without a reference to the 
operations of the Mount Carroll Mill Company, 
-and the subsequent settlement of the city of 
Mount Carroll, although it is not my purpose to 
speak or write of settlers who arrived after 



1S40; some other time I may attempt to carry 
this history down to 1S50, and to a later date 
perhaps. 

S. M. Hitt of Ogle county, Daniel Christian, 
Nathaniel Swingley and George Swaggert com- 
posed the original mill company as already 
stated. They i)urchased the mill site and 
claimed several sections of land around it. This 
firm was dissolved and a division of proiierty 
made. This was prior to 1840. In that year on 
the 10th day of May, David Emmert and family 
landed at Savanna. He settled at Cherry Grove 
and for a time kept a tavern there. In 1841 
Nathaniel Ilalderman also came and located at 
Cherry <;ro\e for a time, and kept a t;iveru 
there. lie arranged with Emmert to build a 
mill somewhere in the county. They first ne- 
gotiated for the purchase of the Bowen 
mill site near Savanna, hut for some reason 
could not obtain that power. They finally 
selected the Moiuit Carnill mill site. They were 
to pay three thousand dollars for the site and a 
tract of land adjoining. The new company went 
by the name of Enmiert, Ilalderman and com- 
pany. John Rinewalt was a member of the firm 
and came on in 1843. David Emmert eventuall.v 
retiretl from the firm in 1845, and John Irvine 
Sr. took his place. For a short time Jessie and 
Thomas Uapp had an interest in the enterprise. 
In the fall of 1S41 Mr. Ilalderman happened to 
meet Daniel Hurley, Patrick Silk, Hugh Slowey 
and several others, who had stopped at Cherry 
Grove with horses, carts and so forth, to obtain 
their dinners. Previous to this the company had 
built the log house at Stag Point, a jiart of 
which now stands on the grounds of Isaac Shel- 
don. Enimert's family had moved into it in 
Jannar.v. 1841'. being the first family whiih ever 
resided in Mount Carroll. Ilaldernian brought 
Hurley down to the point, and the job of 
building the mill dam. and digging the mill 
race was let to him. The companj- pushed their 
enteri)ri.>-es. The iiilll was finished and run- 
ning iu the tall of l.s41i. The company boarded 
the hands, some forty i]i number, established 
a store: first running it in a shed attaihed to 
the log cabin, and afterwards building a regular 
storeroom which is the .same building now oc- 
cu|iied by .Mr. Slieldon as -a I'esidence. The 
hands wcic p.-iid mostly out of the store. The 
company built tlie stone house, the i)resent 
residence of James Ilallett and al.so the original 
I uililiiig at the head of the dam where .Jacob 



644 



HISTORY OP CAEROLL COUNTY 



Loh resided; they also built tlie c-ourt bouse 
as narrated in speaking of the removal of the 
county seat. 

STAG POINT 

In those days there were lively times round 
Stag Point, now the mill site of the large stone 
mill. When the company settled with Hurley, it 
was unable to pay him his money. Hurley was 
disappointed ; he said he expected the "gold,'" 
but he had to take for his pay the splendid tract 
of prairie land just east of the present city lim- 
its which in a few years made him a wealthy 
man, by its rapid advance in value. From 1S45 
settlers increased rapidly. 

FIBST SCHOOL 

The first school kept in the city was taught 
by a young man by the name of Andersen, in the 
old stone court house. 

The first church was the old Methodist chnreh, 
a brick structure and a great church building 
for its day ; but now used principally for shops 
of various kinds. At present time it is used as 
a garage. 

The first school house was the old brick build- 
ing, on the site of which John Xycum built his 
tine brick residence. 

FIBST MAIL 

At first the Mount Carroll people obtained 
their mail matter from Cherry Grove and Plum 
river ix)st offices. Prior to 1853 a tri-weekly 
stage c-oach to c-arry the mail, had been estab- 
lished. In that year Jacob P. Emmert obtained 
the contract for a daily mail by way of Savanna 
to FreeiJort. This remained until the railroad 
was constructed by the old Racine and Mississ- 
ippi Railroad Company, then the coaches were 
hauled ofif. 

From this small beginning established by the 
Mill Company the present little city of Mount 
Carroll, with its fine schools, churches and busi- 
ness interests, had their inception and growth. 

In 1867 the present city charter was obtained 
from the legislature and affirmed by a vote of 
the people adopting it. 

THE SEMINARY 

Xo sketch of our little city would be complete 
without reference to the Mount Carroll Semin- 



ary, that seat of learning widely known in edu- 
cational circles. The charter of this institution 
was obtained in 1852 by William T. Miller, the 
then representative, and some attempts were 
made to organize a school, which at first were 
not very successful. 

On the eleventh day of May, 18-53. Miss F. A. 
Wood and Miss C. M. Gregory came to Mount 
Carroll and opened a select school in the second 
story of what was known as the Ashway build- 
ing, located where the Glenview Hotel is now; 
nominally under the auspices of the Seminary 
charter, but really independent of the board, 
as they made their arrangements, provided the 
school room, paid all the expenses. The first 
term opened with eleven pupils and closed with 
forty. This selec-t school was carried on in 
the downtown building about one year and a 
half. 

During the spring and summer of 1854, the 
Seminary building was erected by the corpora- 
tion; raising some of the money by stock sub- 
scription, and incurring an indebtedness for the 
balance. The building was. however, erected on 
credit, at a cost including five hundred dollars 
for five acres of ground, of forty-five hundred 
dollars. At that time the surrounding 
lands were worth ten dollars per acre. The 
building of the Seminary however, largely in- 
creased the value of adjacent lands, especially 
those between the Seminary site and the town 
plat. 

In 1854 the school was removed from the Ash- 
way building to the new Seminary building and 
formally organized under its charter. Misses 
Wood and Gregory were employed on salaries. 
Al the end of sis months it became evident that 
a new and financial administration of its affairs 
was necessary. Expenses exceeded income. The 
stock subscribers became dissatisfied and the 
corporation began to devise ways to get out of 
the enterprise. Finally an arrangement was 
made by which the two ladies agreed to take the 
school into their own hands. They were to pay 
the forty-five hundred dollars the cost of the 
building ; the trustees donated the furniture, on 
condition that the school should be maintained 
at least ten years. Rinewalt and Halderman 
donated the five hundred dollars for the 
grounds, or rather surrendered their mortgage 
for that amount. Afterwards claims for money 
borrowed on the work were presented for about 
twelve hundred dollars. These Misses Wood 










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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



645 



and Gregory tinally assuiiifil iiiid were released 
from the teu year obligations which they had 
entered into. They thus paid the entire cost of 
the institntion, except the five acre donation of 
the grounds. 

The school gradually increased until 1S57; 
then additional buildings were erected, to ac- 
comodate its growing patronage. Before this 
young gentleman had been admitted to the 
school as well as girls and young ladles. In 
1805 additional buildings were erected with the 
intention of again admitting boys and young 
men. Now the largest addition of all is being 
completed with good prospects of being filled 
for the coming school year by girls and young 
ladies alone. 

The school was under the control of the cor- 
porators from October 1S54 to April ISoo ; from 
the latter date to December, ISo", it was under 
the owners. Miss F. A. Wood and Miss C. M. 
Gregory ; from the latter date to July 1S70, un- 
der the control of Mrs. F. A. Wood Shinier. 
Miss Wood having married Dr. Henry Shimer. 
At the latter date, Mrs. Shimer bought the in- 
terests of Miss Gregory and has remained sole 
proprietor ever since. 

Miss A. C. Joy is now associate principal ; Dr. 
Shimer's connection with the school has been 
solely in the capacity of professor and teacher, 
he having no part in its government or financial 
management. In the department of science and 
natural history, he has collected a very valuable 
cabinet for the use of the school. In ornithol- 
ogy, his collection of birds is not surpassed by 
any collection of the state. 

THE ACADEMY 

The present condition of the Academy is very 
[irosperous, with fine commodious buildings, well 
fitted with modern improvements ; its music 
rooms furnished with the best of musical in- 
struments ; its extensive grounds of over thirty 
acres filled with evergreens, shrubbery, graper- 
ies and fruit trees ; its corps of teachers care- 
fully selected, and its financial management 
marked with the most marked success. The fu- 
ture of this institution bids fair to eclipse any 
female seminary in the northwest. The school 
department under the able management of Miss 
Joy is giving universal satisfaction ; while the 
the musical department's reputation is attracting 
those who cpme from long distances to enjoy its 



privileges. [For I'urtlier history of the Academy 
now called the Frances Shimer School, see a 
subseiiuent chapter. Ed.) 

OTHtK SETTLE.MKNTS OF THE EAHLY DAY 

In addition to the foregoing, which were the 
princiiial early settlements, a tew isolated fami- 
lies and settlers had located in other parts of 
the county in the very early day. Marion C. 
Taylor came to the lead mines in 182S and set- 
tled in Carroll county afterwards. He is the 
oldest living pioneer now living within the 
county limits. 

About 1S3-1 Uriah (Jreen, then a young man 
lived on Plum river not far from the old Har- 
ris farm as it was afterwards called ; now owned 
bj Thomas Noble. 

William Thomson had made a claim in Wood- 
land in 1835, and when he sold out to George 
S^^aggert, he went to his Woodland claim. As 
will be seen in another part of this narration, 
Thomson had made his original claim at Clierry 
Grove among the Cherry Grove settlers, and had 
sold that claim to Garner Moffett in 1S35, but 
must have located his Arnold Grove claim before 
that time. 

EARLY SETTLEBS IN WYSOX TOWNSHIP 

In 1S39, I.. H. and A. T. Eastabrook settled in 
the town of Wysox ; about the same time mem- 
bers of the Fletcher family began to arrive. 
Among the first was Byron and Nelson Fletcher ; 
Nelson could detail many of the horse races. 
dances, fights and claim difficulties in that part 
of the country in an early day. He was at one 
time fined ten dollars for helping to whip a man 
by the name of Brown, who had jumped his 
claim. He was also familiar with the incident 
of .Samples M. .lourney, breaking the staff over 
the head of Woodruff, his as.sociate while they 
were surveying. 

BOCK CBEEK TOWNSHIP 

David Becker was the first settler in Rock 
Creek, thirty-three years ago the present (1876) 
July. He settled on the place where Daniel 
Belding now resides, built the great house.^and 
sold out to Mr. Belding. 

The nest year Zachariah Kiukade settled at 
the head waters of Rock Creek near Lanark. 



646 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



rUilander Seyuiour also settled on liis home 
farm place very early. He was at one time sur- 
veyor of the county. Becker claims to liave given 
ttie Town of Rock Creelc its name. Wlien lie 
took up his claim, there was only a path where 
the Elkhorn and Mount Carroll road runs, and 
no liridges made on the streams. 

INDI.\NS 

As already mentioned the Indians swarmed 
over this whole part of the state, for some time 
after the first settlers located. In Brown's his- 
tory I find reference to a small settlement at 
the mouth of Plum river, before it was named 
Savanna, this was referred to in the item as to 
the early settlement of that place. 

I find in Ford's history of the state, an order 
despatching Colonel Alexander's battalion of 
troops to Plum river so that a part of the 
BlackbawU army marched through our county 
and probably came up the Lewistou trail aud 
then passed through Cherry Grove. John De- 
ment fought a sharp battle at Kellogg's Grove 
not far from Buffalo Grove. An express of six 
men riding from Galena to Dixon were fired on 
in i)assing through Buffalo Grove and one man 
named Durley was killed. Black Hawk him- 
self attacked Apple River Fort, near Elizabeth, 
but was repulsed, having shot one man dead, 
who was standing at a porthole bravely defend- 
ing the fortification. Tradition has it that a 
party of white men pursued some Indians who 
bad been marauding about Elkhorn Grove, and 
coming up with them just north of Mount Car- 
roll, in a holl<iw near Mr. Moore's resi(len<e sur- 
prised and shot their leader through the head. 

The Indians were great horse thieves and on 
one occasion, Garner MoBEett and Mr. Garner 
pursued a party of them to Milwaukee and 
secured a span of horses they had stolen. Mrs. 
M ift'ett related an incident, of a large and sav- 
age Indian coming into the house one day, when 
no one was at home but herself and children, 
and after deliberately laying down bis rifle, 
tomahawk and scalping knife asked for some- 
thing to eat; this was given him, aud he was 
told to, "puck achee," leave, which he immediate- 
ly did. Such incidents were of frecjuent occur- 
rence. The Owing boys aud others hunted with 
the Indians, dressed like Indians and looked 
like Indians. 

Uncle Garner Moffett used to preach in those 



days. One Sunday as he was traveling through 
Elkhorn Grove to fill an appointment on the 
other side, at a private house, he met about 
three hundred Indians straggling along the nar- 
row trail and concluded his hearers could get 
along that Sunday without the gospel, as we 
find that he turned and hastened back to Cher- 
ry Grove, believing that Indians were too thick 
around there for healthy preaching. 

In addition to the attack on the Savanna 
Block House and the adventure of Upton there 
spoken of, M. B. Pierce says that he and his 
f other were in Galena at the time of the attack 
on the block house. Marshall says he was called 
upou to stand ground, and In the hurry got his 
pants on wrong side first, and thus did a soldier's 
duty until morning. 

Another incident is told of Upton, illustrating 
the daring character of the man. Captain Orrin 
Smith of Galena had a very valuable horse 
stolen by the Indians and in some way he found 
out that the thieves had gone to Rock Island. 
He offered Upton two hundred dollars to rescue 
the animal. Upton started alone; found the 
horse feeding among a lot of Indian ponies 
at the head of Rock Island; crossed over where 
Moline now stands; crawled through the grass 
and succeeded in placing a halter on the animal ; 
swam him over to the Illinois side; mounted and 
as he was fleeing, was fired at by about a dozen 
of the savages as they were emerging from the 
woods aud saw him. The hero escaped by hang- 
ing to the side of the swift tlying horse's neck, 
one bullet marked the horse behind the ears, 
but ranged too high to make other than a slight 
flesh wound. 

INDIAN FIGHTING 

There must have been some Indian fighting 
at the fortified cabin iu Cherry Grove, as there 
i.? a firmly lielieved tradition, that the women 
molded bullets, while the men fired out of the 
port holes. This much is a historic certainty ; 
in the Indian troubles, the few persons in the 
neighborhood gathered into the stockade when 
they heard the Indians were coming from Eliz- 
abeth. They, however, changed their minds by 
the next day, and all started iwst haste for 
Dixon, in the morning, where they arrived 
safely. About noon the savages arrived at the 
fort, fired for a while on the building and the 
stockades, aud finally broke in the Jieavy gate 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



647 



in the iialisarlc iiiailo of s|ilit logs piuiipd to- 
gether and ill tlie doors of the fort. Among 
otlier mischievous jiraulvs thej' tooli the feather 
beds out to the top of the hill ; ripped them open 
and hugely enjoyed the sight of seeing the 
feathers scattered before the wind over the 
piairli's. This "Fort," was situated near a 
s|.riiig on Crane's run, not very far from what 
is now called the Moffett school house, at the 
ceiitir of section L'l!, Freedom towuslii|i. It was 
ipidhalily located near the center of the south- 
cast quarter of section twenty-three. Ed.] 

A PIONEER I.0SI 

Another incident, in the early days, tragic in 
its sadness, was the death of tlie father of 
I.uther II. and David Boweu. The old gentle- 
man had been living with another son, a doctor 
at Joliet, but started on foot to visit his sons 
Luther. John, David and Sherman, then living 
ai Savanna. He arrived at tlie home of John 
(_■. Owing's about a weeli later, in the afternoon 
of a stormy day, in the early spring of 1830, 
tired and fiM)t sore. Owiiigs urged him to stay 
all night ; but Mr. Bowen was anxious to reach 
Savanna, and after receiving directions as to the 
right road, he started on. Some two weeks later 
I.uther II. Bowen learned from a letter from 
Joliet, from the brother there of the father's 
start on his intendetl visit. In alarm he started 
out to trace up the missing father. Visiting 
Owing's place he tliere learned the facts above 
narrated. He returned to Savanna for help. 
M last the party found the lost man lying 
dead by the side of the trail, two miles north of 
I'rophetstown. He had evidently talieii tlie 
I.cwiston trail about three miles west of Mount 
Carroll, and had followed it far into the night, 
until worn out with fatigue he sank into the 
Iciig sleep of death by the wayside. The prairie 
lire bad burned over him, scorching his clothes. 



Kellogg lived on the old stage mad near rieas- 
ant V.illcy. was a notorious claim sjieculator. 
and had hired Hiram G. Francis to work for him 
and set him to cutting timber on the Otis claim. 
Otis went to Galena, and had Kellogg indicted 
by the grand .lury. .Mr. Francis who saw the 
shooting and would have been an important wit- 
ness, went back to his old home in York State 
where he remained two or tliree years. Mean- 
time the case was continued from term to term 
of tlie court and linally nolle prossed. 

SHELVING ROCK SHANTY — R.^TTLESNAKES 

111 this same shanty, which was built against 
a shelving rock, Monroe Bailey stopped for a 
time when he came to the country. He tells 
that on one evening a large pot of miisli was 
being prepared for the evening meal. The rock 
against which the fire was built became hot, and 
suddenly exploded with terrible effect on the 
iiu:sh. and the great terror of the men. 

Kattlesnakes were plentiful about the rocks 
in those days. A tishiiig party of which Sumner 
Downing was one of them, discovered a den of 
rattlesn.-ikes near Jacobstowii and slew about 
one hundred and thirty of the reptiles at one 
time. The men of that party would have made 
good Saint Patricks. If they had kept on, few 
snakes would have been left in the county. Lieu- 
tenant Joseph Slyers of Company A, Forty-tifth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry on a recent visit to 
Mount Carroll said, that his father entered land 
ill Woodland in 1.S4.S. When he was a boy rat- 
tlesnakes were quite numerous; they would come 
around the fire more than a dozen at a time, 
and that he killed one that measured eight feet 
long and had twenty-four rattles. One time 
wb.en he had no gun with him he saw a drove of 
forty deer. 

INVENTIVE GENUS 



JUMPING A CLAIM 

Another incident in connection with land dif- 
ficulties, is told of I'aul D. Otis. \ man by the 
name of Kellogg had jumped the cl.iini of this 
.same man. X quarrel ensued, and Kellogg fired 
a pistol at Otis. The ball penetrated a thick 
coat and bruised the skin but inflicted no fatal 
wound. The shooting happened near the shanty 
of Otis and Mathews near the old saw mill. 



Another of the early incidL-nts of the first 
settlement of this part of the state, illustrates 
the Inventive genius of the first settlers. One 
Joe Miles was a sort of lawyer, they called such 
members of the profession .Tack lawyers, but he 
was a genius in his way. He spent much time in 
trying to invent the first reaping machine that 
ever was started in a wheat ti<'ld in the county. 
It was a horizontal revolving wheel, with the 
outer rim set full of scythe blades. 



648 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



When the machiue was ready to make its 
first trial, a crowd was there to see how it 
would dispose of the growing grain. It was 
near the present Academy grounds. As the 
machine went up the street to the place of the 
test to be made, an unfortunate pig with a 
snort and a grunt started to cross the street 
before it ; the unfortunate porker, was like the 
war chariots of Pharoah, the revolving blades 
caught and made an end of his poor pigship, 
but on the trial the machine would not properly 
cut small grain, however well it would slay pigs, 
cripple horses and men. 

NAMES OF PLACES 

The history of the names of places is some 
times significant and is worthy of attention. I 
have made some inquiries as to these names 
bestowed upon places and localities in Carroll 
Count.v. Jlount Carroll was so named by the 
commissioners, who located the county seat; 
when they staked off the hill where the churches 
now stand. 

Savanna was named from the marshy plain, 
supposed to resemble the savannas of the 
south; Elkhorn Grove and creek from the uum- 
bei of old elk horns there in early days ; Eagle 
Point from an old eagle nest there, when white 
men first came; Rock Creek and town from the 
rocky and gravelly creek of the same name; Lan- 
ark from a county or locality in Scotland, because 
Scotchmen named the new towns along the line 
of the first railroad in the county; Buffalo 
Grove, Indian name Nauusha, from the ancient 
herd of buffaloes which lingered thereabout 
when the first white men came: York because 
many of the early settlers came from New York 
State ; Wysox from a town of the same name In 
Pennsylvania, from whence came many of its 
first settlers ; Woodland from its timber and 
thickets ; Cherry Grove from the wild cherry 
trees found there; Plum river from the wild 
plum trees growing along its mai'giu and flat 
bottom. The Indian name of Plum river was 
Pecatolica, found in a government patent and 
some old deeds. Shannon town and village took 
the name of William Shannon, who first laid 
out the town and village. 

The name of the county was first suggested 
by Israel Chambers. He being the oldest citizen, 
as a compliment to him he was given the honor 
of selecting a name for the county ; he named it 



Carroll after Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, one 
of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. 

Badger Springs was named by a party con- 
sisting of S. M. Hitt, Nathaniel Swingley, John 
Wagner and David Mumma, who were traveling 
from Cherry Grove to where George W. Harris 
was staying in Ogle county. On the 17th day of 
May. these people stopped at the springs to eat 
their dinner; while-- there Swingley killed a 
badger, and thereupon JMumma suggested that 
they name the springs, which was at once done. 

STRADDLE CKEEK 

One authority for the name of Straddle creek ■ 
gives it thus : John Aukeny and two other 
men had started north from Elkhorn Grove, rid- 
ing on Indian ponies; they came to a creek with 
steep banks in the prairie, and in crossing the 
pony of the heaviest man was unable to cinib up 
the bank ; the rider thereupon placed one foot on 
each bank, and the pony struggled out between 
his legs. Ankeny from this circumstance named 
the creek Straddle Creek. Freedom took its 
name from the fact that it had been free from 
law suits up to that time. 

EAELT SETTLEMENTS 

In the early day Carroll County was settled 
up in the old pioneer way. Nowadays when a 
new county is opened up to settlement, the rail- 
road is the pioneer of the advancing wave of 
emigration. Towns are laid out, machinery, 
libraries and pianos introduced, and cultivated 
society, form the nucleus of population. There 
are no old settlers any more, no unwritten his- 
tory of the early days ; but the old fashioned way 
of a new country was different. The pioneers 
came in prairie schooners, covered wagons. They 
endured hardships, they lived in log cabins. 
Neighboi-s were far apart, but warm hearted and 
true men and women. The men wore coonskin 
caps, the women wore linsey wolsey dresses, not 
very fashionably cut. There are men in my 
hearing who wore sunbouuets for their want of 
hrts, and their linsey wolsey breeches were 
baggy and dyed with c-opperas and walnut bark. 
The corn dodgers and johnny cakes as made in 
those days, are pleasant remembrances, they lay 
close to a man's ribs. The hog and hominy were 
food fit for the fabled gods. Tin reflector stoves 



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wOV 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



649 



took the place inter awhile of the old flat ii'ou 
IKjts, -which used to hake such good bread. 
Wouderful batches of biscuit were baked then, 
each was equal to a five cent modern loaf. The 
nii-rrj- makings were hearty and well enjoyed. 
The pioneers did their work mostly with oxen. 
They had hogs, and such hogs; they were the old 
fashioMed prairie rooters, and could run like a 
deer. In a few instances their owners tied knots 
in their tails to keep them from going through 
the i)icket fences, and when they drove those 
fattened for the Galena market, if their horses 
were good so as to keep up with the hogs, they 
got to market iu a day ; the pork brought a dol- 
lar and a half per hundred pounds and some- 
tinios the money was paid out for calico to make 
the women's dresses. 

GAME ABOUNDED 

Deer, wild turkeys, raccoons and ,ill sorts of 
game abounded ; the streams were full of game 
fish, and the marshes roared with tlie noise of 
the wild fowls. Mosquitoes swarmed in clouds; 
fever and ague abounded in the summer and 
fall. Crows and blackbirds ravaged the grow- 
ing crops; and the boys had to dress up scare- 
crows to keep them out of the gardens. 

CLAIM SOCIETIES 

Difficulties were mostly settled by arliitratimi. 
but Judge Lynch was sometimes called in to 
deal with outrageous cases. Claim societies 
existed and men who jumped the claims of oth- 
eiY. or entered men's claims from under them 
were summarily dealt with, and never did it 
again. In ('arroll Coniily. Abrani Mnft'ett's claim 
was entered from under by a man named Halvcr ; 
but a band of regulators compelled him to give 
up the patent and abandon his entry. Men were 
honest, and sheriffs and lawyers were not much 
needed. 

FBUOALITY AND CONTENTMENT 

Humble indeed were those log cabin homes of 
the first settlers ; but around their bright fire- 
sides, God's good angels came to bestow bene- 
dictions. Ilealth and labor; frugality and con- 
tent, chastity and love dvrelt In those humble 
homes. These hunter farmers came to lay 



broad and deep the foundations of future slates 
and a great free nation. 

THE AGBICULTUBAL eOCIETY 

This society was organized in September, 1853, 
and held its first fair in the year 1S55, on the 
farm of Monroe Bailey in York. John N. Keech 
was its first president. Its second fair was held 
oii the grounds just east of the residence of O. 
S. Beardsley in Mount Carroll. The fairs since 
then have been held on the grounds of the so- 
ciety near Mount Carroll, except for the years 
1S65 and 1860, when they were held in Lanark. 

Garner Moffett was president and H. G. Graf- 
ton was secretary of the meeting which organ- 
ized tlie society. At the early fairs, Monroe 
Bailey and John A. Melendy u.sed to take most 
of the premiums, with their fine stocks, but they 
generally donated these premiums to the society. 

EARLY PREMIUMS AWARDED 

We think tlic liilliiwiiig jireniiunis awardcil at 
the first fair (1S55) of sufficient interest to be 
worthy of note. 

The committee on agricultural implements re- 
ported as follows : 

"McCall & Kellogg are entitled to a premium 
on the best stove manufactured in Carroll 
county. 

"We also award to Widney & Walker a pre- 
mium on the best fanning mill manufactured in 
said county." Also 

1st Premium awarded for the best oil paint- 
ing, by Miss Sarah Fuller of Mt. Carroll Semi- 
nary. 

1st Premium awarded for the best penciling 
by Miss C. M. Gregory of the Mt. Carroll Sem- 
inary. 

Best monochromatic by same. 

1st Premium, for the best single carriage 
horse, oxhiliited by Miss F. A. Wood of the Mt. 
Carroll Seminary. 

Hogs were very much better than Judge 
Shaws' description of them, as the committee 
reported, "that but two small lots were entered 
nn;- rlo they think either worthy of a premium." 

Of this fair, Mr. D. H. Wheeler, editor of the 
Carroll County Republican, says, "it marks an 
era In our history, — draws a line from which 
we may look iiackward and forward — to which 
those who come after us may refer as a sort of 



650 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



bouiulary. between the half-civilizatiou of early 
western settlement and the full maturity of a 
country abounding in all the necessities and 
most of the luxuries of cultivated life." Ed.] 
The- fall of 1876 witnessed its twentieth 
fair. The war excitement In 1861 preveuted 
a fair being held that year. The premiums 
awarded the first year amounted to only forty- 
eight dollars in money ; the rest were given in 
diplomas. The premium list for 1S7G amounted 
to three thousand dollars. Later the fair man- 
agement became so heavily indebted and their 
real estate encumbered by mortgage with ac- 
cumulated interest, through no fault of any one 
year's management, but principally on account 
of bad weather aud lack of attendan<-e sufficient 
to meet the expenses and pay the large prem- 
iums offered. To continue the fair and relieve 
those who had become resiMusible for the un- 
secured debts, a few public spirited gentlemen 
organized a stock company and incon^orated 
aud raised money sufficient to pay the debts of 
the original organization ; took over all the prop- 
erty of the old organization, and have continued 
the annual fair with variable financial success 
on the old fair grounds. The oHicers for 1910 
were : J. A. Warner, president ; Thomas C. Jenks, 
vice president ; Cal Jl. Feezer, secretary ; and 
J. D. Turnbaugh, treasurer. 

NEWSPAPERS 

The first newspaper m the county was the 
Mount Carroll Tribune, started in ISoO in Mount 
Carroll by Dr. John L. Hostetter, was printed 
m Freeport and published for a short time. 

In lS.o2 Jacob I". Emmert started the Carroll 
County Republican with Henry Gratton as its 
editor. Emmert sold out in about nine months 
to Gratton ; Gratton ran it for a time and then 
sold out to David H. Wheeler, in 1S.j5, who con- 
tinued the paper until 1S.j7 ; he in turn sold out 
to David B. Emmert ; he sold his interest in the 
Republican to Dr. John L. Hostetter. Mean- 
time English had started the Home Intelligencer. 
In May IS.jS, the two papers were consolidated 
under the name of Republican and Intelligencer, 
with Hostetter and English as business man- 
agers. This arrangement did not last long. The 
Intelligencer was again started as a separate 
paper with English and Cochrane at its head. 
It lasted about a year, Cochran went out, Eng- 
lish died soon after, and the paper came to an 



abrupt termiuatiou. Dr. Hostetter continued the 
Keimblican for awhile, then sold out to Ladd 
and Silvernail ; who in time sold out to the 
Seminary, when the issue of the paper ended 
after a short existence. 

The Carroll County Mirror was started liy 
Holinger and Weudel. This paper still survives, 
after having changed hands several times. 
About 18.5.3 Smith D. Atkins aud a Mr. Allen 
started aud ran the Savanna Register in tliat 
place for about a year. In May, 1S64, J. R. 
Howlett started the Lanark Banner in that 
place. In 1867 he sold out to J. E. Millard who 
continued to publish it until his active duties 
as school commissioner, caused him to suspend 
its publication. 

J. R. Howlett commenced the publication of 
the Carroll County Gazette, first in Shannon aud 
afterwards in partnership with J. M. Adair in 
Lanark. Adair went out and Howlett sold out 
to George Hay, who took control of the Gazette 
Office, July 3, 1875, and in September took into 
partner.ship with him M. W. Lowis, which ar- 
rangement continued until November 7. 1876, 
when Mr. Hay sold his interest to F. H. B. Mc- 
Dowell of Chicago: the following February he 
purchased the interest of his partner. In 1878 
it is said the paper had a circulation of one 
thousand copies with a constantly increasing 
subscription list, which was at that time the 
largest circulation of any paper in the county. 

The Savanna Times, in 1876 owned and 
edited by Simon Greenleaf and published in 
Savanna has changed hands several times, and 
is uow owned by W. W. Gillespie. 

The Mount Carroll News was started in 
Mount Carroll by Frank Beeler. He sold out to 
J. W. Mastin, who commenced the publication of 
the Carroll County Weekly Herald. Thomson 
aud Shannon have had newspapers, but they 
have been published elsewhere and did not con- 
tinue long as local papers. 

The Savanna Times was first .started aud pub- 
lished in Shannon, and afterwards the office was 
removed to Savanna. 

NOTABLE PUBLICATIONS 

Of the many notable things published, interest 
centered in the fierce sectarian controversy 
waged over the Seminary in the Republican, in 
1S.')7 : and the Solferino articles, being take-offs 
of the hosts of candidates running for the local 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



651 



offices about 1800, imblislieil iu the Hoinc In- 
telligencer, and in pamphlets. 

MAIiMTlDE (1870) 

I have thus hrielly and iniporl'i'ctly alteniptoil 
to write down and preserve some of the un- 
written history of Carroll county. It is the 
experience of all who attempt this task, in other 
places, that the first writing contains errors and 
mistakes. It caiuiot be otherwise. Old settlers 
themselves do not agree as to material facts. I 
invite criticism of the foregoing sketch, criticism 
iu a friendly spirit wliicli will give nie the 
nieans of correcting any errors, and enable me 
to continue the narrative down to later times. 
Then if opportuuities ax'e favorable this brief 
beginning may grow into a more pretentious his- 
tory of the c-ounty. 

We now see how small were the beginnings of 
our little county. Its growth however, has been 
rapid and prosperous. In ISCO our population 
was 11,718; in 1870 that population had grown 
to 10.707. The assessed value of the property 
in the county in 1875 was, .$7,87.j,877.00, as re- 
turned by the local assessors, who valued it at 
about two thirds of its real cash value, taking 
the aver.ige of the county. 

Shannon, Mount Carroll. Lanark and Savanna 
have become prosperous cities and towns, while 
Thomson and Milledgeville are thriving villages. 
(lood school houses in the country districts and 
good graded schools in the towns, denote the 
irosperity of our unexampeld school system. 
The whole country is under a high state of cul- 
tivation, and our farmers have tasty, and some 
of them elegant houses. Banks and mills 
abound; churches of fine appearance lift their 
spires heavenward, and denote the religious and 
nioral heart. 

OUR WAK RECORD 

During the war of the rebellion we raised iu 
tile county about two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars in the shape of bounties for our 
soldiers, and the support of their families. We 
furnished soldiers too. On the 2ritli of April. 
ISOI, M.ijor Nase's Company K, l.'jtb Illinois Vol- 
unteers was mustered into service ; on the 20th 
of November, 1801 Captain Polsgrove's Company 
A, and Captain Fisk's Company E, were mus- 
tered into the Lead Mine Regiment. On the 7lli 



i>f September, 1801. Cpalaiu llelTeltisger's Com- 
pany I, of the 34tih Regiment was mustered into 
service. On the 4th of September, 1SC2, Cap- 
tain U»K,-ker's Comjiany I, and Cajjlain Stoufer's 
Company C, were mustered into the 92d Regi- 
iiicnt. We also furnished many men for the 52d 
Regiment and for several Cavalry Regiments, 
besides recruitiug for the old regiments. In all 
we must have sent to the war of the great rebel- 
lion nearly one thousand men. [The Adjutant 
(Joneral's Report, Illinois, gives us credit for one 
thousand four hundred and ninety-eight enlist- 
ments, and there are inscrilieil on the soldier's 
nionmnent in the Court House Square, twelve 
lunidred and eighty-four names. Her quota was 
always full, and not one of that number was 
drafted. — Ed.] ; and no better men were fur- 
ni.shed by any county in the state. 

I'll is sketch makes no i)retensions to an ex- 
haustive narrative of any .subject touched upon. 
It is simply an attempt to connnence the col- 
lection of our local annals. When they are all 
collected the materials for a very interesting 
history of the county will be at hand. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE PIONEERS, WHERE THEY CAME 
FROJI. AND HOW TIIEY (!OT HERE. 



CANAI, BOAT TRAVELINO — STF:AM BOAT TRIP — COV- 
KRED WAGONS — PRAIRIE FIRES — BV THE GREAT 
LAKES — THOSE WHO DID NOT COME — POSTAGE — 
BATTLED WITH MANY DIFFICULTIES — HAPPIEST 
PEOPLE — SAVANNA PIONEERS— LEFT GALENA 1828 

— STRONG HANDS, STOUT HEARTS — BOB UPTON 

.SAVANNA A TRADING POST — BIVERS COMMERCIAL 
HIGHWAYS — BLACK HAWK WAR — FLIGHT, ANX- 
IOUS MOTHERS^LOVE OF PIONEERING DAVID 

EMMERT AND HIS FAMILY. SAMUEL M. HITT, 
NATHANIEL HALDERMAN — BUILDING THE MILL 

AT MOUNT CARROLL — BOARDING THE HANDS 

STORE BUILT — LODGING THE PEOPLE CAROLINE 

WADE — LAND SALES — HARD TIMES, SCARCITY OF 
MONEY — BAPTISMAL POOL — THE GRAVEYARD, FIRST 
GRAVE — FIRST NEWSPAPER PRINTED IN MOUNT 



652 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



CAEROLL — PIONEERS COMIXUED, DOCTORS AliRA- 
HAM AND JOHN L. HOSTETTER — FIRST BANK — 
BREAKING OUT OF THE CIVIL WAR — DEPRECIATED 

CURRENCY JOHN IRVINE SB WEDDINGS, BIRTHS 

AND DEATHS IN THE LOG CABIN — MISS ANNA 
HOSTETTER 

It will tax the reader's miud to iiiiagiue this 
eouutr.v without towus aud cities, without rail- 
roads, 110 way to get here except with horses nr 
oxen, or by the rivers, and the canal boat or by 
the great lakes. Some lauded in Chicago from 
sailing vessels. Mr. Samuel Preston's father, 
who was one of the earliest pioneers, came to 
Chicago on the barQue Illinois, from there he 
went to Princeton, and later to Carroll county. 

C.\NAL BOAT TRAVELING 

Most of those who came from Pennsylvania 
took the passenger canal boat, on the "raging 
canal." A young lady pi<iueer descriliing tlit' 
cabin in one of these boats, crowded with pas- 
.seugers of all kinds, says in her diary: "T" 
be compressed into the narrow space of a canal 
boat, among a dozen different classes, corres- 
ponds with my idea of a purgatory." These 
boats of course could go no faster than the 
mule on the tow path, which pulled them along. 
There were delays in passing under bridges 
and going through locks. At these places lively 
passengers would jump off and walk along the 
tow-path and jump on at the next liridge or lock. 
'When going under bridges, passengers on the 
hurricane deck of the canal boat would have to 
duck their heads for fear of striking the girders 
of the bridge. The arrival of a boat at a stop- 
ping place, or its passing under a bridge was 
announced by the blowing of a horn. After 
leaving the canal boat the traveler went over 
the mountain on what was called the inclined 
plane, being pulled up in a car, that ran on a 
strap rail, on one side of the mountain, and let 
down on the other. 

STEAMBOAT TRIP 



Louis, where passengers had to change to smaller 
boats if their destination was farther up the 
river. It w-as dangerous boating down the Ohio ; 
sandbars and rapids had to be passed in day- 
light, but these floating palaces, were taken 
safely over these dangerous places, by skillful 
pilots, who knew full well the danger and the 
Intricacy of the swirling waters and contrary 
currents. The mighty father of waters reached, 
the boat traveled day aud night; sometimes 
however when the night was very dark, the boat 
had to tie up by the woods on the bank of the 
stream, being unable to proceed in the dark on 
account of the danger of running into some of 
the many snags that filled the river bed in many 
places, or of punching a hole in the bottom of 
the craft, which would allow the vessel to fill 
with water in a few moments, letting all go to 
the bottom of the river and as a traveler said, 
"to eternity in an unexpected hour." Some of 
these steamboats discharged their passengers at 
Rock Island, not daring in low water to try to 
pass the rapids in the river just above this 
place, and the emigrants had to get to their 
destination as best they could ; others landed at 
Savanna and made their way across the country 
on foot or in teamster's wagons. The time it re- 
quired to come from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 
on the canal, inclined plane, and the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers to Savanna, Illinois, was a lit- 
tle more than two weeks. This was considered 
fast traveling. 

COVERED WAGONS 

others came liy covered wagons and other 
vehicles drawn by horses or oxen, across the 
mountains, through the dense wooded wilder- 
ness of Ohio and Indiana, then across long 
stretches of prairie, sometimes detained many 
days by floods and swollen streams, which could 
not be crossed for want of bridges or ferries. 
Id later years there were a few bridges that 
could be crossed by paying toll, and turnpikes 
over which they could travel by paying toll, 
which was more per mile than the fare on the 
railroads is now. 



At Pittsburg one could take a steamboat fl.y- 
ing a flag, with this inscription : "Bound for 
Peoria, Illinois;" or a much better boat, a float- 
ing palace, it seemed like, after getting out of 



PRAIRIE FIRES 

Emigrants were often detained by prairie fires 
which were more dangerous than the floods; 



the stuffy little canal boat, bound for St. these no man could stay, he could only wait and 




OLD STONK (OUHT HOUSE 




1 IKSI I.OC IKHSl'; 1\ CAKHOLL COUNTY 



HISTORY OP CARROLL COUNTY 



653 



pray for the gentle rain from the cloud filled 
sUy, all conquerer of the fiery flames. 

Those who ciune uvtM-himl h:i(l cuvpred wn:;- 
ens, in which were packed their household goods 
and provisions for the journey. Some had horses, 
some cattle, some traveled with cows along, and 
even had them yoked to wagons. The roads 
were often so rough that by hanging the cream 
in a pail to the wagon, the shaking would churn 
It to butter so that it would be ready to use at 
the next stopping place. One party was two 
months in coming from Franklin County, Penn- 
sylvania, to Carroll County. Others found it so 
difficult traveling overland that when they got 
to Wheeling, Virginia, took the steamboat from 
there to go down the Ohio, thence up the Missis- 
sippi river. An amusing Incident was told by 
Davenixirt Davis, late County Treasurer of Car- 
roll County, who was an eye witness. The late 
Judge Shaw's wife's father, was moving west, 
and had some stock on board the steamboat 
among which was a thoroughbred bull; the bull 
managed to jump overboard and swam to an 
island In the river ; the boat was stopped in Its 
course, and the word went round that "Harvey's 
bull was overboard." The boat followed the 
animal to the island and he was safely put 
aboard again. 

MOVED BY THE GREAT LAKES 

Others came by the great lakes to Chicago or 
perhaps disembarked at Detroit and came from 
these places overland. The New Englanders 
and those further east came by way of the 
Hudson and the Erie canal to Buffalo and from 
thence by the lake route. 

When at last they arrived at their destination 
they were weary and travel stained, provisions 
almost e.\hausted, and there was no habitation, 
no house for them to occupy, most of them 
with very scant means to subsist upon, strangers 
in a strange land where there was nobody, 
neighbors were miles away. It is no wonder 
some of the women were homesick, and shed 
many bitter tears, longing for the comfortable 
home and friends they had left behind them, 
whom they never expected to see again, if they 
had to travel that weary journey back to the 
old home. Nor could lliey ever exiiect tlieir 
friends to come to them if they told a truthful 
tale, of the dithculties they had encountered to 
get here. 



THOSE WHO DID NOT COME — POSTAGE 

If they told them of the great advantajie of 
coming to this new country, so much land to be 
bad for so little money, tlieir friends and kin- 
dred would write back and say like one who 
gave the following reasons for not coming west, 
from a letter dated January 10th, 1840, with the 
usual beginning; "I embrace this opportunity of 
informing you that we are well, and hoping that 
you enjoy the same blessing. You write for me 
to come out to your country. I can't tell whether 
I will go out or not. I can't see any advantage 
in it, for if the land is cheap, the grain is cheap 
also, and if the wages is high, store goods are 
high too." 

Such a letter was hardly worth the postage, 
which the sender seldom paid, but old settlers 
say they were always glad to get letters, but 
often did not have the money to pay the postage. 
To accommodate those who did not have the 
money the postmaster kept a little account book 
labeled "Postage Book ; by whom due." The 
names of the patrons of the office were arranged 
alphabetically; opposite each name tlic post- 
master would set down the amounts of postage 
charges, and number of letters delivered as 
5 : 6 : 10 : 5 : 20 etc., when it was paid the amount 
was crossed off. Periodically, for the purpose of 
collecting these dues, he would make a list of 
the names with the amount due set opposite the 
name, when paid it was so marked. There were 
no postage stamps, no envelopes. The lettet 
sheets were folded in such a manner, so that 
tUey could be sealed with a wafer or sealing 
wax. It required some skill to properly fold a 
letter, so that by pressing the folded letter 
apart the writing could not be seen. One ingen- 
ious youth who had occasion to correspond with 
bis fiancee, and did not trust the peeping post 
mistress, made some envelopes for their own 
use. There were no steel or gold pens in pioneer 
days, but very good pens were made froih 
gcosequills, which were in common use. It was 
one of file duties of tlie schodlmaster to sharpen 
the goosequill pens for his pupils. There was 
no blotting paper, instead a sand box was used, 
something like a pepper box with a wide rim on 
top, making a little hopper to catch the sand, 
which after being sprinkled on the damp ink was 
l)oured from the jiaper back into the box. 



654 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



BATTLED WITH MANY DIFFICULTIES 

Duriiij; tbe early settlement of the country the 
pioneers battled with many difficulties. First 
were those of getting here from homes far dis- 
tant in the east. Many of these emigrants en- 
dured weeks and months of wearisome travel, 
literally passing through fire and flood to reach 
their destination. Then after a habitation was 
secured, it often was a very meager pro- 
tection to the family against the elements and 
wild beasts. Then came the subduing of the 
virgin soil; the c-ost of the first plowing was 
three times the cost of the land if purchased 
from the government at a dollar and a quarter 
an acre. Many other ditticulties were invari- 
ably the accompaniment of pioneer life. Dis- 
tant markets, very imi)erfe(t and rude machin- 
ery, in comparison with what the farmer's now 
use. As an illustration, with the little V shai)ed 
harrows they had then, drawn by wne horse, the 
farmer could harrow an acre in a day ; they now 
have harrows drawn by four horses, the driver 
rides, and harrows eighty acres in a day. Slow 
and lalwrious was transportation, often with un- 
renjunerative prices for farm products. There 
was much hard labor, which, with the exposure 
to the elements for want of ordinary protection, 
often resulted in sickness with the most dis- 
tressing maladies, and the doctors lived far 
away, often wholesome food was needed more 
than medicine. Had they not all been young 
and hearty, very few would have survived the 
ordeal. 

The early settlers however, notwithstanding 
their privations were among the happiest people 
in the world, living on hope and the prospect of 
future, which are always bright to young peo- 
ple, especially in a new country. It did one 
good to be among them and see how they got 
along without many of the conveniences, that a 
more settled civilization gives. Their hospital- 
ity knew no bounds. They would stop their 
work and take a stranger anywhere and show 
him everything. If you wish to enjoy life go 
■west and visit among the new settlers. 



