Yale University Library 39002013461877 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 1944 FORTY YEARS AGO A CONTRIBUTION TO The Eai\ly Wistoi\y OF } oliet and Will County. TWO LECTTJBBa DELIVERED BEFORE THE HISTORICAL .SOCIETY OF JOLIET, BY GEORGE H. WOODRUFF, December 17th, 1873, and March 24th, 1874. PUBLISHED BY JAS. GOODSPEED. JOLIET: JOLIET REPUBLICAN STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 1874. Entered 'according to Act of Congress, in (he year 1874, by James Good- speed, in the office of Librarian of Congress, Washington. LETTER FROM HON. JOHN M. WILSON. Chicago, July 4th, 1874. James Goodspeed, Esq., Dear Sir: — The advance sheets of the Lectures of Hon. Geo. H. Woodruff, on the "Early History of Joliet and Will County," are received. With most of the persons named I was acquainted, and many of the incidents related were known to me more than thirty years ago. The > style of the Lectures is characteristic of the writer, direct and truthful, and at the same time fringed with a bit of good-natured exaggeration, which gives piquancy to the narration. A man who can so happily do this with the pen, has no cause to regret 1 hat he has not the pencil of Nast. To the early settlers of Will county, and their descendants, these Lectures cannot fail to be intensely interesting ; recalling, as they do, persons and events that had been forgotten or but imperfectly, remembered. To the general reader they give a reliable history of the early settlement of the.county, and photographs by description and anecdote, of a large number of the early set tlers, so accurate that the most unimaginative can realize the state of soci ety at that era, made up as it wtas of the Yankee, the Hoosier, the Southron, the Celt, the Teuton— and of each class, representative men of more than average intelligence and enterprise. Friend Woodruff has rendered a valu able service to posterity in thus perpetuating the memory of persons and events which rest only in the remembrance of the generation to which he belongs. It is only by publishing in permanent form the essays or lectures embodying the history of an early settlement, that posterity can appreciate either the character of the early settlers or the condition of the country in a state of nature, and the wonderiul changes wrought by civilization in less than forty years. The history of Will county is substantially the history of IV. L.KTTKR FROM HON. JOHN M. WILSOH. every county north of Peoria. The only men who can write the early his tory of these northern counties are fast passing away, and in a few years no one will be left to gratify that thirst for a knowledge of the Genesis, or beginning of things, which is so striking a characteristic of all races of men. Fable is sure to fill the gap which history leaves unoccupied. Other settlements would do well to follow the example set by the " Will County Historical Society," and secure a reliable history and biography of those who laid the foundation upon which others have built. Yours, truly, JOHN M. WILSON. PREFACE. ^MT may seem like affectation to dignify so humble an effort with a jilL preface; yet I have a word or two to say by way of explanation and apology. I began the work of gathering material for these Lectures at the request of Capt. Egbert Phelps, of the Historical Society. When the suggestion was first made, I doubted that I could find enough to make one lecture; but I soon found that the difficulty would be to select and condense what I had gathered-, into two; and that I should be obliged to leave many things unnoticed. There is considerable matter in them which, from pity to my hear ers, I omitted in the delivery, and some has also been added since. I have taken considerable pains to make the historical portions cor rect, especially the names of " First Settlers," but still there may be errors. Any correctioVis or additions would be thankfully received". One or two errors discovered too late for correction in the text, will be found corrected in an appendix. Some of the " Incidents " are given from recollection, others I tell as they were told me — carefully excluding everything that could give offense. These Lectures are published in compliance with a general request from those who heard them, and through the generous proposal of Mr. Goodspeed, who, I trust, will be amply rewarded. I wish to make my most grateful acknowledgements to Judge Wilson, of Chicago, for his kind and flattering letter of introduc tion, and especially for bestowing the title of which I have been so long deprived! The ambition of a lifetime is satisfied! " Nunc,'' etc. Geo. H. Woodruff. CONTENTS OF LECTURE I. Introduction — Contrast of Forty Years Ago — First exploration of this region — French and Indian possession — English — Organization of our State — First suggestions of a Canal— Legislation thereon— Exit Mr. Lo— First Set tlements — Jesse Walker — James Walker and his mills — Other First Settlers at Plainfield — On HickoryCreek — The old Saw-Mill — First Ball in the county —First Settlers in this township — Norman's mill — First cabin — Sac trail- First Settlers in Jackson, Reed's, Troutman's and Starr's Groves — Yankee Settlement — Hadley — Gooding's Grove — Lockport — Frankfort — First Church organized in county — Father Beggs' Stations — Personal notices — First Set tlers on East Dupage — Channahon — Troy — Forked Creek — Twelve Mile Grove etc., etc. — Personal notices — Black Hawk War — First Settlement of Joliet — Charles Reed — McKee and his mill— Dr. Bowen — James B. Campbell— M. H. Demmond— List of Settlers in 1834— Arrivals in 1835— in 1836— Where we went for our mail in 1834-5— Postoffice in Joliet — A letter in the wrong hands —First Minister— First Church— First Fourth of July— First Wedding- Birth — Divorce — First Meeting House — County set off— First election — Land fever — First visit to Chicago— Judge Caton — An amateur mail carrier — First Stone Block — Ball — No-bridge era — Incidents — Bridges built: — Carried away — Incidents— New Year's Calls — Taxes — A Lockport Justice — A case for Bergh— Dr. Comstock— Conclusion. LECTURE I DELIVERED AT THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IN JOLIET, DECEMBER 17th, 1873. Ladies and Gentlemen: It seems to be a characteristic of all great states and great cities, that when they have arrived at a period of assured prosperity, and their importance has come to be fully recognized, that they begin to inquire into the beginnings of their history, and to ask : "Under what circumstances, and by what men, were the foundations laid ?" Hence, Rome had her story of Romulus and Remus ; New York, the chronicles of the veracious Knickerbocker ; and the sons of New England never tire of the story of the Mayflower. It is not strange, then, that this Historical Society should wish to collect and preserve some record of the early days of Joliet and Will County, and to ask iorthe names of those who first trod in the retreating steps of the red man. This evening's lec ture is an attempt to answer, as far as may be, these inquiries. It is, of course, an imperfect record ; yet it is the result of consider able inquiry. In one respect I labor under a great disadvantage. There are many still living — perhaps some here, present — who know as much as I do about the matter, and hence I dare not avail myself of the usual resource of the annalist, and draw upon 6 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. my fancy for the embellishment of the few meagre facts. You must, therefore, expect only a dry detail. One other thing embarrasses me. I shall be obliged to speak often in the first person singular — a thing which is disagreeable to a modest man — and I may occasionally seem to make myself the hero of my own story. But let it be charitably considered ; this is my only chance to get into history ! Deidrich Knickerbocker, in his history of New York, begins with the creation of the world. I shall not go back as far as this, although I feel that the importance of my subject would justify me in going back to the flood, or the dispersion of Babel, did time permit. Our story, then, will be for the most part, one of Forty Years Ago. Forty Years! How brief seems the period ! It is indeed but a small fragment of the ages, and yet how great have 'been the changes, especially in Northern Illinois, which forty years have brought? Forty years ago, Chicago was little more than a trading and military post on the outskirts of civilization. Forty years ago, the Indian still lingered up and down these streams and groves, loath to leave the beautiful land he loved so well, and the bottoms where his squaw cultivated the maize, while he pursued the deer ,over the prairies, or trapped the mink and the otter along the streams. Forty years ago, although the " gorgeous surroundings " were here, Joliet was not even a dream. How much, too, of what we now consider indispensable to our comfort, has come into use within this brief period. Forty years ago, there was not fifty miles of railroad in the United States. Forty years ago, the telegraph was still sleeping, coiled up in the brain of Morse. California was only known as the name of a Mexican territory; and the Sacra mento, the Colorado and the Oregon, heard no sound, Save their own dashings,1' — and the ledges and gulches of the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains were unvexed by the pick of the miner. Forty years ago, no one had " struck oil," and the reaper and the sewing ma chine had not been invented. Forty years ago " crinoline " had Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 7 not been introduced, and ten yards of calico was good enough, and ample enough, to cover the fair forms of our wives and daughters ! With this climax, I come back to my subject! In the 17th century, while France held possession of Canada and the Lakes, and disputed with England the possession of the entire north and west, the Jesuit Missionaries under the protection of France, and animated by the same zeal g,nd self-sacrifice which has shed such lustre upon that society in China, India and Japan, accompanied the explorer and the trader, and in some instances preceded them, cheerfully confronting hardships, cruelty and death, in upholding before the red man the symbol of the cross. Many are the names, hardly less famous than that of Xavier, that adorn the records of French exploration in the northwest. Conspicuous among these is that of James Marquette, who, accompanied by a trader of the name of Louis Joliet, in 1673, (just two hundred years ago the past summer), with five countrymen, pushed their canoes out from the head of Green Bay, up the Fox river to the divide which separates it from the Wisconsin, crossing which, they embark upon the latter in pursuit of that great river, which west ern Indians had told them, flowed somewhere at the west. In due time their voyage is successful, and they pass into the Mississippi, and float down its ample bosom as far as the Arkansas. Returning, they enter the Illinois. A tribe of Indians of that name occupy its banks, and invite Marquette to remain among them, but he returns with Joliet to Chicago, and there tarries for a time to preach the gospel to the Miamas, a tribe which then dwelt about that locality. Tradition says that Marquette and Joliet encamped upon the mound just below the city. However this may be, it, as well as that widening of the river just below, which we call a lake, and also the stream which we call Hickory Creek, were baptized with the name of Joliet. A few years subsequently, La Salle and Hennepin crossed the short portage between the St. Joseph and Kankakee, in Indiana, and passed down into the Illi nois as far as Peoria, where a trading and missionary post were established, and a fort was built, named by La Salle, Creve Cceur, from