THE SAVAXN.V PIONEERS 

From a clipping in the Old Settler's Record, 
page 111, The Missing JAnk I'aper, read by 
David Lr. Bowen, September 23, 188C. Contrib- 
uted by Mrs. Blundell. then living in California : 



In the suauuer of 18-S an acquaintance was 
formed between the families of Aarou Pierce and 
Ceorge Davidson, then living in the lead mines 
back of Galena. They had .spent an unsuccess- 
ful season in search of mineral treasures, usual- 
ly but erroneously supposed by the novice to be 
found in fabulous quantities in all mining re- 
gions. With a view to a more permanent loca- 
tion and permanent employment at a less uncer- 
tain business these people formed the project of 
moving down to the Mississippi bottoms and 
taking up government land, for farming and 
engaging in whatever other business might come 
to hand. Therefore on the fifteenth da,v of 
Seiitember 181'S, Aaron Pierce. George Davidson 
and his sou Vance L. Davidson and William 
Blundell. his son-in-law. started in search of 
an old Indian town, called by the Indians, 
Council Bluffs. Two years before this time 
(in 1S2C) oue of the party on his way to the lead 
mines had passed through the place and noted 
the location and beauty of the scenery. Tliis 
part.v after examining the site concluded to 
nidve to this place and make it their home. 
It was near the last of October before they 
were ready to move. It was arranged that 
Davidson and family should embark in a flat 
boat with most of the bulky and heavy articles 
of household furniture, while Pierce and bis 
family, were to make the trip by l;ind. 

LEFT GALENA 1828 

Mrs. Ilarriet L. Davidson says her father 
Aaron Pierce and family, six in all, left Galena 
about the first of November, 1828. with an ox 
team, accompanied by Vance L. Davidson on 
horseback, for the purpose of reconnoitering and 
finding a way for the wagon ; after a tedious 
journey of three days, most of the way through 
a trackless wilderness composed of under brush 
and timber, over hills and through hollows with 
almost impassable sloughs, which had to he 
crossed, fording creeks and swimming rivers, 
they arrived at the top of the bluffs overlooking 
the upper part of what is now Savanna. Here 
their course was intercepted by steep and almost 
impassiible bluffs ; on the west of them was a 
perpendicular wall of rock two hundred and fifty 
feet high with the great river flowing close to 
its base. From this point, they saw spread out 
before them a magnificent panorama ; for a dis- 
tance of fifteen or twenty miles north or south 



HISTUKY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



655 



tlipy could trace the wiutling course of the great 
Father of Waters as it flowed <iuietly down to 
the great ocean along hanks covered with great 
forest trees and vines and shrubs and other vege- 
tation of almost tropical growth. To the tourist 
and lover of natural scenery it was a rare and 
beautiful sight; but what was it to these wan- 
derers in this wilderness, stopping here at the 
very outlast of civilization; across the river was 
the BlacU Hawk territory owned by the tribes 
of the Sac and I'ox Indians; westward even to 
the Pacific ocean there was scarcely a trace of 
civilization, and very few white men except a few 
trappers and traders. With scanty means of 
subsistence, with the cold winds of November 
upon them with nothing to shelter them from 
the chilly blasts of an inclement winter, they 
were surrounded by treacherous bauds of sav- 
ages, whose friendship -was as unreliable and 
unstable as the win<ls. 

STKOXG HANDS, STOUT IIEAKTS 

It took Strong arms and stout hearts to look 
around at their little cues, without some fore- 
bodings for the future. The evening fi-osts were 
fast gathering upon them as they prepared to 
descend to the valley. Along the side of the liluff 
there was an Indian trail that ran down by way 
of a long narrow ridge: by chaining the wheels 
of their wagon and fastening a small tree to 
drag under them and then holding the wagon 
from upsetting, they succeeded in descending 
without mishap, and on reaching the bottom 
took possession for the night of a large Indian 
lodge made of poles driven into the ground 
and covered with liark. it having been formerly 
used as an Indian council house. Fortunately 
the party tliat went by the river, consisting 
of Blundell and Davidson, arrived a few hours 
later, having been several times stuck on sand- 
bars and meeting with other delays. Their tent 
or lodge they made with poles covered with 
the long grass that was very abundant along the 
bottom land, where it grew to such a height that 
a man on horseback in it cmild nut be seen a 
hundred yards away. 

The first day of November, ISL'S. found this 
little colony of eleven persons, four men, three 
women and four children all encamped at what 
is now called Savanna. In three weeks by all 
working together they had raised three log 
cabins, even the gable ends were logged up: the 



roofs were covered with four-foot stakes, held 
on with weight poles, if any nails were used in 
the building they were few aud far between. 
The parly had brought some provisions with 
tliem: game was plentiful in the fall; but their 
stock of provisions failed before spring, so that 
they were reduced to living on a little soup; 
.some of the men went to (Jalena for supplies, 
all they could get was a dollars' worth of coffee 
and thirty pounds of flour. In February the 
river opened, much earlier than usual and a 
boat got up to (Jalena with flour, where they 
obtained a barrel at a cost of twenty-five dol- 
lars. After the first year their supplies were 
abundant. 

In 1829 the somewhat noted character. Bob 
Upton, made his first appearance at the settle- 
ment. He was sent out as a runner by General 
Kearney with letters and despatches from the 
fort at Rock Island to the lead mines. He was 
a humorous sort of fellow, yet with all his trif- 
ling talk was fearless and faithful to his friends 
and a man of considerable intelligence after 
the manner of a backwoods man, living on the 
frontier, hunting and trai)r)iug for a subsistence. 
He remained in the settlement for some time and 
was there when a few years later the Indians 
attacked the block house. Many amusing stories 
are related liy the old settlers of Bob I'i)ton and 
his adventures. lie is reported as ■'Robert" 
Upton, to have gone to California during the ex- 
citement over the discovery of gold, and never 
returned. Thus he with many others disappears 
from the history of Carroll County. 

Vance L. Davidson and Marshall B. Pierce 
kept a trading post at Savanna for trading with 
the Indians who came from over the river in their 
canoes. Sometimes there would lie a lunidred 
or more beac-bed on the bank of the river. 

The Mississippi river and the other rivers 
of the west were great commercial high-ways, 
for the puriKise of trading with the Indians. 
John Finley, before he introduced Daniel Boone 
and his party into the feryie valleys of Kentucky, 
was Master of the Batte.ui Ilutchins, in it he 
carried cargoes of merchandise worth thousands 
of dollars between the various trading posts 
on the rivers. This boat was named after 
Tliomas Ilutchins. who was then engaged as an 
engineer in the service of the British arm.v, 
surveying and platting these great waterways 
and the several iwrtages from the rivers to the 
great lakes. He afterward became Surveyor 



656 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



General of the United States aud invented our 
system of township surveys. 

BLACK HAWK WAR, FLIGHT ANXIOUS MOTHERS 

Then the Blacli Hawlc war broke out and all 
the Indians became hostile. The white poeple 
at Savanna were obliged to flee for their lives. 
The women and children were rowed up the river 
at night. Mrs. Mary J. Rhodes who was the 
first white child born in Savanna and in the 
county used to tell how anxious their mothers 
were ou this trip, for fear the babies would cry 
and they would be discovered by the Indians, 
who were supposed to be lurking everywhere, 
and their flight interrui)ted ; but they all escaped 
in safety. Some dangerous adventures, how- 
ever befell the men who were left in the block- 
house, for the purpose of protecting their prop- 
erty, which are related elsewhere. After the 
war was over and Black Hawk captured and his 
warriors driven from the state of Illinois, the 
pioneer settlers returned to Savanna. 

LOVE OF PIONEERING 

When the discovery of gold in California was 
heralded throughout the land, the spirit of ad- 
venture and love of pioneering was still cher- 
ished in the minds of Davidson and his family 
and his friends. Conditions had so changed at 
Savanna, that they sought for new fields of ad- 
venture and Vance L. was among the first to 
make the trip across the plains with the gold 
seekers. Returning he went again and took 
with him his wife and family and his son-in- 
law Ed Price and his wife and child, and Henry 
Pierce, Mre. Davidson's brother. William Blun- 
del, who was married to Vance Davidson's 
sister, and his .son, Jeff and wife went along 
and John, Joe and Richard Smith are reported 
to have been with this party, also John Saxton 
and his wife, and William and Joseph Ashby. 
The two latter returned to Savanna, but after- 
ward, in 1S64 went to California and Oregon, 
and became permanent residents there. When 
these people with others arrived at Council 
Bluffs, as was the custom, they organized for 
mutual protection in crossing the plains ; Vance 
L. Davidson was elected their captain. In 
crossing the plains they had to endure many 
hardships and privations, an account of which 
Is given elsewhere. Some of these people and 



many of their descendants are now living in 
California and other western states. 

In California -there is an organization of over 
a hundred former residents of Carroll County, 
who meet in annual reunion at Los Angeles for 
the purpose of keeping up their acquaintance and 
refreshing their recollections of the times they 
lived in little Carroll County. Many of them 
have, since leaving here seen a good deal 
of the big world and have prospered and 
are of greater use to their fellow men perhaps 
than if they had continued to live here and had 
confined their activities to the precincts of their 
old homes in Illinois. 

EMMERT FAMILY 

DAVID EMMERT AND HIS FAMILY; SAMUEL M. HITI ; 
NATHANIEL HALDERMAN 

When David Emmert. who was the first per- 
manent settler in Mount Carroll, was a young 
man he went Into Pennsylvania, from his home 
in Maryland, and was engaged in buying wheat 
and teaming it to Baltimore. He married Susan 
Price and returning to Maryland he lived on a 
farm before coming west ; on this farm he was 
building a fine fish pond and Joseph Welty was 
helping him at this work. 

About this time Samuel M. Hitt the owner 
of the mill site at Mount Carroll came to visit 
Mr. Emmert and persuaded him to come to Car- 
mil County, telling him of the mill site of Luther 
H. Bowen near Savanna and of his at Mount 
Carroll, in which Mr. Hitt with others was in- 
terested. They had purchased the claim to the 
mill site from the original preemptors. Hitt 
praised the country and spoke of the good chance 
it offered to a young man to mend his fortunes ; 
this was in the fall of 1S30, and David Emmert 
came west in the spring of 1840, in company with 
Mr. Hitt and his family, going to Ogle County 
first, but eventually arriving at Cherry Grove 
in this county In May of that year. Here he 
kept the Cherry Grove House, which was a 
stopping place on the stage line from Dixon 
to Galena. He with the keen sense of a pioneer 
saw the advantages and possibilities of the 
country, at once wrote to Nathaniel Haldennau 
and induced him to come west. Thus the men 
who built the mill and founded a city, were 
induced to come west and take hold of the mill 




^a/vJi ^, fdu^JjL 






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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



657 



enterprise, whi^li was the beginuing of Mimiit 
Carroll. 

Some years ago. Joe Welty. one of the piontH'rs. 
related the following incident to Dr. Henry 
Shinier, who made a note of it, for the purpose 
of sometime writing a Iiistory of the county; 
stating that David Emniert used to tell this 
anecdote in the c-ompany"s store at Stag Toint, 
saying that by accident he once was traveling on 
Sunday iu Pennsylvania and U|>oii hearing men 
thrashing with a flail in a barn near the road, 
he went in to see about wheat, he was then buy- 
ing grain, he saw three sons flailing and the old 
man turning bundles. Eniniert said in German, 
'•how is this? you are thrashing on Sunday," 
whereupon the old man said, "if it is Sunday we 
will quit, we do not take the papers and we 
did not know it was Sunday." This it is said 
used to bring down the house, for Mr. Emmert 
had great descriptive powers and could relate 
such anecdotes without a smile. It may be 
said, for the benefit of the Scotchman, the Joke 
was. you ought to take a newspaper to tell when 
Sunday comes, the application of this will appear 
when it is seen what a family of printers the 
Emmerts became. 

Before coming west David Emmert was living 
in Cumberland County near Harrisburg. here he 
had become acquainted with Doctors Abraham 
and John L. Hostetter and George Hollinger who 
afterwards came to Mount Carroll ; at this time 
Jlr. Emmert was a member of the Pennsylvania 
legislature. Through trusting a dishonest man, 
with a large amount of money to buy wheat he 
lost nearly all the capital lie had. This perhai)S 
more than anything else, determined him to take 
what little he had left and his family and try 
to retrieve his fortunes in the great west. 

BUILDING THE MUX AT MOUNT CAHBOLL 

As has been told by Judge Shaw in his history. 
Mr. Emniert went into partnership with Mr. 
llalderman. to build the mill, the firm was called 
Emmert, Hadermau & Co. The services of an 
architect, a Mr. Chapman of Ogle County, were 
soon secured to plan and super\ise the erection 
of the mill. Bradstreet Uobin.son was employed 
to haul the logs to the sawmill of Hitt and 
Swingley, a short distance down the creek ; most 
of the great timbers, still to be seen in the mill. 
were cut from government land, which for many 
years was free to all comers. Elijah Bailey's 



father did the iron work for the mill and shod 
the cattle. Two of the carpenters who worked 
on the mill and who did the work to unite the 
two log cabins to make a dining room for the 
workmen were Henry Lowman and Abraham 
Beeler, they also built the store building at Stag 
Point. -Mr. Emmert hired Daniel Hurley, John 
Herrington. Michael Mahan, Patrick Silk and 
Hugh Sloey to build the mill dam and the mill 
race; they completed this work early in the 
spring of If^S. Jonathan Myers came from Ogle 
County to lay the walls for the mill which was 
built of native stone ; upon finishing the work 
he flourished his hammer over the high gable of 
the west end of the mill and said, "hurrah for Mt. 
Carroll and Emmerts' mill, water on the wheel, 
wheat in the hopper, meat on Halderman's back 
and marrow in Rinewalfs bones.'' His assistants 
on the walls of the mill were Emanuel Morrison, 
Thomas Reed, M. Reed and William Nicols. Mr. 
Chapman and his two sons Will'am and Mordecai 
took the contract for doing the mill-wright work. 
The mill shaft, the axle to the great water wheel 
which turned all the machinery, including the 
great stone burrs that ground the wheat, was 
cut on the Mississippi bottoms ; Robert Kennedy 
assisted by Abraham Beeler dressed it and put iu 
the burrs. 

BOAUDINO THE HANDS WHILE BUILDING THE MILL 

While the mill was building Mrs. David Em- 
mert and Miss Harriet Harmon, boarded the 
workmen, some forty in number, in the log cabin 
on the knoll near the mill site, commonly known 
as Stag Point, named from the deer whicli had 
tre<iuently been seen there. This cabin had been 
built not far from a spring, at the foot of the 
hill, which a great tree overshadowed in those 
days. In the winter of 1841-42, another cabin 
was erected about fourteen feet from the 
original one, at the gable end. and the space be- 
tween the two log cabins was roofed over to make 
a dining room for the workmen. 

These ladies had the fever and ague, wliiih 
was so common at the time and from which the 
early settlers suffered greatly, fortunately they 
alternated in having the chills and were still 
alile to do the work between times. When one 
w'juld be down sick the other would do the work 
and take care of the children, no sooner would 
the one recover than the other was taken down 
with this distressing mal.-idy; anil so these brave 



658 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



young women got aloug and fed the forty men 
or more who were building tlie mill. They de- 
serve great credit for the part they took in this 
enterprise. Jliss Harmon afterward married 
Robert Kennedy an exiiert miller from Phila- 
delphia, who ran the Enmiert and Ilalderman 
mill ; he died many years ago leaving his widow 
with a family of small children to fight life's 
battles alone, which she has faithfully done, and 
still lives in Mount Carroll, honored and re- 
spected by every one ; nothing in the city, which 
she has seen grow from a small log dwelling 
house to its present proud dimensions, is too good 
for the people to offer this aged widow to en- 
jo.v. She has no kin here beside her own family 
except a sister, Mrs. Manning, living north of 
Lanark, who is also an octogenarian. The 
little girl, Ann, daughter of David Emmert. 
who helped to set the table and kept the 
glasses bright, for those forty workmen, is still 
living in Mount Carroll. Mrs. Ann Hallett, wid- 
ow of Bartlett Hallett. 

STORE BUILT ; LODGING THE PEOPLE ; C.4B0LINE 
W.\DE 

In 1842 the store at Stag Point was built also 
the cooper shop, ^^■hen the mill was running 
people came for many miles with wheat and grists 
to be gi'ound; they had to have lodging places 
somewhere. Jliss Caroline Wade came to the 
assistance of the ladies mentioned and made the 
beds and bunks, sometimes for fifty or more 
lodgers, the log house was filled, the store loft 
and the cooper shop. She afterwards became the 
wealthiest citizen in the county; founded the 
Caroline Mark Home and endowed it with over 
half a million dollars. 

L.\ND SALES, II.\ED TIMES. SC.\RCITr OF MONEY 

Following the year 1839 the early settlers had 
great difficulty in getting their groceries with 
their farm jiroducts on account of financial stress 
and the scarcity of money; but greater ditlicul- 
ties had to be overcome later, which went to the 
securing of the titles to their lands and their 
homes. In the ■\\iuter of 1842-4.3. President 
Tyler issued a proclamation bringing into market, 
the lands of Carroll County and a part of Ogle, 
in the November following. The settlers, not 
without reason, became alarmed, as mone.v such 
as the government re<inired in payment for lands, 



was not to be had. Gold and silver and treasury 
notes were the only legal tender for government 
lands at that time. The suppl.v of money for the 
whole country was said to be less than one hun- 
dred miliion of dollars and there was very little 
of it in the west. 

Early in the spring of 1843 the settlers began 
to move in the matter. They feared that to have 
their lands put up for sale, under the then ex- 
isting conditions, would put them at the mercy 
of the land sharks. Meetings were called, the 
first in the northern part of the county at the 
Cherry Grove House, of David Emmert. There 
was a good attendance. Lewis Bliss went from 
Preston Prairie with his bugle horn, and en- 
livened the meeting with some )nusic. The meet- 
ing after making some preliminary arrange- 
ments, adjourned to meet a month later at the 
Companies' Store at Stag Point, near the mill. 
At the meeting at Mount Carroll it was re- 
solved to petition President Tyler for relief, set- 
ting forth the condition of the .settlers and ask- 
ing him to postpone the sale. Tyler had turned 
traitor to the party that elected him and was not 
at all iwpular nor thought to be in s.vmpathy with 
the people who had elected him. It was there- 
fore humiliating to the "Whig portion of the set- 
tlers to be obliged to ask a favor of him ; they 
were in a large ma.iorit.v in Carroll County, 
which was the banner county of the state for 
the AYhigs. 

David Enmiert. who was a Whig, had been 
chosen to draft the petition to the president, 
which he did and jiresented it at the meeting. 
It closed with these words : "Remember and 
aid us in our need, and we will remember you 
when aid will be greatl.v needed." George W. 
Ilarris, a democrat, was the first to speak and 
said, "I think you had better leave that out, the 
President will take that as an insult." 

Seymour B. Tomlinson. a Whig, was the next 
to speak, he said : "Yes leave that out, I wouldn't 
vote for John T.yler to save my farm." 

The Honorable Samuel Ilitt of Ogle Count.v, 
who was an old friend and acquaintance of 
President Tyler, was made the liearer of the 
petition to tlie president. 

The iiresident after reading the petition said 
that he was in full symi>athy with the settlers 
and would like to aid them in securing their 
lands, "But," said he, "the time set for selling 
the lands cannot be iwstponed. But I will in 
a special message to Congress recommend the 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



659 



passage of a law, giviiiK to all settlors wiio are 
entitled to land under the iiiwrniUinn act, one 
year to pay for tUeir lands from the date of ap- 
Ijlic-ation." The president was as good as his 
word; suoli a law piisseil. It gave the set- 
tlers time to prepare for paying for their lauds 
and most of them took advantage of it to secure 
their homes. 

I'rotective leagues were I'oniuMl in dilTerent 
Iiarls of the county, for the safety and protection 
of the settlers at the land sales: all disputes 
among land claimants were adjusted before a 
board of arbitrators previous to the day of sale. 

The sale was to take place at the land office 
at Dixon. Illinois. Each league had a man se- 
lected In lijd off all the laud covered by the 
leilgue. for such of the settlers as were ready to 
pay for it. 

David Kmniert was selected as the bidder for 
the northern league. lie had a plat of the lands 
before him and the' eighties niarketl with the 
name of the claimant who was ready to pay. 
Mr. Eddy one of the clerks of the department 
was the crier; the land was offered in eighty 
acre tracts, commencing with the east half of the 
northeast quarter of section one and going 
through the towushiii in the order the sections 
are numbered. He cried off the land as rapidly 
as he could name the lots, slowing up by a sign 
when near a lot to be taken, when a bidder 
would cry out "bid," which meant the lowest 
price at which it c-ould be sold. viz. one dollar 
and a quarter an acre, and the name of the 
purchaser would be recorded. If any one bad 
attempted to raise that l)id. it was generally 
understood he would have been roughly liaiidlcil 
and uo doubt made to withdraw his biil. 

FIRST COUNTY JUDGE 

David Ennnert succeeded George W. Harris 
who was the first county judge. He had resigned 
at the end of a year in otliie. There were very 
few estates to be administertxl upon in those 
days. The jiioueers were all young people, so 
few old i)eople came to the new country, that a 
gray haired man or a baldheaded man was a 
great curiosity to the children of the early 
settlers; their grandfathers and grandmothers 
had been left in their (■(inifdrtalile homes in the 
east. 

In 184!) when the Savanna IJranch Itailroad 



was incorporated .Judge David Knimert was one 
of the first board of directors. 

THE n.M'lIS.MAI. rooL, TIIK (IHAVIi YARD, THE FIBST 
GRAVE 

A short distance down the creek from the West 
Carroll bridge, just below the grave yard there 
was a beautiful pool in the creek with a clean 
sand and gravelly bottom which was used for 
many years by the early settlers as a baptismal 
pool, and many of the inhabitants of tlie village 
and surrounding country were immersed therein. 
Jlr. Emmert belonged to a church that believed 
in and practiced this manner of baptism. Other 
denominations used this iwol for the same pur- 
pose sometimes cutting the ice away for the pur- 
pose of inunersing converts. 

David Ennnert gave the land for the old grave 
yard and in 1S.">2 laid out the West I'arroU 
addition to Mount Carroll. st>metimes called T.ou- 
dou after the native place of some of the early 
settlers. 

The site for the graveyard was then oiien 
country, uncultivated; Mr. Elijah Bailey said 
that, when he was a young man. breaking 
lirairie on the Emmert claim, he used to turn 
his cattle out to graze where the gi-aveyard now 
Is. Some years later there was a lone grave 
lliere ami it was an object of uo little curiosity. 
The .young people of the settlement used to take 
a walk over there, on the Sabbath day, to look 
at this lone grave. It was the final resting place 
of a stranger by the name of Smith; Joseph 
Welty, a carpenter, who came to Mount Carroll 
through his acipiaintance with David Ennnert, 
made this statement in regard to this stranger 
and the beginning of the graveyard. In .Inly, 
18-44 one II. Smith came here from Xenia. Ohio, 
was taken sick of dysentery on the river, en- 
route to the Galena lead mines. He got off the 
boat at Savanna and came on a wagon to Mount 
Carroll. Welty waited on him until he died, 
this was the first death in Mount Carroll. When 
the man was dead Mr. Welty went to N. Hal- 
derniau at the mill to sc>e iibout .i burial place 
and he said: "Wait until David Eunnert comes 
over and we will see about it ;"' Mr. Ennnert 
soon came and said : "We must have a grave- 
yard."' Mr. Ilaldermau, Mr. Emmert and Mr. 
Welty went out across the breast of the mill- 
(l.im whi<h was then used for a wagon road, 
having a bridge across lln> mill race. They 



660 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



looked about the ridge on the north side of the 
millpond and concluded that it was not suf- 
ficiently easy of access ; then Mr. Enimert pro- 
posed to go over to the grounds where the cem- 
etery now is. There he told Mr. Welty to select 
a sixit, which he did close by a large white 
oak tree, and commenced to dig the grave. 
After digging awhile William Powers came over 
and helped him. When the grave was dug Mr. 
Welty went over to Fred Williams' shop and 
they made the coffin of black walnut, also a 
handbarrow ; on this they bore the coffin to the 
grave the same evening. The coffin was laid in 
the ground without a rough box. boards were 
then laid over the coffin on shoulders cut in the 
earth. Dr. Judd was the attending physician. 
There was no ceremony at the grave. The next 
death in Mount Carroll was that of Rebecca, a 
one year old child of Thomas and Margaret Rapp 
in the summer of lS4u ; it took the summer 
diarrhoea of infants with fever ; Dr. Abraham 
Ilostetter was the physician, there were no re- 
ligious services, she was laid in a grave beside 
Smith. Mr. Welty helped Fred Williams make 
that coffin. The next grave was either Keefer's 
or that of Daniel Christian, Sr., he was a soldier 
of the war of 1S12. Welty helped to dig these 
graves and helped to make the coffins. The 
inice of a good walnut coflln was five dollars and 
nothing was charged for digging the grave. Dan- 
iel Christian, Sr., died December 20th, 1847 ; after 
this burials were more frequent. Welty and 
Williams making the coffins for five or six years. 
The plat of ground set apart for a graveyard by 
David Emmert was eventually filleil with graves 
until there was no room for more. These lots 
were all free to any person who needed a place 
for burial. Oakhill Cemetery was laid out by 
Mr. X. Halderman on lands he owned adjoining 
the old graveyard. The graves in this city of the 
dead number more now than the living in the 
city near by. Instead of natures' monument that 
marked the sight of the first grave, a beautiful 
oak tree, great monuments and tombstones en- 
cumber the ground, so vast are some of them it 
seems as though mother earth can scarcely bear 
their weight, indeed the little lots on which they 
stand could not bear them up without the as- 
sistance of their neighbors. 

The first woman's club or organization of wo- 
men in Mount Carroll was formed for the pur- 
pose of raising means to fence the graveyard. 



stock being allowed, in those days, to run at 
large. Mrs, Tommy Rapp was one of the mem- 
bers of this clu-b, sewing circle was the modest 
name they gave it, also Mrs. Harriet Kennedy 
to whom we are indebted for this information, 
who is still living in Mount Carroll. 

For many years the Smith grave was unmarked 
except by a simple mound and the oak tree, but 
through the thoughtful generosity of the neigh- 
bors it Is now marked by a slab with appropriate 
inscriptions. It may be seen near the east en- 
trance to the new cemetery. 

The year after the building of the mill David 
Emmert built the stone house over the beautiful 
spring to the north of the creek and the town. 
For many years this house was occupied by Mrs. 
Ann Hallett, daughter of David Emmert, wife 
of Bartlett Hallett an early settler and a brick- 
maker and contractor ; the brick in all the old 
brick houses in the town were made by the 
Halletts. James and Bartlett. In this house 
many of the early settlers were welcomed on 
their arrival and enjoyed the hospitality of the 
Emmert's until a place could be found for them 
in which to make a permanent abode. 

In ISoO during the excitement attendant uiwn 
the discovery of gold in California, Judge Em- 
mert fitted out three wagons with four yoke 
of oxen to each wagon, for the gold seekers ; 
his son Simon went with the party, also the 
schoolmaster Shottenkirk and W. A. J. Pierce, 
still living in Mount Carroll, who carried the 
purse to pay expenses, which was exhausted 
long before they reached the gold mines. The 
names of others who went with this party and 
the adventures they and others met with on 
the way are related in another chapter under 
the heading, the Forty-niners. The Emmert 
caravan as it drove out of the little town made 
quite an imposing sight. TTie men were all in 
a jolly mood in hopeful anticipation of soon 
finding their fortunes in the land of gold ; only 
one or two did so, and some never returned; 
among these was Judge Emmerfs son. 

In 1S52 Judge Emmert was one of the incor- 
porators of the Mount Carroll Seminary and 
treasurer of the board of trustees. In 1S54 after 
the German Baptist or Brethren church had 
built a commodious meeting house at Arnold's 
Grove, David Emmert was chosen to the ministry 
of that church. 




STONE HOUSE AT WILDEKBEHC. 

Built in 1861 by Dr. Abraham Hostottrr; now occiii)i((l by liis 

son, grandson and great-grandson. 




CARNEGIE LIBRARY, MT. CARROLL 




OLD MILL AT MT. CARROLL. BUILT 1842 



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,-oot»J 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



661 



FIRST NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN MT. CARROLL 

David Emmei't withdrew fi'om tlie Mill com- 
pany is 1S51 or 1852 and built a warehouse for 
the purpose of buying and storing grain, on the 
southwest corner of Main and Market streets 
opposite the old stone court house. In this 
building on the third floor he helped his son 
Jacob P. Emmert start the first printing odice 
in the county and here in 1852, was printed the 
Republican, the first newspaper printed in the 
county. Mr. H. G. Gratton who had been pub- 
lishing the Freeport Journal at Freeijort went 
into partnership with Jacob P. Emmert. In 1853 
after a year's experience, Jacob withdrew from 
the printing business to become clerk of the 
circ-uit court and recorder. Later he became 
interested in some real estate and with Emanuel 
Stover laid out Stover and Emmert's addition 
to Mt. Carroll; near this addition he built a 
fine brick mansion, in which Mr. N. H. Halder- 
mau now resides. 

Mr. Gratton, who was a generous public spirited 
citizen, did much for the advancement of the 
town and especially the seminary, where his 
granddaughter in later years attended as a 
student. lie published the Republican Until 1855, 
when it passed into the hands of D. H. Wheeler. 
He continued the paper for two years 'feud in 
1S57 sold to D. B. Emmert, second son of David 
Emmert. (Jeorge English was the fdreman 
under the David B. Emmert administration and 
when young David was taken away liy the I'jkc's 
Peali excitement, he sold his interest in the 
Republican to Dr. John L. Hostetter; Eugli-sh 
continued to publish the paper under the firm 
name of Hostetter & English. Young David 
on his return from the mountains, stopped at 
Topeka, Kansas, and started a paper there, 
called the Auboru Docket. He was elected 
chief clerk of the house of representatives of 
the Kansas legislature. Later he went to Fort 
Scott and started a paper in a small town, near 
there, called Marmaton. Here Joseph, sixth 
son of David Emmert, who had learned the 
businesfs as the devil in the printing office in 
Mt. Carroll under English, had charge of this 
liaper and fought his brother David, who had 
started the Fort Scott Monitor on the county 
seat question ; Fort Scott won out. 

Dr. Hostetter sold an interest in the Republi- 
can office to Dr. E. C. Cochran ; George English 
starting another paper called the Home Intel- 



ligencer. Soon after Hostetter and Cothran be- 
came associated as partners in the Republican, 
an arrangement was made by which that paper 
and the Intelligencer were consolidated. Dr. 
Hostetter retired from the business and English 
and Cochran published the consolidated paper 
for a short time, when English renewed the 
publication of the Intelligencer and Dr. Hostetter 
resumed charge of the Republican. From him it 
passed Into the hands of Silvernail and Ladd 
of the Mt. Carroll seminary. Silvernail was 
professor of languages and taught Greek and 
Latin at the seminary. Mrs. Shimer was in 
some way responsible, for the success of the 
business under Silvernail and Ladd, and when 
it ceased to be a paying enterprise the jiress 
and type fell into her hands and it was removed 
to the seminary, and for a time Mrs. Shinier had 
printed and published there the Seminary Bell. 
Mr. Isaiah Holliugor and liis partner, Alex 
Weudel. who had in the meantime started the 
Mt. Carroll Mirror, were frequently called upon 
by Mrs. Shimer to help with the t.vi)esetting 
and printing of the Bell, when she was short of 
help, as printers were not very numerous in 
those days and few so competent as Messrs. 
Hollinger and Wendel. They printed the first 
issue of the Min-or, March 21, 18C0. Mr. 
Wepdel was a practical printer from Franklin 
County, Pa. He and Hollinger had been work- 
ing together in the Republican and Intelligencer 
offices. Xhey published the Jlirror for twelve 
yeaV.s. and until they went into the service on 
the last call of President Lincoln for volunteers 
for the Clnl War when they closed their jirint- 
ing office. During its publication James Shaw, 
afterwards circuit judge, and C. B. Smith. Esq., 
fretpiently contributed editorial articles for the 
Mirror. After the close of the Mirror office 
there was no paper published in Mt. Carroll for 
several months. Grim-visaged war stalked 
abroad in the land ; the newspaper business 
was one of the industries that was i)aral,vzed. 
Later Hi Bohu took charge of the Mirror of- 
fice; it then passed into the hands of Scott and 
Cormauy. The latter married Miss Susan Em- 
mert, sister of the printers, Jacob. David B. and 
Joseph. 

After Hollinger and Wendel, came back from 
the army, having served their terms of enlist- 
ment, they again took charge of the Mirror and 
continued Its publication until they sold It to Cap- 
tain J. M. Adair, who continued to publish the 



662 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



paper until Septemljor, ISi-i, when lie suld it to 
J. F. Allisou wlio was tlieii c-ounty treasure!-; tlie 
following January Allisdu sold the paper to AV. 
D. Hughes aud A. B. IloUinger. Mr. Hughes 
after\Aard became sole proprietor with 
Don R. Frazer as local editor. Mr. Hughes 
sold the Jlirror to AV. L. Puterbaugh, January, 
IS!)'.). Frank H. Hurless aud Dick Hughes, who 
had been working in a printing office in Savanna, 
came to Mount Carroll and started a semi-week- 
ly newspaper which they called the Repul)lican. 
The following Jlay they bought the Mirror and 
it was merged with that paper. 

lu September, 1S75, Fi;ank A. Beeler started 
the Mount Carroll News ; on the following April 
it [lassed into the bauds of J. William Mastin, 
whose father, Jethro Mastin, was an old settler 
of Shannon and a lifelong Democrat. Mastin 
changed the name to that of the Herald and 
started to publish it as an independent in politics, 
but later suitported the Democratic candidates 
for office lu 187G, and in January, 1877, he sold 
the paper to Hollinger aud Sessions. Hollinger 
had disposed of the Mirror and gone to Iowa ; 
after his return he and Frank .7. Sessions 
bought the Herald of Mastin and clianged its 
politics to that of a Keimblican paper. In 1873 
Allison again purchased the Mirror, this time of 
Martin Shugroe and transferred it to \V. L. 
Puterbaugh, now editor of the Milledgeville Free 
Press. The object to be obtained, Mr. Allisou 
says, in the first instance was a faithful collec- 
tion and publication of the happenings of the 
day and to ju-omote harmony and tranquillity ; 
the second purchase was made for the purjiose 
of flagellating lloke Smith for arbitrarily sus- 
jiending and reilucing soldiers' ])eusions. The 
jtublisher was summarily bounced from the ]jen- 
sion service during President Cleveland's second 
term. 

After Mastin sold out the Democratic Herald, 
Cal M. Freezer, who toad learned the printer's 
trade in the Herald office and worked for Hughes 
in the Mirror oftice. witli the assistance of Fred 
S. Smith, started the Mount Carroll Democrat, 
but it did not receive sufficient support from that 
party, and Mr. Freezer changed its )X)litics to 
that of a Reiiubliean paper: and the Mirror, now- 
owned and published by Frank H. Hurless, and 
the Democrat are still published as dail.v and 
seiul-weekly new-sjMpers in Mount Carroll. 

Thus it will lie seen that a correct history of 
Mount Carroll cannot be written without giving 



David Ennnert and his family credit for the 
inijiorlant part they took in the very bo^ginning 
of Jlount Carroll, which starte<l with the build- 
ing of the mill, nor the histoi'y of the press of 
Mount Carroll without including his family. 
Three of his sons and one daughter, who married 
a printer, w-ere directly connected with the print- • 
ing business in Mount Carroll. All that are left 
of the family here now are his daughters, Mrs. 
Ann Hallett, widow of Bartlett II. Hallett, and 
a grandson. Charles F. Emniert, son of David 
B. Emmert. Jacob P. Ennnert removed from 
here to Chicago many years ago and died there, 
leaving two daughters there. Joseph still lives 
in Chicago. All the other descendants of this 
estimable family are widely scattered through- 
out the Union. 

David Eimnert had a son. John, who in early 
days was a mail agent on the steamboats on the 
Jlississippi river ; be succeeded his In-other, Ja- 
cob iu that line of business. Another sou, Wil- 
liam, went from here to Kansas and later to 
Colorado. Thomas, the fifth son of David Em- 
mert, on the breaking out of the war enlisted in 
the Sth Illinois Cavalry and died of typhoid fever 
.•it .\lexandria, Virginia. He was the first soldier 
to be brought home and buried in the old grave 
yard, that Mr. Emmert so generously gave to the 
public for a burying-groun<l. 

THE DOCTORS HOSTETTER. .\LEX. OFFICE, AND 
WILLIA.M HALDERMAN 

On April l.'jth. 184.''., Doctor Abraham Ilostetter 
with his wife and two small children and his 
brother. Doctor John L. Ilostetter and their 
sister, Anna, with a friend, Ale.xander Office, 
arrived in Mount Carroll. They came from 
Pennsylvania by way of the canal up the valley 
of the Susquehanna, over the mountains by the 
inclined plane, and by steamboat on the great 
rivers ; they imssed through the great fire at 
Pittsburg, the most noted and destructive in the 
United States, until the great Chicago fire of 
1871. Iu the fire at Pittsburg they had a nar- 
row escai>e from going down with a burning 
bridge when they were fleeing afoot to escape, 
to the country, from the burning city. They 
stopped at Saint Louis to change steamboats; 
here Doctor Abraham bought a small stock of 
drugs and had them shipped to Mount Carroll. 
Tlie first night on their arrival at Mount Car- 
roll they stopped at the Mansion House, now 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



663 



called tlif Clil'luii Udlise, wliiill \v:is tlioii lieiiii; 
built by Thomas Rapp; it was unfinisbeil the 
[lartltions tieitig unplasteretl. The doctor soou 
licuiuht a small house, which stood where IIol- 
man's funiiture store uow is, and erected a two 
story addition thereto, using the lower floor for 
a drug store, the first in Mount Carroll ; in addi- 
tion to drugs he kept a stock of paints, oils and 
window glass. 

SCATTKRED SETTLEMENTS 

The doctors Abe and John Ilostetter. as they 
were familiarly called here, bad a very e.xtensive 
niediial ]iractice in the village and surrounding 
country ; it was not unusual for them to be calkMl 
uixm to attend invalids for twelve or fifteen and 
even twenty miles away; these distances they 
were obliged to travel on horseback, with their 
saddlebags, containing their medicines and sur- 
gical instruments, thrown across the horse's 
back. Whole families would sometimes be dowu 
sick with the prevailing maladies; often, the doc- 
tors said needing wholesome food, for want of 
some one to prepare it, more than medicine; fre- 
quently the doctors' good wives would send along 
loaves of bread for those in need. After seven 
years of this arduous practice Doctor Ab- 
raham quit the practice of medicine, sold his 
drug store and moved to Salem township on 
some land he had bought of the government at a 
dollar and a quarter an acre, where his young- 
est son, W. Ross Ilostetter, now resides. 

FIRST D.\NK 

In 18.J7 he formed a partnership with some 
eastern friends, who had capital and started 
the banking firm of Ilostetter, Reist & Co., in a 
small room of the old house, next the drug store. 
Mills it Hooker opened an exchange and hank- 
ing house in the old Enmiert building opposite 
the nioninnent, alwut the same time. This firm 
was composed of II. A. Mills, ;\.nd M. L. Hooker, 
who retired from the business and it was con- 
ducted as the firm of H. A. Mills & Co., until the 
first National Hank was organized with II. A. 
Mills as cashier and James Mark as presideiu. 
Money was scarce in those days and interest and 
exchange rates very higli. so uuich so that the 
Mount Carroll Mutual Manufacturing and Hy- 
draulic Company, ojiened what they called a 
bank of deposit and offered through their treas- 



urer, N. llaldeniiMU, to pay ten per i-ent interest 
on deposits. 

. niiE.VKING OUT OI- THE ( IVll. W.\l! 

Dr. Ilostetter continued the banking business 
until the breaking out of the civil war; his 
nepliew, Amos W. Ilostetter, who had become 
cashier and bookkeeper of the bank, enlisted in 
the ;i4tli Illinois Volunteer Infantry, became Cap- 
tain of Conii^ny I. was killed while rec^unoiter- 
ing on the picket line before Atlanta, Georgia. 
The historian of the 34th Illinois, says the caj)- 
tain was held in high esteem by every one with 
wliom he came in contact. As he was borne by 
the regiment he commenced speaking to the men 
bidding them a last farewell as he iiassed down 
the line of the company, and indeed it was a 
pathetic scene. His body was brought liome 
and buried in the old graveyard. 

DEPRECIATED CURRENCY ^ 

On account of the war and the uncertainty of 
the future condition of the country all the cur- 
rency in circulation became greatly depreciated 
the only security for much of it being the bonds 
of the southern states which eventually became 
worthless ; the more money a bank received 
on deposit the worse it was off. The only thing 
the country banks could do was to send these 
depreciating bank bills to their Chicago or New 
York correspondents ; these soon become so 
glutted with this depreciated currency that they 
were obliged to susijend business. Kventually 
all bank bills were refused; the gold and silver 
had gone out of circulation, and it became very 
(litHcult to do any business. Postage stamps 
began to be useil for making change. This was 
file origin of what was called postal currency. 
To replace the ixjstage stamps the government 
issued a paiM>r ciu'rency which contained the 
lectures of the stamps; a five cent stamp or a 
ten cent stamp, a twenty-five cent note con- 
tained the pictures of five five-cent stamps. Be- 
fore these could be procured all sorts of tokens 
were in circulation as money. Storekeepers had 
printed circular cards, on which was printed 
"good for ten cents," or any other amount ; 
these were not very dtn'able. and when worn 
were soon presented for redemption, in money 
or goods, so that they came to make them of 
metal, with the inscription stamped upon them ; 



664 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



banks issued eliecks iipou themselves in various 
amounts, tbese circulated instead of money, but 
were eventually redeemed aud destroyed; like 
the "card money," also called bons, that was 
used by the traders in early days iu dealing 
with the Indians iu the Illinois country, wheu 
the "Buck Currency," became unwieldly, a buck 
skin always passing for the value of five livres 
or one dollar at the early trading iwsts in the 
Illinois country. 

.70HN IBVINE. SR. 

Dr. John L. Hostetter married Miss Mary Ir- 
vine, daughter of John Irvine, Sr., one of the 
partners in the Mill Company at that time; 
their wedding taking place in the old log bouse 
where the Emmerts had lived and boarded the 
men who built the mill. Both being very popu- 
lar young people there was a large party aud a 
great charivari during which a live pig was put 
into the room, by Henry Sager, it is said, who 
afterward was the boss mason on the stone 
house at Wilderberg. The pigs they had in 
those days were indeed lively, and hard 
to catch. The father of the bride was 
greatly incensed, and although an exhorter 
in the M. E. church, went in search of 
a club to beat the author of this indignity but 
could find nothing for the puriwse but Mrs. Ir- 
vine's rolling pin. This is not the first "rolling 
pin," that figured in the fortunes of some of 
the early settlers. Mrs. Marks the founder of 
the "Home for Old Ladies," says she first had to 
use an ear of corn for a rolling jjin, later a black 
bottle, then with a draw knife aud a saw she 
made herself a rolling pin. 

The Bradstreet wedding was also in the old 
house. There the first Mrs. Rinewalt died, aLso 
Mrs. John Irvine, Sr. In this old log cabin 
John JI. Rinewalt was born, also Joseph S. 
Miles, cashier of the First National bank and 
presideut of the Business Men's Association of 
Mount Carroll. 

Dr. John L. Hostetter became, at one time very 
much interested in the newspaper publications 
in this part of the state. He started the Mount 
Carroll Tribune, the first newspaper in the 
county, mention of which is made elsewhere. 
When the war broke out he enlisted with the 
34th I. V. I., as regimental surgeon, but was soon 
promoted to brigade surgeon. On his return 
home he continued the practice of medicine dur- 



ing the remainder of his life very much trusted 
and respected by a large circle of acquaintances. 
Alexander Ofiicer who came to Mount Carroll 
with this party, for a time had a lumber yard 
where the churches now are, but he soon went 
to Chicago, where he became interested in the 
lumber business and acquired a fortune. He 
married there and his only child, a daughter, 
is still living iu the city ; her husband is at the 
head of one of the largest wholesale grocery 
firms in Chicago. 

ANNA HOSTETTER 

Jliss Anna Hostetter, the sister of Doctors 
Abraham and John, married William Halderman, 
brother of Nathaniel, and he ran the mill com- 
pany's store at Stag Point. This store did a 
large business, dealing with customers who 
came from man.v miles around with their pro- 
ducts to exchange for merchandise and groceries. 
He had a novel way of shijiping butter, some of 
which lie sent as far south as New Orleans. He 
had kegs made that would hold twenty-five 
poimds of butter, these when filled he packed in 
a great hogshead and covered all with brine; 
when it arrived at its destination after a long 
steamlxjat jonrney in a warm country, the but- 
ter was still fresh and sweet ; which also spealvs 
well for the skill with which it was made by the 
good pioneer women of the settlement. The 
immense cask and the small kegs were made at 
the cooper shop, where the flour barrels were 
made, in which the mill company shipped their 
flour to the same market. They were made of 
staves and hickory hoops, all of which material 
was procured from the woods iu the neighbor- 
hood of the mill and store. An enterprising man, 
he afterward bought a steam flouring mill in 
Freei>ort ; but died when still a young man and 
his remains rest In the vault, on the hillside over- 
looking the site of the old store, which is so con- 
spicuous on looking west from JIarket street in 
Mount Carroll. 

-inna afterwards married the Hon. Johu H. 
Addams of Cedarville, the father of Jane Ad- 
dams, then a child of eight years, who has 
become distinguished as the founder of Hull 
House in Chicago, and is now a very noted wo- 
man and author of several books relating to 
social science, her latest being a large volume 
entitled Twenty Years at Hull House. 

Mrs. Addams at the age of eighty-three, is still 






^-^ 

H 







HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



665 



liviug at Ced.uTilli", StfplK'iisdii Cmiiil.v. one of 
the very few survivors of the pioneers of Mount 
Carroll. To her we are Indebted for a great 
many Interesting facts in regard to the early 
settlers of Mount Carroll, which" are related in 
this history. Many otliers are of too per.sonal a 
nature to be of general interest and are on that 
account, reluctantly omitted. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE FORTY-NINERS. 



GOLD ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERED IN CALIFORNIA — 
WAYS OF GETTING THERE — EXCITEilENT SPREADS 
— LIVES OF THE GOLD MINERS — FIRST PARTY 
FROM MOUNT CARROLL — PIERCE AND YONTZ 
DROWNED — THE BARBER INCIDENT — HARDSHIPS 
ENDURED — THE MARCH BEGAN — THOSE FROM 
SAVANNA — THE EMMEET PARTY — EVAN RAE ELEC- 
TED CAPTAIN — SHOTTENKIRK'S DIARY — SNOW CON- 
STANTLY IN SIGHT IN JUNE — CROSSING GREEN 
RIVER — DARING ACT OF HEROISM — ANOTHER PAR- 
TY LEAVES MOUNT CARROLL — THE MUM MA PARTY' 
— GOVERNMENT OF THE GOLD SEEKERS — FRANKLIN 
I-VNGWORTHY'S BOOK — ABANDON WAGONS, PACK 
ON ANIMALS MOUNT CARROLL 1854 THE RE- 
TURN. 

GOLD ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERED IN CALIFORNIA 

Gold was accidentally discovered In California 
in the year 1848. On December fifth President 
Taylor announced the discovery in his message 
to congress. The abundance of the precious 
metal was such as could hardly be believed; he 
said that ships on arriving at California were 
deserted by their crews. Labor commanded an 
e.xorbitant price, and every pursuit save gold 
hunting was abandoned. The country went wild, 
[low to go to California, what to take and when 
to start were the questions discussed by every- 
body. 

WAYS OF GETTING THERE 

I'ntil spring came the overland route was 
closed, but the way by sea was oi)en. Some went 



to New York and took sailing vessels by way of 
Cape Horn, around South America. Philo Cole 
late of this county took this route from Boston, 
going with a c-omimny that bought a sailing ves- 
sel and put out from there. It took them over 
si.x months to sail around the Horn and when he 
arrived at the land of gold he soon found that 
he could make more money raising [wtatoes than 
lie c-ould digging for the precious metal. Other 
ways were open, as they might go to CcMtral 
America and ac-i'oss the Isthmus of Panama or 
by the Nicaragua route, and Robert Moore of 
Mount Carroll was one to take one of these 
routes, or one might go through Me.xico from 
Vera Cruz to some port on the Pacific and 
trust to find a sailing vessel there to carry 
them to San Francisco. 

EXCITEMENT SPREADS 

The newspapers continued to spread broad- 
east all sorts of exciting rumors, from San 
Francisco, and with each batch of letters the 
gold fever raged more fiercely. A letter from a 
gentleman in California stated tliat lumps of 
gold a iwund in weight had frequently been found 
and that good sized pieces could be dug from 
crevices in the rock. A young man from New 
York had written that he would return in a few 
mouths with a half million dollars in gold dust. 

The president's message lent credence to the 
wildest rumors. People went wild ; thousands of 
pioneers, from the western country prepared to 
go by the overland route. Carroll County iwople 
were not immune from catching this, "yellow 
fever.'' Mr. Preston says, in his notes, on the 
Pioneers of Mount Carroll, "the rush for the 
California gold fields for this .year, (1850) took 
more people from the county than were added to 
it." 

LIVES OF THE GOLD SEEKERS 

The lives of these seekers for gold, in a new 
world, where they were thrown upon their own 
resources, beyond the restraints of civilization, 
without written laws, were ofttimes tragic in the 
extreme. Tliis life has been portrayed in a trag- 
edy called the (Jirl of the (jiolden West, and 
quite recently (1910), this tragedy has been 
written into an Italian OiM'ra and set to miisli! 
and thus has been presented to an astonishetl 
world, on the stages of the greatest theaters and 
oi>era houses of Eunip(» and .\merica. Many of 



666 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



the pioneers of Carroll Couuty had a part iu that 
life. It becomes interesting to know who tUey 
were aucl what they did. 

FIRST PARTY FROM MOUNT CARROLL 

The first party that went from Mount Carroll 
started March 27th, 1S49. It consisted of ten or 
twelve men. John Pierce, brother of William A. 
.T. Pierce, still living here, took this party out 
with an ox team. With him, as near as can be 
ascertained now was his brother-in-law, William 
Yontz, Richard Owings, sou of J. C. Owings of 
Cherry Grove notoriety ; Gilbert Mark, brother of 
John Mark late of Carroll County ; Gilbert dietl 
in California ; his widow, Mrs. Laura Wicks is 
still living near Mt. Carroll with her son-in-law, 
Lyman L. Wood. Owings and Larkins Liusey 
went by the river to St. Louis to buy supplies 
for the party, intending to meet them at St. Joe, 
Missouri, where Liusey died of the cholera. 
Samuel Spang was one of this party ; he was of 
great assistance to the Emmert party, who went 
the following year, by directing some of the peo- 
ple from this county to the best places for mining. 
Spang after searching for gold for about twenty 
years, at last found a decayed quartz vein on the 
top of a mountain. He had to carry his dirt 
down a mile to wash it ; but he made forty 
thousand dollars in eight days, which he event- 
ually lost, and as is often the case with those 
who suddenly acquire riches he died poor. 

PIERCE AND YONTZ DROWNED 

A sad accident befell the leader of this party, 
whereby he found a watery grave. In crossing 
the Platte river where there was no ferry, they 
used their wagon box for a boat ; it upset and 
sank. Pierce who was an expert swimmer tried 
to save his brother-in-law, Yontz, who could 
not swim ; they were both drowued. 

Most of this party had agreed to pay Pierce 
for their passage on their arrival at the gold 
mines, or soon after, it is to be supposed when 
they suecee<led in getting some gold dust. After 
Pierce's death it is said tliat they sold every- 
thing and accounted to no one. 

BARBER INCIDENT 

A man by the name of Barber was with this 
party ; this incident was told of him by one of 



tlie survivors of another party that crossed the 
plains a year later. Barber left a wife behind 
him at Mount Carroll. He was a great money 
maker, and very fortunate iu the mines, he fre- 
quently sent his wife money until he had sent 
her several thousand dollars ; when he was told 
that the man at home with whom she was living 
was using his money but she was always writ- 
ing for more, so he stopped sending her any 
more. At last a letter came from her, he could 
not read and being told it was from his wife at 
Mount Carroll, he tore it into bits and threw it 
on the floor. He had hardly doue this when he 
repented of his rash act, and said he would give 
a hundred dollars to know what was in that 
letter. So the teacher Shottenkirk, who happened 
to be there swept the pieces together, and al- 
though he had not had the practice that many 
young people have nowadays iu putting jig saw 
puzzles together, he put them so that he could 
read the letter. It was a very nice letter from 
his wife. Barber, however, sent no more money 
home, and eventually took to himself anotlier 
wife in California. 

IIARDSnirs ENDl RED 

These i»eople knew nothing of the hardsliips 
that had to be endured. Early in March the 
gi'eat emigration overland began, and scores of 
companies and thousands of men attached to no 
company set off for the gathering grounds west 
of the Missouri river. The spring was late and 
until the grass on the prairie had grown suf- 
ficiently to feed the cattle it was not safe to 
start. 

THE MARCH BEGAX 

By the first of May the march began in earn- 
est. The routes taken by the emigrants led over 
rolling prairie, rich in verdure to the Platte river. 
At Grand Island, fifteen da.vs journey from Inde- 
pendence, Missouri, the united streams as one 
great caravan swept along westward. Beyond wffs 
Fort Kearney ; here a record of the passing teams 
was kept ; each team on au average had four 
yoke of oxen with from four to ten men. By 
June twenty-second 1849, five thousand, five huu- 
dretl and sixteen wagons had been counted and 
some two hundred more were estimated to be 
coming. Twenty thousand persons and sixty 
thousand animals were said to have passed the 
fort. Hundreds had turned back and it was 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



667 



estimatwl that over two tUousaiul liail diod of 
tin; i-huk'ra. 

The way letl tlu-ougli the Black Hills country 
to the Sol til Pass. P>(>fore they reached this 
part of the journey the energies of the men and 
auimals began to be severely taxed; for miles 
the line of travel was strewn with all kinds of 
iniplcnients and furniture that had been thrown 
away to lighten the loads for the weary animals. 
Some emptied part of their wagons and left them 
liy the way. Still further on beyond Fort Lara- 
mie carcasses of dijad animals were left along 
the route. 

One who took the route by the Ilumbolt river 
describes this part of the journey as follows: 
The river was without perceptible current, witli- 
out a fish or living n-eature in its waters, wiud- 
ing its sluggish length along through a desert 
until it dis;iiipears. There was not, he said, wood 
enough in the whole valley to make a snuff l)ox 
nor vegetation sutHcient to shade a rabliit. The 
whole region was a great desert of sand and 
ashes. A continuous march of thirty -four hours 
across this desert brought him and his com- 
Iianions to the Carson river. The last twenty 
miles of the journey bore silent testimony to the 
sulTcring of those who had gone before. Along 
the trail lay the bodies of oxeu with their yokes 
still on them, the carcasses of horses and mules 
from which their liarness had not been removed, 
abandoned wagons and property of every kind. 
Some after safely crossing this desert were rob- 
l)e<l by the Indians and forced to make the re- 
mainder of their journey on foot, with their be- 
longings packed on their backs ; for a hundred 
miles they trudged along. Winter was approach- 
ing and snow would soon Ijegin to fall in the 
mountains. The government sent relief parties 
to aid the belated emigrants; many men were 
found sick with scurvy, and numbers too sick to 
travel and all were begging for food. 

The small parties from Carroll County did not 
fare any better than others, they suffered many 
hardships. All that has been written here has 
been contirmed by the few survivors of the little 
bands who started out so gayly on a pleasant 
March day. with such high hopes of tinding their 
fortunes in the land of gold. 

THOSE IKOM SAVANNA 

Mr. Frank Stedman of Savanna wliose fallier 
went to California in IS.yi, kindly made what 



inquiry he could and gives a list of the names 
of persons who went from Savanna in that year 
to the gold mines, and says probably I have 
missed s<jme as it is difficult at this late day to 
get the names of all. One party was Albert 
Stedman and Daniel King with three others 
as passengers; they had one wagon with two 
»;pau of horses. Another party was ICdward 
McLenahan, Griffith Robins, Thomas I'arker and 
Henry Cox. They had one wagon with two yoke 
of oxen. The following also went that year: 
IMiuey Taylor, Thomas B. Rhodes, L. D. Price, 
.John Barker, Robert Upton, Joseph Taylor, Har- 
mon Brown, Frank Gilbert, Ira Buchanuan, Levi 
Wil.son. John Armstrong, Will C. Pierce, Geo. W. 
Jenks, Frank Hitchcock. 

For others who went from Savanna, and the 
adventures they had, see the chapter. The I'ion- 
eers of Savanna. The reader will notice in the 
above list the name of Robert Upton, a noted 
character in the early days of the setllcnn nt of 
the county as before mentioned. 

THE EMMEBT PARTY 

Early in the spring of 1850, David Emmert, 
then called. Judge Emmert, fitted out three 
wagons ^^■ith four yoke of oxen to each wagon, for 
those who wanted to try their fortunes in the 
new Eldorado. His son, Simon Emmert, was one 
of the party. William A. J. Pierce, who is the 
only one living of all the men who went to the 
coast from Carroll County, was to carry the 
imrse and pay the expenses, but be as economi- 
cal as he could. The party soon ran out of 
funds and did as many others had to do, stopped 
for a time at Salt Lake, and went to work for 
the Mormons. Before they started from Mount 
Carroll Judge Emmert sent a man to St. Louis 
to buy and ship up the Missouri river sup- 
plies for the party, consisting of bacon and 
Hour and all kinds of food that they could 
carry and would necil in crossing the plains 
and the mountains beyond. The party started 
from .Mount Carroll on the 2:;rd of .M.irch, 
ls.">(i, they were rafted across the river at 
Savanna and [iroceeded on their journey through 
Iowa. There was in the Knuuert party beside 
those named, the schoolmaster Shottenkirk, 
who kept a journal of the trip and sent it 
Ijack to Judge Emmert, but it was currently re- 
IKirted that it never reached him. Hugh E. Tay- 
lor was one of this party, he was "grubbed 



668 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



staked"' by James OBrieii ; Daniel Brown, Joe 
Strickler ; tlie brothers. Reynolds, B. W. and J. 
L., who had been keeping the JIausion House, 
the old stone hotel ; Xathauiel Sutton, who came 
to this couuti-y with Zaehariah Kinkade; Jacob 
Traxell from Pleasant Valley, who stopped at 
Salt Lake and It is said joined the Mormons ; 
Merriam VanGastou; George Goltman. who 
never returned ; Joseph Ganson. who left a wife 
and two children and never returned and Wil- 
liam Callahan, and one or two others. 

EVAN BEA ELECTED CAPTAIN" 

When this party arrived at the Missouri river, 
about eight miles below Council Bluff.s, they 
waited about a week for their supplies to arrive 
from St. rx)uis. They made their own ferry boat 
by bolting two wagon boxes together after having 
made them watertight. When they reached the 
other side they with others organized into a com- 
pany of sixty or eighty men. Evan Rea of 
Mount Carroll was elected captain. He came 
with another party, which had one wagon and 
four yoke of oxen and with him were James 
Trail, Harlyn and George Pyle. 

SHOTTEXKIEK'S DIARY 

To follow this party we copy from an old news- 
paper, the Mount Carroll Tribune, the tirst paper 
published in Mount Carroll, from Vol. 1, Xo. IS, 
the diary of D. G. Shottenkirk, one of the party, 
called 

"California Journal, by D. G. Shottenkirk." 
The first date is June 20th, (1850), the last 
July 1st. During these days the party passed 
up the Platte river, crossing it many times, often 
with great difficulty ; sometimes to avoid cross- 
ing where it was very difficult and dangerous 
they climbed over mountain ridges where for 
short distances the road was almost jjerpendic- 
ular. They passed through the South Pass and 
by the Pacific Springs, the waters of which flow 
into the Pacific ocean ; but their journey was not 
yet half done, the Sierras were yet to cross, and 
the difficulties and privations they had exper- 
ienced were notliiug compared to those they had 
to endure before they reached the land of gold. 
Some extracts from this diary that relate to 
people well known to many of the residents of 
Carroll county may be of sufficient interest to 
copy here : 



■June 22ud. — Part ot McPike and Strothers 
line from St. Joseph, Mo., passed us early this 
morning. They had separated in order to take 
better advantage of the Scarcity of gi'ass, their 
mules generally looked well. We forded the 
river this morning at a good fording place. About 
a mile further the road and river run between 
the rocky bluffs. There are many emigrants' 
names painted on the side of the rocks. We had 
to ford the river twice extra on account of some 
high rocks jutting out into the stream. The 
river is narrow and deep with a rocky bottom 
and requires great care in drivers to prevent a 
wagon from over setting. There were a number 
of wagons that crossed immediately before us. 
and got into deep water and wet most of their 
loading. We however crossed without wetting 
anything. We camjjed upon the sweet-water 
again at the termination of the rocky bluffs. We 
again drove our cattle across the river the grass 
was a little better on the opposite side. We 
found a good wagon here that had been left and 
as it was a much lighter and better running 
wagon than the heavy one of ours (No. 1) we 
concluded to exchange and leave ours in the 
place of it. I gave it as my opinion, however, 
that as our loading had become quite light and 
our cattle showed some symptoms of fail- 
ing, it would be much easier on them and in 
the end prove to our advantage to leave one 
wagon altogether, but the majority of the com- 
pany thought otherwise. 

"We si)ent the afternoon again in airing our 
provisions, and in shortening the bed of No. 2 
wagon. We found three or four old hut light 
trunks in two of which Emmert packed his 
clothing and left the heavy boxes. Mr. Pyle 
came up and passed us this evening. He left one 
ox that had become so foot sore, they could not 
drive him any further. 

"June 2.3rd. — Habits of industry are cultivated 
by some at least on this route, for I saw a lady 
riding along on horseback busily engaged in 
sewing. 

SNOW CONSTANTLY IN SIGHT IN JUNE 

"There are large quantities of snow constantly 
in sight on the bluffs to our left We passed 
a great number of dead horses and oxen, in 
crossing the desert. About four o'clock we came 
to the river, forded it at a pretty deep ford, 
unyoked our cattle to let them rest, grazing was 




C'OrXT^ I'AKM HorSK BEFORE ITS DESTRUC'- 
I'loN in \ CVC'I.OXE IX 1,S9S 




COIX'I^ !• AliM IKMSK AK'IKK THE C^CLUXE OF 1898 




■mi-; m;\\ ((HN'i^ i \hm uriLDixc 



THE N*i^,^ 
PUBLIC LIB 



>i 



•^■. ,;--.r.AT10'NSJ 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



669 



out of the question unless tliej- would eat snf;c 
bnish,— cooked a dish of hasty puddini; — hit<'hed 
up again, crossed a branch of the Sweet Water, 
drove two or three miles over high hills, when 
by turning off from the road for about a half 
mile to the river, and driving the cattle across 
to the south side we found some little grass. 
Drove twenty miles. 

June 24th.— 'I'here is snow close by our 
camp, more than ten feet deep. The cattle had 
Tery poor picking here, as there is nothing in the 
vicinity but snow and sage brush. There was an 
emigrant bought some flour today at twenty-one 
dollars per hundred and sold it again within an 
hour for thirty-one dollars. Bacon, however, sells 
more reasonable, ten cents per iwund. There 
was an emigrant passed us this evening, who or- 
iginally took passage in the "Pacific Line." but 
has since exchanged berths with a passenger in 
an ox train. Many more are anxious to obtain 
the same chance. B. W. Rej-nolds was taken 
sick this morning with the mountain fever. Dis- 
tance, twenty-one miles. 

June 25th— We started by daylight. * * * We 
passed a grave wilh which there is some mystery 
connected, on the head board of it was written, 
"To the memory of Columbus, who was found 
with his throat cut, having In his hand, with a 
death grip, his pocket knife, ou the 19th day of 
June, ISoO." * * * There is an express mail here 
owned by Col. Estile, intending to start for Wes- 
ton, Mo., some time in the month of Jul.v. He 
charges fifty cents per single letter postage. I 
had not time to write. There were more than 
two hundred teams in camp when we arrived, and 
among others H. Pylo and Captain P's division. 
We have two more sick men, Callahan and J. L. 
Reynolds on the list today, with the same dis- 
ease. Distance twenty miles. 

ABANDON PAKT OF TIIEIlt TRAIN" 

June 27th — * * * The coniixiny have almost un- 
animously come to the eondusion that we had 
letter leave one wagon and favor our cattle as 
much as we can. We accordingly took the bed of 
No. 3, (for the sake of the patent rubber top), 
and put it ujion the new wagon, as it was the 
best one. We burned the bed of the other one 
and completed the work of demolition by sawing 
the spokes out of No. .3 to make stakes of to 
fasten our cattle at night. After we had loaded 
up our wagons again, there came a violent storm 



of wind and rain. Our cattle filled themselves 
so well, that some of the boys thought they must 
have drank alkali. 

June 2sth. — * * * Our sick men are rapidly 
recovering. Distance eighteen miles. 

CROSSING GREEN RIVER 

June oOth. — * * * We rose liy daybreak and 
in company with four others manned the two 
boats and in about an hour our wagons were all 
safely across Green river. The river is about 
ten feet deep and rising rapidly, though the first 
emigrants that passed here the twenty-seventh 
of May forded it with ease. Several dead horses 
floated past while we were crossing the wagons. 
We had somewhat of a job in getting our cattle 
across the river. They had hitherto swam every 
stream without any or little trouble. The water 
was very cold and it was very disagreeable stand- 
ing in the water so long. Vfe were kept busy 
until noon, throwing stones at and otherwise 
scaring them to make them cross. We got them 
all to cross but three, and we took them back to 
the ferry boat, held them by the head and made 
them swim across behind the boat. When we 
came back to the ferry boat from swimming our 
cattle, we found a great crowd of teams collected 
there. The emigrants at the ferry had just 
taken the body of a man that was floating down 
stream from the river, lie was apparently about 
forty years of age and nmst have been drowned 
at least ten days ago; there was nothing by 
which to identify him. 

DARING ACT OF HEROISM 

There was a daring act of heroism performed 
this afternoon, that deserves to be rewarded, an 
act sliowing what a woman can do in ease of 
danger and difflculty. A company from Ottawa, 
111., were crossing at the ferry next above us, 
when the Imat upset. There was a woman anil 
two small children on the wagon board at 
the time. The wagon bed floated off and 
careened ou Its side. The woman lashed 
one child about her neck caught the other in her 
arms, got upon the outside of the wagon bed and 
sustained herself in this position until a young 
Snake Indian seeing the inuninent danger she 
was in, leaped upon his horse, swam into the 
current, and seizing the rope of the other ferry 
boat, (with which they were trying to overtalve 



670 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



tlif woiuau, but were able to gain uiwn the 
wagoubed but slowly), lie swam down the river 
until he overtook the wagon bed, when he jumped 
from his horse, leaving him to take care of him- 
self and caught one of the children in his arms 
and helped the woman on board the boat, wheu 
they rowed safely to shore. It seems almost 
incredible to believe it were possible in this swift 
current, yet such is undoubtedly the fact. 

July 1st — We rose early this morning and bid- 
ding adieu to Green river or the Colorado of the 
West, started on a drive of fifteen miles without 
grass or water. The road was sandy and in 
many places covered with cobble stones, which 
made it hard traveling for the cattle. Distance 
fourteen miles.'' 

It was reported that all of Mr. Shotteukirk"s 
diaiy was lost in sending it by mall to Dr. David 
Emmert, but that evidently was an error. How- 
much of It was published in other numbers of 
the Mount Carroll Tribune is unknown ; the one 
quoted from is the only number of that paper 
preserved so far as known. 

ANOTHER PARTY LEAVES MOUNT CARROLL 

Still another party left Mount Carroll for the 
gold mines, this one on the first day of April, 
1850. There were nine men, two wagons aud 
seven horses. In this party was David Mumma, 
a splendid mau to have in the camp, as is testi- 
fied by one of his companions ; knew how to do 
everything to make people comfortable in camp, 
was a very good cook of such food as could be 
had on a trip like this. He was an indefatiga- 
ble miner and trapper ; after returning to Mount 
Carroll and working in the lead mines near there, 
he returned to Tike's Peak to mine gold aud 
silver ; he there contracted the mountain fever, 
and came home and died from the same. His 
widow, Mrs. Mary C. Mumma, w-as the daughter 
of George W. Harris, one of the very early 
pioneers of this county ; she is still living at 
Cleveland, Ohio. Their family of six daughters 
are widely scattered; their husbands occupying 
honorable po.sitions in the active duties of the 
business world. 

THE MUMMA PARTY 

In the Mumma party was Joe Christian who 
was the proprietor of the transportation facili- 
ties; Abe Beeler; Billy Towers, a lead miner who 



lived at the Mansion House, kept at that time 
by George Hollinger; and George Hay, then 
quite a young man, who was enabled to go VN-ith 
this gold seeking party through the assistance 
of his uncle, Teter Hay, a lead miner who came 
here from the Galena lead mines. He was the 
father of the present superintendent of schools, 
John Hay, aud William J. Hay, for many years 
supervisor from Woodland township aud chair- 
man of the County Board. 

George Hay had stated to friends many in- 
teresting incidents of this trip across the con- 
tinent. On their way out he said, they were 
obliged to stop three different times to let the 
immense herds of buffalo go by, as it was not 
safe to cross their trail while they were in mo- 
tion, which seemed to be day and night for two 
or three days in succession ; he said not only 
thousands but a milliou or more seemed to be in 
the procession. On the overland trip their 
horses gave out and they were obliged to buy 
oxen and when they got to the Sierra mountains, 
the last mountain range they Iiad to cross, they 
were reduced to such straits, that they traded 
the whole outfit, except what they could carry, 
for a sack of flour. Then they trudged along 
over the mountains on foot; a weaiy tramp it 
was. 

GOVERNMEXT OF THE GOLD SEEKERS 

1'lus incident was also told by Mr. Hay, and 
it illustrates the manner of government these 
miners and gold seekers, out of necessity, made 
for themselves. A murder had been committed 
in their camp, a man was arrested on suspicion, 
a jury of six was drawn by lot, Mr. Hay was one 
of the number, the evidence was heard by the 
jury and it was so convincing the jury were 
unanimous in voting a verdict of guilty, after 
wailing till morning and again voting, the ver- 
dict was the same. The execution of the guilty 
man soon followed, and the iJlace was called 
Hangtown. 

After his return to Carroll County Mr. George 
Hay entered upon an active business life and 
soon became identified as one of the leading 
business men of the county. He was at one time 
editor and publisher of the Carroll County Ga- 
zette, which he for several years published at 
Lanark. Afterward he assisted Mr. Duncan 
Mackay and others in starting the first bank iu 
Savanna and was for a number of vears its 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



671 



cashier. One of liis daughters, Miss Helen Ilay. 
became quite distiusruished for her ability as 
the head ot tlie Illinois Training school for 
Nurses and virtually had charge of the nurees 
in the Cook County Hospital. Subsecjuently she 
spent several mouths abroad for the purpose of 
study and to perfect her knowledge of the pro- 
fession she so greatly honors. 

l'R.\NKI.IX I AXUWORTHY's BOOK 

There were two others in this ixirty and 
lYanklin Laugworthy may have been one; he 
lived to return to Carroll County and to publish 
a very interesting book of his travels, called : 
"Scenery of the Plains, Mountains and Mines, 
or a diary kept upon the Overland Route to 
Califoniia by way of the Great Salt Lake ; Trav- 
els in the Cities, Mines and Agi-ieultural Dis- 
tricts, Embracing the Return by the Pacific 
Ocean and Central Ameriea, in Years 1850, '51, 
'52 and '5.3." So says the title page. Published 
at Ogdensburg by J. C. Sprague, book seller, 3855. 
The author says in the preface: "The year 
eighteen hundred and fifty is an epoch that will 
bo memorable in the history of the United States. 
It is a year that will be long remembered, as one 
of unparalleled emigration, suffering and death. 
The official announcement of the astounding 
facts In relation to the gold discoveries in Cali- 
foniia, seemed to move the whole nation, as with 
an electric shock, and a vast multitude of more 
tliaii si.xty thousand human beings were seen 
rushing across the plains and deserts, and ov"r 
tremendous mountains, flu.shetl with high hopes 
and eager to fill their coffers with the glittering 
dust." 

He observed that an unusual number of the 
emigrants were professional men. There was 
an abundance of preachers of all denominations, 
crowds of learned counsellors in law, wliilc 
almost every tenth man had the title of doctor. 
He says, "We have any amoimt of Generals, 
Judges, etc." 

There were nine in the party in which Jlr. 
Langworthy started from Mt. Carroll on the 
first of April, 1850, with two wagons and seven 
horses, a team he says by no means sufficient 
for the undertaking, but he does not give the 
names of those who were in this party. He 
further says, there were no bridges and few 
ferries, so there was great danger in crossing 
the streams. Horses and cattle were made to 



swim across the rivers by being forceil into 
the cold water which went whirling and rolling 
by, often sweeping everytliing down the stream, 
and many men were drowned, their wagon boxes 
sometimes overturned and it was imiwssible to 
swim ashore, the water was so swift and cold, 
lie says that Pierce and Yontz were drowned 
at the upper crossing of the Platte by the 
upsetting of their wagon box in 1849. The year 
after there was a good rope feiTy at this place. 
The charges were fi\e dollars for each wagon 
and a dollar for each animal, so many were 
crossing, he supposed the owners of -this ferry 
would clear fifty thousand dollars that year. 

ABANDON WAGONS, PACK ON ANIMALS 

AVhen they got into the nio\nitains it was .so 
high up, it was vei-y cold even in June. Large 
numbers, he says, were leaving their wagons and 
packing upon their animals ; horses, mules and 
even oxen were used for packing. The wagons 
are generally broken to pieces and used for fuel 
by their owners. Thousands of fine trunks and 
boxes and barrels are burned for cooking pur- 
Iioses ; property that cost a hundred dollars in 
the states is none too much to make a comfort- 
able fire of an evening. 

After giving a ver.v interesting account of 
their passage over the Sierras, the highest 
mountains they passed over, he says : "For the 
two years I lived in California I supported m.v- 
self by traveling, and giving popular lectures on 
scientific subjects. At times I attempted to 
lal)or at mining, but was oliligod to desist on 
account of my health. » » » 

One design I had in undertaking this hazard- 
ous enterprise, was to gain a competency of 
this world's good.s. In this I was not alone, 
neither was I singular in failing to accomplish 
this object.'" 

3HT. CARROLL, 1854 

Sjieaking of the changes in Mt. Carroll in the 
three years he had been awa.v, he said : "It 
had more than doubled in size. It is now a 
flourishing little villege of about eight hundred 
inhabitants; containing a court house of stone; 
tliree churches; a flourishing academy, common 
schools, etc. It is expected the Chicago and 
Mississippi Air Line railroad will be constructed 
and pass near this place, when it will be a 



672 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



poiut of iuiiuense Importance. Here is already a 
steam ami water power flouring mill ; iron foun- 
dry and other manufacturing establishments." 
He returned by way of Central America, from 
New York he went up the Hudson river and to 
Chicago, by way of Niagara Falls. "Chicago," 
he said, "was a city of seventy thousand inhabit- 
ants. The place seems destined very soon to 
become the great emporium of the west." 



passed away recently at the age of four score 
years and more, a very much honored and re- 
spected citizen of a neighboring county. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE KETUBN 

Two other Mt. Carroll citizens came home 
together, by the Panama route. They boarded 
a steamship at San Francisco, a double decker 
with sixteen hundred passengers, returning 
home. One of these men who was terribly sea 
sick and unable to take a mouthful of food for 
eight days. He had his gold dust and some 
Spanish doubloons in a sort of buckskin vest, 
with pockets in it made for the purix)se of carry- 
ing gold. The doc-tor told him this was 
oppressing him and that he would have to take 
it off ; that he would take care of it until they 
reached Panama, where he had to leave the 
boat. He and his companion landed at Panama. 
The one paid thirty-tive dollars for a room, the 
first night on land so as to be in a safe and 
respectable place with his gold. They took a 
train across the Isthmus, the first train either 
had seen. Eventually they reached home, but 
fortune did not again favor them both equally 
here. One was a gay gallant, who had returned 
with gold dust and Spanish doubloons, he wore 
a cloak and cape of broadcloth, sported a scarf 
pin made from a nugget of gold and like Othello 
of old, could speak to the belle of the village, 
"of moving accidents by flood and field," "of 
hair-breadth escapes in the imminent deadly 
breach," etc. And so he won the hand and 
heart of the lady, for which many suitors had 
spoken in vain ; while his companion who had 
been less successful in mining, had trudged 
on foot from the mines to Sacramento, a dist- 
ance of forty miles, and back .again the same 
day to get a letter from his lady love. On 
liis return home, like Enoch Arden of old, he 
found her the wife of another. When tliey 
met, it is said, the silent tears of each wei-e 
the only greeting; and they parted forever. 
But this tale does not end here. He consoled 
liimself by finding another sweetheart, and both 
lived to be blessed with many children. He 



ORGANIZATIONS. 



PKOTECTIVE LEAGUES IIRST LYCEUM HORSE- 
THIEVES — PRAIKIE BANDITS — VIGILANTES — ELK- 
HORN GBOVE COMPACT — THE GRANGE MOVEMENT 

GRANGES — PROFITS OF INSURANCE — FRATERNAL 

INSURANCE — MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE. 

When the first settlers came, they came as 
single families, with a few neighbors or friends 
together. There was no occasion for organiza- 
tion, until it became necessary to unite for pro- 
tection against common foes, such as "land 
sharks, claim jumpers, and horse-thieves.'" 

PROTECTIVE LEAGUES 

They formed in different parts of the county, 
what they called protective leagues. The earliest 
settlers were always willing and glad to welcome 
new settlers ; there was land enough for evei-y- 
body, and the more that came and made perma- 
nent settlements, the nearer it made the first 
comers to neighbors. There were some selfish 
and grasping men, however, who without any 
intention of making permanent settlements, laid 
claim to large tracts of land, with the intention 
of later entering them at the land otEce and 
after securing the title, to hold the land for 
speculative puiiwses. 

The permanent settlers in self defense formed 
protective leagues. How many of these leagues 
there were, and who were their officers, Is now 
lost to history, except in a very few instances 
which will be given. They bad a summary way 
of enforcing their home-made edicts, and on one 
occasion, some of the members were haled into 
court for a violation of the law, charged with 
committing an assault and battery. There were 
three men who entered an improved farm, be- 




^ ^' -12^ ^r^^-^^iytyL 



AA' 



^--' \ 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



673 



longing to one of the settlers, who with some 
of his neighbors, in the same predicament, was 
unable to procure the money to enter the land. 
These men were two brothers by the name of 
Green and another by the name of Maider. The 
league took these men and applied a rawhide 
whip to them without mercy. -I'he men who did 
the whipping were Charles Hughes, John Hill 
and Jesse Hill. Clark Green, who was the 
prosecutor at court, had been given thirty-three 
lashes; Robert Green was given eleven, when 
he agi-eed to give up the laud, and George Maider 
gave up the land without whipping. This was 
said to have beeu done in Fair Haven township. 
A similar league existed in Mt. Carroll, but 
their manner of intimidating such offenders was 
by dipping them in the mill-race. There were 
other so-called protective leagues, formed by 
meu who would not allow anyone to enter laud 
in sight of their claims, and some claimed all 
the prairie one could see from the back of a 
horse. A few of these waited upon a resident 
of Mt. Carroll, who had entered some laud far 
away from any settlement, they expected to 
make this party give it up or jiay a bonus to 
be left alone. They, however, did not enter the 
house or accomplish their design, as the good 
housewife was heating a kettle of water pre- 
Iiaratory to giving them a warm reception, in 
case they attempted to enter the house or carry 
away her husband. At the land office at Dixon, 
it was generally understood that if anyone would 
bid more than a dollar and a quarter an acre, 
the minimum price at which land could be 
bought of the government, or would attempt to 
enter land claimed by a settler, that the regul- 
ators would see that the offending party was 
thrown into Rock river and kept there until 
he retracted. 



a Universalist and a great man to argue on 
religious topics. After his return from Cali- 
fornia, an account of which trip he published 
in a book, he moved with his family to Minne- 
sota and there joined the Methodist church. 

HORSE THIEVES 

There were bands in early days, who stole 
and ran away with settlers' horses; this was 
a very serious matter, as the settlers depended 
upon the work of their horses to maintain their 
families. These outrages led to the formation 
of societies and organized effort for the purpose 
of assisting in catching horse thieves. The vari- 
ous societies were banded together for mutual 
cooperation. Committees of young men were 
ai)poiuted in different parts of the county, to 
be in readiness with fleet horses, to jjursuo a 
horse thief on short notice. The punishment 
meted out to one if caught was severe in the 
extreme, usually hanging, but the necessity of 
putting a stop to this violation of the law, and 
for the purpose of intimidating horse thieves 
and breaking up such bauds of outlaws, seemed 
to justify the meaus taken to accomplish that 
end. If turned over to the officers for legal 
punishment, these bold thieves frequently 
escaped sometimes through the connivance of 
friends, and sometimes for want of secure jails 
to confine them in, until the law could take its 
course. In case of escape they would rontiuue 
their depredations in a more flagrant manner 
than ever, knowing full well that their pursuit 
and capture was a very difficult matter. It is 
believed the thieves were organized as. well as 
the settlers. 

THE PRAIRIE UANDITS 



FIRST LYCEUM 

Besides organizations for business, there were 
some for pleasure and intellectual improvement. 
The first Lycouni or debating society, was one 
which met in the log cabin of Daniel Christian, 
Sr.. in the winter of lS4.'i and IS-H; among those 
who tcKik part in this Lyceum were. Bradstreet 
Robinson. Rezin Everts, Howard Frew Smith, 
Franklin Langworthy and others. Jlost of these 
men went to California to better their fortunes 
in the gold mines. Langworthy the same winter 
gave a course of lectures on geology. He was 



There was a couipany of them known as the 
Prairie Bandits, which operated along the Mis- 
sissippi river on both sides, extending iuto York 
township on this side. How to counteract the 
outlaw spirit, and stop the horse stealing which 
was so common everywhere, the settlers did 
not know." It is said that iu Ajiril, 3841, several 
of the older settlers called on Judge Ford; he 
afterwards was governor of Illinois, and wrote 
a history of the state, theu a circuit judge, re- 
siding at Oregon, Ogle county, and asked him 
what could be done about the matter. The 
judge knew the strait in which the honest 



674 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



settlers were, iu some communities, and how 
they were at the mercy of au organized band 
of l)laclilegs; that it was almost useless to iu- 
volie the aid of the civil authorities. He recom- 
mended that the honest settlers also organize, 
appoint officers and committees, and where the 
provocation was extreme, that they go to the 
men whom they liuew to be dishonest, and con- 
nected with the horse stealing bands, tal^e them 
by force from their homes, strip them to their 
waist and apply a rawhide to their bare backs. 
He recommended thirty lashes as a very good 
dose for the first application, a second offense 
should call forth a double dose, and the more 
dangerous parties should be given notice to leave 
the state within a short time or suffer the 
consequences. 

vigil.\>;tes 

These organizations were called Regulators 
or Vigilantes. It is said a number of those who 
were whipped, came to the regulators and volun- 
tarily joined the organization and promised to 
obey the rules of the order and lead straight 
lives. They were not only interested iu stop- 
ping horse stealing, but they took it in hand 
to stop all unlawful acts. 

In Elkhorn Grove through the Instance of 
Levi Warner, their attention was called to the 
protection of the timber on the school section, 
in that township. Such quantities of timber 
were required to construct fences and buildings 
and for fuel ; serious depredations were being 
made upon the luiprotected tracts of timber. A 
meeting of the citizens was called and held at 
Mr. Warner's house on the 22d of December, 
1838. The following resolution was passed: 

"Resolved, That the Committee of Vigilance 
Is hereby authorized to appropriate or dispose 
of the timber on the si.>cteenth (school) section, 
that is going to waste, and that a treasurer be 
appointed from said committee, whose duty it 
shall be to put the funds so obtained on interest 
with good security for its forthcoming, when 
called for by the school agent, at the selling or 
disposing of the school lands." 

By resolution Caleb Daiues was appointed 
treasurer. 

ELKIIOKX CKOVE COMPACT 

Levi Warner was instrumental in organizing 
a vigilance committee in Elkhorn Grove, which 



it is said, "had a powerful regulating effect." 
The following is one of the calls he issued as 
secretary : 

"Fellow citizens of Elkhorn Grove Compact, 
the time has arrived requiring our imdivided 
and united efforts, the energy, sagacity, wisdom 
and iutegi'ity of our enlightened body, in en- 
deavoring to maintain ours and others rights, 
with regard to ourselves, our families and our 
homes. In endeavoring to maintain this right, 
if we but suffer ourselves to be led by partiality, 
favor or affection, or biased by the opinions of 
others, favor one i)erson guilty of transgression 
or violence of the rules of our compact more 
than another guilty of the same act, that instant 
our Compact looses its authority, its power and 
(control must fall and we shall be left to the 
mercy and option of any wtio choose and have 
it in their power, to take from us our heads, 
our claims, our favors, our homes, our prospects 
of supporting ourselves and families. Let us 
then go hand in hand with a firm resolution 
to abide by each other iu defending and main- 
taining each others rights and the validity of 
our Compact will be a bar to its encroachment. 

"Fellow citizens of Elkhorn Grove Compact, 
one and all you are hereby requested to meet 
at the Central school house in Elkhorn Grove 
on Saturday the 5th of October next, for the 
purpose of ascertaining whether the Compact 
shall be dissolved or continued in force. By 
order of the Committee of Vigilance, and to do 
such other business as may be thought necessary 
when we meet. Levi Warner, See." 

Xo date is given ; Levi Warner was justice 
of the peace from 1835 to 1839, when this county 
was a part of Jo Daviess. His commission as 
county surveyor is dated, May 1, 1830. The 
act of the state legislature organizing Carroll 
County, was approved February 22, 1839. A 
meeting of the citizens was held at Mr. Warner's 
house to remonstrate against giving the half 
of the three eastern townships of this county 
to Ogle, but it was of no avail. The people 
iu that territory voted to be in Ogle county. 

FARMERS ORGANIZE THE GRANGE MOVEMENT 

Early in the seventies there was a great deal 
of unrest among the farmers of the west, on 
account of the low prices of the staple products 
of the farm, so low as to be quite unremunera- 
tive to the farmers. Indeed there was a time 




<M<7^.^^^-^^ ^^^^2;^ 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



675 



when some found it advisable to buni their 
corn for fuel, rather than sell it for the low 
price then prevailing, (fifteen cents a bushel), 
and buy coal or even wood. At the sauie lime 
agricultural products were bringing fairly good 
prices in the eastern markets, and it was quite 
natural, and a sane business proposition to seek 
the cause and a remedy for their troubles. 

The principal causes seemed to be the cost 
of (ransi)ortation, and the support of a large 
and I'xponsive body of what they called middlo- 
nicii, wlio handletl the farmers" products enroute 
to the general marl<ets, as well as the supplies 
the farmers had to purchase. Single-handed 
they were helpless and could not accomplish 
anything, so that organization became necessary, 
and what was called the grange movement began. 

Uy March, 1S74, an extensive farmers' move- 
ment was in evidence throughout the country. 
Grange organizations and mass meetings of 
farmers were held to discuss taxation, tariff, 
currency and transportation, and to regulate 
things generally. A great Grange Fourth of 
July, (187.^), celebration was held in Elkhorn 
Grove at "Uncle Harry Smith's," at which, 
notwilhstaniling ])revious stormy wea'ther, over 
live thousand people were gathered together. 

By Slay, 1874, the following Grange^ had been 
established in Carroll County: 

Milledgeville; Master, L. C. Uelding: Secre- 
tary, S. II. Todd. 

liook Creek; Master, D. W. Dame; Secretary, 

C. I!. Kllsworth. 

Otter Creek; Master, .\. Wuodiii ; Sccii'tary, 
\V. II. Kreidler. 

Maple Grove; Master, J. II. Shiley ; Secretary, 
J. V. Cotta. 

Salem; Master, B. F. Miller; Secretary, W. 

D. .Moffett 

Enterprise; Master, H. li. Field; Secretary, 
O. ]•:. Southerberry. 

Fair Haven ; Master, E. Hathaway ; Secretary, 
H. H. Holt. 

Freedom ; Master, Daniel Teeter, Sr. ; Secre- 
tary, J. E. Laird. 

Carroll ; Master, Jacob Lohr ; Secretary, John 
H. Keech. 

York ; Master, Robert Dunshee ; Secretary, 
Samuel Lord. 

Oakville ; Master, Jubu .Mackay ; Secretary, 
Robert Graham. 

Argo ; Master. Elijah P.ailcy; Secretary. Edwin 
Kevins. 



Rdsedale; JLaster, Peter Hyzer ; Secretary, 
Williatu Bile.«, Jr. 

At the same time Carroll County was repre- 
sented among the olhcers of the Illinois State 
Grange of Patrons of Husbandry; D. W. Dame 
being charmau of the executive committee and 
Mrs. Dame being elected Ceres. 

At the organization of the Illinois State 
Farmers Association, January l.'ith and 10th, 
1873, there were present delegates from granges 
and farmers' clubs, two hundred .•ind seventy-five, 
they met at Bloomingtou and organized. Dun- 
can Mackay of Salem township, was elected 
treasurer. 

At the second annual meeting of the Illinois 
State Grange, lield at Bloomington, December 
0. 1873, D. W. Dame was on the committee on 
transiwrtatiou, and by resolution was apiwinted 
alternate delegate to the National Grange, and 
L. C. Beldiug of Carroll County was on the 
committee of "Home Manufactures." 

After these agitations had reached a climax, 
the excitement among the farmers began to 
wane. The patrons of husbandry became so 
engrossed in their private affairs, they neglected 
to attend the meetings of the local Granges, 
and finally nearly all organizations were neg- 
lected. Still the agitation and consequent or- 
ganization left its impression upon the legislation 
of the western states, and we have in the 
statute iKioks of Illinois, the first state to take 
action in this respect, what has been called the 
(Jrange Legislation, composed of some very 
useful and salutary laws. Some of these laws 
the railroad corporations were loath to obey, 
especially a law reducing the rate of fare 
to be charged by a certain railway com- 
jiany. The farmers were too impatient to 
await the action of the courts, and were deter- 
mined to make a test case; a number of them 
boarded a train and tendered the conductor the 
legal fare, which under instructions he refused 
to accept, there were too many for the train 
officers to undertake to put them off so they 
carried them to their destination, without pay. 
On another occasion, however, those refusing 
to pay the demands of the railroad, were col- 
lected in several cars, and soon found themselves, 
ingloriously side-tracked far from any station, 
with no means of locomotion except what nature 
had provided them with, as they no doubt said : 
"shanks' mare." These agitations, by the farm- 
ers, coui)led with the arguments they so strongly 



676 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



urged, had their influence iu shaping the decis- 
ions ot our highest tribunal, when eventually the 
cases reached our supreme court, and had some 
influence iu bringing about the enactment of 
the original Interstate Commerce law iu 1SS7, 
after fifteen years of more or less continuous 
discussion in and out of congress. 

One of the most useful laws enacted on account 
of the Grange agitation, was that authorizing 
the organization of Township Mutual Fire In- 
surance companies, which was eventually ex- 
tended to authorize County Mutual Fire Insur- 
ance companies, also the laws authorizing what 
is called Fraternal (life) Insurance. 

So immense were the profits in the so-called, 
"Old Line Companies," both fire and life insur- 
ance, as to be hard to be believed. 

PROFITS IN OLD LINE INSURANCE 

Here is an example of one of these; the facts 
and figures are taken from sworu testimony, 
names are omitted. 

In 1S75 the plaintiff took twenty shares of 
stock in one of these c-ompanies, par value, 
fifty dollars per share amounting to one thou- 
sand dollars, he paid on this purchase two hun- 
dred dollars iu cash, $200.00. The balance, eight 
hundred dollars was paid him out of cash divi- 
dends. 

In 1S70. he took forty shares more, and paid 
cash $2,000. 



Total outlay $2,200. 

From time to time he received in stock divi- 
dends. 913 shares, par value $50, amounting to 
$45,050.00. 
During the same time he received iu 

cash dividends $ 46,521.85 

He sold 373 shares at $275 per share 102,854.75 
Plaintiff was offered in cash for the 
remaining GOO shares $300 per 

share, making 180.000.00 

This was in 1902, since then he has re- 
ceived in cash dividends 54.0o0.00 

Increased value of his shares, now 
$650. each 210,000.00 

Total return to plaintiff ou an invest- 
ment of $2,200 $593,376.60 

This is Ijetter than money at ten per cent in- 
terest compounded, which without loss, doubles 
every seven years. This was a life insurance 



company. The same is true with reference to 
fire insurance. Here are the figures taken from 
a company that is a comi>etitnr of the mutual 
fire insurance companies in this county and in- 
sures to a considerable extent the same class of 
proi^erty. From a newspaper clipping; Two 
dividends of thirty-five per cent each were de- 
clared during the last fiscal year. The stock, 
the par value of which is one hundred dollars 
per share, was quoted in January. 1909. at 
$1,450 per share; January, 1910, $1,700, and Feb- 
ruary 9th, at $1,850 per share. 

The statute of Illinois, requires all insurance 
companies doing business in the state to publish 
annually a report of their business done in the 
state. In these reports they are required to 
answer the following questions : "How much 
have you received in premiums in this state 
during the past year, and how much have you 
paid iu losses during the same time?" The 
answers invariably show that the receipts are 
double in amount for what they pay for losses. 
A consideration of these facts led the farmers 
to organize insurance companies of their own, 
notwithstanding the oft reiterated cry of the 
"Old Liners," that "only those trained to the 
business can make a success of it." They have 
trained themselves to the business and have 
made a success of it. 

FRATERNAL INSURANCE 

More than twenty years ago the citizens of 
Mount Carroll were very much interested in the 
fraternal insurance company called the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and assisted in its organ- 
ization ; it is now the largest and most success- 
ful fraternal insurance company in America. 
One of the first camps. No. S, was organized in 
Mount Carroll, A. M. Green, a druggist in 
Mount Carroll, was supreme treasurer of the 
head organization. C. C. Farmer was one of 
the founders and for twenty-one years one of 
the Board of Managers. 

.MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANIES 

The first company organized in the count.v, was 
the Eagle Point .Alutual Township Fire Insur- 
ance Company, which commenced business Aug- 
ust 26th, 187.3. Abraham Higley was the first 
president and Henry Elsej', was secretary, he has 
held the office for thirty-seven years. The ter- 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



677 



ritory in which it was autliori/i'il to do liusiness 
was the half township of Kagle Point in Ogle 
county and the lialf township of Ellchorn Grove 
in Carroll county. Its last annual report shows 
that it had in force one hundred and seventy- 
six policies, amounting to $iJ4'.».42S.OO. held by 
180 members. The cost was thirty cents on each 
hundred dollars e\ery live years, which has suf- 
ficed to pay all expenses and all losses by fire 
and lightuins. 

The next company to or^tanize was the Rock 
Creek Township Mutual Fire Insurance com- 
pany, which commenced business April 1st, 1S74 ; 
Duncan Mackay was the first president and 
Robert Galusha, Secretary. The original com- 
pany took In five townships, in 1902 was changed 
to a County Mutual, but continued to operate in 
the same territory; its last annual report shows 
that it liad !'.«» imlicies in force amounting' to 
$1,024,128. 

The next comiiany to organize, that had terri- 
tory in this county, was the Forestou Mutual 
Fire Insurance Company, commenced business 
February, 1877, and the Loran Township Mutual 
Fire Insurance company, commenced business 
January 1. 1880; the former company had one 
township. Shannon, and the latter, two town- 
ships. Cherry Grove and Freedom, in this county, 
together with other townsliips in the adjoining 
counties. 

The Mount Carroll. Mutual Township Fire In- 
surance eomi>any, commenced business March 1st, 
1SS7, Amasa T. Duushee. president and C. L. 
Hostetter. secretary. This company did a suc- 
cessful business for twelve years, when it was 
merged into the county mutual. All these com- 
panies refused to insure dwellings in the cities 
and towns of the caunty. In these there were 
many citizens who were desirous of Insuring 
their proiierty on the mutual plan ; a number of 
them got togetlier and organized the Mt. Carroll 
Mutual County Fire Insurance company and on 
May Gth, 1888, issued its first policy. Elijah 
Bailey was president and C. L. Hostetter secre- 
tary. In the fall of 1893 all the members of the 
Mount Carroll Township Mutual reinsured in the 
County Mutual. Its last annual reiwrt shows 
the company had in force 2,058 policies amount- 
ing to $3,197,333. It has nearly two thousand 
members. The cost of Insurance in these com- 
panies is less than one-half the cost In the old 
line companies. After an experience of nearly 



forty years, the farmers have demonstrated to 
llit'ir satisfaction that the mutual plan is a safe 
and very economical way of insuring their prop- 
erty aganst loss or damage by fire and light- 
ning. 

It is said in a recent work, (Parsons Laws of 
Business, 1911), that of late years the numljer 
of mutual fire insurance companies has great- 
ly increased in tliis country and much the larg- 
est amount of insurance against fire is effected 
Ijy them. The principal reason for this is, un- 
doubtedly, their cheapness, and reliability may 
be added. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SOLDIERS AND PATRIOTIC ORDERS. 



THE OBAND ABMY OF THE REPUBLIC — NASE POST 
NO. 80 — OBJECTS — woman's W. R. C. NO. 95, 
MOUNT CARROIX — SHILOH POST NO. 8.5 — SHILOH 
W. R. C, LANARK — ILLINOIS W. R. C. GAZETTE — 
OBJECTS OF THE W. R. C. 

SOLDIERS AND PATRIOTIC ORDERS 

The following names were omitted from a for- 
mer history of the county, which purixjrted to 
give the names of all those soldiers who en- 
listed in the war for the preservation of the 
union, from Carroll County : John H. Allison, 
enlisted August 2Sth. 18G1 in Company G.. 39th 
Illinois Infantry; killed at Suffolk, Va., Septem- 
ber 28tb, 1802. 

William Allison, enlisted October 22nd, IStil, 
in Company H., 55th Illinois Infantry: dis- 
charged October 31st, 1804; was killed in a 
railroad accident at Dixon, Illinois, on liis way 
home from service. 

These men were brothers of Joseph F. Allison 
a veteran of the late war, who was in many 
l)atties and several times seriously wounded. 
Their father, Fisher Allison, was one of the 
pioneer settlers of Elkhorn Grove. 



678 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



13-lTn IXFANTRV. (,100 DAY SERVICE) 

Early iu tbe siiring of 1S04, the governors of 
the middle western states, namely : Ohio, Indi- 
ana, Illinois and Iowa, believing that the rebel- 
lion was neariug its close, and desiring to aid 
the government in every way possible, tendered 
to the president a volunteer force of eighty-five 
thousiind One Hundred-day men, to relieve the 
veteran soldiers from guard duty at our forts, 
arsenals and elsewhere ; of this number, Illi- 
nois furnished thirteen regiments and two bat- 
talions. Speaking of the service performd by 
the hundred-day troops. Governor Yates, iu his 
last annual message, paid them a high 
and deserved compliment in these words, "Our 
regiments under this call performed indispensa- 
ble and invaluable services, in Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee and Missouri, relieving garrisons of vet- 
eran troops who were put to the front, and took 
part in the Atlanta campaign, several of them 
also composing a part of that glorious army 
that bas i>enetrated the very vitals of the re- 
bellion and plucked some of the brightest laurels 
that this heroic age has woven for a patriotic 
soldier. Five out of the hundred-day regiment, 
(the i:Uth was one of these) after their term 
of service had expired voluntarily extended their 
engagements with the government and marched 
to the relief of the gallant and able Rosencrans, 
who at the head of an inadequate and poorly 
appointed army was contending against fearful 
odds for the preservation of St. Louis and the 
safety of Missouri.'' They were also tendered 
the thanks of President Lincoln. All had en- 
listed without bounty and only received a sol- 
diers monthly pay. 

The 1.34th Infantry, Illinois Volunteers, was 
organized at Camp Fry, Chicago, Illinois, by 
Col. Walter W. MeChesney, and was mustered 
in May 31st, 1804, for one hundred days. Left 
Camp Fry June 3rd, for Columbus, Kentucky, 
and was assigned to garrison and picket duty. 
Mustered out of service October 2.5th. 1804, at 
Chicago. 111., by Lieutenant Joseph Horr, 1.3th 
U. S. Infantry. Those from Carroll county 
were: 
Company E. — 

Wagoner, Nathaniel P. Walters. 

Privates: Samuel Allen, James Brotherton, 
William C. Cooley, Reuben II. Gray, James Ir- 
vine, Silas Killum, John R. Robinson, Jliltou 
H. Westbrook. 



Company G. — 

First Sergeant: C. L. Hostetter. 

Corporal : John S. Emmert. 

Privates: John T. James, John E. Long, Wil- 
liam J. Libertou, Smith Myers, Thomas Pal- 
mer, Gideon K. Palmer, George F. Robison, John 
Stump, Jacob Wolf, Daniel Watson. 

THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 

When the soldiers of the Union Army came 
back from the war, the service they had given 
their country made them distinguished veterans 
and they became the recipients of the nation's 
homage. These soldiers had made it possible to 
have and keep a united country. At the recent 
dedication of the battlefield of Osawatomie, Kan- 
sas, which the Women's Relief Corps there had 
purchased and presented to the state, ex-Presi- 
dent Roo.sevelt i>aid this tribute to these men. 
•'John Brown's work was brought to completion, 
was made perfect by the men who bore aloft the 
banner of the Union during the four terrible 
years between Sumter and Apiwmatox. To the 
soldiers who fought through those years — and of 
course to a very few of their civilian chiefs like 
Lincoln — is due the supreme debt of the Na- 
tion. They alone of all our people since we be- 
came a Nation, rendered to us and to all who 
c-ome after us a service indispensable. They 
occupy the highest and most honorable posi- 
tion ever occupied by any men of any generation 
in our country." 

At the close of the war, it was natural for the 
soldier who with his comrades had endured the 
hardships, sufferings and anguish of wounds, 
and all the privations of a dreadful war, to 
possess a feeling of the very closest friendship 
for those who had served with him during such 
service. When therefore the soldiers of the 
Union army, were mustered out of the service, 
which they had so freely given their country, 
the greatest comradeship that ever knit men to- 
gether was sundered, and they cheerfully ac- 
cepted whatever influence would again unite 
them in the fellow.ship of their comrades and 
tend to keep bright the recollections of their 
army life. And so it came about that the Grand 
Army of the Republic was formed. The first 
organization was effected at Decatur, Illinois, 
April 0th, 18G0. The motto of the Grand Army 
is, "Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty." Its pur- 
iwse is to teach patriotism to the rising genera- 




ELECTRIC LIGHT STATION, 
MT. CARROLL 




WATKI! \\(i1;KS PLANT, M'lV CAHHOLL 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



679 



tlon and to inculcate purity in ijublic affairs, and 
to assist needy and worthy soldiers, their widows 
and orpliaus. 

Tlie fullowinj; is a list of the members of the 
G. A. K. I'osts, and of the Woman's Relief Corps 
in Carroll County, so far as llie same could he 
obtained. 

Charter members of Nase Tost, Xo. 80, G. A. 
R., Department of Illinois, which was the first 
organized in the county : Dan R. Frazer, D. B. 
Smith, J. F. Allison, E. T. E. Becker, A. B. Nel- 
son. W. II. Wildoy. W. P. Robb. .1. Schick. I.. E. 
Miller. W. D. IIughe.«, Conrad Frederick. Dudley 
O'Xeal. R. A. Williams, J. W. Kling, J. P. Beat- 
tie, Allen McClure, A. Mathewson, Oliver 
Swartz, John Daughty, John Sager, Charles P. 
Sutton, Joseph C. Forbes, Jacob Everhart, Otis 
Grim. Charter is dated the ninth day of July. 
A. D., 1880. 

Other members : R. M. A. Hawk, J. L. Taylor, 
John Hoover, E. Force. John C. Davis, F. R. 
Ely, Augustus I'hilips, W. II. Kennedy, David 
Shilling, Jas. O'Brien, Jeremiah George, J. II. 
Bowman. G. P. Sutton. D. Embick. Hiram 
i;. Wolf. Lyman L. Wood, Jacob Wood, John I. 
Fisher, DeLancy Kenyon, J. P. liussell, II. Kear- 
uaghan, John R. Evans, Ileury Loechel, J. 
Schleining, Wm. B. Rea, John II. Gray, John 
Shay, Jacob Bucher, Elhannan Fisher, Euos T. 
Cole, D. L. Oberhoim, J. Goodmiller, A. K. II. 
Pickert, George Roth, C. Bawden, J. Broomhall, 
John W. Lego, J. M. Kremer, E. C. White, J. B. 
Cushman, Henry St. Clair, C. V. JIcDermott, 
Wm. Fulton. G. W. Collins, John Zuck. James 
M. Smith, Thos. J. Smith, Geo. W. Gelwicks, Jos. 
P. Smith, Frank L. Tuttle, G. F. Bucher, A. Wal- 
lace, Jno. C. Gelwicks, A. Ferreuberg, W. L. 
Bennett, Christopher Davis, II. C. Kenyon, Adam 
Laufer, Wm. Noble. Wm. Fulton. M. Rinedollar, 
D. W. Herman, J. S. Hall, J. T. Clevidence, 
George Eckliart, E. Fink, John Mader, Philip C. 
Gill, J. C. Rinedollar, J. H. Cluck, Frederick 
Diehl, Jacob C. Clark, Burton Philips, Henry 
Meyer.s, A. N. Rockstead, J. E. Morgan. J. D. 
Fargusson, David William, II. O. Speight, N. 
Rinedollar, Henry Ilartman, Adam Kohler, J. H. 
Jackson, M. D. Ilerrington, C. Bachman, D. M. 
Hewett, Wm. II. Shultz, Martin H. Reeder, 
George Horner. 

OFFICERS FOB 1880 

W. H. Wildey, Commander. 

R. .V. Williams, Senior Vice Commander. 



John Sager, Junior Vice Coivmiander. 

J. F. Allison, Officer of the Day. 

W. P. Roljbe, Outside Guard. 

E. T. E. Becker, Quartermaster. 

D. B. Smith, Sergeant Major. 

A. B. Nelson, Quartermaster Sergeant. 

W. D. Hughes, Adjutant. 

The following are the Past Post Commanders 
of Nase Post: W. H. Wildey, R. A. Williams, 
W. D. Hughes, John C. Davis, E. T. E. Becker, 
Joseph F. Allison, Don R. Frazier, John C. Gel- 
wicks, W. P. Robb, Evan T. Cole. 

Number of members in good standing, 52; de- 
ceased, 40 ; moved away. 9 ; total enrolled, 110. 

Present commander. Captain W. II. Wildey. 

Nase Post has printed with its roster and 
memorial roll, the following : 

THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 

"No child can be born into it ; no proclamation 
of President, or edict of King or Czar can com- 
mand admission ; no university or institute of 
learning can issue a diploma authorizing its 
holder to enter; no act of Congress or Parlia- 
ment secures recognition; the wealth of a Van- 
derbilt cannot ijurehase the position ; its doors 
swing open only upon the presentation of a bit 
of paper, torn, worn, begrimed it may be, which 
certifies to an honorable discharge from the Ar- 
nues or Navies of the Nation dui-ing the war 
against the rebellion,'' and, unlike any other as- 
sociation, no "new blood'' can come in ; there 
are no growing ranks from which recruits can be 
drawn into the Grand Army of the Republic. 
With the consummation of i>eaee through victory 
its rolls were closed forever. 

The objects to be accomplished liy this organ- 
ization are as follows: 

1. To preserve and strengthen those kind and 
fraternal feelings which bind together the sol- 
diers, sailors and marines who united to sui)- 
press the late rebellion. 

2. To assist such former comrades in arms 
as need help and protection ; and to extend n(H>d- 
ful aid to the widows and orphans of those wlio 
have fallen. 

3. To maintain true allegiance to the United 
States of America, based upon a paramount 
respect for, and fidelity to the National Consti- 
tution and the laws, to discountenance wli.itevi'r 



G80 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



tends to weaken loyalty, incite insurrection, trea- 
son or rebellion, or in any manner impairs the 
efficiency or permanency of our free institutions ; 
to promote the spread of universal liberty, equal 
rights, and justice to all men. and to encourage 
honor and purity in public affairs. 

THE woman's relief CORPS 

A kindred and auxiliary organization to the 
G. A. R. is the Woman's Relief Corps. It is 
comiiosed of the motliers, wives, daughters and 
sisters of the Union soldiers, .sailors and mar- 
ines, who aided in putting down the rebellion, 
together with other loyal women. This order 
may thus be perpetuated but tlie Grand Army, 
as an organization, will cease when all its mem- 
bers are dead. 

The Objects 

The objects of this organization are to es- 
pecially aid and assist the members of the Grand 
Army of the Republic and as a matter of course 
to sympathize with them, and to perpetuate the 
memory of the heroic dead of the Union Army. 
To assist all Union Veterans who may need help 
and protection and to assist their widows and 
orphans, and find them homes and employment 
when necessary and to assure them of their sym- 
pathy and protecton and friendship. To cherish 
the memory and hold in the highest esteem our 
army nurses and all loyal women who rendered 
service in any manner to our common country in 
her hour of need. To maintain true allegiance 
to the United States of America. And to in- 
culcate lessons of patriotism and love of country 
among their children and in the communities in 
which they live and to encourage the spread of 
universal liberty and equal rtghts to all man- 
kind. 

The corps at any place are supposed to take 
the name of tlie Grand Army post to which they 
are auxiliary. In case a post disbands, the 
corps that has been auxiliary to it may still con- 
tinue as a corps of the department of the 
Woman's Relief Corps retaining their original 
number and name. 

The corps badge is a Maltese cross of copper 
bronze with the Grand Army medallion in the 
center surrounded with the words on each of 
the four corners. Woman's-Relief-Corps-18S.3, 
the date of the original organization. The cross 



is suspended from a pin bearing the monogram of 
the initials, "F. C. L.'' ( Fraternity. Charity, 
Loyalty), by a red, white and blue ribljou of suit- 
able length and width. 

XASE woman's relief CORPS. KO. 9o 

Through the kindness of Mrs. E. L. Forbes of 
Mount Carroll, we are favored with the following 
report of Xase Relief Corps, Xo. 95. which was 
organized January Kjth. 1002. by Mrs. Martlia 
H. Baxter, Department President, in Memorial 
Hall, Mt. Carroll; the first officers were: Presi- 
dent. Mrs. Etta J. Smith ; Sr. Vice President, 
Mrs. Sarah C. Becker ; .Jr. Vice President, 
Ann Rinedollar ; Chaplain. Mrs. Louisa B. Cluck ; 
Secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Myers ; Treasurer. 
Mrs. Nancy Mader ; Conductor, Naomi Hall ; 
Guard, Ruhmah Stitely ; Assistant Conductor, 
May Wildey ; Assistant Guard, Emily Wildey ; 
1st Color Bearer, J. O'Neal ; 2nd, Carrie Ben- 
nett ; ord. Emma L. Forbes : 4th. Susan Cluck : 
Organist, Anna A. King. 

The names of the charter members iu addition 
to the above officers were : Esther E. Farmer, 
Echiah Cole, Susanna §. Unger, Louisa B. Cluck. 
Josephine M. Kramer. Alice Watson. Matilda D. 
Browning. Ann O'Neal, L. Annie Hollinger. Caro- 
line M. Browning, Minne G. Eley, Anna E. 
Eley, Sarah G. Liberton, Ruth Rohrer, Eliza- 
beth Eymer, Hester Fink, Ella M. Feezer, Susan 
Petty. 

Nase Rfelief Corps lias a memliership of fifty- 
four members. The ladies take great interest 
in their work and hold their meetings regularly 
in Memorial Hall. The Past Presidents have 
beeu Etta J. Smith ; Emma L. Forbes ; Louisa 
B. Cluck. The present officers are Anna M. King, 
President ; Susan Rinedollar, Sr., Vice President ; 
Emma L. Forbes, Junior Vice President; Chap- 
lain, Louisa B. Cluck; Secretary, Retta Sisler. 

SHILOH POST G. A. R., LANARK 

Through the kindness of Comrade Col. George 
A. Root, Commander of Shiloh Post No. 8-5. 
Department of Illinois, Grand Army of the Re- 
public, we are favored mth the following infor- 
mation : The iKJst was named Shiloh Post because 
most of the charter members were engaged in 
that battle. 

The post was organized September 23rd, 1880, 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



681 



by I'aptiUii Wililey, assisted by J. 1'. Allisuii. M. 
O., with the following officers: 

Geo. M. Lattig. Coiiimaiider ; D. II. Snyiler, 
Senior A'ice Connnander ; George W. Noble, 
.Junior Vice Comnmnder; David Lepnian, 
Quartermaster ; George A. Hoot, Officer of the 
I»ny ; Willis Kay. Otlicer of the (Juard ; Seth C. 
Wiley, .\djutant; W. L. Thomson, Sergeant 
JIa jor ; .1. T. Valentine, Quartermaster Sergeant. 

Other charter ujemliers were: M. J. Rowland. 
George W. Gordon. B. S. Gaff, Victor Whisler, 
Austin Willis. K. Stover. Peter Raymer, H. W. 
Wales. .7. R. Rudirauff. .T. I'. Carman. Jonas 
Hutlingtiin. Henry Fonlds. Thomas Elder. A. H. 
Howen. Warren Sherwood. M. J. Boyle and I. L. 
IJowen. 

.Toined since by muster or transfer : L. II. 
Sprecher, C. A. Cobb, G. D. Lint, Ellas Binga- 
niaii. .7. Wheat. Samuel C. Gault, X. Fagan, 
Thomas Daley. ,7. Balts!. Henry Lego, h. T. Bray, 
W. II. Ford. Oil R. Wiseman, Wm. Schaut, J. 
W. Flanagan, Amos Ditsworth. P. W. Eisenhise, 
J. II. Stri.Uler, W. II. Mi/.ner. John Mahaffa, .M. 
C. JlcCogg, M. Cakerice, Luman Willis, Levi 
Chirk, Geo. W. Annis, E. A. Straub. Henry Mil- 
ler, D. A. Galpln, C. R. Bennett, S. E. Carter, 
Thomas Gibbons, Jas. W. Lee, 11. J. Griswold, 
Geo. Xicodemus, II. French, Thos. J. Sizer, J. E. 
Robinson. C. P. Snow, Amos Walk, J. E. Tav- 
ener. .1. H. Mrllhatim. .\. Wakeman. .7ohn Tall- 
man. J. W. Wimer, C. H. Spanogle, Wm. Garland, 
A. P. Doolittle, Henry Rister, SI. Cormauy, Frank 
Mitchell, Geo. H. Paul, E. L. Lower, Edmond 
Flora, Ilobert G. Aurand, John A. Sleer, Wm. 
Corey, Ellswortli Ilerrington and Perry Xixon. 

Tlie following have been Post Commanders : 
George M. I..atig, D. A. Galpiu, Eli L. Lower, Ij. 
H. Sprecher and the present commander, George 
A. Root. 

This post lias eighty-eight members and meets 
regularly at Masonic Hall the first and third 
Wciliicsilay evening of each month. 

Simon WO.\IAN"s RKLIlil" COIU'S 

was orgatiized Feliruary ISth, 1803, with 
eighteen charter members as follows: President, 
Mary J. Sprecher; Senior Vice President, Aima 
Lafferty : Junior Vice-President. Lettie Dres- 
back; Chaplain, Elizabeth Keller; Conductor, 
R<).\y (ilotfelty; Treasurer. Ora Sprecher; 
Guard. .\nn Sprecher; Secretary. Anna Bailey; 



.\sst. Con.. Lizzie Ilaller; and Asst. Guard, 
.Matilda Ford. 

Other charter members were Emaline BufC- 
ingtoii, Elizabeth Boyle, Sarah Brooke, Mary 
Rorabeek, Clarissa Valentine, Mrs. G. M. Latig, 
Rena Sleer and Kate Aunis. 

The following are the Past Corjis Presidents: 
Xaiicy Sprecher, Anna M. Bailey, Anna I^afforty, 
Helen Middlekauff, Josibelle Dilley, Ella Mc- 
Xaiuar and Anna Sprecher Weed. Lydia Landt 
is Secretary, Etta Packard, Treasurer, and 
Emma Heath, Press Correspondent. 

The jireseut itiembers are, beside those men- 
tioned above, Sarah Brooke, Phoebe Yeager, Vine 
Wales, Grace Franck. Myra Pierce. Amaiula Lego, 
Catharine Kiukade. Blanche Kinkade. Tliursa 
.Noble, Etta Packard, Alice S. Sherwood, Anna 
Wild, Nettie Bray, Grace Wiley, Sarah Snow, 
Hattie Downs, Ida Tallman, Chloe Galpln, Cora 
McLaughlin Burwell. Maggie La Shelle, Julia 
Strickler, Isabel Gault, Clarissa Leland, Flora 
.\rnold, Aggie Woodside, Eva Landt, Clara 
Teachout, Rebecca McLaughlin, Mary Cottrell, 
Eliniiia Howe, Henrietta Sponsellar, Florence 
Good, Kate Hodge, Jo.^ibelle Dilley, Mae Gril- 
ley, Ida Good, Louise Warfel, Ella Swigert, 
Frances Ditsworth, Mattie Hugett, Mary Mit- 
chell, Mary Wimer, Bessie McNaiuar, Delia Me- 
Knight, Lydia Landt, Cora Burnette, Mrs. D. 
Hei)ner, Ijizzie Root, Adda Tallman, Mary 
Courts, D. Leonette Stevens, Leona Hess, Anna 
Bray, Abbie Hess, Emma Derr, Ella Risle.v, .Mar- 
garet Reitzell, Mae Sword, Lulu Jane Ileiter, 
Jennie Ketterman, Anna Horning, Fannie Sleer, 
Ella I'eters, Bess Colver, Emma Heath, JIayne 
Peters, Lydia Aspinwall, Ida S. Renuer, Nan 
Gossard, Luella Schadt Peters, Esther Schnee, 
Leah Weed, Edna Dobbs and Edith Lower. 

Shiloh Relief Corps Xo. 227, now boasts of one 
luiiidred members and is one of the strongest in 
the department, and in the real work of the 
order stands second to none. Anna Sprecher 
Weed of this corps has been appointed .\ssistant 
Department Inspector three times. 

THE II.r.INOIS W. H. C. GAZETTK 

This very useful and interesting magazine wa.9 
started by Helen .Middlekauff of Lanark, daugh- 
ter of Judge Seymour D. Thomson of St. Louis, 
a distliiguisbed law writer. 

Mrs. Middlekauff is a ineinber of Shiloh W. K. 
C, and was several times president nf the corps; 



682 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



in May, 190G, she was apixnnted press corre- 
spoudent of tlie Department of Illinois. Her 
duties as such correspondent were to dissemi- 
nate iutelligeuce to tlie public of tile practical 
and fraternal w-orU of the order and as she said 
in her "Prefatory" remarks, "to rualie the paper 
newsy in W. R. C. affairs, trusting that from 
its pages members may learn the ways and 
means used by other corps of extending relief 
and raising money for relief funds." The 
Gazette is still published monthly in neat maga- 
zine form, Volume 5 being now edited and pub- 
lished by Ida M. Treuary, 5481 Kimbark ave- 
nue, Chicago. 

A'ery many interesting activities of the W. R. 
C. are reported in this magazine, a few of which 
follow : 

Turning over monies to the post, no doubt 
very acceptable to the old soldiers. 

Taking a large prize for a patriotic float on 
the occasion of a street parade. 

Getting up ten cent teas to raise money, which 
also add much to the social enjoyment of the 
members of the corps and their friends. 

Surprising some comrade of the post with a 
fine supper, or with popcorn and bananas or 
sandwiches and coffee, and some friends, who 
thus tried to show their good will and friend- 
ship. 

Sending boxes to needy soldiers. 

Buying a cemetery lot and allowing no soldier 
to be buried in the potter's tiekl. 

Erecting monuments at the unmarked graves 
of old soldiers. 

Furnishing a ward in a hospital for the use 
of old soldiers. 

A whist party given by the ladies of the corps 
was a success both socially and fiaiancially. 

One corps held a "rummage sale," which was 
a great success. 

"Sunshine Committee,'' sent many a spray of 
beautiful flowers to cheer the room of sick mem- 
bers or comrades of the G. A. R. 

Banquets for husbands of corps ladies, to 
which the G. A. R. boys were invited. 

I'atriotic instruction during teachers' institutes 
nnd the best methods of imparting same in the 
schools and elsewhere, to the end that the serv- 
ice rendered our country by the old soldiers may 
not be forgotten and that the young men of our 
glorious country will be ready and willing when 
occasion may require, to fill up the ranks of our 
defenders. 



Some of the orders of the Department are pub- 
lished in the Gazette which add to its inter- 
est. The subscription price is only fifty cents 
a year, which together with a few advertise- 
ments, pays for its publication. The editorial 
work of Jlrs. Jliddlekauff, although it required 
a great deal of time, was gratuitous. The 
Gazette is so well started on its way now, 
that it is self supporting and promises to be- 
come a very useful factor in the affairs of the 
W. R. C. of Illinois. The Deixirtment of Illi- 
nois may well be proud of the fact that it 
maintains the only Woman's Relief Corps news- 
pai)er or magazine in existence. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PATRIOTIC ORDERS— Continued. 



B. M. A. HAWK POST, 40G W. K. C, SAVANNA — 

GEORGE KBIDLER POST, 575 — W. R. C, MILLED6E- 

VILLE — HOL.MAN POST, 579 RECAPTURED FLAGS 

W. B. C, THOMSON — HOLDEN PUTNAM POST, 

646 CAMP SONS OF VETEBANS — W. R. C, SHAN- 
NON DR. JOHN L. HOSTETTEB POST, 785 W. R. 

C. CHADWICK — R. M. A. HAWK POST, 40G 
SAVANNA. 

The present Comuiauder of this Post is Frank 
Kearney, who kindly furnished the following in- 
formation : 

The Past Commanders have been, H. C. Hun- 
ter, John Hoffman, J. A. Robison, Charles L. 
Howe, F. L. Tuttle, Bernard Holland, George E. 
Fuller, J. R. Robinson, and B. J. Murray. 

ORGANIZED 

The Post was organized February 19th, 1884, 
with the following charter members: Samuel 
Allen, James Atkins, John Buckley, Bailey Clev- 
enger, H. W. Chapman, John H. Eley, W. L. 
Gayetty, William Gibbons, George Goddard, John 
Hoffman, H. C. Hunter, Frank Kearney, B. J. 
Murray, W. J. Ritchie, John A. Robison, Levi 




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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



683 



St-hadle. Tom Souires, .7. M. Startzmau, Carl 
Turner, G. W. Varuey aiul Jolm Hulett. 

Other members of the Post: Daniel Atherton, 
Charles Bartlett, A. Bost, B. J. Berge, Nelson 
Bersley, D. M. Bersley, Augiistiu Bristol, George 
Buckley, G. C. Carpenter, George Chapin, Ira 
Clarke, George W. Collins, John Conner, Thomas 
Donald, 'William Ellis, Dave Fitzpatrick, N. 
Fish, .Tohu Flory, George K. Fuller, William Ful- 
ton. John (Jrovor, Uobert Getty. Nat Ginter. 
II. II. Good, Tom Graham, Thadeas Groves. H. 
D. Grover. Archie Hall, John Hoffman. James 

F. Hubbell, Noah II. Jordon. Will B. Jordon, 
John Lahre, U. Leonard, William Lucas, Allan 
JlcClure, G. W. McGowen, Dan Jlclutyre, Joseph 
D. Mace, Thomas Mechem, Jac-ob F. Miller. 
Robert Moore, Smith Myers, J. A. Nickells, Ja- 
cob I'latteuberg, J. M. Powers, Fred Prufer, Ben- 
ton Rituour. John R. Robinson, J. Richardson, 
Tliomas A. Royer, John F. Schluuke, W. S. Shel- 
don, Charles Salsherry, William Stubs, Nicholas 
Sewerth, Ulrich Truuiuger. I'liney Taylor, Frank 
L. Tuttle, Carlton Weckfleld, Nels G. Wliisler, 
U. L. Wilder, J. S. Wright, Michael Zigafus. 

[R. M. A. Hawk Post was named after that 
gallant soldier. Major R. M. A. Hawk, of the 
92nd Illinois V. I., who lost a limb in a skirmish 
at Swift Creek, N. C, at the close of the war. 
Indeed the news had come to the Union forces 
that Lee had surrendered, ju.st before the enemy 
charged Major Hawk's connnand. He was for 
many years County Clerk of Carroll County and 
in 1S77 was elected to the 4(Uli Congress; he died 
in W'ashingtiin while in attendance u|)on his 
duties in Congress. 

His widow. Mrs. Mary G. Hawk, at the time 
of the dedication of the Soldier.s' Monument, took 
advantage of the occasion to invite all the mem- 
bers of the Post to her house to dinner, and you 
may be sure treated them right royally ; she also 
presented each member with a fine steel engrav- 
ing and memorial of her late husband, which the 
members of tlie Post prize very highly. Such an 
occasion as this is a bright spot in the life of 
an old soldier which he will long remember. 

W. R. C, SAVANNA 

Mrs. Olive E. Gilbert, President, Savanna, 
kindly furnished the following names of the of- 
ficers and a list of members of the Woman's 
Relief Corps No. 28.3 of the R. M. A. Hawk Post 

G. A. R. Savaima : 



President, Olive E. Gilbert ; Senior Vice Presi- 
dent. Sue JiirdoM ; Junior Vice, Ruth llolman; 
Secretary Mary E. Sager; Treasurer, Edith Bu- 
chanan; Chaplain, Catharine Gilbert; Conductor, 
Augusta Kosey ; Guard. Amelia Wliislcr. 

Other members: Edith Buheren, Hazel Des 
Parios. Ida Elliott, Mary Fulton, Catharine Gil- 
bert, OIlie Gilbert, Amanda Groves, Emma 
Haines, Jennie Hodson, Emma Homedew, Ruth 
Ilolmeu, Eliza Jordon, Elizabeth Johnson. Sue 
Jordou. Augusta Kosey, JIary Prufer, ilaud 
Piukney, Mary Sager, Jess Pulley, Amelia Sor- 
enson, Mary Jane Taylor, Amelia Whisler, Anna 
Williamson. 

GEORGE KRIDU;B POST G. A. R. >0. 575 

Commander Horace T. Healy of Milledgeville 
kindly furnished the following information in 
regard to George Kridler Post, No. ~^''^, Depart- 
ment of Illinois, G. A. R. 

The iwst received its charter and was mustereil 
in -May 15, 1886, by Captain W. H. Wildey, 
mustering officer for this district. The follow- 
ing comrades, being charter members and the 
lK)St's first officers : 0. E. Goshert, installed as 
Commander; II. T. Healy, Senior Vice Com- 
njnnder; J. P. Hunter. Junior Vice Connnander ; 
Oliver Lamiiman, Surgeon ; Charles Gaylord, 
Chaplain; W. W. Stevens, Officer of the Day; 
W. II. Calkins. Quartermaster ; Charles L. Dyer, 
Officer of the Guard ; Freeman Pierce. Adjutant; 
Charles II. Olmstead. Quartermaster Sergeant ; 
Frank Ha Howell. Sergeant Major. 

Roster of other members of Kridler I'ost : 
Marten Adams, Walter Allen, E. M. Baxter, 
W. II. Bent. .lohn Beutley. W. II. Brad«ay, 
Joel B. Buswell, Ulysses Buffington, David 
Bushman, Stephen Calkin.s, J. L. Chambers, W. 
W. Chaffee, Charles Cheeseman, Job D. Clark. 
-Vlliert Darrow. John T. Dailey, Decatur Easta- 
lirooks, George J. Ehni, Henry Elsey, Peter 
Eiislay, Louis B. Fosdick, James C. Goldthorpe, 
William J. Griswold, Andrew Glen, Mathias 
Ileiber, A. R. Ilurless, Steven V. Hendricks, 
Leonard Holly, Samuel Hall, David H. Kimmel, 
.lanu's A. King, Charles S. Klock, G-.'orge C. 
Leighty, John B. -McPherson, Nicholas Miller, 
Robert Maserik, J. S. Palmer, Jonathan Patch, 
Emanuel Sarber, Christopher Schmick, Heni-y 
Scott, W. M. Sears, J. D. Sigfried. David Sen- 
neff, T. G. Smith. Albert Smith, Jabez W. T(pd(l, 



684 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



Waltor F. SuuilerlauU, James 1'. Swezey, Geovw 
"Wagner, Charles Williams. 

PAST POST COMMANDERS 

C. E. GosUert, George J. Elmi, Albert Smith, 
John T. Dailey. 

PRESENT OFFICERS 

Commander Horace T. Healy. S. V. ('., W. G. 
Bent ; J. V. C, J. C. Goldthorpe. 

The Post meets semi-mnnthly : observes Mem- 
orial Day, ami attends Divine services in a 
body the Sabbath iireceding that day. 

The Post was named in memoiy of Comrade 
George Kridler, of Company K. loth I. V. I., 
who was dangerously wounded at the battle of 
Shiloh and died at Savanna. Illinois, on his way 
home. 

SONS OF VETEliANS 

There was a camp of Sons of Veterans' or- 
ganized several years ago at Milledgeville, but It 
"went to pieces." 

GEORGE KRIDLER, WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS 

Tlie following information was furnished for 
the County History by Jliss Annah M. Tracy 
of Milledgeville: 

The George Kridler "Woman's Relief Corps. 
No. 106, was organized April 2Gth. 1888. with 
sixteen charter members. 

The following otflcers were duly installed for 
the first year, by Mrs. J. G. Harrison, President 
of the Sterling "W. R. C. assisted by Com- 
mander H. T. Healy of tlie George Kridler G. 
A. R. Post: President. Mrs. Lizzie Spaulding; 
Senior Vice President, Amanda Lee : Junior Vice 
President, Elizabeth Lampuian ; Secretary, Lil- 
lian Stevens; Treasurer. Ella Olmstead ; Chap- 
lain, Julia Bentley ; Conductor, Fauuie E. Smith ; 
Assistant Conductor, Mrs. Etta Olmstead ; Guard, 
Sarah J. Healy; Assistant Guard, Amelia H. 
Dull. 

Other charter members wore: Hannah M. 
Cheeseman, Sophia J. Ensley, Hester Holly, Ceci- 
lia O. Smith, Etta M. Todd, Rhoda M. Williams. 
Members who have joined since: Viletta Ack- 
erman, Frances Alsip. Maude Allison, Rosanna 
Adams, Gertrude Anabel, Fraukie Aurand, 
Nancy Babcock. Mary Barber. Cathai-ine P.arthel. 



Mary Baldwin, Abbie Beelie. Martha I'.ennett, 
Minnie Bent, Olive Bent. Phila Booth. I'rances 
Bills, Frank Boyd, EvSther Brodoek, Alice Brown, 
Christina Brown, Sarah Burris, Martha Burns, 
I<:mma Burns, Mary Bull, Mary Bushman. Carrie 
Calkins. Minnie Calkins, Pauline Calkins. Alice 
Cliambers, Rose Compton. Susie Cheeseman, 
Delila Coffee, Dorothy A. T. Clark, Anna Chron- 
ister, Libbie Crawford, Anna Daily, Catharine 
Davis, Julia Dennis, Jennie Diugman, Nellie 
Durnstiue, Ann E. Dyer, Alice Eastabrooks, Mary 
Eastabrooks, Sarah Ea.sta brooks, Aletha Eite- 
miller, Nell Farhney, Julia Farhuey. Alice Flem- 
ing. Sarah Frazer, Alice Freaze, Ida Frederick, 
Maranda Frease. Mary Furgesson, Barliara Gar- 
wick, EBie Gault, Emma Griswold, Ida Gross, 
Mary E. Gulliford. Edith Griswold, Cassie Geld- 
macker, Anna Goldthorpe, Enuna Hauua, Mar- 
tha Healy, Mabel Hallowell, Pauline Ileide, 
Edith Holly, Allie Hunter, Lottie Hurless, Eliza- 
beth Ilnrlbert, Frank Hubbard. Martha Kelley. 
Elizabeth LarUie. Bessie McKee. Emma MePher- 
son, Jennie Manning, Kate Manning. Mary Man- 
ning, Lucy Mathews. Mrs. D. L. Maxwell, Kath- 
arine Milroy, Louise Moscrip. Mary Millard, Eva 
Mummert, Hattie Neikirk, Amey Norrie, Laura 
Robinson, Nellie Robinson. Sarah Roderick, Lil- 
lie Roderick. Lottie Roderick, Clara Ruth, Mary 
Sarber, Martha Shannon, Thersa Shannon, Nel- 
lie Stevens, Anna Stevens, Louisa Sigfried. Phoe- 
lie Smith. Lillian Smith, Etlilyn Straker, Susan 
Sweezy, Anna Taylor, Annah M. Tracy. Sarah 
Tnlley, Grace Wiley, Adelia Wolber, Eunna 
Wood. 

We now have fifty-three members ; tlie re- 
maining eighty-one have been transferred, honor- 
ably discharged or dropped : we lost sixteen by 
deaths. 

PAST PRESIDENTS 

The following have served the Corps as Pres- 
idents: Lizzie M. Spaulding. Sarah J. Ilealey. 
Sarah Eastabrooks, Alice Eastabrooks, Eliza- 
beth Lampman. Martha Bennett, Annah M. 
Tracy, Alice Fleming, Nellie Durstine. Nellie 
Knliinson. Rosanna Adams. Etfie Gault. 

WORK DONE 

During the twenty-two years of our work we 
have given for relief to soldiers and their de- 
jiendent ones. .$211.42 in money; for relief other 



nrSTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



685 



than money, .$r)f)l.!ir> ; tiiiiieil over to I'ost, 
$254.73. 

We helped furnish a room in the Soldiers' 
Widows* Home, at Wilmington. 

Contributed to the Imrial plot in lOlmwood 
Cemetery, Cliiiafro, for Soldiers' Dependent 
Widows and also to the Imrial fund to lie used 
for same; anil the iminy other calls that came to 
us yearly. 

We also purchased grave marliers for forty- 
live deceased couu'a<ies and thirteen for our AV. 
R. C. deceased nieniliers. 



The otiicers fur tlie year 1010 were: President, 
Rosanna Adams, Senior "S'lce President, Alice 
Fleming; .Junior Vice President, Anua Gold- 
thorix- ; Secretary, Charlotte Ilurless ; Treasurer, 
Carrie Calkins ; Chaplain, Anuah M. Tracy ; Con- 
ductor, Martha Burns ; .Assistant Conductor, Lot- 
tie Roderick; tJuard, Sarah Roderick; Assistant 
(juard, i:Hie Cault; First Color Bearer, Kate 
.Manning; Second Color Bearer. Kdith Holly; 
Third Color Bearer, Lillic Roderick; Fourth 
Color Bearer, Jennie Manning; Patriotic In- 
structor, Nellie Durstine; Press Corresixmdent, 
Kli/.abeth Lampman ; Musician, Nellie Robinson. 

Miss Tracy further states, "that when this 
auxiliary was in its infancy, the membership 
was small and Inextierienced and they had much 
to contend with, but peace and harmony soon 
Ijrevailed ami nil became enthusiastic in gain- 
ing niembersliiii and planning social events 
and entertainments that were helpful in 
many ways. .\nd tints we have struggled on 
through these twenty-two years of our grand 
good work of doing something for the bettcnnent 
of comrades and tlieir dependent ones. Much 
could he said of the work of Mrs. Julia Bentley, 
who was mother of the Corps, as through her 
efforts the Corps was organized, and a more 
faithful hard working member we never had. 
Always ready to do her part, and more, and 
when differences arose she was a mediator. She 
was elected I'liaplain when the cori)S was or- 
ganized and tilled that ollice for twenty years 
until her death, excepting oidy one year. 

"Muc-h could he s;iid of other members. It has 
always been onr aim to build up socially as well 
as financially and to carry on all the different 
branches of the work exi)ected of each auxil- 
iary. 



"Only three of the charter members remain. 
The Corps meets regularly in the G. A. R. hall 
the first and third Saturday afternoon of each 
month, at two o'clock. 

IIOI.MA.N I'OSr G. A. R., NO. 579 

Comrade Dr. F. E. Melugin, of Thomson, fur- 
nishes the following information in regard to 
Ilolman Post No. .j!)7 and W. R. C. No. 70. 

llolman Post No. 5!)7 of Thomson was char- 
tered Sept. 7th, 188G. 

Charter and other members: R. B. .\therton, 
I". 1 1. Balcom, C. G.- Blaklee, Nelson Bursley, A. 
C. P.urt. Ilarrlson Coddington. W. D. X. Cone, 
.lames II. Dyson. Kichard Foster, Thadeus 
(hoves, J. II. Green, S. Hollingshaid, Arthur 
Ilotchkiss, Marcus II. Judd, Isaac Lewis, Nor- 
man Lewis, George Manning, Dr. F. E. .Melugin, 
Wm. A. Shoemaker, Edmoud Smith, Samuel B. 
Smith, Carl Wakefield, Samuel Walters. I']dward 
Yates. 

PAST POST COM. M ANDERS 

James II. Dyson, S. C. Holllngshead, Daniel 
Embick, John II. Taylor, Dr. F. E. Melugin, R. 
B. Atherton, Thomas C. Rhodes, George John- 
son, Albert G. Durkee, Barnabas Hinds, J. M. 
.McGinty, S. B. Smith and W. H. Switzer, who 
is the present Commander, and Dr. F. E. Mel- 
ugin, is .Adjutant. 

Old soldiers living in York Tiiwnship nut 
members of the Post, U. \. Pratt and Thomas 
Oakley. .Member of Chadwick Post, W. B. De- 
lana. 

BKCAPTUBF.n INIOX FLAGS 

[Seventeen Union flags were discovered by 
Captain Norman Lewis of Thomson, at the C.-ip- 
ilcil building at Raleigh, North Carolina on its 
surrender, .\pril i:!th, 1805. The Confederate 
Governor Swain of the state s;ud when inter- 
rogated by Captain Lewis, in regard to the 
flags: "There are no flags here, sir." .V negro 
standing by, like all the blacks, a friend of 
the Union soldier, six)ke up and said, "Here 
.Massa. I sliow you where de flag is." Captain 
Lewis followed the loyal African and seized the 
flags. .Vmong them ho found the one surren- 
dered by General Miles' command at Il.irper's 
Ferry and the flag of the 5Gth Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteers, which, together with one belonging to 
a New A'lirk regiment, were returned to the 



686 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



proper custodians, leaving in his possession tbe 
otliers which he retained as mementos of the 
great struggle. 

Ilolmau Post was uameil for James G. IIol- 
iuau of Company F., 52ud Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry; he lost a leg, from a wound received in 
the army. His father was Peter Holman, one 
of the early settlers of York Township. He 
was a Post Master and Justice of the Peace for 
many years.] 



H0I.M.\N W. R. C, NO. 7!) 

P.y authority of Mrs. Francis Lewis, President 
of the Woman's Relief Corps of Morrison, on 
January 11th, 1900. the Woman's Relief Corps 
of Thomson was organized as Holman W. R. C. 
No. 79. 

The first oflicers installed were: President. 
Mary D. Houghton ; Senior Vice President, Sarah 
L. Dyson ; Junior Vice President. Ellen M. 
Pratt ; Secretary, Nellie E. Atherton ; Treasurer, 
Henrietta VAlen Sanborn ; Chaplain. Ijouisa Ath- 
erton ; Conductor, Arilla Bennett; Guard, Nellie 
Schade ; 1st .and i'nd Assistant Guards. Cora 
Rhodes and Lina Stagg ; Color Bearers, Mary W. 
Cone, Carrie M. Johnson. I^lla Stark and Car- 
rie Lang. 

Beside the above the following were charter 
and other members : Augusta Balcom, Jennie 
R. Cone, Mary Foster. Ruth J. Holman. Laura 
E. Holman, Florence E. Melugiu. Cornelia Shoe- 
maker and Anna .Smith. At present the corps 
numbers thirty-eight members. Mrs. Sarah 
Groharing is its president. 



HOLDEN PUTXAM I'O.ST, NO. C4G 

This Post of G. A. R., of Shannon, was char- 
tered November 17th. 1SS7, with the following 
charter members : 

B.alser Bristine, Henry Burket, George C. By- 
ers, Robert D. Cheeseman, Reuben Couley, Chris- 
tian Fry, William J. Griswold, Russell A. Hays, 
R. W. Healey, Henry Hoy, Jacob Kehm, John A. 
Leonard, E. E. Peterson. Michael Thomas and 
Ed. C. Truckenmiller. 

The Past Commanders have been John A. 
Leonard. William Corie, Jacob Kehm, R. D. 
Cheeseman. William IL Fleisher, George C. 
Byers, Christian Fry, R. B. Straw, and James 



Ruljendall who is the present Conmiander. and 
R. D. Cheeseman, Adjutant. 

Names of other members of the Post : Patrick 
Barrett, Elias G. Bowers. John Bowman, Frances 
Cooney, Abraham Diehl, John Doneman, Peter 
Eisenbise, T. J. Elder, Jacob Fry, Edmond Flora, 
Christopher F. Herr, D. L. Humbert, John Isriel, 
B. F. Kremer. Isaac Lehre, George M. Leshell, 
Patrick McGinnis. Edward Mooney, A. E. 
Machamer. David Payne, James R. Quick, Amos 
Reynolds. Jacob Sturtevant. James Rubendall, 
J. I. Smith, J. R. Rogers, Thomas Sigre, Ed A. 
Straub, George P. Swift, Alfred Whitacor, Dar- 
ius Wintrus, Washington Thomas. 

The present officers of the Post are : Po.st 
Commander. James Rubei.dall ; Senior Vice Com- 
mander. R. B. Straw; Junior Vice Commander, 
Adjutant. R. D. Cheeseman, who is also Quiirter- 
master; Chaplain, Henry Hoy; Officer of the 
Day, David Payne; Officer of the Guard, Jacob 
Sturtevant. 

The Post was named after General Ilolden 
Putnam, one of the distinguished officers of the 
late war for the Union. 



DAVID PAYNE CAMP, SONS OF VETERANS, OF 
SHANNON 

Roster and list of members and officer's : Har- 
ve.v Rubendall. Commander ; George Trucken- 
miller, Senior Vice Commander ; Grover C. 
Truckenmiller, Junior Vice Conunander; Free- 
man A. Cook, Chaplain ; Daniel S. Hoy, Secre- 
tary; Charles Sturdevaut, Color .Sergeant; John 
C. I'arker. Sergeant of the Guard ; James Payne, 
Picket ; Alvin F. Kramer, Treasurer ; Geoa'ge 
Sturtevant, Corporal ; George H. Parker, 4th U. 
S. Regular Infantry ; Fred Cheeseman, Edward 
Truckenmiller. Robert L. Miller, Hanry A. AVliit- 
acre. William Straw. Charles Truckenmiller, Bell 
lOverett Boyle. Charles W. Hoy, Charles Stewart, 
Joseph Sturdevaut, Arthur Rubendall and Geo. 
C. Ewing. [From a book called "Life and 
Ciril War Services of Edward A. Straub of Co. 
B, 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry," now of Shannon, 
written by himself. Published by Yewdale & 
Sons Co., Milwaukee, 1909.] TTie camp was 
named after David Payne, one of the members 
of Holden Putnam Po.st, G. A. R. The camp at 
this writing has disbanded and surrendered its 
charter. It is to be hoiked it may sometime be 
revived. 




Miri'CAl,!' IIAIJ.. FliAXCKS SIlIMi;!! SCIIOOl,, M'l'. CAKUol.l, 




SCENE ACHOSS THE CAMl'lS. FKAXCES SHLMER .SCHOOL. M'l' (Aliltdl.l. 



THE HEW TOm 
PUBLIC LIBRARY 






HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



687 



HOLDEN PUTNAM W. R. C. NO. ISo 

Mrs. Aunie Yoid.v kindly furnishps tlio follow- 
ing information in regard to this Corps. 

It was organized at Shannon. June 2'.)th, ISOl, 
with eighteen members and the following of- 
ficers: Annie Yord.v, President; Wealthy Smith, 
Senior Vice ; Mrs. J. Frye. Junior Vice ; Mrs. J. 
Kehm, Treasurer; I.uella ICehni, Secretary; 
Belle Payne, Conductor; Lucy Payne, Guard. 

Members : Miss Ines Humbert. Mrs. J. C. At- 
kins. Mrs. Rebecca Unger, Miss Mary Kreamer, 
Mrs. A. C. Machamer, Mrs. A. W. Babb, Mrs. D. 
L. Humbert, Mrs. J. A. Leonard, Mrs. R. D. 
Clieeseman, Mrs. A. Reynolds and Mrs. George 
Byers. 

Other Members: Fannie Good, Kate Spatz, 
Kate Boyle, Maggie Reddingtou, Lottie Miller, 
Harriet Suavely, Mrs. Cook, Ella Whitmore, 
Anna Miller, Rose Reddington, Mrs. Kennedy. 

From Mr. Straub's book, above referred to, we 
copy this tribute to the Woman's Relief CoriJS : 

"Our indispensable auxiliary, the Woman's Re- 
lief Corps, continues to do beneficial work. They 
encourage many of the Posts, some of which 
would have disbanded but for their encour,age-. 
nient and assistance. Their charity is broad and 
the organized efforts of the faithful members 
in teaching patriotism is bearing fruit. Mrs. 
Mary G. Linc-oln, Department President, has been 
untiring in her noble efforts to build up our 
worthy auxiliary. This eminent lady has visited 
all parts of the Department and has done iutel- 
ligent and effective work wherever she has gone. 
For her ability, her zeal and kindly courtesy, so 
ably supported by that baud of noble, self-sac- 
rificing women, we desire to exi>ress not alone 
the thanks of Holden Putnam Post, but the 
appreciation and thanks of the entire Depart- 
ment." 



mander, M. II. Judd ; Senior Vice Commander, 
I). N. McLaughlin ; Junior Vice Commauder, Con- 
rad Frederick ; Chaplain, Henry Sack ; Quarter- 
master, J. R. Lamb; Surgeon, Adam Koehler; 
Officer of the Day, Henry Ilolmadel ; Officer of 
the Guard, John Schreiuer; Adjutant, Harrison 
Kcckler; Quartermaster Sergeant, Nicholas Mil- 
ler; Sergeant Major, Henry Dambmau. 

Other charter members were: C. L. Hostetter, 
(Jeorge Eekhart, Le^i Ganger, George Alteuse, 
and Henry Loechel. 

Other members: Fred Diehl, P. C.j Samuel 
Nettleton, John Davis, John Schleining, Jesse 
Hill, J. II. Green, Balser Appel, David Wressell, 
Henry Traum, Charles D. Camp, David H. Grim, 
Christian Bauchmau, Henry Hartman, Peter 
Rahn, W. B. Delano, R. H. Foster, John Ever- 
hart, George Bitner, Jerry George, Robert Gra- 
ham, Conrad Schleining. 

Past Post C-ommanders : M. II. Judd, Henry 
Sack, Harrison Keckler, Charles D. Camp and 
Fred Diehl. 

The Post was named after the late Dr. John 
L. Hostetter of Mount Carroll, Surgeon of the 
:!4th Illinois V. I., in which regiment many of the 
comrades served through the war. Dr. Hostetter 
afterward became surgeon of the Brigade. 
- This, the youngest post in the county, has had 
regular nionthly meetings for many years, but 
as their numbers have decreased and the infirmi- 
ties of advanced age have prevented some from 
attending, the meetings are held quarterly, on 
the fourth days of the mouths of January, Aprit, 
July and October. Si>ecial meetings .are held in 
anticipation of Decoration Day, which is always 
fittingly observed with appropriate services. Ten 
survivors are all that are left of the original 
thirty-seven members. 



UK. JOHN" L. HOSTETTER rO.ST G. A. R. 



THE WOMAN S RELIEF CORPS OF CHADWICK 



The followiMg information was obtained 
through the assistance of Comrade Freil Diehl, 
late Commander of the Post. 

Dr. John L. Hostetter Post, No. 785, was organ- 
ized at Chadwick, Illinois, August 18th, 1897. 
Captain W. H. Wildey, P. C. of Mount Carroll, 
with authority from the Department Mustering 
Officer, assisted by Captain E. T. E. Becker, 
mustered the following named ex-soldiers and 
they selected their first officers as follows : Com- 



These ladies are in hearty sympathy with the 
old soldiers, and assist them on every occasion 
that opix)rtunity presents. Not an old soldier 
pa.sses away, but what their loving hands place 
upon his bier beautiful flowers, and they an- 
nually assist in decorating the old soldiers' 
graves with these tokens of friendsliij) in a 
spirit of charity and lo.valty. The following 
are the names of the members of the corps and 
its officers. 



688 



HISTORY OP CARROLL COUNTY 



HOSTETTEE CORPS. >'0. 150, OF CHADWICK 

The corps was iustituted April otU, 1002, by 
Mrs. Ida E. Palmer, Senior Aide of Chicago, with 
17 charter members, as follows : 

Susie B. Foster, Bertha H. Garwielj, Eliza- 
beth DieUI, Ella Spealmau. Catherine Zug- 
schwerdt. Sarah Green, Lucetta Ganger. Lnviea 
Sack, Augusta Dambman, Mary Handel, Katie 
Sacli Rahu, Edna M. Kingery, Amelia Saeli 
Spealman, Harriett Rummel, Mae Harris, Emma 
Hohnadel, Katie Dambman. 

We now have a membership of eighteen with 
the following officers: President, Catharine 
Zugschwerdt ; Senior Vice, Loviea Sack ; Junior 
Vice, Ella Spealman; Secretary, Nettie Sack; 
Treasurer, Mamie C. Curley ; Chaplain, Maggie 
Garwick ; Conductor, Katie Dambman; Assistant 
Conductor, Clara Grove; Guard, Augusta Damb- 
man ; Assistant Guard, Bertha Spencer ; Color 
Bearers, Xos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, Mary Handel, Emma 
Honadel, Katie Sack Kahu, Elizabeth Diehl ; Pa- 
triotic Instructor, Edna M. Kingery ; Press Cor- 
respondent, Amelia Spealman ; Musician, Edna 
B. Hicks ; Aides, Catharine Zugschwerdt, Clara 
Grove and Edna Hicks. 

The Past Presidents are as follows: Susie 
Foster and Clara Grove. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS SOCIETY OF 
CARROLL COUNTY. 



elected as the tirst Colonel or presiding officer and 
John S. Hall, Adjutant or secretary. Sixty-live 
comrades signed the constitution and by-laws. 

The next meeting was held at Mount Carroll ; 
the records say dinner was served by the citi- 
zens of Mount Carroll at twelve o'clock and all 
soldiers with their families and a number of 
citizens partook of a bountiful repast. 

Savanna was selected as the next meeting 
place and Major George A. Root of Lanark was 
elected Colonel and Comrade B. J. Murray of 
Savanna. Adjutant. The next and fourtli meet- 
ings were held at MilledgeviUe. 

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MONUMENT 

At this meeting the Hon. D. W. Dame of Lan- 
ark, spoke in regard to building a Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Monument and offered the following pre- 
amble and resolution: "Whereas Carroll County 
has as much interest in keeping green the mem- 
ory of the lieroie dead of this county who fell 
in defense of the Union, as our sister counties 
of our state which have already erected soldiers 
monuments or memorial halls at their several 
county seats or elsewhere. Therefore be it re- 
solved : That the soldiers and citizens of Car- 
roll County assembled at Milledgevlle in this 
annual reunion hereby inaugurate the movement 
for building a soldiers monument for Carroll 
County. 

"That a monument committee consisting of 
one from each township be now named, whose 
duty it shall be to select five persons to be known 
as the C^irroll County Soldiers Monument Com- 
mittee, to carry this resolution into effect." 

COMMITTEE APPOINTED 



ORGANIZED AT LANARK — MILLEDGEVILLE MEETING — 
MONUMENT COMMITTEE^ACTION OF THE COUNTY 

BOARD COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY BOARD — BE- 

POBT OF JOINT COMMITTEE — DEDICATION OF THE 

MONUMENT THE PROCESSION — ^THE SPEECHES 

HISTORY OF THE MONUMENT — INSCRIPTION.S 

THE STATUES — HEIGHT OF MONUMENT — REUNION 
' MEETINGS — SAVANNA SELECTED AS PLACE OF 
-MEETING. 

The Soldiers and Sailors Reunion Society of 
Carroll County was organized at Lanark, Octo- 
ber 2.3rd, 1884. Captain E. T. E. Be<'ker was 



The nominating committee reported the fol- 
lowing names: D. W. Dame of Lanark. L. F. 
Eastabrooks of Wysox. W. H. Griffith of Savanna, 
George F. Bucher of Mount Carroll and John H. 
Taylor of York. 

At the next meeting, which was held at Shan- 
non. Captaiu W. H. Wildey was elected Colonel. 
The fifth meeting was held at Lanark and Don 
R. Frazer was elected Colonel, and Levi Clark, 
Adjutant. The next meeting was a basket pic- 
nic at Mount Carroll and the seventh meeting 
was also held there. Here L. T. Bra.v was 
elected Colonel and George E. Fuller of Savanna, 
Adjutant. At this meeting three members were 
added to the Monument Connnittee as follows : 



HISTORY OB^ CARROLL COUNTY 



689 



C. L. Ilostetter of Salem, Eli Lower of Hock 
Creek, ami George E. Fuller of Savaniui. 
On motion it was decided that the Soldiers' 
Monument bo located on the Court House Square 
if jterniissiDn cnuld lie had from the Board of 
Supervisors. The committee was instnu-tod to ^'ct 
such permission and got such aid as they Ihouglit 
best. Alter this meeting the eommitteo got busy, 
and tlie eightli annual reunion, which was to 
have been held in Savanna, was changed to 
Mount Carroll, so that the association might 
participate in the dedication of the monument. 

.\CTI0.N OF THK BO.\Rn OF SUPER\1S0RS 

The following appears to have been the ac- 
tion Of the Board of Supervisors with reference 
to the building of the monument. At the Scj)- 
tember term, 1S!)0, on motion of Mr. Cook of 
Shannon, it was ordered that this board grant 
pernnssion to the Soldiers and Sailors Associ- 
ation of this county to erect a monument to the 
memory of the soldiers and sailors of Carroll 
Ciiunty, In the court house square. 

COMXinrKK Al"l'OINTKl> HY COUNTY BOARD 

At a meeting of the Board, September 10th, 
1S90, on motion of Mr. Sprecher of Rock Creek, 
seconded by Mr. Lewis of York, a conmiittee of 
three from the Board of Supervisors was ap- 
pointed to act with the committee of the Sail- 
ors and Soldiers As.sociation. to ascertain what 
a suitable monument would cost and what would 
be suitable action to take in the premises. The 
chairman of the board. C. L. Hostetter, apiiointed 
as such conmiittee. Louis II. Sprecher of Rock 
Cl'eek. Norman Lewis of York and William .J. 
Ilay of Wiiodhind Iciwiiship. 



RESULT OF AX ELECTION 



Mr. 

the 



At the December meeting of the board 
Sprecher, chairman of the committee of 
County Board, i-eported the result of the elec- 
tion in regard to the county building a soldiers' 
monument out of a total vote of 2,051. 1.942 voted 
for an appropriation of six thousand dollnrs to 
build a nioiiumcnt and 700 against. 

STATES attorney's lUiPORT ADVERSE 

Tlie States Attorney was called upon for bis 
opiiiiiin as to the legality of such an appropria- 



tion and he reiwrted that the statute does not 
authorize the County Board to make an appro- 
priation for any such purpose. (A few years 
later, however, the Illinois legislature passed an 
act autliorizing counties to erect monuments or 
iiieniorial buildings in honor of their Soldiers 
,uid Sailors. R. S. Chap. 34, Sec. 115.) 

The report of the committee was accepted and 
the committee continued for furtlier action. 

REPORT OF THE JOINT COM.MITTEE 

.Vt tlie February session of the Board of Su- 
liervisors (1S91) the joint committee of the Sol- 
diers Association and the committee of the board 
of supervisors made a lengthy report to the 
board of supervisors, stating that they had here- 
tofore been appointed to enquire into and report 
in relation to building a soldiers' monument to 
be erected on the public ground adjacent to the 
court house in Mount Carroll, thai Uiey bad 
solicited from designers and mamil'aclurcrs of 
inonuiueuts to present for their inspection de- 
signs for monuments such as was desired, that 
eight designs were submitted, that they had con- 
cluded nixm the selection of a design presented 
liy (ieorge IL Mitchell of Chicago. Seven of the 
committee's names are signed to this repnrt. 

ACTION OF THE BOARD 

The same committee offered a preamlilc and 
i'es<ilnlion to this effect: Whereas, at an election 
held in the county on the 4th of November, ISOO, 
it was voted and carried by a large majority in 
favor of an appropriation of si.x thousand dol- 
lars to erect uixm the public grounds belonging 
to said county at the city of Mount Carroll, a 
soldiers' monument, suitable and appropriate, to 
the memory of the brave and patriotic soldiers 
and sailors, furnished by said county for the 
Union armies and navy in the late civil war and 
in pulting down the rebellion, Tlierefore 

RE.SOI.ITION MAKING THE Al'l'HOl'llI ATION 

lie it resolved: That we the Board of Sniiervisors 
of Carroll County, believing in the project and 
favoring the eminent propriety and fitness of 
such a inonnment and acting in obedience to the 
expressed will of the patriotic citizens of said 
county • ■ • we therfore, hereby appropriate 
tlie sum of six thousand dollars to be expended 



690 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



in the improvement of the public Court House 
Grounds in Mount Carroll by erecting thereon 
such monument, to be built in accordance with 
plans selected by the committee heretofore ap- 
pointed"- for that purixjse, to he completed and 
ready for unveiling on some day in October, 
1S91. 

Mr. Sprecher. member of the Board from Rock 
Ci'eek, moved the adoption of the resolution and 
called for the ayes and uayes. the same was car- 
ried, nine voting in the affirmative and five in 
the negative. 

On the 30th of March, a contract was made 
with Mr. Mitchell and executed on behalf of the 
county by C. L. Hostetter. Chairman of the 
Board of Supervisors. 

DEDICATION OF THE MONUMENT 

The unveiling and dedication of the Soldiers" 
Monument was a great event for Carroll County. 
These ceremonies were apix)inted by the Board 
of Sui^ervisors to take place October Cth, 1891, 
twenty years ago. 

SCHOOLS GIVEN A HOLIDAY 

The Board requested that the schools of the 
county be given a holiday for the purpose of 
permitting the teachers and pupils to attend. 
John H. Grossman, then county superintendent 
of schools, issued a notice to the above effect, 
that headquarters for pupils, teachers and school 
officers would be at the Mount Carroll high 
school buildings. That well filled lunch baskets 
should be brought along; that railroad tickets 
could be procured at reduced rates. 

BUSINESS HOUSES CLOSED 

Mayor Glotfelty of Lanark and the mayor of 
Savanna issued proclamations urging the busi- 
ness men to close their places of business from 
eight o'clock a. ui. to seven p. m., so as to per- 
mit everybody to attend the dedication of the 
monument. 

The Savanna Journal. F. S. Greenleaf editor, 
of October 8th, 1801, gives this account of the 
dedication. "Tuesday was probably the most im- 
portant day in the history of Mount Carroll 
. . . everybody was there. Eight coaches were 
loaded at Savanna ; a large delegation came from 
Thomson, and from Lanark and h'hannon came 



many more . . . had the day been pleasant 
there would, probably have been half as many 
more; as it was there were at least five thousand 
people in the city. [The city was beautifully 
decorated with flags and bunting. Two delicate 
arches spanned the streets in front of the monu- 
ment on which were flags and a banner in- 
scribed. "Loyalty."] 

THE PROCESSION 

The Savanna band headed the procession fol- 
lowed by the Grand Army Posts, the Uniformed 
Rank Knights of Pythias, the Select Knights 
of America and the Savanna Hose Company No. 
2, making five handsomely uniformed organiza- 
tions, "and we may say that this c-onstituted 
quite as fine and extensive a showing as was pre- 
sented."' including of course numerous citizens 
who brought up the rear. Lanark and Shan- 
non and Thomson were all represented and in 
fact every town in the county was there. In the 
parade were the school children from all over 
the county in line with the Mount Carroll schools. 
Altogether the parade was a fine showing of 
what Carroll County can do when occasion re- 
qiiires. Excellent preparations had been made 
for the entertainment of the visitors. Beside 
the regular hotels there were several places 
where meals were served by the church women 
and not only was the fare offered the very best 
Init the prices were reasonable. 

THE SPEECHES 

About two o'clock the great crowd began to 
gather in the Court House park to listen to the 
siieeches. Uiwn the platform were Congressman 
Hitt, State Auditor Pavey. and James I. Neff 
of the State Board of Equalization, and a great 
many others of local note. The Honorable H. S. 
Clarke, the orator of the day, could not be pres- 
ent. The welcoming address was delivered by 
the mayor of the city, the Honorable X. H. Mel- 
eudy. and responded to l)y Mr. Neff. The ad- 
dress to the soldiers was given by Hon. J. M. 
Hunter. Mr. Pavey's address followed, "which 
seemed to interest the i>eople more than any 
other." 

HISTORY OF THE MONUMENT 

This paper <'urther reports that, C. L. Hostet- 
ter. chairman of the committee appointed by 



-^^^■^^^^H^^^^^^^^^pr- 




B. mf^ ^S9l 


kr 


• 





^nLJ^ 



t-ry^ Ci--n'-<- 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



691 



the Soldiers iuid Sailoi-s Assdciation, iirosented 
a report, giving a history of tlicir aotioii, iu sub- 
stance as follows. At the first nitK-ting of the 
joint eomniitlee of the Soldiers' and Sailors' and 
Supervisors' connnittee. the Hon. U. W. Dame 
was elected chairman, George F. Bucher Secre- 
tary and C. L. I-Iostetter, Treasurer. A sub-com- 
mittee consisting of Messrs. Sprecher, Griffith 
and Ilostetter. was appointed to solicit funds for 
the biiildiiig of the monument witli authority to 
appoint committeos in each township. On motion 
of Jlr. Hay it was ordered that a committee be 
apixiinted to make arrangements to have u vote 
taken at the November election, upon the ques- 
tion of an appropriation to be made by the coun- 
ty board not to exceed six thousand dollars for 
l)uilding a soldiers' monument. The chairman 
appointed as such committee, William J. Ila.v of 
AN'oodlnnd. ICli ly. Lower of Rock Creek, and 
("eorge E. Fuller of Savanna. The further ac- 
tion of this committee will be found in the pre- 
ceding lines. 

DESCKIPTIOX OF TIIK MONfMEXT 

The foundation, which is made of native lime- 
stone, is eight feet deep in the ground, and was 
built liy .Tosiali Schamel, a veteran stone mason 
of Mount Carroll. The first base, which is one 
immtnsc stone is the lieaviest piece iu the monu- 
ment; the other two bases aad-.the shaft, which 
is nineteen feet high, are eadi one solid stone. 
They are made of Barre granite from Vermont. 
On the front face of the cap-stone is a wreath: 
on the lower i^art of tlie shaft, front face, is a 
Tnited States flag, musket cap and cartridge 
box, knapsack and canteen, all grouped together; 
on the reverse side is the G. A. It. badge. 

INSCBIPTION.S ox THE MOMMENT 

On the front of the die: 

C.vRBOLL County 

TO THE MEMORY OF THE MEN WHO SAVRT* TIIK 

I-XIOX THAT THEIK EXAMPLE MAY SPEAK 

TO COMING CEXERATIOXS 

On the other three sides of the die are the 
names of soldiers and sailors who enlisted from 
Carroll County, giving their regiments and com- 
pany. 

On the frieze, at the lower part of the cap, 
front side above the die: 

Slavery Auolisueu 



On the rear : 

I'EACE KESTOREU 

On either side in front : 

Courage — Endurance 

On the front face of the shaft iilinlh. cut in 
raised letters : 

18G1— 1865 

On the reverse: 

Erected A. D. ISOl 

The names of twelve liattles, three on each 
side of the shaft, in raised letters: 



DONELSON 

NASHVILLE 
WILDERNESS 

STONE RIVER 



SHILOII 
ATLANTA 
EESACA 



VICKSm-RG 
cmCKAMAUGA 

GETTYSBURG 
E COEINTII 



On the four sides of the upper statue plinth 
are eight corps badges, in all of which corps 
Carroll County was represented by volunteers. 

1st Army Corps 

(Round figure) 

4th Army Corps 

(Triangle) 
14th Army Corps 

(Acorn) 

15th Army Corps 

(Cartridge box) 

IGth Army Corps 

(Round figure) 

17th Army Cordis 

(Arrow) 
20th Army Corps 

(Star) 

2rird Army Corps 

(Shield) 

THE STATUES 

The statuary consists of three pieces represent- 
ing the Infantry, the Cavalry, and the standard 
hearer on top of the monument. The first 
two are six feet seven Indies high and are made 
of fine grained red Westerly granite. The upper 
statue or standard bearer measures ten feet to 
top of standard. 

The statue facing n(u-lli, re|>resenting a cav- 
alry man. was designed and wrought for this 
monument i)y the sculptor, I^rado Taft, of Chi- 
cago. Lewis n. Sprecher of Lanark made 



692 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



several trips to Chicago and ilonuing liis cav- 
alry iinifonii anil accoutrements there, iwsed 
as a model for tliis statue. It is a very fine 
worlv of art. 

?C.\MES OF THE SOLDIERS .\ND SAILORS 

There was not room for all the names of the 
soldiers on the monument. Tlirough the efforts 
of .Tohu S. Hall, later County Surveyor, who was 
a veteran in the Union army and a prisoner at 
Andersonville prison, the board of supervisors 
erected near the monument two columns with an 
arch spanning the interval hetween them, which 
was also the design of Mr. Hall. On these col- 
umns the additional names were cut, ],2S4 in all. 

From tlie working plan of the monument it is 
forty-nine feet and three inches high, the con- 
ti-actor having increased the size of several of the 
stones above the i-ecpiirc^ments of the contract. 
Counting a few inches of the foundation above 
the ground it is practically fifty feet high. 

It is said by evei-j' one who has seen it to he 
a very imixising and beautiful luonunient. 

REUNIONS 
SAVANN.\ MEETING 

At the business' meeting of the Association on 
the day of the dedication of the monument. Sav- 
anna was selected for the next, the 0th meet- 
ing. Lieutenant Colonel W. P. Robb was 
promoted to the rank of Colonel and Jacob S. 
Wright was elected Adjutant. The meeting was 
at Savanna Sept. 15th, 1802. Headquarters were 
provided where the c<3nirades registered and were 
provided with meal tickets for themselves and 
families. They had a sjilendid parade at this 
meeting, composed of veterans and other organi- 
zations, part of the Savanna Fire Department 
and the children of the Savanna schools in holi- 
day attire. Senator Shelby JI. Culloni was the 
orator of the day. followed by General Smith D. 
Atkins and the venerable Chaplain Cartwrigbt of 
Oregon. I'jion invitation of the comrades at 
Milledgeville that jjlace was selected for the next 
meeting. George F. Bucher was promoted to the 
oHice of Colonel and Comrade H. T. Healy of 
Milledgeville was elected Adjutant. 

MILLEDGEVILLE MEETING 

The 10th meeting was held at Milledgeville 
Sept. 27th, 189.3. Kridler Tost, assisted by the 
patriotic citizens of Aiilledgeville, had erected an 



arch spanning tlie four corners of the main 
streets from which hung suspended in large let- 
ters, "Welcome Comrades." A parade was 
formed and marched through the princiijal 
streets of the village. It was headed by the 
Kagle Point Band, speakers in carriages. Hawk 
Post of Savanna, Nase Post, Mount Carroll, IIol- 
den Putnam Post, Shannon Woman's Relief 
Corps, Shiloh Post 8.5 of Lanark and their Relief 
Corps, Kridler Post of Milledgeville, Plum River 
Drum Corps, probably the iloore brothers. 
Ilarlyn and Jacob, who iliil no niucli when they 
were lads, with their drum and life to arouse 
the patriotism of the people during war times: 
tl en followed the Milledgeville school children 
and the Milledgeville Cornet band, Camp !)('>. P. 
<». S. of A. 

SHANNON MEETING 

.Vt the business meeting a motion was made 
to dispense with the parade which was lost. 
Shannon was selected as the place for the next 
meeting George E. Fuller of Savanna was elected 
Colonel and John A. Leonard, Adjutant, One 
hundred and sixty -one comrades registered at the 
Shannon meeting and were given tickets for din- 
ner. Comra<le .J. S. Wright of Savanna was 
elected Colonel and B. S. Gaff, Adjutant, Meet- 
ing adjourned to meet in Lanark, 1S05. An old 
time camp fire was held in the evening consisting 
of songs and short speeches, closing by singing 
Marcliing Through Georgia. 

LA .\ ARK MEETING 

The 12tli meeting was held at Lanark. General 
D. .Vtkins delivering the annual address. .Miss 
Wright, daughter of the presiding officer, Col. 
J. S. Wright, rendered a patriotic poem entitled 
The Siege of Corinth. Horace T. Healy was pro- 
moted to Colonel and Comrade E. T. Cole of Mt. 
Carroll was elected Adjutant, and Alt. Carroll 
selected as the next place for meeting. 

.MOUNT CARROLL MEETING 

M this meeting, the l.^th annual reunion, the 
register showed 100 soldiers and sailors present. 
The parade of the old soldiers was joined at the 
school building by 42.5 of the school children each 
with a flag. The address was delivered in the 
opera house by W. G. Cochran, Department 
Commander. J. A. Leonard of Shannon was 
promoted to Colonel and M. 11, Judd of Chad- 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



693 



wick was ulcrltsl Ailjutaiit ami I'liadwitk si'lcnt- 
cd as tlu> plarc for tlic next nieetiii!;. 



Willi the lii'ld ollicers; (ho niliiutes are signed 
liy Geogi-e J. Eliui, Adjutant. 



CIIADWKK MEKTINO 

Ai this, lli(> mil meeting, six less registered 
tliaii at the last meeting. Colonel .7. A. Sexton 
of Chicago, delivered tlie address. Hon 1{. R. 
Ilitt and General Smitli D. AtUins also s|Kike. 
B. S. Ooff was proniotetl to Colonel and J. It. 
Uoliinson of Savanna was elected Adjutant and 
Savanna chosen as the next place of meeting. 

SECOND SAVANNA MEETIXG 

The l.'th meeliiig was held there. Two hun- 
dred and thirty-one old soldiers and s;ulors regis- 
tered, which was. perhaps, the largest number 
that ever registered at any of these meetings. 
The registration was not confined to old soldiers 
of Carroll County, many took pleasure in attend- 
ing from adjoining counties and from Iowa ; 
some came longer distances to attend these re- 
iMiioiis. K. T. E. Cole was promoted to Colonel 
and \y. D. X. Cone of Tliomson was elected 
.\djntant. 



SAVANNA MEETINGS 

The lOtli. and all subsequent meetings, have 
been held at Savanna. The following have been 
the Colonels or presiding ofhcers : George J. Khni, 
.Tohn A. Itobison, Lewis II. Sprecher. Frank 
Kearney, (Jeorge Noble, C. I-. Ilostetter, It. B. 
Straw, C. S. Wiley; and the Adjutants: J. R. 
rJol>inson for two years, and B. Holland for last 
five years ; until the 2Sth animal reunion. August 
24th, 1011, J. P. Plattenberg was the presiding 
Colonel ; B. Holland was elected Colonel for the 
ensuing year and George E. Fuller, Adjutant. 

These meetings have been a source of great 
pleasure to the old soldiers. They give them au 
opportunity to meet old comrades whom they 
otherwise would not see. At the last meeting at 
Savanna they were all taken to ride in automo- 
biles, through the city and into the country. Their 
smiling faces indicated the pleasure it was to 
them. 



THOMSON MEKTINC; 

The Itltli reunion was held at 'Jliomson, Sep- 
tember 21st. ]8!)n. Hon II. U. Ilitt deliveretl 
the address. .M. II. .Tudd was promoted to Col- 
onel, and W. W. Stevens, of Milledgeville, was 
eleclcil .\djulanl. 



CHAI'TEU IX. 



OARKOI>L COUXTY, I.MI'ROVEMEXT AND 
PROGRESS. 



TWO .MEETINCS AT .\I I I.I.KDGEVII.LE 

At the time appointed the weather was not 
favorable for a large meeting. .Mrs. F. O. Mc- 
Cleland, president of the Illinois Department of 
the Woman's Relief Corps delivered the address. 
The ISth meeting was held at Milledgeville, 
September lltli. 1001. The meeting was called 
to order by J. R. Robinson, Colonel, presiding. 
The address was delivered liy the late Hon. 
Alfred Bayles. State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction. 

At this meeting the holding of annual reunions 
at some point in the county easily reacheil by 
rail was agitated and a motion was adopted, that 
nil future meetings be held in Savanna. W. D. 
N. Cone of Thomson was promoted to Colonel 
and the appointment of an Adjutant was left 



STAGE I.INE.S — PBAIRIE FIBES — FINANCES — COUNTY 

INCOKPOBATED — CENSUS 1840 — CENSUS 1910 

DECKEASE ACCOUNTED FOB — ^FORMER CITIZENS 

SCATTERED — EMIGRATION PROGRESS THE 

THRESHINGS — ^TIIE HANNEB COBN COUNTY — 

COUNTY OFFICEBS — RAILROADS. VALUATION 

BUBAL ROUTES — ^\ALUATION OF PROPERTY — TAXES. 

The lirsl scttlcniciit of the ccjuMiy was at S:iv- 
anna, soon after Elklioru Grove was settled, fol- 
lowed by settlements at Cherry Grove, where be- 
fore the land was surveyed there was a com- 
pleted highway from Dixon to Galena, wliicli 
was the main traveled line from Galena to Chi- 
cago, and at that time the latter was the less 
important town of the two. Crane's fort was 



694 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



located on this road and Iroui here Thomas 
Crano carried tlie tirst mail to Freejiort. This 
road extended south as far as Peoria where pas- 
sengers lauded from steamboats from the east. 
At the Cherry Grove station on this road W. A. 
J. Pierce's father, John Pierce, kept the stage 
horses; he was also postmaster there for three 
or four years. 

STAGE LINES 

The stoppiug places for the coaches, in this 
county, were Garner's and Sample Journey's near 
Elkhorn Grove and Mitchell's upon Plum river. 
The line was afterward established ou what was 
later called the old telegraph road, named so 
from the fact that the first telegraph line through 
the comity was built on this road from Dixon 
through Mount Carroll to Galena. The stations 
on these stage lines were usually about twenty 
miles apart, some more, some less. The drivers 
changed horses at stations. When teams were 
fresh they were put on the longer stations and 
when worn and tired they would put them on 
the shorter routes. They got behind time in 
tho.se days in crossing sloughs and sometimes 
were delayed until it got dark and the drivers 
would get lost and c-ould not find the places 
where the sloughs were pas.sable, and would not 
get into the station until the second day. In 
vain the few Inhabitants of these stations and 
perhaps waiting travelers, listened for the toot of 
the horn with which the drivers took pleasure in 
awakening the echoes of the surrounding coun- 
try. 

PRAIRIE FIRES 

Some times the stages would be delayed by 
prairie fires, in passing them there was great 
danger ; at many places along the route, it was 
prairie as far as the eye could see from the top 
of the coach. Tlie upland gi-ass was about two 
feet high while the bottom lands were covered 
with grass, which in many places was tall 
enough to hide a horse and rider. In this wild 
grass were many beautiful flowers. This bouquet 
of wild flowers stretched out on evei-y side and 
filled the air with fragrance. But this stretch of 
grass and flowers, so beautiful in summer, be- 
came a source of great danger, as soon as it was 
killed by the frosts of atumn. When dry this 
heavy covering, some times the accumulation of 
several years, if set on fire, burned with great 



rapidity, and the fire swei)t over the prairies and 
there was nothing to stay its progress and there 
was great danger from it, many of the early 
settlers lost houses and crops in these fires. For 
their protection the settlers found it necessary 
to make fire breaks, as they were called, by 
plowing furrows about a fourth of a mile apart, 
and, when it was very dry and still, burn the 
grass between the furrows, yet in a furious wind 
the tumble weeds, that were entangled in the 
grass, when set free by the fire, rose by force 
of the heat high into the air and were blown long 
distances often across the fire-breaks. The 
flames traveled with incredible rapidity and not 
only shot up fifty to a hundred feet in height, but 
spread over one hundred to three hundred feet 
in width on the ground according to the force of 
the wind, driving all before them. The deer 
were sometimes seen fleeing before the flames 
when becoming exhausted, they would turn and 
make a break to pass through this cordon of fire 
and smoke. In the fall of the year the air w-as 
often filled with the smoke of the burning prair- 
ies and the horizon would be lighted here and 
there during the night by prairie fires. Some- 
times the red batallious of flames could be seen 
in the distance as they swept widely across the 
prairies. They would continue to rage for days, 
until a rain put them out or made the grass so 
wet it would not burn. They did great damage 
where they passed over patches of bushes or 
young trees burning them to the ground. These 
autumnal fires were probably the cause of our 
treeless prairies, a young forest could not with- 
stand their ravages. Tlie only defense a settler 
had was the fire-break, if perchance they crossed 
this boundary the only remedy was to beat out 
the fire with bundles of bushes, usually cut from 
hazel thickets, but that was very hot and ex- 
hausting work. 

PANAMA 

On the Savanna branch of the road spoken of 
called then the Savana and Kockford road, in 
1837, the ground where the fairground now is. 
a mile south of Mount Carroll, was laid out into 
tovra lots by Samuel Bailiss, a Virginian, who 
called it after the capitol of his native state, 
Richmond. A few cheap houses were built and 
occupied, this was probably the place that was 
nicknamed Slab City. A jwst oflice was located 
here in 1840 with Charles G. Hawley as post 




PARTS (»1- METCALF, HATHAWAY, COLLECE AND WEST HALLS TENNIS COURT, 
FKAXC'ES SHnn:K SCHOOL. MT. CARROLL 




OEARHOHN IIAi.l. AM) ( ANNA li|-,l)>. liiANC I-..- >1 1 1 \1 1 .1; M ll()(<L, Ml i \l;l;i'I.L 



y^ 




HISTORY OP CARROLL COUNTY 



695 



master aiul the iilace renamed Panama, as the 
state already had a Uiolimoud post office. The 
Whigs coming into power in 1S41 were com- 
mitted to relrenchmout of expenditures and 
post olflces not paying expenses were discontin- 
ued, this incinded I'auania, a very I'amiliar name 
now to the American people. 

The next year (1842) Mount Carroll was 
started and the mill built, and this completed the 
downfall of Richmond. 

FINAN'CES 

The following incident illustrates the early 
financial c-oudition of the county. In 1S;!7 Moses 
Hallett, who was sheriff of Jo Daviess County, 
the father of James and Bartlett Hallett, old 
settlers of Mount Carroll, came to Cherry Grove 
hunting jurors to attend the circuit court at 
(Jalena. He summoned Samuel Preston's father 
to attend court as a juror. Mr. Preston, after 
spending a week with no prospect of getting 
through, appealed to Judge Stone to be excused. 
The pay of jurors was one dollar per day ; he 
received a county order for six dollars but he 
found it nearly worthless as the country had 
been flooded the year before with "wild cat 
money." but he found a merchant who would al- 
low him twelve and a half cents on the dollar In 
store goods, and he took for his six dollar order 
a ix)und of stocking yarn valued at «eventy-five 
cents. This with similar incidents furnished 
good reasons for erecting a new county out of 
this part of Jo Daviess, when jurors had to 
travel forty miles to attend court and lor a 
week's service did not draw suHicieut money to 
IKiy their expenses at court for one day. 

TIIK COl'NTY INCOIirOHATEI) 

A petition was presented in the house of rep- 
resentatives December 31st, 1838, by Mr. Kent 
asking for the formation of a new county out of 
a part of .To Daviess County. The petition was 
referred to the committee on counties, which re- 
iwrted a bill .January ]!)th, 183!), for an act to or- 
ganize Carroll County. This bill was reported by 
Mr. Moore reiiresentative from McLetui County. 
The boundaries were originally the same as now. 
The half townships of Shannon, Lima and Elk- 
horn Grove were att;iched to Ogle ('ounty by a 
section of the bill. In 1851 a bill was i>iisse<l at- 
taching those half towns to Carroll County, but a 



vote of the people occupying those hall' tmvn- 
shiiis failed to conlirm it. 

CENSUS 1840 

In 1840 Carroll County had within her bor- 
ders 1,023 persons of all ages, of these two were 
engaged in mining, 282 farming, 15 were store 
keepers, 31 were manufacturers, 7 were engaged 
in professional labors. There was one Revolu- 
tionary War pensioner. Tliere were four schools 
with aiwut one hundred scholars, eight persons 
over twenty years of age. who could not read or 
write. During this year our neighboring coun- 
ty of Jo Daviess held in Umdage. six persons 
as slaves. 

CENSUS 1010, nECRKASE ACCOUNTED FOB 

By the census of 1010 Carroll County has 18,- 
035; KXlO, 18,003 and 1800, 18,320, a decrease 
during the last decade of nearly one thous;ind 
in population. This decrease in ijoinilation is 
not owing to any fault in the fertility of the soil 
or the productiveness of the farms or unremun- 
erative prices for farm products, but rather to 
its great fertility and ease of cultivation and 
over productiveness ; like a hive filled with 
lioney and an abmulanee of food, the workers 
rather than remain in idleness, have like the 
l)ees sought new fields of labor. 

Many have profited by the experience of their 
fathers, have gone west to take up more land and 
buy larger farms, than they could possibly pur- 
chase here, so that their children might have the 
advantage of the increase in value of the western 
lands, which they saw was sure to follow. Some 
have sought broader if not more fertile fields. 

FORMER CITIZENS SCATTERED 

Former citizens of Carroll County are scat- 
tered all over the United States. They have 
taken up sheep ranches and cattle ranches ou 
the great plains. Some have orange groves in 
California and some in Florida, fruit orchards 
in irrigated lands of the Xorthwestern states 
and rice farms in Louisana. 

Carroll County furnished a governor for the 
state of Kansas ; a member of congress for Bos- 
ton ; a distinguished divine for New Fngland ; 
the president of the New York Central, with a 
salary at one time, greater than that of the 



696 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



president of the United States, commenced his 
career, as a railroad emplovee, by piling wood 
for firing railroad locomotives at Thomson, Car- 
roll County. JIany have been attracted by the 
glare and bustle of the great cities and have 
buried themselves there, no doubt often longing 
for the pure air and green fields of their coun- 
try homes. 

EMIGR.\TION 

The emigration from the c-ounty has been so 
great that not enough people have been left to 
properly till the fertile farms; but for the great 
improvement in farm machinery, so that one man 
can now do the work of many, the farms could 
not be cultivated. Some day. perhaps, the tide 
of emigration will set the other way. There is no 
longer occasion for our young people to seek 
occupation elsewhere. Carroll County has great 
possibilities and unparalleled advantages, which 
will some day be utilized. It is never too dry 
like it often is in the west nor too cold like 
it always is in the north. 



The last sevent.v-five .vears have witnessed 
most amazing progress in civilizatinn. in the 
arts, and in all kinds of human activity. When 
the first settlements were made in northwestern 
Illinois, the Mississippi river was the dividing 
line between civilization and barbarism. Sixty 
years ago a skilled engineer thought it iwssible 
this great river might some day be bridged for 
railroad trains to pass over. All beyond the 
Father of Waters was a dreary wild untrod by 
whiteman's foot, e.xcept as some fearless trapper, 
in quest of game, would penetrate the abode 
of savage beast and still more savage man. The 
Indian, the buffalo and the rattlesnake were the 
undisputed occupants of the now fertile prairies, 
of the great state of Iowa. Westward the course 
of empire has taken its way even beyond the 
Pacific ocean. There is no longer any west in 
this great country. 

Xo longer do we behold the white canvased 
caravan, the prairie schooners, moving westward, 
for steam says to the emigrant, "I'll carry you 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, sooner than you 
can drive .vour o.k team from Ohio to the Mississ- 
ilijii. I'll carry your letter to London, for two 
cents, and you get an answer back in ten days 
delivered at your door. 



The wooden mouldboard of our fathers is for- 
gotten, a steel one now turns its polished sur- 
face to the soil. The sickle and the cradle have 
been superceded by the harvester, a marvel of 
ingenuity, which binds and tosses to one side the 
golden sheaves with a dexterity that seems al- 
most human. The "ten o'clock piece," and the 
"four o'clock piece," which our mothers prepared 
for the harvester!?, who had to rise early and 
work late is a thing of the past. 

The flail of onr grandfathers has been suf^r- 
ceded by the steam thrasher, which "feeds 
itself." blows the straw into mammoth barns 
or stacks it into great half moon stacks and 
sacks the golden grain three tliousand bushels 
or more in a day. 

THE THRESHINGS 

Threshing in the days of the pioneers was done 
in this manner: in a circle of about twenty feet 
in diameter the bundles of grain were set in a 
leaning position towards the center and two oxen 
or horses walking abreast tramped otit the 
grain. Some times more animals were used by 
tying the head of one horse to the tail of an- 
other and a boy rode the leader the others had 
to follow. A man stirred tip the grain until it 
was tramped out, then raked off the straw and 
piled up the grain and chaff in the middle of the 
circle. The grain had then to he winnowed from 
the chaff, a very tedious process. Later fanning 
mills were manufactured at Mount Carroll by 
Widney and Walker ; one of these machines was 
used by a large neighborhood. In 1844 Monroe 
Bailey of York brought to the county the flr.st 
effective threshing machine. This could thresh 
and clean 200 bushels of wheat in a day and was 
thought to be a very great invention. 

At these modern threshings all the neighbors 
help each other, turn about, as it reiiuires a 
great many men and teams, and the grain is 
hauled from shocks in the fields to the machine, 
which is run by a steam engine. They are the oc- 
casion of great feasts, gotten up by the farmers" 
wives, assisted also by their neighbors. A sam- 
ple of the threshers' diimers of the present day 
may be described as follows : A great long table 
that will seat twenty or more hungry men, who 
need plenty of elbow room, is literall.v loaded 
down w-ith good things to eat. For meats there 
are fried chicken, roast beef and cold ham, all 
kinds of vegetables and fruit in season, mashed 



HISTORY OP CARROLL COUNTY 



697 



IKitatui's, yi'llow with biittei- ami rronni. I'rt'sh 
wheat bread and rolls of the finest quality, and 
ilieesi'. jams, jellies, and honey and fresh butter, 
canned apricots and peaches, two kind of cake, 
angel food and rhoixjlate layer cake, jiinser 
crackers, douirlniuts, freshly fried, celery, lemon- 
ade, teil or eoffe, to conclude, two kinds of pie 
are served, two generous pieces tin each plate. 
How does this compare with the fare of a pion- 
eer, who had hannnered the grain with a flail 
all llie weary day, wheu he sat down to his 
frugal meal of bacon and hominy, or corn bread 
washed down with rye coffee. 

The .song of the spinning wheel is no longer 
lieard in the land, for steam has said to the 
good housewife. "I have a thousand fingers of 
curious shape and a delioate mechanism to do 
tliat work for you." 

THE li.V.N.NEE CORN COUNTY 

Carroll County iu the year 1911 was the banner 
coru-raising county of llliuois, which holds the 
title of the banner corn state, both having had 
the highest average per acre, llliuois for the 
fnited States, and Carroll County the higliest 
average of any county in the state. The corn 
crop is never a failure in this county, and 
raising corn and hogs and cattle, is the chief 
occupation of the people; in some sections this 
is varied, especially iu York township, where 
milking cows and selling cream to the creameries, 
is found to be the most profitable. The cream- 
eries in which many of the farmers are inter- 
ested, manufacture butter of the very best 
quality and obtain the highest price in eastern 
c-onunnnities from siiecial customers. Gathering 
the cream from the milk is now made easy and 
e-xjieditious by the use of separators which are 
iu general use among the farmers. The sweet 
skimmed, or .separator milk, is great food for 
the calves and pigs. 

PHIZES T.\KEX 

Many prizes have been taken lor llie best 
butter, at state aud national exhibitions, made 
by Carroll County farmers and Carroll County 
creameries. 

COUNTY OFFICERS 

Tile following were the ccninly officers for 
I'.in ,ind lOlL': 



County Judge, John I). Turnbangh. 
County Clerk, A. B. Adams. 
Sheriff. David B. Doty. 
Superintendent of Schools. John Ilay. 
Coroner. Dr. J. B. Schreiter. 
I'ublic Administrator. Mark S. Forbes. 
States Attorney, F. J. Strauskey. 
Circuit Clerk, Valentine Boerner. 
Probation Otiicer. II. r. Ilostetter. 
Treasurer. William II. .Stiteley. 
Master in Chancery, Chas. E. Stuart. 
Public Guardian, D. C. Smith. 
.Sui>t. County Farm. Theodore Bundy. 

■ME.MIJERS OF THE HOARD OF SUPERVI.SORS 

M. C. Radke, Chairman, Savanna. 
William J. Hay, Woodland. 
Richard A. Kersey, Cberrv (J rove. 
William S. Manning. Lima. 
Charles A. Beede. Salem. 
Smith J. Holland, York. 
F. A. Fogel. Wysox. 
J. W. Miller. Washington. 
Win Vanderbeyden. Freedom. 
William Fisber. Shannon. 
Kli I.. Lower. Hock Creek. 
William F. Snook, Mt. Carroll. 
J. A. Wright, Fair Haven. 
Benjamin C. Knox, Elkborn Grove. 

RAILROADS 

Carroll County has ample railroad facilities. 
The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, Raciue aud 
SdUthwestern division, enters the county at 
the southwest corner, runs thence north to 
Sa\-iiiina, thence east and north and passes out 
at the northeast corner of the county with a 
branch near the nortli line, running east to 
Chicago. Another branch (the cut-off), runs 
fr<im the .southwest corner of the county, north 
and east to the main line at the center of the 
county at Ashdale. 

The Chicago, Burlington & Northern railroad. 
runs from the s<jutliwest corner of the count.v, 
north to Savanna and from there in a sontb- 
easlerly direction to the southeast corner of the 
(■(jiinty, near Milledgeville. tlie main line run- 
ning north from Savanna along the river to the 
northwest corner of the county. 



698 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



VALUATION 

The Chica;;.!, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, 
has sixty miles of main track on its Hue through 
the county, and a double track on its Chicago 
line; with side tracks and buildings on its right 
of way, and is valued for assessment at over two 
millions of dollars. 

The Burlington has over forty-eight miles of 
main track, and with side tracks and buildings 
on the right of way, is valued over one million, 
si.x hundred thousand dollars, making a total 
valuation in the county of railroad tracks and 
buildings on the right of way of nearly four 
million dollars. 

A branch of the JlUwaukee & St. Paul road 
is now, (February, 1912), being surveyed from 
Mt. Carroll in a northwesterly direction, through 
the c-ouuty. Xothiug. however, may come of this 
as several preliminary surveys have been made 
in this neighborhood over other c-ourses. 

The building of several trolley lines through 
the county, has also been discussed, which will 
no doubt materialize in the not far distant 
future. 

RURAL ROUTES 

The Government has established in this county 
twenty-seven free delivery routes. These mail 
carriers routes are from twenty-five to thirty 
miles each, so that nearly one thousand miles 
are traversed every working day, delivering 
mail daily to nearly all the inhabitants of the 
county. There are two telephone system.s, the 
Farmers Mutual and the Independent. There 
are about 4,000 people who have telephones, 
and each one can talk to their neighlwrs all 
over the county. 

It is well to recall the advantages we enjoy 
over those of the pioneers. There is no jjoverty, 
no one suffering from privation of even the 
luxuries of living. The people of Carroll County 
everywhere, are a prosperous, happy and con- 
tented people; naturally law abiding, honest 
and industrious. Many automobiles are now in 
use. some of these are self-starters and make 
their own electric lights. 

VALUATION OF PROPERTY 

The tot.Tl value of all property assessed in 
the county, for the year 1911, was $27,G7.j.48;5.00. 
Tax assessed on the same was $270,253.54. 
The county tax is $41,129.81. 



CHAPTER X. 



CHADWICK AND FAIR HAVEN TOWNSHIP 

— LANARK AND ROCK CREEK 

TOWNSHIP. 



CHADWICK — FAIR IIAVEX TOWNSHIP — GERMAN SET- 
TLERS — LANARK — OLD HOUSE — FOTJETH OF JULY, 
1876 EARLY DAYS — BUSINESS, 1911 WATER- 
WORKS — TEI.EPHONE SYSTEM — FACTORIES — BOCK 
CREEK TOWNSHIP — FIRST SETTLERS. 

CHADWICK 

Oliadwiek is in the northeast corner of Fair 
Haven township. It was made a station on the 
Chicago, Burlington & Northern railroad, and 
named after one of the railroad officials. It is 
782 feet above the sea level, has a population 
according to the last federal census of 517. 

It was laid out and platted by the St. Paul 
Land Company, April 5. 1886, with several addi- 
tions added since then and is "one of the prettiest 
little villages, and the youngest town in Carroll 
County." It has three churches, two physicians, 
one dentist and one jewelery store, two harness 
shoixs and one elevator, one lumber merchant 
and three coal dealers, one hotel and two hard- 
ware stores, three dry goods stores, one drug 
store and one meat market, three restaurants 
and one bakery, and one boot and shoe store, 
three wagon and blacksmith shops, and two 
barber shops, two milliner shops and three 
saloons, and one of the best equipped creameries 
in the county ; two banks ; Farmers' State 
bank, II. H. Beede. president: M. S. Weary, 
cashier; W. J. Schriener. assistant cashier; 
First National bank. N. H. Hawk, president; 
R. H. Campbell, vice-president ; C. M. Kingary, 
cashier. It has a fine electric light system. 
In 1805, a system of waterworks was put in and 
a fine fire department organized. A newspaper 
conducted by Andrew Straneh, is called the 
'•Chadwick Clarion.'' Chadwick is surrounded 
by a very fine farming country. Its business men 
are mostly young and energetic, all working to- 
gether for the best interest of the town. It has 
good streets and several miles of cement side- 




j:!/mwvoifu. 



to1^\^ 



V 






^^c^*J 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



699 



walks and many tijic ri'sidcnci's. It lias a large 
frame public scIkmiI hnildiiii; in wlildi live teach- 
ers are employed. 

lAIH IIAVKN TOWNSHIP 

Fair Haven is in the middle of the lower or 
southern tier of townships. The census of 1910, 
gave the jxiiiulation at 1.278. 

It was to a great extent settled by immigrants 
from Germany, who had the patience to make 
farms by grubbing out the groves and trees that 
were scattered over this township. The princi- 
IKil grove was called Black Oak grove, but in 
it were no very large trees, like there were in 
otlier groves of tlie county ; most of the laud 
was covered with scrubby black oak trees, 
scattered here and there. 

Joseph Wressel came to this part of the 
county in 1838, and David Wressel in 1839; 
they came from Oauada ; their father, Samuel 
Wressel, was born in England. 

In 1844, I.. E. Gallusha built the lirst house 
in Fair Haven. Frank Bell .settled there the 
.Siinio ye.ir. Henry Myers. .Jr.. came from New 
Jersey to the county in 1.S4.J. 

GERMAN SETTLEKS 

In 1848 the Germans began to arrive, most 
of them were from Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. 

Henry B. Zugschwerdt arrive<l here in 1848, 
and crossed the Atlantic- ocean seven times, in 
the interest of his countrymen. 

Werner Zugschwerdt came in 18.")<). In 18r)."i, 
the following all crossed in the same ship: 
Henry Diehl, Fred Diehl, X'hilip Lang, .Tohn 
Frederick, Conrad Frederick, Conrad Dahler, 
and I'hilip (JuacklKirner. 

They all s|«ike the German language, and 
they had their church organizations with 
preaching in (Jerman. For a time they had 
their own schools, under the supervision of the 
church, where the children were taught in 
German. Eventually, Iiowever, they all learned 
to understand and speak the English language; 
and soon became naturalized citizens of the 
I'nitefl States. Among the daughters of these 
lirst families are some of the best English school 
teachers in the county. JIany of the young 
men enlisted in the war for the I'liion and 
fought bravely with olliei's to mainlain the 
Uepublic entire. 



LANARK 

Population lUlo, 1,175. Elevation, 8S3.3. 

D. W. Dame purchased the land and laid out 
the city of Lanark under the auspices of tlie 
Northern Illinois R. I{. Co. The original town 
was platted, October 3, 18G1, by Richard Irvin, 
for the railroad company and John Xycum. 
The c-oini)any lirst built a large liotel, commenced 
July 1, ISfil, which is still in use on the north 
side of the track, now called the Lanark House. 

John Xycum of Mt. Carroll, donated eighty 
acres to the railroad company, and it purchased 
eighty acres more. The company thereby be- 
came the owner of 100 acres of land for the 
town site. The company contributed liberally 
in lots to the church societies, for locations for 
building. Also a school lot, and a whole block 
which is now the city park. It was named for 
a county in Scotland where a banker lived, 
who lent the company the money that was used 
to build the railroad. The first business liouse 
was a small establishment, opened by "Uncle 
Chauncy Grant," and his son William, with a 
small stock of goods that did not exceed one 
hundred and fifty dollars in value. The country 
about the town was sparsely settled, but as soon 
as the railroad was built settlers came in 
rapidly. 

OLD HOUSE 

Among the first houses erected in Lanark, 
was a one-and-a-half story building, that has .i 
very singular and interesting history, which 
may not be known to the present inhabitants 
of the city. (It stands on the east side of Broad 
street, between Carroll and the railroad track). 

TTiis building was first erected in New Orleans, 
built of live oak lumber for a warehouse. In 
later years it was taken apart, and moved up 
the river to St. Louis and rebuilt on the levee 
at that city. Bec-oming in the way there of 
modern improvement, it was again taken down 
and moved to Savanna, and rebuilt there as 
a warehouse. AVlien the Western Union rail- 
road was established, it obstructed the purjiosed 
track laying, and was condemned and ordered 
removed. 

Henry fierce then became its owner, and 
when the railroad was completed, the company 
gave him free trans|»rtation and removed it 
to Lanark. Here it was again rebuilt, and two 
or three rooms in the upper story fitted up for 



700 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



living rooms, aud tbese were occuiiied by A. M. 
Yoric and his family ; here occurred the first 
birth and the first death iii Lanark. York came 
here as a young attorney and hung out his 
shingle at this building, using it as a residence 
and law office. AVben the war came he enlisted. 

In laying out the town, the railroad company 
designated one square for a public park, which 
in course of time was planted in trees, and is 
now a beautiful shady park, where the old 
settlers meetings are held annually. 

For twenty years Lanark grew raiiidl.v, and 
as the surrounding prairie with its rich soil 
was made into productive farms, its commerce 
increased, so its aggi'egate business, including 
the shipments of grain and live stock, was 
larger than the business of any other town in 
the county. It had great expectations of becom- 
ing the metroiK)lis of the county and in no 
distant day the county seat. It seemed to lie 
rapidly outstrip]iing its rivals — Jit. Carroll and 
Savanna. 

lANARK'S lOUKTII OF JULY. 187li 

That the nation's centennial .iubilee was fitly 
celebrated in Lanark, we gleau from the Lanark 
Gazette ; Mr. George Hay was the alile editor 
at that time. It says : "over five thousand peo- 
ple were present at a grand jiatriotic outliurst liy 
tlie iiioneei-s and jiatriots of Carroll County." 
The early dawn of this centennial holiday was 
disturbed by the ringing of bells aud the dis- 
charge of firearms, aud those whom these failed 
to arouse, received a still louder call, v.-hen an 
old field piece sent forth her first intimation 
that she too could speak on that da.v. The firing 
of the cannon was in charge of John Rule. \V. 
L. Tomlinson, D. AY. Dame, Dan Snyder, after- 
ward sheriff of the couut.v. Dr. Chamberlaiid 
(dentist), Wm. Mizuer and J. Borcherd, wlio did 
their work, we are told, "coolly and effectively, 
without excitement and withnut accident." 
These gentlemen had procured the government 
field piece from the arsenal at Rock Island. 
and given their bonds for its return. 

The whole town was beautifully decorated 
with flags and bunting, the portraits of AYash- 
ington and Lincoln were plentifully distributed 
about the town ; "and even the much .abused 
Grant found a defender on that day in the 
person of Mrs. C. E. Wales, who gave his por- 



tr.iit a couspicuous place among the decorations 
on one of the corners of the street." 

A prominent feature of the program was the 
march of the Fantastics. jireceded by Gideon's 
liand. 

The engines on the trains passing throngh 
tlie town, were profusely aud handsomely decor- 
ated, and the cannon was again fired on the 
arrival of each train. 

The procession was arranged in the following 
order: Lanark Cflrnet band, hook and ladder 
company. AYilliam L. Thompson, fireman ; hose 
company, L. A. Chaffee, foreman, George Butts, 
assistant foreman : Neptune fire engine company. 
William Lowis, foreman; James Buchaiman. 
first assistant ; I'eter Royner, second assistant ; 
William Crinklaw, engineer. All were beauti- 
fully .•uul profusely decorated. 

The entire fire department was under tlie 
leadership of city marshal, William Beans. 
assisted by N. R. Rose, a.ssistant marshal. 
Following next was the c-annon drawn by two 
hor.ses ; Band of Martial nnisic ; .Alasonic socie- 
ties. Marshal, Dr. II. W. Wales: Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. Dr. J. Ilaller, marshal. 
Saliula Cornet band car containing Goddess 
of Liberty aud thirty-eight young ladies, Miss 
Lizzie Ila.v. now the wife of Arthur Woodruff, 
postmaster of Savanna was among these, each 
of the young ladies represented one of the states 
of the union. The editor of tlie Gazette says : 
"This was one of the grandest features of the 
procession." The car was drawn by four fine 
horses, furnished and driven by W. W. Rock- 
well, next a carriage containing Hon. .Tames 
Shaw, orator of the day; the IIon.^D. M. Dame. 
president of the day. dressed in costume of 
ITTti. representing General Washington, fullowed 
by carriages containing other distinguished 
citizens. 

M.-ijor (ieorge A. Root was chief iiiarsli.-il. 
and .\. V. Branyan assistant. 

.Vt tlie stand excellent music was rendered 
by the bands and a select glee club, consisting 
of .Mi.sses May Z. Su.yder and Stella AVTiite, 
witli Miss L. Smith at the organ and Messrs. 
J. K. .Millard and W. P. Smith. 

"A most eloquent and appropriate prayer" was 
offered by the Rev. Charles Rowe. 

Tile Declaration of Independence was read 
liy the Rev. J. W. Henderson. 

The president, the lion. D. W. Dame, pre- 
faced his introduction of the .speaker, with an 




^. ^^ 






.V^ 



^t^^ 



HISTORY OF CARROLL ("OUNTY 



701 



liistoriciil skutcli, uf Ihu iiiaich ul' eveiit.s which 
preceded, "the drama enacted July -Ith, 177(!, and 
the stirring sequences whieli followed." 

Hon. .James l^haw delivered an oratinn wliicli 
was I'Miiiicnti.v litliiij; for the occasion. 

KAUl.Y nAYS 

The country all about Lanark in early days, 
was thiidy settled jirairie land. .James I!. 
Howell who first settled iu Freedom townshii) 
in tlie fall of 184.">, lived in a house on the site 
of Lanark, where his son Thomas 1''.. and 
dauirhler llanna V.. were the first white children 
horn ill Itock Creek townsliiii, where Lanark 
now slands. 



when pumped- direct into mains. It has a 
volunteer fire department very effective and 
efficient. 

Its electric lights are furnished hy a private 
philit. 

TKI.EPIIO.NE SYSTEM 

Tlie Lanark Mutual and the Independent 
Telephone c-ompanies, each have central stations 
in Lanark and are well patronized. The Lanark 
Mutual has nearly seven hundred subscribers, 
many of whom are stockholders. .John I{. Wolf 
is ijresidenl. Itoyd Zuck, secretary, and W. II. 
Dresltack, auditor. It was first organized. 
-March li. V.M2, and incorporated, July 10, 1907. 



lil'SINESS 1011 

Lan.-irk has twn hotels, two dry goods and 
one gents' furnishing store, two meat markets 
and three restaurants and one bakery, three 
grocery stores and two agricultural implement 
stores, three wagon and l)lacksmilh sliops, two 
banks, and three barber shops, two millinery 
shojis and three physicians, two harness shojis 
and two elevators, two billiard halls, one lumber 
yard and two coal dealers, a furniture store and 
undertaker, one uewsiwper, the Lauark Gazette. 
seven churches, several very large and handsome 
church edifices. Tlie cost of I^an;irk"s former 
schoolhouse was seventeen tliousaiid dollars. 
wlieh was destroyed by fire, November. 18!):!, 
supposed to liavi- been created by siionfaneons 
couihustion in a large pile of soft coal in the 
basement. It was rebuill at a cost of twenty- 
four thousanil dollars for building, apparatus 
and furniture and library. It is one of the finest 
school buildings in tlie county, lias a library of 
seven hundred volumes with nearly four hun- 
dred fiupils enrolled. 

\VATER WOHKS 

Lanark has oni' of the best systems of water 
works in tlie counly. established in LSSS. con- 
sisting of two and lialf miles of water mains 
and twenty-eight hydrants. 

The water is pumped from a well into a 
stand pipe by an eighty-five horse power engine, 
with a tank that will hold si.xly lliou.sand gal- 
lons of water. The puinjis have a capacity of 
four thousand galhuis every (juarter of an hour 



FACTORIES 

One of the most successful is the r.,anark 
('aiming Company. They sell their g(>o<ls as the 
•'.Maple City Brand," which lias acipiiicd ipiite 
an enviable reputation. 

The company packed during the |iast year, 
five hundred thousand cans of corn, one hundred 
and ninety thousand of pumpkin and thirty 
thou.sjind cans of tomatoes. During the ■|)ast 
ye.ir the capacity of tlie plant has been doubled. 
They have paid out during the year ten thousand 
dollars to the farmers for raw material, nearly 
seven thousand dollars for labor and over a 
thousand dollars to local merchants for supplies. 

The company was iiicorponited iu May. 1007, 
with a capital of fifteen thousand dollars, after- 
wards increased to twenty-five. John W. Peters 
is president, Peter Ilowigan, secretary and 
treasurer, Thomas W. Potter the efficient man- 
ager. "Try the .Maple City brand and be con- 
vinced of its merits." W. II. Dresback is one 
of tlieir efiicient salesmen. 



ROCK (KEEK TOWXSniP 

Population, 1010, 1,840. Elevation, 780 feet to 
047 feet above tlie sea level. 

This township is comix)sed of high, beautiful 
rolling prairie there being no groves and few 
streams; it was among tlie last to be settled 
in the county, altlumgh the soil is the best, and 
the farms now the most valuable in tlie county 
and llic larincrs the wealthiest, many of them 
Iiaviii;.' fine Imililiiii-'s and iiiiidcrn imiiriivciiicnls. 



702 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



, FIBST SETTLERS 

Kock Creek's first settlers were David Becker 
aud Zofhasiah Kiukode. Becker sold to Dauiel 
Beldiu};. who came to this county from Vermont, 
and in ISoo, had a large cheese factory, capable 
of manufacturing a thousand pounds per day. 
The greater part of his cheese was sold in 
Europe. Richard A. Thompson was an early 
settler and the first to introduce cheese making 
into the county, which was engaged in quite 
extensively, for the means at hand. l)y some of 
the early settlers. 

D. W. Dame who was born in New Hampshire, 
settled in Rock Creek in June, 1857. 

Amos Wolf whose father was an early settler 
at Cherry Grove, was one of the most extensive 
farmers in Rock Creek. He raised and sold in 
one shipment 177 liogs, which netted him in 
cash, $4,828. One of his brothers, David Wolf 
did better since then by making one shipment 
of cattle that amounted to over eight thousand 
dollars. The early settlers' fathers, some of 
them non-residents, purchased large tracts of 
its beautiful prairie land, but as the first owners 
passed away iu the settlement of their estates, 
their farms have subsecjuently been divided into 
smaller places. 



CHAPTER XI. 



CHERRY GROVE— FREEDOM— LIMA, 
TOWNSHIPS. 



found growing in this grove. They were very 
tall and straight trees and could be seen a consid- 
erable distance from the prairie, towering above 
the oaks and other trees. 

The 1910 census credits the township with 704 
inhabitants. 

STAGE LINES 

Cherry Grove figured quite prominently in the 
early settlement of the county on account of the 
stage lines that passed through this territory 
from the east and south converging here in a 
highway that led to the Galena Lead Mines, 
which was perhaps what was called the Sucker 
Trail ; along this road the southerners returned 
every fall with their home made wagons loaded 
with mineral, drawn by four or six yoke of 
oxen ; most of these oxen having their toes 
shod with iron to withstand the wear of constant 
traveling: aud although slow iu motion they 
made a very good motive ix)wer when urged 
along by the great thong whips of their drivers, 
the crack of which resounded for some distance 
and is remembered by the early settlers as well 
as the squeaking of their heavily loaded wagons. 
Some of these teams brought merchandise, which 
the steamboats landed at Peoria, for the mer- 
chants of Galena, whidi they distributed 
throughout the northwest country. The Cherry 
Grove stage station was located near the west 
boundary of the township on section 30. It was 
the first stopping place in the county of many 
of the early settlers. Another road passed 
through the northeast corner of the township 
from Gratiots Grove, fifteen miles from Galena, 
to Peoria. 

THE EACIXE AND MISSISSIPPI RAIIJiOAD 



CHEBKY GBOVE — STAGE LINES — RACINE AND MISSI.S- 
SIPPI EAILEOAD — GEORGE , TOWN — WOOD LOTS — 

FOREST FIRES WILD GINSENG — EARLY SETTLERS 

LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE — FREEDOM TOWN- 
SHIP — ARNOLD'S GBOVE — HUNTING GROUNDS OF 
THE INDIANS — EARLY SETTLERS — WAGES — HORTI- 
CULTUBE OECHABDS — LIMA TOWNSHIP. 



This railroad was laid through this township 
and a great deal of the line graded. Some of 
these grades are now used as a part of the pub- 
lic highway, and future generations may wonder 
how so much dirt came to be moved to so little 
purpose. The answer involves a tale of fraud 
and misreiM'esentation and misplaced confidence 
by which many of the farmers of Carroll County 
were grievously imposed upon. 



CHEBBY GBOVE 



GEORGETOWN 



Cherry Grove was so named from the great 
number of wild cherry trees the early settlers 



Georgetown, two miles north of Lanark, 
started in 1850 is now a collection of a few 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



703 



houses, a church and a school house, liut would 
have been a considerable towu had the R. & M. 
railroad beeu built. 

WOOD LOTS 

The eastern ixirt of the township was a beau- 
tiful rolling [irairie and the western part wood- 
ed hills. Where the timber was thick the land 
was divided into wood lots of a few acres each 
which those owning prairie farms purchased for 
supplying fuel and wood for other purposes on 
the farm. The frame work of many of the large 
barns in the county was made from hewn tim- 
ber. Most of the old houses have great tire- 
places, where the rough wood in large pieces was 
used for heating the house. It was all brought 
from the wood lots, some times several miles 
distant, usually in winter time on sleds. 

FOREST FIRES 

In early days forest fires frequently swept 
through these woods and destroyed a great deal 
of the timber. Since they have been kept out the 
growth of young trees has beeu quite rapid, so 
that notwithstanding a large portion of some of 
the groves has been grubbed out to make ready 
for farming, there is more timber in the county 
now than when it was first settled. Coal is so 
much cheaper very little wood is used for fuel. 
Many of the large basswood trees are shipjjed 
out of the county to be used for making matches 
and for other purjioses. Portable saw mills are 
used to convert the large hard wood trees, prin- 
cipally oak and walnut, into lumber which is 
con.sumed on the farms and for planking bridges, 
thi walnut, which is too valuable for the.se pur- 
pose, finds a ready market outside of the county. 
What is said here will apply to all the groves 
and timber lots throughout the c-ounty, some of 
which have been more nearly destroyed than 
others. 

WILD CIN'SENG 

One of the products of these groves, besides 
the game and berries which were very abundant, 
was the roofs of the wild ginseng. These in 
early days the Indian gathered and after tbem 
the trappers and hiuiters. and was usually sold 
to the druggists. It is now shipited to China, 
where the Chinese use it as a medicine. .\s the 
wild roots became scarce it became very valuable, 



and in late years the cultivation of the roots has 
become a new industry. At Georgetown in Cherry 
Grove, Mr. Switzer has started quite a large 
garden from wild roots found in the grove. He 
uses artificial shade, as it has to be grown in the 
shade. C. L. Hostetter near Mount Carroll, has 
nearly an acre in cultivation under the natural 
shade of the trees, and Ilolman and Jloore in 
Woodland township, have an acre or more in 
cultivation under the trees. It is said that an 
acre of these roots ready for harvesting is worth 
several thous;iud dollars. The Ditsworth Broth- 
ers of Salem Township were among the first to 
experiment in raising ginseng. There are sev- 
eral others in the county engaged in this new 
industry. 

EARLY SETTLERS OF CHERRY GROVE 

The following are the names of early settlers 
who seem to have been omitted in the general 
histoi-j' of the county, and the years when they 
settled in Cheri-y Grove. Simon Fellows, in the 
early thirties, is said to have been the first 
postmaster at the (irove. Mi-s. Martha Winters, 
widow, formerly Jlartha Bailey, came from 
Greenbriar county, Virginia, April 12th, 1833, 
and kept the stage house for her brother-in-law, 
.John D. Winters, at Cherry Grove in an early 
day. .She married Levi Warner who had settled 
in Elkhorn (Jrove in 183G. William Wiley came 
in 18.37, John Pierce in 1838. Francis Garner, 
wife and five or si.x; children, came from .southern 
Illinois in 1834; he had been in the BUickhawk 
war and selected his claim on his way home 
after his discharge at Galena. In 1841, W. A. 
.T. Pierce came with his father's family from 
Washington Co., Md. They had a sL^t-horse 
team and one wagon. They left in the spring 
and stopped on the way to visit, arriving at 
Garners, near the Grove, in October. Abraham 
Moffett had been west before 1841 and went east 
after having made a claim and broke some land, 
to get married. He and his bride came west 
with the Pierce family. Henry B. Puterbaugh, 
David Puterbaugh and Aaron Beck came in 
1840 and George W. Puterbaugh, R. L. Chitty and 
Henry Puterbaugh in 1848. Larkins Lind.sey 
taught school about this time in the Moffett log 
sh;inty. .Mr. Pierce's sister Virginia, also taught 
the school at the Grove. 



704 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



LINCOLN AND DOVGI^S DEBATE 



AENOLD S GROVE 



John Wolf, one of CUerry Grove's pioneer citi- 
zens tooli a notable part in the great debate of 
Lincoln and Douglas, at Freeiwrt, August 27th, 
1858. Mr. Douglas arrived the day before in the 
evening and was escorted to the Brewster House 
l)y a torchlight procession. Mr. Lincoln arrived 
on a special train on the Illinois Central at ten 
o'clock in the morning of the day of the debate 
and it is said was escorted to the hotel by his 
friends pressing into their service an ox team, 
hitched to a hayrack, on which the "rail split- 
ter," rode, and he was followed by an immense 
throng of people to his hotel, with great cheering 
all the way. It was arranged that Mr. Douglas 
was to be taken from the hotel to the grounds, 
where the si^eaking was to be in a coach drawn 
by four white horses. But Mr. Linctiln's friends 
had arranged with Jlr. .John Wolf, who hajipeiied 
to be in town with his big Pennsylvania or Con- 
nestoga wagon with his big four horse team, that 
he should procure another span of fine horses to 
put with his four horse team and drive Mr. Lin- 
coln and some of his friends to the grounds in 
his big wagon with the splendid six horse team 
with their big harness and other trappings. lie 
did so, riding the "wheel horse,'' and guiding the 
team with one line in regular Pennsylvania style. 
When Mr. Douglas heard or saw that Mr. Lin- 
coln was going to the grounds in such rustic 
state, he refused to ride in the coach with the 
four white horses and walked to the grounds in 
still more democratic fashion. 

When Mr. Wolf returned home, his fame had 
preceded his arrival and his neighbors took 
pleasure iu asking him, "what have you been 
doing at Freeiwrt?" "Oli," he said, "acting the 
fool for other people." It is said he got forty 
dollars for the job. with which he was well 
pleased. 

A thousand i)eople from Carroll County at- 
tended this meeting. 

FREEDO.M TOWNSHIP 

Freedom is in the middle of the northern 
tier of townships in Carroll County. The cen- 
sus of 1910 gives the population at .580. The 
northwest half of the township is hilly and at 
til? time of the settlement of this portion of the 
country was covered with scattering timber and 
one beautiful grove. 



It was named after Daniel Arnold and his 
son John, who settled there in 1810. In early 
days it was one of the finest groves in the coun- 
ty, but its glory has departed, nothing now is 
left of the great trees but their stumps and few 
of these have e.scaped the "gnawing tooth of 
time." Mr. Arnold's wife, whose maiden name 
was Price, was a sister of Mrs. David Emmert, 
whose husband built the mill and started Mount 
Carroll. 

The township has about the same history as 
that of Cherry Grove. Owens Point as it was 
called where John Owens resided, was within 
the limits of Freedom Township, as were the 
farms of the Moffetts. Marks and Lairds. 

HLXTIXG GROUNDS OF THE INDIANS 

The Indians were numerous for many years 
after the Black Hawk war, and as late as 1835 
or 36 a trading post was kept at Owens Point 
where guns, amunition, calico, blankets, whiskey, 
red handkerchiefs, beads and etc.. were ex- 
changed witli the Indians for pelts and gin- 
seng. 

The Indians were a source of annoyance and 
greatly feared especially l)y the women and 
children. They clung to their hunting grounds of 
which Plum river and its tributaries furnished 
the very best, and to the graves of their fathers. 
represented by the beautiful Indians Mounds on 
the edge of the timber overlooking the prairie 
to the southward. 

EARLY SETTLERS 

The early settlers were the same class of 
people as those who settled Cherry Grove, and 
they came from the same localities in the east. 

William Thompson made the first claim at Ar- 
nold's Grove iu 18.33. 

(iarner Moffett from Wasliington Co.. \:i.. 
came in 1830. 

In 1843 George Grove settled on section 2'.) : .-ilso 
Jacob Alright, who came with the Arnolds in 
1840. His widow, an aged lady, is now living 
with her son in Iowa, age ninety-one years. 

In 1845 quite a number settled in Freedom 
Township. There was W. R. Laird and Daniel 
Miller, David Teeter, Daniel Teeter. .Samuel 
Mitchell and James R, Howell, Joseph Stitzel 




C'OLI.KCK IIAI.L. riiWCKS SHIMER SCHODI.. Ml i AHHOLI. 




ii\-niA\\ \^ iiM.i.. ri{ANci;s siiimi-;h sciiooi,. mt. cahkoi.l 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



ro5 



niul Daniel Sheiirer. In 1842 ciinip .Matlicw K. 
Davis and Soionioii Wado witli liis sister ("ani- 
line, afterwanl Mrs. James Mark and the luund- 
er of the Caroline Mark Ilonie at Monnt Carrdil. 

WAliES IN EARLY nAYS 

A niontli's work was valued at ten dollars, 
riowiiif; fil'ty cents per da.v and liutchering 
one dollar: one da.v use of cattle (ox team) 
twenty-tive cents ; a week's work by wife, sev- 
enty-tive cents; one day raking and binding 
wheat, one dollar; work at haying, fifty cents 
a day. 

Most of the early settlers were from Tennsyl- 
vauia with some from Maryland. They planted 
orchards and soon had about them the comforts 
of life, living in good frame houses, some of 
brick, as a brick yard was started in early days 
at Mount Carroll, there being suitable clay there 
for making tine red brick. 

Agriculture is the chief oecnpation of tlie peo- 
ple here as elsewhere throughout, tlie county. 

lIORTICULTtRE 

Mr. C. F. Schaale.however. wluise farm is near 
the Mounds, has recently gone into horticulture, 
having iilanled twenty-five hundred apple, plum 
and cherry trees, trwo thousand grapes, fifteen 
hundred currant and goose berries. He makes 
a specialty of canning tomatoes in glass. One 
year (1911) he put up two hundred crates, lie 
also manufactures grape juice. He crates bis 
grapes in five pound baskets, six in a crate. 
In this way they stand shipiiing better than the 
usual way of putting a larger (piantily in a sin- 
gle basket, lie also raises some tine melons. 



the east tier of townisliijis. It Is one half the 
congressional townshii) the other half being in 
Ogle County. 

It is a beautiful ijrairie <ountry with a part of 
Chambers Grove running into the east side of it. 
On account of it being mostly prairie it was not 
settled as early as other portions of the county, 
most of the early settlers coming there from 1844 
to ]8.')(i. 

.John Chambers and I'hiletus Peck, the very 
flr.st settlers, came prior to 1840. A ma.jorily of 
the early settlers were fr(un Pennsylvania, but 
.losejih Franks, who came in 1844, was born in 
T(M'onto and his wife was born in Canada. 

Nathan Krebs and liis wife came in 184."! also 
Gabriel Sarber and bis family all from Pemisyl- 
vania. 

Charles Franks, who was born in England, 
came to this state in isy.j and to this county in 
1840, his wife Ellen Young was bom in England. 

John W. Franks, born in Canada, came the 
same .vear, his wife was from Pennsylvania. 

Z. D. Marks, born in Connecticut, came to this 
county iu 1848 and Emanuel Ilepler was born In 
Pennsylvania, came to this county 1840, also 
Isaac Paul. 

There were some l.wge land <iwners in Lima 
in early days some of whom were nonresidents 
which prevented the township from being so 
thickly and speedily settled as other parts; these 
large tracts of land are gradually being divided 
into smaller farms, with resident owners. 



CIIAPTEK XII. 



ORCIIARnS 

.\pple orchards in tliis county have not been 
a great success except on a very small scale 
and the very best attention, which a few of the 
farmers have time to give them, and they are 
short lived. Some of the older settlers have 
planted the fourth or fifth orchard on their 
farms and these only liear abtmdantly occa- 
sionally. 

I.IM.V TOWNSIIIl" 

rcpnlalion I'.lld. :'<2:\. 

Lima township Is situalccl in the middle of 



VILLAGE OF MILLEIKIEVILLE— WYSOX— 
ELKllOKN GKOVE To\VX8IIlP8. 



MILLEnGEVlI.T.E — ORKilNAI. PLAT WYSOX TOWN- 
SHIP — EARLY- .SETTLERS — ELKHORN GRO\'E TOWN- 
SHIP — THE PEOPLE — IXK) ROLLINGS — OLD CEN- 
TER SCHOOL HOUSE — METHODIST CnURCH — 
HAND SAW-MILL — FIRST WATER POWER MILLS — 
A GO-DEVIL — A DUTCH OVEN — THE SUCKER TRAIL 
— A PIGEON TRAP — CHOICE DISHES — INTOXICAT- 
ING LIQUORS — A VAI.UAIU.E LOAD — NAMKS OK 



706 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



EABLY SETTLERS — WAB BECORD — THE UNDEB- 
GBOUND RAILROAD HA2ELHURST. 

MILLEDGEVILLE 

This village of six huuared thirty oue in- 
habitants by the census of 1910, is 729 feet above 
the sea level, is located in the south east corner 
of Wysox township surrouujed by a country un- 
surpassed for farming and stock raising. It was 
iucoriwrated as a village in 1887. 

OBIGIXAL PLAT 

The original plat of Milledge-iille was made by 
George W. Knox and Rollin Wheeler, April 10th, 
1850, and certified to by Philander Seymour 
County Surveyor. Later when the Burlington 
railroad was built through the county in 1886 a 
station was established north of the old town 
and a large addition made to the town under the 
auspices of the St. Paul Land Company entitled 
Myers Addition, where the business part of the 
town rapidly built up with fine store buildings 
suitable for every branch of trade, and a fine 
school building was erected at the cost of fi.ono 
dollars in 1877. 

It has three churches, two physicians, one 
jewelry and drug store, one harness shop and one 
elevator, one lumber and two coal dealers. 
one furniture store and one hotel, three dry goods 
stores, one meat market and two restaurants. 
four grocery stores, three wagon and black- 
smith shops, one bank, Shumway State Bank. 
I. F. Greenawalt, Prest., X. M. Cantrell, V. 
Prest., H. C. Knox, Cashier, and two barber 
shops, and one weekly newspaper and iirintiug 
office. The Free Press, W. L. Puterbaugh, editor 
and proprietor. A water .system Is owned by the 
city which pays running expenses. The city is 
out of debt having paid the last bond in Jan- 
uary, 1912. 

The village has many flue residences with beau- 
tiful lawns, kept in fine condition, and the 
residents are progressive and up to date in 
every respect. Recently the citizens of the vil- 
lage and Wysox township have voted to expend 
thirty-five thousand dollars in improving the 
reads into Milledgeville. They expect this 
amount of money will build about thirteen miles 
of hard road. 



WYSOX TOWNSHIP 

By the last census Wysox township had a 
ixjpulation of 1,483. No better farming lands 
can be found anywhere. In early days most of 
the township was a beautiful rolling prairie 
country. On the east it was bounded by Elk- 
horn Grove. Some of the early settlers have 
been mentioned in the sketch of that township. 

As in other cases the first settlers located near 
the groves in order that they might have not 
only the protection of the timber but have wood 
for fuel and logs for building their cabins and 
timber for making rail fences to protect their 
crops. Live stock for many years was allowed 
to roam over the praii'ies at will and stock rais- 
ing became one of the most profitable branches 
of farming that the early settlers engaged in, 
and still continues to be such although now the 
law requires every owner of cattle to keep them 
on his own land and a farmer may raise his 
crops unprotected by fences. 

EARLY SETTLERS 

Among the first settlers was the Eastabrook 
family. They came from Bradford County, Penn- 
sylvania, making the entire trip overland by 
wagon, fording the Ohio river at "WTieeling, 
West Virginia. There were no bridges in those 
days and every stream along the route had to 
be forded. A. G. Eastabrook made this trip with 
his father's family in the winter of 1839. He 
was eighteen years old when he settled here. 
There were no railroads then and the grain was 
often carted to Chicago where wheat sold at 
fifty cents a bushel. He took some of his wheat 
to Mt. Carroll, where it l)rought thirty-five cents 
a bushel at the mill, but its value had to be taken 
out in trade. He married Ellen Wheeler, a 
daugliter of Rollin Wheeler, an early settler, and 
at one time sheriff of Carroll County. 

Levi F. Eastabrook came to Carroll County a 
few years later. He bought the place where he 
lived, a farm of one hundred and sixty acres of 
prairie land, and ten acres of timber, for eight 
Inmdred dollars, which is worth now more than 
twenty times that sum. 

Josiah P.. Johnson came to this county from 
Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in 18.39, was 
sheriff of the county in 1856. His wife, Lucy 
Ann Tucker, was from Tompkins County. New 
York. 



HISTORY OP CARROLL COUNTY 



707 



Another notable citizen of Wysox who set- 
tled there in early days, was Elder Ileury Myers, 
a fanner and preacher. lie and his wife, Anna 
Lichty. were the parents of sixteen children, 
twelve of whom grew to nianliood and woman- 
hood. He left surviving him at the time of his 
death nearly one hundred granddiildreu and 
fifty great-grandchildren. With Init one exception 
they were all engaged in farming and almost 
one hundre;! farms were opened and owned hy 
himself and his descendants. Jllany of the 
fariners in this townsliip now have very hand- 
some and conunodious rosidenct^ with all the 
modern comforts and conveniences that are en- 
joyed hy residents of the cities. Modern in- 
ventions enable the farmer to harness the wind 
and add many comforts to his home at moderate 
expense. 

There were other early settlers of Wysox who 
have been mentioned elsewhere. 

■ EI.KIIOKN GHOVE TOWNSIIU' 

I'oimlution I'JlO, four hundred and thirty-one. 

Another of its first settlement.s and the most 
extensive at that time, in Carroll County, was 
KIkliorn Grove in tlie southeast corner of the 
county. This grove was settled by pioneers from 
all parts of the east, some of tlieni (timing first 
lo (tliio and some to ICentucky and southern 
Illinois. 

THE PEOPLE 

Most of these jieople were originally from 
New Knglanil. New York and Virginia, with a 
few from I'ennsylvania, but not neiirly so many 
from the latter state as there are in other 
parts of the county. 

Elkhorn Grove and neighlmrhood, in fact the 
whole county, was settled by a very intelligent 
and enterprising class of peope. Most of tbem 
were from the midde class of societ.v. both in re- 
gard to intelligence and wealth. They had been 
acrustomed. in tlieir native states, to liabits of 
industry and they did not leave those habits be- 
hind theru. They were all .voung people and 
entered upon the labor of o|)ening farms and 
gathering around them the comforts of life, with 
a zeal and determination which with their earn- 
est efforts could not fail of success. 

Upon their arrival they were nearly all strang- 
ers to each other, in a strange, almost uninhab- 
ited land, and later with a few neighbors and 



these far aixirt. But they all came here with 
the same object to make homes for themselves 
and their families. 

LOG ROLLINGS 

At the log rollings was one of the first and 
best means of getting acquaintel with others. 
At these many of the pioneers met for the first 
time and acquaintances and friendships were 
formed wliich were enjoyed as long as life lasted. 
The first log rolling at Elkhorn Grove of 
which we have any account was the one Levi 
Warner mentions in his notes: '"June 0th. 1S34, 
went to Aukenies raising." 

(We are indebted to Mr. Henry Elsey of Elk- 
horn Grove fcr the following facts in regard to 
the building of a log cabin here related.) 

After the trees were cut and trimmed and 
drawn to the place where the cabin was to be 
built and every thing was ready for the raising 
the day was set and the ueighlwrs far and near 
were all invited to the raising. The tools that 
were necessary to have in building a log house 
were an axe and an auger ; in addition to these 
if the builder had a frow and an adze he was 
well supplied : the frow was used in splitting 
the "shake," shingles and the adze to smooth off 
and level the "puncheon floor." It was a tool 
something like a hoe but heavier and with a 
sharp steel edge. 

The neighbors came with their ox teams and 
their log chains and whatever tools they had 
that would be useful at the raising. Some of the 
men were skilled workmen who had learned to 
clio|) wood in the old home in the east. When 
they got together ready for the rolling a cap- 
tain was first chosen, then four men to notch the 
corners. To do this nicely, required some skill 
which came from practice. 

The door and window jambs were split from 
some straight graine<l timber and hewn as 
.smooth as it was possible to make them with the 
tools they had at hand: the logs were "b\itted" 
off straight or sawed, if they had a saw, and 
the jambs fastened to the ends of the logs by 
wooden pins driven into auger holes bored 
through the jambs and into the ends of the logs. 
When the walls were high enough, the gable 
rafters, made from heavy poles, were i>ut in 
place and lighter rafters in between these, to 
which were pinned i)oIes running leugthwise of 
the roof on wliich the. "shakes," were fastened. 



708 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



these were long shingles made by splitting them 
with a frow from logs four or five feet in length ; 
on top of these, long iwles were fastened with 
pins into the gable rafters which held the shakes 
in place and kept them from warping. Next was 
the IniiUling of the fireplace and chimney. -Vs 
there was no stone or brick to be had it was 
built of sticks and clay, the builder being c-are- 
ful that no wood was exiwsed to the fire. A 
supply of clay was kept on hand to patch any 
place where it might scale off from the wood 
and a pail of water to extinguish any incipient 
blaze. 

The floor was made of logs split in the center 
and laid on the ground with the split side up, 
the etlges being hewn straight so as to fit to- 
gether as close as possible ; they were held in 
place by wedges driven between the logs in the 
side wall and these split logs, this foi-med the 
puncheon tloor. The door was made of shakes 
arid hung on wooden hinges witii a wooden latch 
on the inside, wliich was lifted by pulling a 
string that ran through a small hole in the door 
to the outside, if pulled in the door was locked 
against outsiders, Init "the latehstring was al- 
ways out." for neighbors and friends, by the pio- 
neers of Elkhorn Grove. 

It was a hai>py day for tlie pioneers when the 
small supply of household goods could be moved 
into the log cabin, then it was: 

"The 'prairie schooner' her anchor cast. 
Lay at her moorings, just before. 

The little log cahin's open door. 
And the household goods, a meager store, 

Lie scattered alx)ut on the i)uncheon floor. 
Then it was that the bright young wife, 

Began the worl; of her frontier life." 

From Andrew Downings poem entitled the 
"Pioneers," written for the second annual Old 
Settlers Association meeting, September 23, 1S75. 
Mr. Downing's father and mother settled in 
.Mount Carroll Township in 1S37, and he was the 
first male child Ijorn in that township. 

The first log cabin, built in the grove was that 
of John Ankeney in ISIil ; he abandoned it to 
go to the Black Hawk War ; it was on the nortli 
side of the grove on section eight, and was sev- 
eral times used by pioneei-s a.-; a temixirary resi- 
dence until they could liuild log taliins ftir them- 
selves. 



OLD CENTER SCHOOL HOUSE 

While these jjeople were engaged in securing 
their individual interests, they did not neglect 
the c-ommon welfare. As soon as a sufficient 
number of families settletl in a neighborhood a 
log school house was built and school opened and 
maintained by private subscription or tuition. 
Oftimes donations either in money or labor were 
made by those who had no children to educate. 

Old Center school house was built of logs in 
the fall of 1S3.5. and was no doubt the first build- 
ing erected in the county exclusively for educa- 
tional purposes. A man named Ingalls was the 
first teacher. He was frozen to death in the 
winter of 18.3G while going home, being intoxi- 
cated. 

METHODIST CHURCH 

In this school house the south Elkhoni Grove 
Methodist Churdi Society worshipi)ed initii a 
church was built. 

Father McKean, who was on the' circuit, 
lireached the first sermon in Elkhorn Grove in 
1S3G. The society was organized and had regu- 
h-r preaching in the school house in the summer 
of 1S.3S. 

Their churcli Imilding was commenced in l.Slo 
and CHimpleted at a cost of si.x hundred dollars, 
the following year. 

A pioneers' ii.\xd saw mux 

-Vt a few places in the county, especially at 
Elkhorn Grove are to be seen today holes in 
the ground that are a puzzle to the casual ol)- 
server to know how they came to be made there. 
They were made by the early settlers to use 
in sawing boards from logs. 

.V pit was dug perhaps twent.v feet long and 
six feet or more deep around which a scaffolding 
was built of logs two or three feet above the 
ground, on this a log was placed that had been 
hewn flat on both sides, on the upper side the 
thickness of the boards to be sawed was marked 
off with chalk or charcoal ; the saw was started 
on one of these lines, a man in the pit with a 
veil over his face to keep the sawdust out of 
his eyes, pulled it down, a man on top pulled it 
up and guided it in the mark; sometimes he 
was assisted b.v the spring of a sapling bent over. 
Not far from the center of section eighteen Elk- 
horn Grove Township, one of these mills was in 
active operation in 1S3.^>-.3(j. 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



709 



The niiin in the pit was called the iiitinaii. 
Thus came the name of the bar that coimecteil 
the iiower in the saw mill to the saw and later 
the l)ar tliat connected the sickle in the nunvcr 
or reaiHT with the wheels of the machine was 
called the pitnian. Other excavations are some- 
times seen wliere charcoal was made, calli'd cliar- 
coal iiits, but they were not so large. 



A lllTHI OVEN 

The most important piece of Idtcheu ntensil 
was the dutch oven. It was u larj;e cast iron 
lK)t with a lid that had a flange around the edge. 
Anything to be baked or cooked was put in the 
|Hit and set in the coals then the lid was put on 
and lilled with coals. This could be easily lifted 
iilT williH\il 1,'etting aslies or coals into tlie lK)t. 



TIIK FIHST MU.l.S IN THE COUNTY 

•|lie lirst saw mill in the county run liy water 
power was erected by Jesse Kestou on IClkhorn 
cieek near Milledgeville in 1834. The Bowen 
Hrolhers saw mill was laiilt on Plum river in 
l,s:r.. lu ].s:!T Klijah Katon l)uilt a saw mill on 
i:iMinrn creek. This mill was purcliased l>y 
Smith and .Jurney and later was sold to Man- 
assa XeiUirk; Lucius S. TUorp Iwughl it in tlie 
fifties and converted it into a grist mill, later it 
was known as the L. S. Thorp and Sous mill and 
was tlie first mill in this part of the country to 
adopt the roller process lu the making of fiour. 

When the farmers of the surrounding country 
could no longer raise wheat the mill was again 
cliangcd into a saw mill, with a rotary instead 
of the old time sash .saw. And it is now (1012J 
the only water power mill of any kind in the 
cM\n]ty. 

IIRST ITXJlIt MII.I.S 

The lirst settlers at the grove to<:ik their grain 
to I'eoria to be ground, there was the nearest 
mill. Later Adam Knox built a small mill on 
Elkhorn Creek and .lo.-^cph Wilson Imilt one on 
.r.ulTalo Creek. 

A (;0-l)EVlL 

Crain was taken in small ciuantities to these 
mills and lo avoid using the heavy wagon for so 
small a load llu- farmers at the grove made and 
used what tliey called a go-devil. It was made 
from a forked limb or log, betweeu the two 
branches cross pieces were pinned ; the load was 
placed uiM)n this, the oxen were hitchcHl to it 
witli a chain and it was dragged n|Min the 
ground ; tlie same instrument was often used in 
winter when tlie snow was deep to break a path 
for the children to tlie scliool house. 



NAMES OMITTKl) 

The lollowing are tlie names of settlers who 
c.ime prior to IS.jO, who seem to have been omit- 
ted from the general history of the county; and 
some interesting facts connected with the lives 
of others. 

.Vlvin llumiihrey came in 183.") or :!l!, and 
started a tavern <ni the Sucker Trail, on the 
north east (piarler of sc<-lion Iwclve. Wysox 
Townsliii). 

Kansoni Shoemaker arrived at the grove early 
in the spring of IK'A and moveil his family into 
a cabin built by Ankeny in ISiJl. 

.John Knox and family came in l.S:!4. 

.loliii Katon. Caleb and Alva Dailies, bis brotli- 
ers-in-law settled in South KIkhorn in 1836. 
Caleb had settled there a few years before 
.Tohii Eaton built the first house between Chicago 
and the Mississippi river. 

Lucy L. Eaton, nee Daincs, was a very notable 
woman. She was an expert in the use of the 
spinning wheel and loom. She not only made 
cloth to supply her ow^u family, she was step- 
mother to ten children of Mr. Eaton, but she 
wove cloth to sell to pay for the tuition and 
school books for the children. She was the 
(laughter of John Daines who lived near Maran- 
Ihon, New York. John was a lad during the 
Kevolutionary war. and his father. John Daines 
was a soldier in that war. 

Alva Daines came from New York and made 
a home in Elkhorn in 1830. lie was a post- 
master there for four years, on tlie stage line 
from I'eoria to Galena, and was appointed by 
the county commissioners the first assessor of 
Carroll (Vmnty in 1S.3!>. His wife. .Martha 
Erolhingham. was from Ohio. 

Albert II. Ilealy. was a gradnale in music at 
the W.voming Academy. New York. He came to 
Elkhorn in 1841, with Hiram Ste^vart. 

Samuel Orinsbee from Vermont settled in the 
grove in ISl."i. 



710 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



Jauies Henry Jenkins" family should not be 
omitted. Henry Jenkins, as he was called, was 
known all over the grove and abroad ; he was 
noted for his Uospitality, at a time when all 
frontiersmen made the traveler welcome; Mary. 
Mrs. L. Fosdick ; Sarah, Mrs. Hiram Woodin ; 
Lavinia, Mrs. P. MeCurdy and Nora. Mrs. John 
Coffey, were bis daughters. 

The Jenkins brothers who were here in the 
thirties were, Russell, who was a soldier in 
the Mexican war: William, who made a home on 
set^-tion four and married Miss Eunice Stewart 
of Eagle Point, ]S40; L'hauncy. who was born in 
New York and married Mary Seaman, 1848; 
Wellington, who resided near Stump Town 
(Hitt) for some years. He married Mary 
Becker, a sister of Capt. T. E. Becker, late of 
Mount Carroll. 

John W. Stewart and his wife Harriet L., 
nee Booth, were among the first of the old set- 
tlers to aid in education and religious work. He 
was a great temperance and auti-slaverj' man. 
His wife taught for many years the infant class 
in the church at Eagle Point. 

Lucius S. Thorp, born in Genesee County, New 
York, came to Carroll County in 184G. He was 
county surveyor for many years. His son 
Charles S. Thoi'ii owns and operates the only 
water jiower mill left in Carroll County. 

Naaman Spencer came in 1837 from Pennsyl- 
vania. His family was of English origin. He 
was born in Connecticut, a cooper by trade. He 
and his sons supplied the flouring mills, of which 
there were several in the grove, with flour bar- 
rels in which flour was shipped in early days. 
The business was discontinued in ISliS. 

THE STICKER TRAIL 

Just where tbis trail traversed tlirough tbe 
county it is difficult now to tell, there were no 
doubt several lines of travel which were changed 
on account of difficulties that had to be over- 
come or avoided. There are places where these 
lines converged at fords of streams where the 
deep worn cuts in the banks of the stream and 
hill sides, indicate a great deal of travel many 
years ago. The Sucker Trail where it ran 
through Elkhorn Grove was afterward called 
the State Road. The State Road was afterward 
called the Telegraph Road. It is quite probable 
the Sucker Trail diverged from this road east 
of Mount Carroll and crossed Straddle Creek in 



the grove that is now part of Wilderberg Place 
and led from thence in a north and westerly di- 
rection to Galena. 

These early roads or trails were made along 
by the groves and streams from necessity so that 
there were stopping places where fuel and wa- 
ter could be procured for campers. The Sucker 
trail probably followed the Indian trails, which 
no doubt were first traveled by the bufCalo and 
deer and other wild animals perhaps the elk. 

A PIGEON TRAP 

Naaman Spencer made a pigeon trap and be- 
came quite noted in the neighborhood on this 
account. It was in the days when wild pigeons 
were very plentiful. An oiien place was selected 
in the woods, and the ground cleared and made 
as smooth as a floor. This place was surround- 
ed with a rail fence, when it was necessary, to 
keep stock off. The pigeons were baited by scat- 
tering wheat or corn on the cleared space until 
the birds became accustomed to coming there to 
feed. They would alight on the limbs of the 
trees in great numljers, a few would venture on 
the pigeon bed and if there was nothing to dis- 
turb them they would alight on tlie ground to 
get the grain, sometimes so thick that there was 
no room for more. They were fed several days 
with corn or wheat. 

Then the net was set, it was made of twine 
with meshes an inch and a half square about 
twenty-four feet long by twelve wide, one edge 
of the net was fastened to the ground on one 
side of the pigeon bed and the net folded up 
along the edge and covered with grass ; the two 
loose corners were fastened to long roises ; the 
opposite ends of the ropes were fastened to 
spring poles bent over the opposite edge of the 
bed ; when pulled down they were fastened tight 
to some kind of a catch or trigger. From these a 
line ran to a bough shelter several rods from the 
pigeon bed where the operators, usually two, 
came before daylight to spring the trap, which 
had been set and baited the evening before. Mr. 
Elsey. says : "It was an exciting time then until 
the catch was made and hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, of pigeons would come through the 
tree tops and pass away, then another crow'd 
would come and alight in the trees nearby. A 
squin-el would perhajis jump into the pigeon bed 
to get some of the grain then the pigeons would 
all fly away, and not return for half an hour. At 
last some of Hhem take courage and begin to 












.<-: 



HISTORY OP' CARROLL COUNTY 



-11 



returu in vast uumliers alighting near llie bed, 
a single pigeon would hover over it for a moment 
and settle slowly to the ground and begin to 
pick up the grain, then a dozen then a hundretl 
then the air would he thick with them and there 
was no [ilaoe for them to alight upon the ground. 
A steady pull would set free the net and the 
spring of the pules would draw the net through 
the cloud of birds at a distance of three feet 
from the ground, then those iu the bough house 
made all haste to get to the front line of the 
net to hold it down so that the birds under the 
net could uot escape. Witli a mighty roar the 
birds that were free passed from sight and tlie 
work of taking care of tlie captives began." 

It was not unusual to catch from two to five 
hundred at a time, and if the catch was a big 
one, the neighbors were invited to help dispose of 
tliem. Tliey were picked and dressed in the old 
cooper shop, where five or six families would be 
rei)resented at a "i)igeon picking.'' The body 
fe-athers were carefully .saved to make feather 
beds and some of these feather beds arc to be 
found in the grove today. 

CIIOU E DISHES 

Among the choice dishes that apix'artnl on the 
pioneers tables was smoked pigeon br(>asts. They 
had been placed in brine for a short time and 
then smoked, in the big chimney tire places, and 
were considered a luxury even when other game 
was almndant, smoked or dried venison being so 
plentiful the settlers would tire of it. 

On the prairie the farmers also caught pigeons, 
much in the same manner usually in the fall of 
the year. They set trees about the plat of 
ground for the birds to alight on as iu the woods 
planting the spring poles in the ground and 
making a trigger to hold them down like the 
boys use on a figure four trap, the upright piece 
being driven into the ground. They had a novel 
way of killing them, a slight bite on the back 
bone just back of the skull would kill them in- 
stantly. Old hunters understand this manner of 
killing game. 

INTOXICATINd LlylOU 

It is no wonder that a great deal of intoxicat- 
ing liquor was used about Elkhorn Grove. 
Farmers rould not get cash for their corn, even at 
the distillery, but they could exchange corn for 



whiskey at the rate of a bushel of corn for a 
gallon. A man would take a load of shelled com 
to Peoria, which was ninety seven miles from 
tlie grove and bring back a thirty-two gallon 
barrel of whiskey, which he would exchange for 
dry goods with the home merchant at tiiirty cents 
lier gallon; the merchant tlien retailed i( for 
thirty-five cents cash per gallon. 

A VAI,U.\BI.E LOAD OF FARM PRODUCE 

Mahassa Xeikirk came from Washington 
County, Maryland. September 13, 1837, and set- 
tled on section eighteen. Ills was a liosi)itable 
family, at their cabin one always found the latch 
string out. Tliey were thrifty and prosjK'rous. 
-Mr. Xeikirk probably sold the most valuable 
load of farm produce ever marketed in Carroll 
County. It was a load of seventy bushels of 
clover seed, which he hauled to Polo with a four 
horse team and sold it for fourteen dollars a 
bushel, receiving nearly one thousand dollars for 
the load. 

NAMES OF EARLY SETTLERS 

The Webster bruthers; George It., Novatus 
B., .Tared and Oscar, came from Delaware Coun- 
ty. New York, and settled alxiut the Grove in 
is:;."!. Their father. Elijah, with his wife and 
daughters came iu 1837. 

Daniel Stormer. who bad been in the I5lack 
Hawk war, was from Tennessee. He settled in 
Elkhorn Grove in 1837. 

Hiram McNamar and wife came from Ken- 
tucky. April 27th. 1830. He was twenty-three. 
The young couple camped three weeks in their 
wagon, until he built a cabin. Money was very 
scarce. He paid Mr. Shoemaker all the money 
he had for breaking three acres of prairie. 
They were glad to have letters come from their 
friends, but very sorry that they did not have 
money enough to take tlieui from the post Office. 

George W. Knox lanie to Carroll County in 
ISU. 

George Curtice came from England to Elkhorn 
Grove in 18.37. His son .Tnhn afterwards sellled 
near Shannon in Cherry Grove Township. 

Eliakim Todd, moved from Connecticut to 
Pennsj-lvania in 1823. Mr. Todd in company with 
a brother-in-law. .Joseph Hire, started from Ea- 
Raysville. Pennsylvania, in September, 1837 and 
walked nearly the entire distance to Elkhorn 



712 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



Grove, arriving at Humphrey's tavern, December 
3rd. 1837. lu later .vears lie lived at the home 
of his son. Samuel II. Todd at the Grand View 
Farm near Milledgeville. 

ililes Z. Laudou was born in Delaware County. 
New York ; his wife, Mary Sanborn, was from 
Canada. They came to the Grove in 1838. He 
•was sheriff of Carroll County one term, also 
Supervisor. 

Klizabeth Lowry. \. G. Eastabrooks and Henry 
C. Hunter came in 18-39. Mr. Hunter was from 
Wilkinson County. Mississip|ii ; his wife came 
from ^■irginia. 

Jolm II. Hawes was from Bedford County, 
Virginia. He bought a claim of Levi Warner 
on section 21. September Ji!nd. 1840. Alfred 
Steffins came the same year. 

George W. Laudon came from New York state 
and settled in the Grove in November, 184.5. He 
was a skilled mechanic and had a blacksmith 
shoii on the west bank of Elkhorn Creek at 
Fremont. He invented a plow to take the place 
of the wooden rooter. It required three yoke of 
oxen to draw it. Soon it became known that 
any kind of iron, steel or wood work could be 
done at Landon's shop. He employed several 
hands, among them Dennis Woodin. George An- 
derson and Lewis B. Fosdick. The business 
branched out and included a gun shop in which 
rifles were made and repaired. He also made 
files and rasps. 

Gerardus Beekman came in 1S42 ; Levi Neikirk 
in 1844; William L. .Johnson in 184.5; Ran.som 
Wilson in 1849. He lived in the old stage house 
where the first store was kei>t in the town. 

The earliest arrivals at Elkhorn Grove may 
be named and located as follows: On the west 
end of the Grove were. Mahassa Neikirk. Alva 
Daines. Lyman Hunt. Alvin Humphrey. Elijah 
Eaton, the Eastabrooks, Todds and Newman. 

On the north side, Sample M. Journey, John 
Ankeny, Harry Smith, John Fosdick, Clark 
Stoqe, and Naaman Spencer. 

On the south side was John Kno.\, Levi 
Warner, E. W. Todd. Daniel Stormer. Caleb 
Daines, Hiram McNamar. Jasper Steflins. 
Thomas Hughes, Abijah Painter and others. 

About 18.37 a flood of settlers arrived at Elk- 
horn Grove. 

Most of the foregoing facts in regard to the 
pioneers of Elkhorn Grove are taken from 
biographical sketches written b.v Henry Elsey. 
to whom we are greatly indebted for the use 



of his manuscripts. He intends depositing these 
sketches, which contain very many interesting 
facts, with a IIistori«il Society at Polo, Ogle 
County, Illinois. 

W.\R RECORD 

Elkorn Grove's war record was very creditable. 
Jlr. Elsey says, "Long before a call for troops 
was made by President Lincoln, the fire of war 
lay smoldering in the breasts of the loyal citizens 
of Elkhorn Grove. 

"In school houses on winter evenings and in 
store and blacksmith shops the subject of slavery 
had been debated, pro and con." 

Mr. Elsey's sympathies, like the majority of 
the neighborhood, were with the slaves. 

THE t'NDERGROUXD R.\ILR0AD 

He was one of the operators of the under- 
ground railroad an<l says he helped many slaves 
to get from Fulton on the Mississippi river to 
Byron, on their way to Canada and freedom. 
They were usually taken from place to place in 
the night, hidden in wagons with farm produce. 
Continuing he says : "The invasion of Kansas 
by a horde of southern ruffians, who Ixiasted that 
they went there to fight and to vote slavery into 
free territory, had fired the blood of the pioneers 
and their loyal sons. When the call to arms came 
more offered their services than oould be ac- 
cepted, at that time." He gives a list of one 
hundred and seven names of Elkorn Grove soldier 
boys, a great many for that neighliorhood. es- 
jiecially when we consider that Elkhorn Grove is 
only half a towushii). 

Among these were Harry Smith's sons. He 
was born in New Hampshire: went to the lead 
mines in Wisconsin from Rock Island in 18.32. 
Enlisted in the Black Hawk war and was elected 
captain of a company, called the White Oak 
Springs Volunteers. He and Sample M. Journey 
started the first store in the Grove. He bought 
the claim of John C. Ankeny and afterward en- 
tered it. It was the first claim that was en- 
tered in the town. 

He was the first member of the State Legis- 
lature. 1843-44. from this county and was a 
member of the Constitutional Convention. 1860-Gl. 

His wife. Lucinda Dalton, was from North 
Carolina. 

Their son Samuel was in the First Illinois 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



713 



Artillery in the war for the preservation of the 
Union ; he was o-aptain of Battery A ; was taken 
prisoner before Atlanta and was confined for 
eight months in Confederate prisons. 

Tip Garland !^niitli was in Company II, 71U 
Illinois Cavalry, and Frank was Captain of Com- 
pany D, 140th I. V. I. 

IIAZELIURST 

In the sonth east corner of Elkhoru Grove is 
a station on the Chicago, r.nrlington and North- 
ern Railroad, called Ilazelhnrst. It is so near 
the east line of the connty it is difficult to tell 
which county it is in. There is one general 
merchandise store kept by Harry G. Smith, a 
grandson of "Uncle Harry" Smith, just men- 
tioned above. He is also postmaster. There are 
eight houses in the town and thirty-two inhabi- 
tants all told. 

There is one elevator, one blacksmith sliop 
and one doctor. C. W. SIcI'herson, SI. D. Hazel- 
hurst is S4G feet above the level of the sea. 



CHAPTEn XIII. 



MOUNT CARROLL. CITY AND TOWNSHIP- 
SALE.M TOWNSHIP. 



CITY OF MOUNT CARROLI, — MAYORS PUBLIC 

LIBRARY — CAROIJ.XE MARK HOME — BUSINESS 
ENTERPRISES — CHURCHES — CIVIC SOCIETIES — 
FRANCES SIintER SCllOOI.— MOUNT CARROLL 
TOWNSHIP — FIRST MILL — FIRST SCHOOL — OCCU- 
PATION OP FARMERS SAIEM TOWNSHIP — IN- 
TERESTING INCIDENTS CYCLONES — A LOO 

SCHOOL HOUSE — SPECIAL CROPS. 

THE CITY OF MOUNT CARROLL 

Written for the Connty History by N. Miles. 

The city of Mount Carroll, the county seat of 
Carroll County, is situated at aliout the geo- 
graphical center of the county on the main line 
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, 
817 feet above sea level. Agriculture is the 



principal business of the comnmuit.v, and as the 
rural districts have iucrea.sed their wealth from 
the fertile soil, the city has gained in pros- 
perit.v. The hills uiion which it is built, Carroll 
Creek wandering between them, the plentiful 
trees, long shady streets and substantial public 
buildings combine to make Mount Carroll one 
of the very attractive towns. 

While not varying greatly in jHapulation from 
the figure shown by the census of lOHi — s<jme 
ITo!) — Mount Carroll has been making a steady 
and consistent advance along the lines of civic 
improvement. There are few towns of its size, 
if any. in the state, which can boast so many 
creditable public buildings, such well organized 
sch(X)ls and attractive park grounds, all char- 
acterizing a si)irit of progress that is capable 
of accomplishmeut. 

The county buildings occupy a square in the 
business district. The present Court House was 
'built in 1858 to take the place of the stone 
structure erected for the county by the old Mill 
Company in IS-H. Since that time the business 
of the county has again outgrown its quarters 
and a second building was added for the use of 
the county otficers in 1805. 

The year 1911 witnessed the completiun of the 
new City Hall, just west of the Court House 
square. Realizing that the location was ad- 
mirable for a City Hall, a number of citizens 
under the name of the Mount Carroll Cit.v Hall 
Association, Ixjught the site in 1910 and held It 
until in 1911 a si>ecial election decided that the 
city should buy the lot and put out a bond issue 
of .$9,000.00 for the erection of a new Hall. The 
present splendid building is the result and the 
old City Hall perched on the edge of the 'Wau- 
karusa" at the head of Market Street, is no 
longer the meeting place of the council. 

MAYORS 

The old Hall witnessed the assemblage of a 
long line of officers. The Mayors of the city 
since 1878 are as follows : 

1878 John L. Tonillnson. 

1879 Henry Bitner. 

1880 P. B. Cole. 

1881 Henry Bitner. 

1882 John Coleman. 
lS,S:i Jas. C. Strong. 
18.84 B. Lepman. 
1885 George L. Hoffman. 



714 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



18S6 George L. Hoffman. 
ISST John W. Miller. 
ISSS Johu W. .Millei-. 
1SS'.> Otto Jesseu. 
180U Frank D. Freeman. 
1S91 X. H. MeleuUy. 

1892 X. H. Meleudy. 

1893 John Coleman. 
1804 George L. Hoffman. 
ISiio George M. Wberritt. 
189G George il. Wberritt. 

1897 George F. Buelier. 

1898 Amasa T. Uunsliee. 

1899 Thos. B. Rhodes. 

1900 Chas. L. Kinney. 

1901 Cha.s. E. Beaver. 

1902 Amasa T. l)uushee. 
V.Ht?, William It. Tiptou. 
IWl Josephus B. Smith. 
190.5 Chas. E. Beaver. 

1906 Chas. E. Beaver. 

1907 Chas. E. Beaver. 

1908 John A. Bender. 

1909 Jason B. Paul. 

1910 George W. Ivey. 

1911 T. A. War-htel. 

PUBLIC I.IBK.\RY 

Across the street from the City Hall stands 
the Mount Carroll Township Public Library. 
The building, erected in 1907, a beautiful struc- 
ture of brick and stone under a tile roof, was 
the gift of Andrew Carnegie. The Library con- 
tains about 2000 volumes which have an an- 
nual circulation of upwards of 10,000. The 
present aduiiuistrative board has been in office 
since the founding of the Library. President, 
R. E. Eaton. Vice President, T. A. Waehtel, 
Secretary. Chas. F. Schaale, Treasurer. George 
D. Campbell. W. E. Xipe and N. C. Smith, 
Librarian. Miss E. Luverta Smith. 

Mount Carroll's Public School System has 
been productive of very efficient work, and to- 
gether with the Frances Shimer School, affords 
to the city unusual educational advantages. 
Housed in a .$.3,000.00 building completed in 
1908, the equipment is modem and administra- 
tion progressive, placing the school upon the 
accredited list of the University of Illinois. 
During the fall of 1911 the erection of a gym- 
nasium was commenced. The funds necessary 
for the purchase of material were raised by 



popular subscription and Prof. R. Gorman, with 
the assistance of the school boys, undertook the 
work of constructing a building 42 by 86. Th« 
Board of Education is as follows : President, 
R. E. Eaton, Secretary, F. S. Smith, W. E. 
Xipe, X. C. Smith, W. L. Kueale, S. P. Cole- 
hour, J. C. Gelwicks, T. A. Waehtel, and Supt. 
C. J. Brosnan. 

Mount Carroll was, until 1906, handicapped by 
the fact that there was but one bridge across 
the creek that gave access to the country north 
of the city, and this one was so placed between 
hills that it necessitated considerable heavy 
pulling for the farmers who used it. The con- 
struction, on cement foundations, of an iron 
bridge over 300 feet long has eliminated these 
difficulties and has made more attractive that 
part of the city lying north of the stream. 

CAROLINE MARK HOME 

Here the Caroline Mark Home for aged 
women is situated. Jlrs. Caroline Mark, with 
her husband James Mark, was one of the pio- 
neers of northern Illinois. She died ix)ssessed 
of a considerable estate and left the greater 
part of it in trust for the founding of a home 
for aged ladies. The building, erected in 1907, 
stands on an elevated knoll, which together with 
a farm bordering on the creek, comprises the 
grounds of the institution. The present trustees 
of the home are F. S. Smith, George D. Cami)- 
bell and A. F. Wingert. 

The grounds of the home have afforded a 
location for the Auditorium of the Lincoln 
Chatauqua, which has had a strong hold here 
for several years, under the presidency' of the 
Reverend William Beers. The Mount Carroll 
meeting has come to be one of the strongest 
Chatauqua Assemblies in the state. 

The same civic enterprise which secured the 
location for the City Hall was also responsible 
for the acquisition by the cit.v of Point Rock 
Park, a beautiful tract of thirty-five acres ly- 
ing ad.iaeent to the town. The land became the 
property of the Point Rock Park Association, 
formed for the purpose of purchasing and hold- 
ing it, in 1903, and was transferred to the city 
one year later. The Park is at the head of the 
canyon or gorge of Carroll Creek and possesses 
among other natural beauties, the famous Point 
Rock, which projects over a bend of the stream 
as It rounds the end of a long ridge. 



HISTORY OP CARROLL COUNTY 



715 



BUSINESS ENTEKPKISES 

Mount Carroll supports a variety of business 
euteri)rises. Tbere are two papers, elevators, 
uiill, (.•reamery, electric light plant, two hotels, 
opera house, garage, lumber yards, cement fac- 
tory, two banks, grocery, dry goods, drug, cloth- 
ing, hardware, millinery, jewelry, music and 
lurnituro stores, restaurants, blacksmith and 
harness shops, and ice factory. 

The J. M. Shirk Milling Company is now using 
the same mill that belonged to the old Mill 
Company which began operations here in 1842. 
The floods of the summer of 1911 tore a great 
hole in the mill dam so that the original source 
of i>ower is no longer in use. With the passing 
of the dam, the falls, due to their overflow 
have been destroyed and the city has lost one of 
its most attractive beauty spots. 

The business portion and part of the residence 
district are served by sewage systems installed 
l)y private enterprise. The entire city is lighted 
by electricity generated by the plant of the 
Mount Carroll Electric Light Company. The 
water supply comes from two wells, one of them 
among the deep wells of the United States, de- 
scending over 2,500 feet. In 1911 an artificial 
ice plant was installed so that the city is pro- 
vided with the purest ice at all seasons. 

CHUECHES 

Methodist Episcopal Church, organized 1S39, 
Keverend E. G. Cattermole, Pastor. 

Church of God, organized 1849, Reverend J. 
W. Primrose. Pastor. 

First Baptist Church, organized 1853, Rev- 
erend W. .T. Peuc-ock, Pastor. 

First Lutheran Church, organized 1858, Rev- 
erend C. J. Callier, Pastor. 

Dunkard Church, Reverend Israel Cripe, 
Pastor. 

United P.rethren, Reverend W. W. Oborheim, 
Pastor. 

CIVIC SOCIETIES 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 
."(I. organized 1H40. 

Priscilla Rcliekah, Lodge No. 315, organized 
1894. 

C.vrus Lodge. No. 188 A. F. and A. M., or- 
ganized 18.jG. 

Long Comniandery, No. GO, Knights Templar, 
organized 1891. 



Ola Chapter, No. 170, Eastern Star. 

Knights of Pythias, Rieuzi Lodge No. 574, 
organized 1899. 

Pythian Sisters, organized 1911. 

Modern Woodmen of America, Excelsior 
Camp, organized 1883. 

Royal Neighbors of America, Carroll Camp, 
No. 380. 

Nase Post, No. 80 G. A. R., organizetl 1880. 

Nase Relief Corps, No. 95, organized 1902. 

Yeomen of America, organized 1904. 

Woodmen of the World, organized 1904. 

Court of Honor. 

THE FRANCES SHIMER SCHOOL OF THE UNIVEESITT 

OF CHICAGO, MOUNT CAKROLL, ILLINOIS, KEV. 

WILLIAM PARKER m'KEE, DEAN. 

On July 1, 1896, Mt. Carroll Seminary became 
The Fi-auces Sliimer School of the University 
of Chicago. The older institution was the prop- 
erty of Mrs. Frances A. Wood Shimer. She 
transferred the buildings and grounds of the 
seminary on the date named to a board of 
trustees, consisting of fifteen persons, who were 
to hold the property in trust for public use, and 
they and their successors were to administer 
the school under certain limitations agreed on 
between Mrs. Shimer and this board. The ar- 
rangement by which the new institution came 
into existence was carried through by personal 
negotiations between President William Rainey 
Hariwr of the University of Chicago, and other 
University men, with Mrs. Shimer. The new 
board, under the agreement, was to include 
representatives of the University of Chicago and 
of the former students and friends of the Mt. 
Carroll Seminary, and two-thirds of this board 
and the head of the institution were to be mem- 
bers of Baptist churches. No other religious 
(inalification appears for any trustee or teacher 
or pupil connected with the institution. 

The institution opened under the new manage- 
ment in September, 1890, with Ida JI. Gardiner, 
Dean, and Prof. Frank J. Miller of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago as non-resident principal. 
July 1, 1897. on the resignation of Miss Gardiner, 
the present Dean took charge. 

By the month of June, 1899, sufficient progress 
liad lieon made to justify an effort to improve 
the facilities of the institution, and the trus- 
tees, encouraged by a contriliution from Mrs. 
Shimer, voted to let the contract for the erection 



716 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



of South Hall. As time passed, the trustees 
were led iu Juue, ItXto. to seek subscriptious for 
a music hall, aud iu November of that year 
Dearborn Hall, named for Mrs. Isabel Dearborn 
Hazzeu, vrho for many years had been asso- 
ciated with the Seminary, was opened for use. 
In the fall of 1904, the school found itself with- 
out sufficient space to accommodate its house 
pupils, and the board voted iu June, 1905, to 
proceed with the erection of Hathaway Hall, 
named after an early graduate of the institu- 
tion, aud this building was occupied in the 
November following. On February 0, 1906, fire 
destroyed all the buildings which remained on 
the grounds formerly used by the Seminary, 
along with South Hall, erected in 1899. Appeal 
was at once made to the friends of the institu- 
tion far and near for a building fund to replace 
the buildings which had been destroyed. Ap- 
proximately fifty thousand dollars were secured 
for this purpose aud to liquidate the indebted- 
ness of the institution, ten thousand dollars of 
which was contributed by Andrew Carnegie of 
New York City. After the fire, the tnastees 
took immediate action and at once proceeded 
with the erection of West Hall which was en- 
tered in September, 1906, and was used as a 
dormitory and recitation building combined until 
January, 1908. when Metealf Hall was likewise 
completed and occupied. This building was 
named in honor of Mrs. Sarah Metealf, the 
mother of Dr. Henry S. Metealf, president of 
the board of trustees, she having been a life long 
friend of Mrs. Shimer. 

The capacity of the buildings not being suffi- 
cient to accommodate the growing constituency 
of the institution, the trustees voted early in 1909 
to erect a building to be known as College Hall, 
which was occupied in the following September. 
These five buildings now in existence, in addi- 
tion to the central steam plant and laundry, with 
their e<iuipnieut and furniture, represent a cash 
expenditure in tlie past seven years of approxi- 
mately one hundred thousand dollars. They 
are all substantially built, designed by Chicago 
architects, admirably suited for the purposes for 
which they are used, harmonious iu architecture 
and construction and material, well distributed 
over a considerable part of the grounds. The 
total capacity of house pupils is one hundred and 
two, with adequate recitation rooms, library fa- 
cilities and boarding accommodations. Provi- 



sion is also made for day pupils residing in Mt. 
Carroll. 

The grounds of the institution, including recent 
purchases, aggregate thirty-six acres. They are 
well wooded, largely due to the interest of Mrs. 
Shimer, in trees, and are well suited both by 
their beauty and extent foi- the purposes of a 
school for girls. Ample space is given for out- 
door games, including golf, tennis, and basket 
ball. Space is also available for kitchen gardens. 

This institution stands in a peculiar relation 
to the University of Chicago, educational, not 
financial. Tresident Hari-j' Pratt Judson of the 
University, with Secretai-y Goodspeed. Business- 
manager Heckman, and Dean Butler of the 
School of Education are all members of the 
board of trustees of the Frances Shimer School. 
In addition to this, the school is in the relation 
of affiliation to the University which, in effect, 
guarantees the educational policy of the insti- 
tution. The standard of scholarship has been 
kept up to that required by the University of 
Chicago and eastern colleges for women, in order 
that graduates of the academic department may 
enter these and other institutions without exami- 
nation. 

The faculty iu the scholastic department is com- 
posed of college trained people, most of them 
graduates of advanced institutions of learning. 
The instructors iu other departments have had 
corre.siX)nding advantages in special schools and 
in European travel. Among members of the 
present faculty, these have been connected with 
the institution four years or more ; William 
Parker McKee since 1897 ; Florence Turney Mc- 
Kee. 1901; Elsie C. Hobson, 1907; Dora Ger- 
trude Knight. 1900 ; Elsie Morrison, 1905 ; Delana 
E. Bailey. 1900 : Emil Liebling, 1905 ; Grace M. 
Bawden. 1898; Bertha R. Bowman, 1907. 
Eighteen people iu the year 1910 were in- 
structors iu the school, including one assistant, 
and Emil Liebling, who is visiting director in 
piano. 

The scope of instruction given in the institution 
covers first of all college work. In the erection 
of College Hall in 1909. public attention was 
called to the fact that the institution had al- 
ready been giving two years of college work for 
some time, and in that year was enlarging and 
strengthening these courses. No special ap- 
peal, however, up to that time had been made 
for college pupils. At the present time, Decem- 
ber, 1910, over twenty girls are doing college 





* 




^ 

^ 







X/ 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



717 



work in the institution, and thirty or more of 
the students are jiraduates of high scliools. 
The college t-ourses are so arranged that tliey 
are tlie e<iuivalent of siniihir courses in other 
colleges and universities, and tlie work is done 
under the sujiervision of corresponding depart- 
ments in the University of Chicago to the end 
that credit for ad%'ance<l standing may be gained 
there and elsewhere by those who do the col- 
lege worlc in this school. 

Next iu rank under the junior college is the 
ac-adeniy with its acadouiic work of four years, 
covering those courses ordinaril.v given in the 
best high schools, in matliematics. language, 
science, history, literature. Classical and 
scientitic courses are offered and students are 
preiKired for tlie best institutions cast and 
west. 

In the department of nnisic. instruction is 
given in piano, voice, and violin, the work in 
piano being under the general sU|)ervision of 
Emil Liebling of Chicago, who makes quarterly 
visits to the school, examines the work, gives 
a recital, and addresses the pupils on questions 
connected with their work. 

In 1001 the department of don)estic science was 
organized under the instruction of Miss Sarah 
Hostetter of the class of '78, and place was 
found for this department in Dearborn Hall 
opened iu 100.'?. This department has grown 
steadily with the increase iu interest the 
county over in this side of the education of girls. 
and at the jiresent writing is clamoring for more 
space. 

The department of expression, including phys- 
ical culture and elocution, has had serious at- 
tention for years, as all the house iiujiils are 
required to take instruction iu jihysical culture, 
and private instruction is offered in elocution. 

Courses iu sleuograi)hy and typewriting have 
been olTered from the outset, and there is de- 
mand for further extension of work of this 
character and for enlarging the si>ope of it to 
include secretarial work and other similar lines 
of study. 

Mt. Carroll Semin.iry contrilinted to the 
Frances Shimer RcIkioI an interest in art and 
work has been continued in Ibis department from 
the very iM'ginning. offering courses iu drawing, 
water color, oil. and china )iainting. 

With the nuiltiplication of its buildings and 
the increased efficiency which they ha'N'* given. 
along with the eidargement of the courses of 



study and the addition of new ones, has come a 
steady increase in the numbers of the pupils 
from outside of Mt. Carroll. In the past ten 
years, students from twenty-four states, and 
also frou) .Tapau. Canada, and old Mexico have 
attended the institution. 

Diplomas are granted jiupils who complete the 
work either in the scholastic department or in 
music, art, elocution, or domestic science. A 
gold medal is offered for jiroficiency in nuisic. 

One of the most valuable features of the 
.Si-bool is the home life whi<-h is offered. The 
pupils reside in beautiful buildings with every 
comfort and modern convenience, and are in 
constant association with teachers of refinement 
and experience, under whose supervision they 
do their work. This suix-rvisiou extends not 
only to the class room, but to the whole of the 
daily life of the pupil. This free iutermiugling 
of pupils from good homes with one another 
and with teachers who have much to ointribute 
to them in the social life, in addition to the 
work of the class room, is one of the most valu- 
able features of the work of the school. I'ar- 
ents realize that their daughters are cared for 
and protected from outside influences. Some 
idea of the growth of the school from the be- 
ginning may be gained from the following tabu- 
lated statement : 

Receipts from 

House pupils for 

rupils Pupils school bills 

00-7 01 3.J $ n,.o.-)0.00 

07-8 07 3.J ,S,0.-T.(in 

OS-0 04 .'57 0,007.00 

00-00 SO .■!7 10,070.00 

(K)-Ol 72 4.3 O.O.'l .00 

01-02 77 47 12.00;',.0() 

02-03 82 .■)0 13,231.00 

03-04 70 .-.0 14,100.00 

04-0.5 111 70 17.200.00 

05-00 00 .". ffire) 13.300.00 

00-07 102 .57 (West Hall) 10,.500.00 

07-08 108 70 (Met calf Hall).. 20..5.50.00 

0,S-00 120 74 24..50.5.00 

00-10 127 82 (College Hall).. 24.740.00 

10-11 1.58 108 (over) 38.000.00 

In the winter of 1010-11, the trustees jiur- 
chased nine and one-half acres of ground across 
tlie street from the center of the grounds west 
with a view to further. extension of the facilities 
of the institution. The capacity of all the dor- 
mitories on the grounds is taxed with the pres- 



718 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



ent attendance and further growth is Impossible 
until additional buildings can be provided. It 
is hoped that funds may be secured by which. 
within the next five years, there may be added 
to the institution additional dormitories, a li- 
brary building, a science hall, and an entirely 
new heating and power plant with steam laun- 
dry. 

The trustees of the institution in the year 
1910 were : Henry S. Metcalf, President ; Na- 
thaniel Butler, Chicago, Vice President ; Wil- 
liam P. lIcKee, Mt. Carroll. Secretary ; George 
D. Campbell, Mt. Carroll, Treasurer ; Mrs. A. 
T. Dunshee, Mt. Carroll; Lathan A. Crandall, 
D. D., Minneaixjlis, Minn. ; John M. Riuewalt, 
Mt. Carroll ; Wallace Heckman, Chicago ; Mrs. 
W. R. Hostetter, Mt. Carrol! ; Harry Pratt Jud- 
son, LL. D., Chicago ; Hon. A. J. Sawyer, Lin- 
coln, Nebraska ; Mrs. Hattie N. LePelley, Free- 
r)ort. 111. ; J. H. Miles. Mt. CaiToll ; Thomas W. 
Goodspeed, D. D., Chicago. 

[Mo.st of the progress of this, now thoroughly 
modern institution, in buildings and equipment, 
in the number in attendance and in the effi- 
ciency of the faculty, is due to the thorough busi- 
ness capacity and ability of the Dean, ably sec- 
onded by the resident members of the board of 
trustees. Through him, also, the non-residents 
of the board liave been kept in touch and hearty 
symiMthy wit' the work in hand and they have 
given freely whatever assistance and encourage- 
ment they could. The citizens of the city and 
surrounding country also take great pride in 
this institution and lend a helping hand where- 
ever possible. Ed.] 

MOUNT CARBOLL TOWNSHIP 

Population 1010, seventeen hundred ninety- 
seven. 

Samuel Preston, Sr., of Mass., made the first 
claim and was the first settler in Mount Car- 
roll township. His claim covered the water 
power of Fulrath's mill and what has ever since 
been known as "Preston's Prairie." The same 
day he made his claim Paul D. Otis and Gran- 
ville Mathews, the stage drivers on their win- 
ter route, made a claim of the land and water 
power at Mt. Carroll. This afterward became 
the property of the Mill Company of Enunert, 
Halderman & Co. These claims were made in 
183G. Otis and Matlicws built a caljin and what 



afterward became the property of Jacob Chris- 
tian who came here with his father's family in 
1S.37. Daniel Christian, father of Jacob, came 
here in 1836, and he with four others made claim 
to six sections of land. The Christians were 
from Maryland and Col. Beers Tomlinson came 
from Connecticut in 1837. and the following set- 
tlers came in 1.S3S. 

Peter and William Bashaw came from Can- 
ada, by team through Michigan, Indiana and 
Illinoi.s. and were six weeks on the wa.v. There 
was only one house in Dixon where they crossed 
Rock river, and not a house between there and 
Cherry Grove. Jonathan and Claressa Cum- 
mings came from New Hampshire. Sumner 
Downing and his father, Abner Downing, who 
was born in Connecticut, came here in 1837 and 
tuok up a claim of .320 acres. Sumner's mother 
was a Preston of JIassachusetts. Hezekiah 
Frances, born in Vermont, reared in New York, 
married Nancy Asliorn from Indiana, and James 
Wilson from Vermont came on foot from Chi- 
cago, when there was only one house between 
Elkhorn Grove and Savanna. He had charge of 
the Powder Mills near Savanna for a time, then 
entered government land and went to farming, 
used to sell good wheat at thirty cents a bushel 
and corn at ten cents. 

Among those who came in ].S3f) were Hollis 
Cunimings, born in New Hamps'aire. who came 
from New York state to Carroll County. J3is 
wife Emily M. McNamer was from New York, 
Benjamin Day came from Vermont. There were 
only a few cabins on Preston Prairie when he 
came ; he married Emerence Downing ; she 
was born in Massachusetts. When out of flour 
in the winter they punched holes in a tin pan 
and grated the corn into meal, one neighbor 
would use the utensil and then another until 
it was worn out. 

John Fish was born in New York and Charles 
W. Tomlinson came from New York. In 1838. he 
and his father and Monroe Bailey came together, 
his father having been a captain in the War of 
1812. Beers B., brother of Charles, came the 
same year. Felix O'Neal came from New York ; 
he helped to erect the first lime kiln in Carroll 
County. His father. John O'Neal, kept a tavern 
or stopping place for travelers in early days on 
the road lo Savanna near where it crossed 
Cedar Creek. 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



719 



FIRST MILL 

111 183:1 or ■;!!) a man by the name of Leonard 
built a ;;rist mill where Adam Fulratirs mill now 
is aiKl made the mill stones, from native stone. 
One of tlie stones may still be seen at the Ful- 
nitli mill. If the jrrinding away of the soft 
stone (lid not add In the quality of the corn 
meal, it lertainly added to its weight and may 
have made the Johnnie Cake a little gi'itty and 
cerl.iiiiiy heavier. 

FIRST SCHOOL 

Sarah .T. Ilawley taught the first school in 
Mount Carroll township, in a slab house on IIol- 
lis Cnniniing's farm. She had an opportunity to 
teach the next summer at one dollar per week. 
She said that she would prefer to cook and 
wasli dishes. Seymore Downs argued the case 
witli lier and said, "jnst think, you will only 
have to work five and a half days and only 
si.\ hours a day, how much easier it wonld he," 
but he rcmld nol persuade her to accept what 
amounted to about five dollars a mouth. 

0CCtP.\T10N OF FARMERS 

The princiiial occupation of the farmers now 
is raising and fattening hogs and cattle and 
keeping t-ows to milk and sell the cream to the 
creameries where it is manufactured into but- 
ler. One of the John Newman Co.'s "Spring- 
brook Creameries" is located in Mt. Carroll 
nudei- the management of William Eugelbricht 
wlio.se butter score at the Xational Butter 
Makers Convention at Chicago in 1!)11 was 04.00, 
being next to the highest of all competitors. 
Tlie farmers have been receiving during the fall 
and winter from twenty-five to thirty-five cents 
per [lound for butter fat. 

By raising stock and a proper rotation of the 
crops of corn, oats and grass the fertility of 
the soil is maintained, although it seems to be 
no longer adapted to raising whejit as in for- 
mer year.s. 

SALEM TOWNSHIP 

The central township of the whole county cen- 
sus of 1010 gives the population at 1.408. By an 
act of the legislature, the west half of sec- 
tion six was added to Mount Carroll township 
and a portion of this and the west part of sec- 



tion seven were included wilhiii I lie city limits 
of Mount Carroll at the time of its incorporation 
by a special act of the legislature. The south- 
west portion of this township was a wooded 
country, sometimes called Klackoak ; this por- 
tion was settled by Germans (see history of 
Fairhaven Township). The north east part of 
the township was a beautiful rolling prairie and 
is nio.stly tributary to Lanark (see early set- 
tlers of Rock Creek Township). In the south 
west corner of the township is a station on the 
C. B. & Q. railroad called Daggett after one of 
the officials of the road. 

EARLY SETTLERS 

The first settler was David Masters. He 
made a claim and built a cabin on section seven, 
south of Mt. Carroll in 1S:'.7. Later he built a 
dam on Johnson Creek and erected a small wool 
carding mill, the only one in tlie county. 

George Swaggert. who had lieen living on the 
stage line at Cherry Grove and had sold his 
interest which he had in tlie mill site at Mt. 
Carroll, took up a claim in Salem on Johnson 
creek where the stage line or state road from 
Dixon to Galena crossed that stream and built 
quite an extensive log house and later a large 
barn : nothing is left to mark the site of these 
buildings. 

Heni-y AVeitzel was one of the very first set- 
tlers in this town. He came from Southern Il- 
linois about 18.37 and made a claim, and en- 
tered some land from the government. Adam 
Daggert settled in Salem the same .year; his son, 
Henry, was the first child born in Salem. On 
the home farm on Sec. IB of Henry AVeitzel, 
there has been preserved one of the ancient 
threshing floors. :\ ring worn in the ground 
where he and his sons used to thresh their 
grain by tramping it out with oxen or horses, 
until threshing machines came into vogue and 
later permanent use. Such places were common 
in those days and were used year after year. 
This perhaps is the only one spared in the 
county. 

INTERESTING INCIDENTS 

There are many interesting incidents con- 
nected with some of the early German settlers ; 
they were a hardy, industrious people and very 
desirable citizens in a new country. Mrs. 
Calheriiio Kline, a sister of Mr. Henry Weitzel, 



720 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNT Y 



and mother of Mrs. John Mackay was one of 
these. It was her custom to do her sboiipin? in 
Savanna : it was the only place and twelve miles 
away: she thoufrht nothing of walking there, car- 
rying what little she had to sell and returning 
the same day with the necessary supplies for the 
family. On one occasion they had a horse to 
sell and she led it all the way to Galena, forty 
miles, and returned the next day with the in-lce 
of the animal. On another occasion Mrs. Kline 
and the children were hunting their cows that 
used to stray away sometimes and get lost ; they 
had been looking for them several miles from 
home on the prairie down towards Milledge- 
ville. As they were passing through the high 
grass they noticed something had been digging 
in the ground and the grass was trami>ed down. 
On their return towards home the children in- 
sisted on investigating the spot and to their 
great joy they found a nicely smoked ham which 
a wolf probably had stolen and buried there. 
'J"o show the necessity tinder which the pioneers 
sometimes lived: This same family was short 
of provisions and the mother sent the children 
to a neighbor a mile away to borrow some meal. 
They returned empty handed and they were 
obliged to dig up the potatoes they had planted 
sometime before so they might have something 
to eat. 

The Daggerts came about the same time and 
took up as a claim a small grove of ancient oaks, 
about two miles east of Jlount Carroll. In a 
very early day the Sucker Trail ran by this 
grove and for a short time it was followed by 
this stage line and it is said the Daggerts kept a 
postoffice. but not being able to read English 
readily, people coming for mail had to help them- 
selves. 

Pnni-an Mackay who was born in Scotland, 
came first to Nova Scotia, then to Maine, and in 
]840 settled in Salem Township at Oakville. 
His brother, William, came about the same time 
and was engaged in running the saw mill which 
he rented of Hitt and Swingley in Mt Carroll 
Township. In the autumn of 1S43, their brother 
Jolin Mackay and sister Helen, who afterward 
niarried Daniel Hurley of Salem Township, to- 
gether with William Finlayson and William 
Graham and their families, all came together 
from Chicago and settleii in Oakville. 

These early settlers have all passed away but 
tliev have left many children and grandchildren 



to revere their memory and enjoy a rich in- 
heritance which was left to some of them in 
lands. They, however, are widely scattered 
through the country from Maine to California 
and from Canada to Panama, even South Amer- 
ica. 

Mr. William Finlayson of Salem township, 
enjoyed considerable notoriety during the World's 
Fair at Chicago, when they had the first loco- 
motive that was used in America. Mr. Finlay- 
son was the conductor on the train it drew. 

Seymore Downs and Henry Reynolds were 
early settlers in Salem Township. Peter Shra- 
der came to this county in 1,S40 and John Gel- 
wicks in 1848 : they were both from Pennsyl- 
vania and settled in Salem Township. 

Also Dr. Abraham Ilostetter. who came to 
Mount Carroll in ISl.'i and settled in Salem with 
his family, three sons and two daughters, in 
1852. 

He brought the first herd of thoroughbred 
short horn cattle to Salem Township, some of 
the very best in the Fnited States: at the head 
of the herd was the 0th Duke of Airdrie. Many 
of them and their descendents were afterwards 
prize winners at State and County Fairs, their 
descendents were sold all over the western 
states, two of them being taken to California. 

In 1870 he brought the first herd of thorough- 
lired Jerseys to the county. These his son W. 
Ross Hostetter has continued to breed at his 
Granseland farm; they also were prize winners 
wherever shown. He also introduced thorough- 
bred Berkshire hogs into the county. 

CYCLONES 

On May 12th, 188(5, a cyclone destroyed the 
house and barn of Robert Jloore and the house 
of William Mackay, and on May ISth. 1808, a 
cyclone which destroyed the county farm build- 
ings passed through Salem Township from west 
to east, making a pathway of death and de- 
struction. Only one person was killed, but many 
had very narrow escapes from death. Several 
houses were torn from their foundations and 
scattered to the four winds. 

• A LOG SCIIOOLUOUSE 

Among the first in the county was the log 
schoolhouse on the old Edwards place. Sec. 




XUHMAX D. FUKXCII 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



721 



sev^n, in Salom lownsliip. It was on tlie old 
State road fnun Dixon to Cnlena wliicli ran 
diagonally tliroush the oonnty Imt was at'tor- 
ward changed in several places to r\ui on the 
section lines and to turn square corners. In this 
old log schoolliouse there was a great fireplace 
in one end of the house where great logs were 
burned in cold weather to keep the children 
warm. Desks were arranged on the other three 
sides by driving long pius into holes liorcd into 
the logs in tlie wall, and upon these pins hiiig 
boards were fastened which formed a desk-like 
shelf; a seat or long bench was made b.v driving 
pins for legs into a long slab. This stood under 
the shelf; all the pupils when seated on these 
benches facetl toward the wall. Of course there 
were no backs to the benches, and to be seated 
the inipils had to climb over the long bciuli or 
slip in at the ends. 

It was an ideal place for spelling school and 
si)elling down contests of which there were man.v 
in Salem. One school would spell against another 
arranged on op|iosite sides of the r(K)ni along 
the benches facing each other. As the words 
were pronounctMl by the 'teacher, they woulil be 
taken up and spelled by each side alternately. If 
missed on one side the bad speller sat down 
and one on the other side would ju'onounce the 
word and tr.v to si)ell i( correctly. There were 
several very good spellers in Salem esi)ecially 
in the Oakville school. The Mackays and (Jra- 
h:ims and the Finlaysons were bai'd to heat. 
They are grey-haired sires and gr.indmothers 
now but still are proud of the fame they won 
at spelling school contests. 

SPECI.\I> CROPS 

Salem has a iioIihI |iopcorn farm. The I'.eede 
Brothers, Charles and Herman, raise jiopcnrn cm 
i. large scale, and have facilities for seas<inlng 
and storing it "without the aid of mice." they 
say. until the market price is satisfactory. Then 
it is shelled and shipped away by the car load. 

During war times some of the Salem f.irmers 
raised large crops of wheat and sold it at very 
remunerative iiriccs. Hut of late years wheat 
raising is not profitable, there seems to be some 
element lacking in the soil to enalile it to jiro- 
ducc a good crop of wheat. 



CII.'iPTEK XIV. 



SAVANNA CITY AND TOWNSHIP— VILLAGE 
OF SHANNON AND TOWNSHIP. 



SAVANNA CITY — lUIUllNdS — BANKS — TELEPHONE 
CO.MPANY — MANl TACTIRING — FISHING — NEWS- 
PAPERS — EARLY SETTLERS FIRST SCHOOL 

TEACHER — RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS — BUSINESS 
FIRMS — CEMETERY ASSOCIATION — ELECTRIC LIGHT 
PLANT — SAVANNA TOWNSHIP — SHANNON — GRAIN 
MARKET — LUMBER — THE SHANNON TELEPHONE 
COMPANY SHANNON TOWNSHIP FIRST SET- 
TLERS — THE WHEAT *CROP — FIRST THRESH- 
I.VG MACHINES. 

SAVANNA CITY 

The oldest town in the county the early his- 
tory of which has been fully written in another 
chapter of this history. The federal census of 
lino gave the population at 3,()01, an increase 
of odO during the preceding decade. Elevation 
above sea level, ."lOi feet. 

BUILDINGS 

The business porlicni of the city is built up 
with fine bnildiugs and solid business blocks. 
The main street is paved with hard brick and 
other streets macadamized, some of them 
beyond the city limits; it has several miles of 
cement sidewalk; a fine system of water works 
snpidied by two artesian wells and recently the 
city has connnenced to build a sewerage system, 
which will be a great convenience to tlic inhabi- 
tants of the city. 

It has an electric light i)lant owned and oper- 
ated by private enterprise. 

It has a commodious public school building 
which was erected in 1870. and in 100:i a sub- 
stantial township high school building was 
erected in Savanna at a I'osI of forty thousanil 
dollars. 

It has a fine public library occupying a spacious 
new building, under the efficient cliarge of Miss 
Emma Bowen. librarian, the funds for which 
were donated bv Mr. Carnegie. It was first or- 



iZ'Z 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



g.anized as the Savaiuui Ciniilaliim' Library As- 
sociation ill 187"). 

Savanna was iiu-i)r|K>rateil as a cily in 1S74. 
Tlio lirst Mayor iimler tlie now city cliarter was 
>Io<lar(l Diipiiis. The jiresent Mayor is Chai'Ies 
.Tciilis. 

At I he first election nnder the new cliarter 
there was an animated contest between the li- 
cense and anti-license people. The contest was 
very cIo.se but the license ticket was elected by 
a small ma.iority and Savanna has had saloons 
nearly every year since. There are now .some 
twenty-one in lunnber and each of them pays a 
license fee of five hundred dollars annually. 
They carry on such an extensive business that 
it tends greatly to the demoralization of a con- 
siderable number of the citizens of Savanna as 
well as the people of the neighboring towns and 
the surrounding country. 

Savanna has a progressive business men's as- 
sociation, called the Savanna Improvement As- 
sociation. "Organized for increasing the indus- 
trial and business growth of Savanna, Illinois.'" 
Mr. J. S. Williams is Tresident ; W. L. Brerton, 
Secretary ; Charles K. Miles, Treasurer. Savanna 
is a division point of tw-o great railroad sys- 
tems, the C. M. & St. Paul and the C. B. & Q., 
and being located on the Mississippi river its 
shipping facilities are unsurpassed by any town 
in the county. 

A large portion of the adult male iKipnlatinn 
of the city are employees of the railroads and 
thousands of dollars are paid monthly to these 
people, the pay roll of the C. M. & St. Paul 
being nearly half a niilllou dollars annually. 

The same road has just completed a very 
fine station building beautifully furnished on the 
inside and equipped with every modern con- 
venience, and is making other extensive Im- 
Iirovements in anticipation of an increase of 
business, principally on account of through traf- 
fic from the I'.icific coast. 

BANKS 

Savanna has two banks and a Savings Build- 
ing and Loan Association. 

The First National bank began as a private 
partnership liank. The gentlemen composing it 
were O. P. Miles, Uriah Green, Henry Ashway, 
John Mackay, Duncan Mackay, all of Mount 
Carroll, and Or. Woodruff and George Hay of 
Sa\ai]ii,-i. all now deceased. George Hay was 



the cashier for about eight years. They adver- 
tised as being supported by an individual liabil- 
ity of two hnndred thousand dollars, which was 
quite correct as nearly all these gentlemen were 
the wealthiest in the county. 

This bank was afterward incorporated as the 
. Savanna State bank, July 14th, 1891, with a 
capital of fifty thousand dollars and new stock- 
holders taken in, most of whom were from Sav- 
anna. Later it was changed to the First Nation- 
al bank. A savings department was added with 
the .same stockholders and otticers as the National 
bank. Charles K. Miles who was its cashier for 
many years is now its president. William S. 
Wallace, cashier, and Frank Steadman. assistant 
cashier. 

The Commercial State bank was organized and 
incorporated June 9th, 1002. with a capital of 
.$25,0(10. afterward increased to $.50,000. It also 
has a savings department. Its officers are 
George N. Machen, President ; W. L. Westbrook ; 
Cashier ; Bruce Machen. Ast. Cashier. 

The Savanna Homestead Loan association 
was organized in 18.80 ; ten years later it was re- 
organized under the state law and called the 
Savanna Savings, BuUding and Ixian associa- 
tion. F. S. Greenleaf has for many years been its 
secretar.v and through his management in that 
capacity it has been a marked success. It is the 
only institution of the kind in the county and 
has been A-er.v useful in aiding many of the citi- 
zens to build and own their houses. A. P. Wood- 
ruff is President and C. K. Miles, Treasurer. 

TELEPHONE COMPANY 

The Independent Telephone Company was in- 
corporated as a Stock Company in 1892, with a 
capital of .$75,000, by Mr. Frank Zinnel who be- 
fore that time had either built or bought an 
exchange in every town in the county. In 
May, 1904, it increased its capital stock to $150,- 
000. Mr. Zinnel is president and general man- 
ager and L. S. Bowen, secretary of this company. 
It has iu the neighborhood of three thousand 
subscribers iu the county, most of them living 
ill Savanna and the western part of the county. 

MANUFACTURING 

Savanna has very little manufacturing for a 
city of its size and with such unparalleled ad- 
vantages for shipping goods to every point of 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



723 



the coinpass. In eai'ly days there wei'e several 
sawmills wliiih iiuimifiKtiired lumber from logs 
taken fioiu the river, hut these enterprises al- 
though they prospered for a while, were not 
ahle to comiwte. by the use of steam, with the 
great lumber mills in other places, some of which 
were ruu by water jjower, and so they languished 
and eventually closed. 

E.Vnl.Y MANUFACTORIES 

The most extensive of these was M. Dupiiis' 
steam siiw, shingle and lath mills. They were 
located hnmediately on the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi river. When the mill was running logs 
were taken from the river by machinery. These 
were bought in rafts that were brought down 
the river from the pineries. lie mannfarture<l 
into lumber perhaps twenty-five million feet 
and sold from thirty to forty thousand dollars 
worth annually. In 1852 liis sales amounted 
to lifty thousand dollars. This was before the 
days of railroads, when people came to Savanna 
for lumber all the way from Rockford, Freeport 
and all the surrounding country. In 1853 and 
1854 he maintained a hnnher yard at Freeport 
where his sales were large. 

Morse and Dr. Wolf had an extensive flouring 
mill at one time which was well sustained in 
Savanna city. 

In 1865 S. .T. Herman and J. A. Stranskey 
had wagon and machine shops on a large scale 
and gave employment to a number of mechanics. 
Their business prospered at the commence- 
ment but misfortune overtook them. In No- 
vember, 187:!, their entire establishment was 
burned. 

I'TSIIING 

.V nnmlier of men whose Imrnes are in Sav- 
anna are engaged in this industry. 

They catch the fish with seines aud various 
kinds of nets, some of them now using boats 
I)ropelled by gasoline engines. (Quantities of 
the fish are sliipi)ed to distant markets in t In- 
east and many are sold by local peddlers in I lie 
adjoiidug country. 

nUKWF.KIKS 

Savanna had at one time two breweries but 
only one survives. In early days there was a 
distillerv when^ whiskey and high wines were 



made from corn and r.ve but it was unable to 
compete with larger concerns elsewhere. 

NEWSI'Al'KliS 

(Jharles Allen, .-i printer from Freeport, started 
the first newspaper in Savanna in 1854, and 
called it The Register. It was edited by 
Smith I>. .VI kins of Freeport. After a few 
months the owner sold the paper to Mr. Graf- 
ton who removed the plant elsewdiere. 

The Savanna Times was established by J. 
William .Mastin and for the first ten weeks it 
was printed at the office of the Shannon Gazette 
at Shannon. The first issue printed in Savanna 
was that of September 11th, 1875, at which time 
the equipment of the Shannon Gazette was moved 
to Savanna and Simon Greenleaf and Mastin 
continued to publish the jiaiier until March, 
1S7(1, when Greenleaf bought JIastin's interest 
in the paper and became the editor and jiro- 
prietor which position he held until 1884 when 
the paper passed into other hands. In 18t>5 the 
daily edition was commenced and has been con- 
tinued down to the present date. In 1907, 
Miss Ij. M. Frazer became the editor of the 
paper and Hon W. W. Gillespie the publisher. 
The paper has always been republican in politics. 
It is now c<-inducted by .1. E. Humbert. 

The Savanna Journal was started by Frank 
Greenleaf in 1885, and he has been its owner and 
publisher ever since. It is the only democratic 
paper in the county and occupies the finest and 
best equipped newspaper office in the county. 

EARLY SETTI.ERS 

Among the early settlers of Savainia |irior 
to 18.50. were Aaron Pierce. George Davidson. 
Vance L. Davidson and William Rlundle and 
their families. They had gone to Galena during 
the excitement upon the discovery of the lead 
mines. The location of Savanna was then 
known as the 'Touncil Bluffs of the Upper Mis- 
sissippi." An old council house built by the In- 
<lians was there and was occupied by the Pierce 
family as a frontier hotel and may be said to 
have been the first hotel or tavern in the county 
as stopping places for travelers were then called. 
The exact location of this council house, as near 
as can be determined now. was on a plat of 
ground directly above or north of the residence 
of the late Medard Dnpuis. 



724 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



Two years afterward John Bernard and three 
others. Hays, Corbiu and Robiuson. joined these 
first settlers. Luther H. Bowen, David L. Bowen 
and Xatliau Ixird c-ame in 1835 ; Dr. E. Woodniff, 
John Orr, and John Fuller, 1837 : W. L. B. .lenks, 
1S;{S; Hank Hopkins, Hezekiab Frances and 
Benjamin Church. 1830 ; Fred Chamliers, who 
was born in Eugkiud and afterwards became 
interested in the powder mills on Plum river, 
1840 ; Capt. J. B. Rhodes, 1841 ; he was born of 
pioneer parents in Ohio, after clerking for 
about a year he went back to Ohio and brought 
west a large drove of sheei>. After disjiosing 
of these he was engaged in business in Savanna 
until 1852. when he bought an interest in the 
steamboat "Martha,"' Xo. 2, and was engaged in 
the steamboat Ijusiness until he retired from 
active business engagements. In 184G, he was 
married to Mary Jane Pierce who was the first 
white child born iu the county, she it is said 
was born in the old Indian council house. 

Xo steps were taken to build a town at the 
present location of Savanna, until 18.30, when 
Luther H. Bowen. having the .vear before Iwught 
the claim of George Davidson and Aaron Pierce, 
caused a survey and plat of the jiroposed town 
of Savanna to be made and the same to be re- 
corded in the recorder's office at Galena, Illinois, 
on the 2Sth February, 18;:!9. 

Mr. Bowen. the same year oi>ened a general 
store and established a ferr.v near the mouth of 
Plum river, which was necessary in times of 
high water, when the river could not be forded, 
bridges were not thought of in the early days. 
At such times the feri-y was the only way Sa- 
vanna could be reached l)y team from the east 
and south. 

FIR.ST SCHOOL TEACHER 

iliss Hannah Fuller, sister of John Fuller. 
who came to Savanna in 1837, was the first school 
teacher. Dr. Ellas Wdodruft was the first doctor. 
He also taught school. 

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS 

The Methodist people were the first to organ- 
ize a church society. Tliey had religious serv- 
ices as early as 183G. Both the Davidson and 
Blundel families were Methodists and in 18:38 
the .\shby famil.v, devout Methodists, arrived 
and from that time on the Methodist denomina- 



tion has fiourished in Savanna. The Congre- 
gational, Presbyterian. Catholic, Free Methodist, 
Baptist and Church of the Latter Day Saints 
hiive been organized in Savanna in the order 
named and each have places of worship, some 
of which are very handsome and commodious 
church edifices. 

BUSINESS FIRMS 

Fifty-five years ago. (1857) when Savanna 
was designated as the terminus of the Racine 
and Mississippi Railroad, the people had great 
expectations and Savanna was a very flourish- 
ing town. At that time the following were the 
luincipal business men: M. B. and H. C. Pierce, 
Orr and Tomlinson. W. S. Pease. Rhodes & Co., L. 
W. Bemis, and others were engaged in the dry- 
goods and grocery business ; Bowen and Cham- 
berlin. produce merchants ; Dr. E. Woodruff, 
druggist; D. L. Bowen. machinist; James Irvine 
& Co., and M. Dupuis. luinlier merchants with 
steam sawmills; L. D. Pierce and C. W. Fuller, 
proprietors of well conducted hotels. 

Savanna has the usual number of societies, 
all of which are in a flourishing c^ondition. 
Among these is the Savanna Boat Club, of which 
Edward Hendricks is Commodore and P. M. Fer- 
guson, Secretai-j-. Many of the citizens of Sav- 
anna take a great deal of pleasure in boating on 
tlie river. They have summer cottages at 
beautiful places on either tiank of the river. 
There are about forty gasoline launches on the 
river some of which are very fast-going crafts. 

CEMETERY ASS0CI.\TION 

The Savanna Cemetery Association, was in- 
conwrateil by a special act of the Legislature, 
passed Fetiruary 15, 1855. The incorporators 
were. Luther H. Bowen. Reuben II. Gray, John 
B. Rhodes, Daniel P. Holt, Henry B. Harmon, 
Porter Sargeant. and Enoch Chamberlain. 

A short time since some of the patriotic womeu 
of Savanna undertook to raise funds to erect 
within this cemetery a soldier's monument ; no 
doubt some time this will be done. 

SAVAXXA TOWNSHIP 

Population, e.xcluding the city of Savanna, cen- 
sus 1910, six hundred and sixt.v-six. It is 
iKUiiided on the west by the Mississippi river 




#nr 




HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



727 



the close of the war, after which he engaged in 
the insurance business in Shannon. 

WHEAT IROP 

In the early days of the settlement of Shannon 
Township, wheat was tlie main eroi) and as the 
country rapidly settled the prairies became one 
great wheat field. At first they raised fall wheat, 
but S(><jn changetl to spring wheat. Threshing 
machines at first were crude affairs. The ma- 
chine was loadetl with grain, tlien a drive about 
the field was made usually in a circle, the straw 
was scattered over the field until the load was 
threshed ; for tills seiwiee the threshers took a 
toll of one bushel in ten. Ira Moats, who after- 
ward lived west of I'olo. had the first thresher 
in his locality. In later years the farmers about 
Shannon raised a great deal of barley ; now corn 
and oats are the principal croiis as in other 
jKirts of the county. 



CHAPTER XV. 



VILLAGE OF TIIO.MSOX— TOWXSIIIP.S OF 

YORK, WASmXUTOX AXD 

WOODLAXD. 



THO.MSON — CRKAMEBIES MEIX)N MARKET — CEN- 
TENNIAL CE1.KHRATI0N — YORK TOWNSHIP — FIRST 
SETTI.E.MENT — RLLIFVILLE — FIRST FAIR — ARGO — 
LAWYERS A Nil .MINISTERS — OLD POINT BLUFF — 

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP — EARLY SETTLERS 

WOLVES ^ARNOLD'S LANDING PORTSMOUTH 

MARCUS TRAIN ROBBERY — WOODLAND TOWNSHIP 
— SAW-MILLS — HAY FAMILY CHEESE FACTORY. 

THO.MSON 

The village of Thoinsiin is in the southwest 
jiart of tiip founty in York Township in the cen- 
ter of a very beautiful valley, alxnit four miles 
in width, bounded ly the Mississippi river on 
the west and a high range of bluffs on the east. 
On the north and south what was once a level 



prairie, is now dotted all over with well cul- 
tivated farms, handsome houses and large barns. 
It stretches away as far as the eye can see in 
either direction. 

Thomson was started as a station on the 
Warsaw. Hock Island and Galena Railroad. The 
original [ilat of the town was made December 3, 
1864, by G. A. Thomson, who was connected 
with the Western Union Railroad, which was 
afterward taken into the Chicago, Milwaukee 
and St. Paul system. 

The main line of the Chicago, Burlington and 
Quincy railroad from St. Paul to St Louis 
passes through the town, which gives it un- 
usual shi|>iiing facilities. In conse<iuence its buy- 
ers have always paid the highest price of any 
market in the county for farm products. 

The first building erected on the town plat 
was the Thomson House, which is still used as 
a hotel, now under the management of Uriah 
Pratt, formerly of Mount Carroll. 

The first regular train of cars passed through 
Thomson. .Tamiary 12, 1805. A few years after- 
ward Xorman D. Fi-euch and Xoah Green became 
proprietors of the town site and laid out addi- 
tions thereto. 

The first .school taught in Thomson was in 
1SG."> and Miss Brown, daughter of Noah Brown, 
was the teacher. It now has a school building 
with four rooms, that cost eight thousand dollars. 

Thomson has grown rapidly the last few years 
and it is now a village of nearly six hundred in- 
habitants. Federal census of 1010. 4:?7. 

It has three churchesj, two ]ihysicians, one 
.jewelry store, or^.«levator, three 'coal dealers, 
one harness shop and one peat mjirket, two 
restaurants and ' ti4B* bakeries. thTee grocery 
stores and one ba'nk, two barber shops, one milli- 
nery shop, and one ne\tsi>aBcrand printing of- 
fice, established by N. D. •^ITllardJin 1S"J4. 

CREAMERIES 

Thomson has two creameries, adjacent to the 
lown on the e-ast. This locality is noted as 
among the most advanced d;iiry sections of the 
state. 

MELON MARKET 

From here melons are shipped to all the sur- 
rounding cities b.v train loads, sometimes as far 
.lortli as St. Paul and the Dakotas and South to 



728 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



Mobile. Alabama. Since Muscatine has fallen 
oft iu the melon iuilustry, Thomson has become 
better known as u melon center than any other 
loc-ality iu the middle west. The annual out-put 
is about two hundred and fifty car loads, valued 
at thousands of dollars. For other interesting 
facts iu regard to Thomson, see York Township. 
Thomson is six hundred and six feet above 
the sea level, beini; fourteen feet higher than 
;>avanna and a little over three hundred feet 
lower than Shannon. 

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 

The Thomson and York centennial celebration 
1S70. was a notable event. Jolin A. Melendy, 
who was one of the pioneer settlers, came from 
Vermont in 1&J4 with one span of horses, his 
wife and his dog. On arriving here he went to 
work for Norman D. French at twelve dollars 
a month and his wife for one dollar a week. 

For the puri>ose of this celebration he and 
('■\[>t. S. S. Dunn procured a cannon from the 
arsenal at Rock Island, putting up live hundred 
dollars as security for its safe return. The au- 
thorities at the U. S. Arsenal sent Corporal 
Casey along to take care of the cannon. John 
Spires of York, who had seen service in the 
Artillery in the war for the Union, did most 
of the firing. The cannon was placed on the 
high bluff that over looks the valley in vsrhich 
Thomson is situated. The gunners took delight 
in awakening the inhabitants of the whole town- 
shii) of York, as the reveberations of the firing of 
this big gun echoed from bluff to bluff across 
the wide valley. Josiah B. Cushman was cliief 
marshal of the day and marched the entire 
I>opulation of the village up to the front of the 
bluff where all gathered to listen to the program 
under the shade of the oaks. 

Norman D. French presided. The orators of 
the day were W. J. Bailey of York, since con- 
gressman and governor of Kansas, and Daniel 
and Henry Mackay of Oakville. All three on 
this occasion delivered their maiden Fourth of 
July orations. Father Cushman read a history 
of Y'ork Township, no one could have done it 
better. He lived to be an octogenarian in the 
town of his adoi)tion and is quoted today as 
having written the most accurate history of York 
township. 



YOUK TOWNSHIP 



BY HENRY R. P.\R.SONS 



York township consists of one town and a 
fraction, having forty whole sections and six 
fractional sections, caused by the uneven course 
of the Jlissi.ssippi river, which bounds the town- 
ship on the west 

The surface of York township varies greatly. 
The west shore line along the river, consists of 
bayous and islands covered with pin oaks, birch, 
maple and other soft woods, but not large enough 
for profitable saw timber. A line of bluffs about 
three to four miles fi-om the river, extends north 
to south through the town, excepting a break of 
one mile in the center. The bluffs vary in 
height from one hundred to two hundred feet, 
partly covered with forests of oak and red 
cedar. The rock foundation of the bluffs con- 
sists mostly of sandstone uix)n a basis of Galena 
and Niagara limestone. Between the bluffs and 
the river the surface is ixirtly level, a black 
bottom laud of exceeding richness, the remainder 
being a ridge of sand mostly used for growing 
melons and rye. East of the bluffs, composing 
more than one half the township, the surface is 
undulating excepting a valley bordering the 
.Tohnson Creek, tlie only stream of any size in 
the township. The soil of the prairies ranges 
from light gravelly and flinty knolls to rich 
black soil with a few sections of clay soil. 

THOMSON 

The only incorporated village in York is 
Thomson, having two railroad.s, the Chicago, 
Milwaukee and St. Taul and the Chicago, Bur- 
lington and Quincy. Near the northern boundary 
is the hamlet of Argo, but designated by the C. 
M. & St. Paul Railroad, which has a switch here, 
as Fa.v. Near the eastern boundaiy is also a 
hamlet known as Ideal. Where the break iu 
the bluffs occurs is a bold sharp point known as 
-Point of Bluff," also called P.luffville, beiug the 
lilace of first settlement in the town. 

FIRST SETTLEMENT 

Here Norman D. French made the first claim in 
IS.i.j. his land lying mostly west of the bluff. 
French built a cabin in 1837 and raised his first 
crop the following year, living on the farm until 
his death. Mr. French held the offices of Post- 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



729 



muster. Jiistite of the I'eace, County Conimis- 
sioiier, ColU'ctcir. Suiiervisur iiiid was ii nuniiber 
of the 2'Jtli General Assembly. The entile tax 
of York at that time was about two huiulred 
dollars, while iu 1910 it is over one huuilrea and 
seveuty-five thousand. 

William Dyson and lUissel t'olvin settled at 
Bluffville in is;!7, Kussell Colvin built the 
first sawmill, in the town, on Johnson's Creek 
in 1840. .Mason French also settled at Bluff- 
ville about this time, erecting a house of brick 
made uixm the farm. The first school was held 
at Bluffville, Le^i Keut is considered as being 
the first teacher, although Elizabeth Thornton, 
taught in lS.'!."i. 

Col. Beers Tomlinson settled at the uortli 
boundary line in l.s.'!S, but having land in Mt. 
Carroll Town.shi|) became more identified with 
Mount Carroll. Joshua Bailey located at the ex- 
ti-eme northeast corner of York iu 18.30, and iu 
1851 built the first churcli, this church being a 
Baptist church, built afc Argo with Emmert 
Ingham as first pastor. The Methodist soci- 
ety also used the house, the Rev. Campbell be- 
ing one of the earliest pastors. Other very early 
settlers on the northern Iwundary, were the 
Lamb brothers, Channcey. Garrett and Emory. 
Cornelius Shoemaker settled in the southern part 
of York in 1S:?9. About lSi4 John Melendy lo- 
cated south of Bluffville taking up a large tract 
of land, his son J, A. Melendy being ix)stmaster 
at Bluffville from 1853 to 1859. George N. Me- 
lendy. grandson of John Melendy, now owns 
the original entry. From this date of settlement 
until 18.")<), a large number of settlers came from 
Vermont and New York, the French and Me- 
lendy families having come from Vermont while 
the Baileys and Lambs emigrated from New 
York. Of the best known of these was Ileman 
Edgerly from Vermont settling in 1840 at Bluff- 
ville; having been preceded by William Carroll 
coming from Virginia in 1835 taking land west of 
Argo, also lOben Balcom who located so\ith of 
Argo. 

BLUFFVILLE 

Heman Edgerly kept a tavern and store at 
Bluffville being the main supply for travelers go- 
ing south from Savanna, or north from Fulton 
crossing, in the early days there was also a 
blacksmith shop and post office at Bluffville. 

Others who settled just before or after IS-'O: 
C. Vanvechten at Argo, the Dun.shees, G. Tape, 
8 



the Coles, one of whom, John Cole, was asses.sor 
for York about thirty years and was known 
through the whole county; D. Leavens, G. Dwin- 
nell. the Athertons, I'eter llolnian. the Greens 
and Taylors. 

FIRST FAIR 

The first agricnllural fair of Carroll County was 
held in York one half mile east of Argo at the 
Monroe Bailey farm, now owned by W. D. Gold- 
ing. The fair was held the first Thur.sday of 
October. 1854; the entries not being extensive, 
and lacking buildings the horses were fastened 
to posts and the cattle kept in pens. The above 
mentioned farm was the birth place of W. J. 
Bailey, who became a member of congi'ess from 
Kansas and was governor of Kansas for one 
term and is now a leading banker at Atchi- 
son, Kansas. Xot the first but nearly so was 
a grist-mill at Bluffville, which had been moved 
there from Jacobstown, managed for many years 
by Israel Pettit, noted for his shrewd sayings 
and wit ; the mill pond was a recreation spot for 
people from a great distance. 

THOMSON VILIJ^GE 

The village of Thomson in York, was laid out 
in 1SG4, It was a station of the Western rail- 
road, now the C. M. & St. Paul. The first house 
was built by Norman Judson ; it was constructed 
of grout. The first principal buildings were the 
Thomson House, now the Pratt House and some 
store rooms on Slain street. Regular trains be- 
gan running in January in 1865, using wood for 
engine fuel. A lucrative business was done in 
supplying wood for that jnirpose. W. C. Brown, 
president of the New York Central railroad 
began his railroad work here cording wood 
along the track. His father, (Rev. Charles 
Brown), was a Baptist preacher living in Thom- 
son and preaching at Argo and at the church 
two miles east of Thomson. Another .son, 
George Brown, was killed while in the employ 
of the road. 

The first warehouse was moved from Savanna 
in 18G.5, has since been rebuilt and is now man- 
aged by the Neola Elevator Company. At various 
times the elevator lias been in the liands of the 
following grain buyers: Noah Green, Norman 
Lewis, ,T. Melendy and William Stark, the grwit- 
est amount of business was done while managed 
by Mr. Lewis in the seventies, thousands of 



730 



HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY 



Inisliels of grain being received each day. 
Nornuni Lewis was for many years prominent 
in business and iwlitics. He served three years 
in tlie civil war being promoted to First Lieu- 
tenant. Was suiierxisor from Torlc Township 
for a number of years, also a memlier of tlie 
Illinois Legislature. 

The first school taught in Thomson was in 
1865. Miss Brown being the teacher, the dis- 
trict then containing five legal voters, three 
of whom were school directors. At the present 
time a good three-room building is overflowing 
with pupils and the revenue from the rail- 
roads causes the school tax to be very small. 

There are two churches in Thomson, the 
Christian, erected in 186G-67, and the Method- 
ist Episcopal, in 1870. The pastors of the 
Christian church have been Rev. Sweaney. 
Bleakesly. Carpenter, Mrs. Babcock. Miss Very 
and the present pastor, Rev. Swarensou. 

The pastors of the Methodist church have been 
Reve-ends Campbell, Best. Hinks. Hoffman, 
Hicks. Clay, and the present pastor, Rev. Jones. 

For years the Masons occupied the front in 
the secret societies and mostly dominated the 
iwlities of the town, but of late years have been 
oliliged to divide honors with the Knights of 
Pythias, the Odd Fellows, the Woodmen, Mystic 
Workers and the allied branches of female soci- 
eties. .\t present the societies do not attempt 
to control ix)litics to any great extent. 

Thomson has one bank, with a nominal capital 
of .$20.(K)0 that amount representing the in- 
dividual liability of the members of the firm. 
Mr. H. S. Peck is president, and Miss Tillie 
M. Dugard is cashier. 

There is one meat market, three general 
stores, two hardware and implement stores, 
three restaurants, one drug store, one livery 
stable and the usual number of shops. 

One of the first physicians was Dr. N. Steven- 
son and others have been Merritt L. Saunders, 
D. Finlayson. W. Durkee and the present firm 
of Melugin and Sagner. The junior member 
of this firm is Mi.ss Sagner who never shirks 
her duty as a practicing physician, she re- 
sponds to all calls in all kinds of weather, 
when necessary drives her own team or auto 
as occasion may require. Another quite noted 
practitioner of York was Miss Harriet Ni- 
chols, who married Charles Schmeling, is 
now a widow and lives in Fulton where she en- 



joys a lucrative practice and the confideiice 
and esteem of a large circle of acquaintances. 

Dr. Stevenson, enlisted as many others did. 
from York, to help put down the Rebellion, and 
became surgeon of the regiment. Soon after re- 
turning from the army he died. His widow, 
Mary Jane Stevenson, was noted in her day 
as a ready writer, contributing many articles 
for the magazines