the hardships and disappointments of the enterprise. This 8 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. point has a history of much interest, and was known in early times as Fort Clark. And here, for a hundred years, the French and Indians, who seem to have taken kindly to each other, held possession of this region. Of this period little is known, and therefore it is a rich field in which the poet and romancist may weave his tales and idyls. No doubt Joliet had its Hiawathas an,d Minnehahas. Per haps upon this very spot many a dusky wife or maiden has broid- ered the moccasins, or wove the wampum belt for the husband or lover, absent upon the chase or the war path. But our business is with sober history, and we leave romance to Capt. Phelps. But it was not the design of Providence that this country should remain in the hands of France. Another type of civiliza tion, and another type of Christianity, was to come into the perma nent possession of the lakes, and streams, and prairies of the northwest. The peace of Paris, in 1763, terminated the rule of France; and, although for years many of the explorers, traders and mis sionaries remained, so that at the time of the admission of this State in 1818, it was estimated that there were within its limits two thousand of their descendants, now, there is nothing but a few . names on different localities to remind us of French possession. By the treaty of 1833, at Chicago, the red men surrendered their last claim to these fair lands; and in 1835, to the number of five thousand, they assembled at Chicago to receive their annuity — dance their last war dance in Illinois, and take up their march for new hunting grounds on the far Missouri. At the admission of this State in 1818, it was almost an entire wilderness north of Alton and Edwardsville; yet Shadrach Bond, the first governor, in his first message, recommended a canal con necting Lake Michigan with the Illinois. The project had been suggested in 1814, during the war, in Niles' Register. In 1821, an appropriation of ten thousand dollars was voted for a survey, which was made, and the project was pronounced eminently prac ticable. In 1826, congress made the magnificent donation of three hundred thousand acres of land for its construction, being every alternate section in a strip ten miles wide, along the route. In Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 9 1829, the general assembly created a board of canal commissioners, and authorized them to sell lands; and under this act the title to some lands in this vicinity was obtained. Fortunately, however, they were soon withdrawn from market. In 1834-5, an act was passed creating a new canal board, and authorizing the governor to negotiate bonds, pledging the canal lands for their redemption. But it was not until at a special session in 1835, when, through the active exertions of Col. Strode, of Galena, who, as a senator, at that time represented all that part of the state north of, and inclu ding Peoria, the act was so amended as to pledge the credit of the state, that the bonds could be negotiated. This was done by Gov. Duncan, in 1836, and in the same year preparatory operations were commenced. Meanwhile, stimulated by this canal project, and by the survey and bringing into market of the lands of the United States and the granting of pre-emption rights, as well as by the beauty and fertility of the country, emigration had set in toward this region, some of the earliest efforts of which I now proceed to detail. We assign to the Rev. Jesse Walker the honor of being the first white settler within the present bounds of Will county, although it might admit of question whether an itinerant preacher of the Methodist church could properly be called a settler. Jesse Walker was one of the early pioneers of Methodist Christianity in Illinois. He was born in the state of Virginia in 1766, twenty-five years before the death 'of Wesley. He joined the church when twenty years of age, and entered the ministry on probation in 1804. He had married the daughter of a wealthy planter, who was an heir to much property in slaves. These she manumitted, and chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, and as the wife of a Meth odist preacher, rather than. enjoy the ease and plenty which would be secured by the sweat of the slave. In 1806, he accompanied Wm. McKondree (afterwards bishop) to Illinois, then a part of Indiana territory, to look at the country. They were highly pleased with it ; and at the next meeting of conference were both appointed to a circuit within its bounds. Walker returned from this conference to his family, arriving about noon — commenced immediately to prepare for the journey, 10 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. and by ten o'clock the next day, he and his family were on their way. The journey had to be made on horseback, and four horses were required— one for himself, one for his wife and youngest daughter, and one for his oldest daughter, a girl of sixteen, while the fourth carried the stock of books, which was part of the outfit of a Methodist preacher, the sale of which aided in ekeing out their scanty salary. Of course they could carry no " Saratoga trunks." Nor was there any need, for their wardrobe was confined to the one suit, beside that they wore, which was spun and wove by the mother and daughter. And yet there was no complaint of "nothing to wear ! " Jesse Walker became an able and efficient preacher of Meth odist. Christianity in Illinois, although he had received but a very limited education. In 1821, we find him reporting to conference in respect to his labors as a missionary among the Indians, and it was in this capacity that he came to the vicinity of Plainfield in 1826, where there was then, and for several years subsequently, an Indian village. In 1827 he was superintendent of Fox River Mission. He is said to have held the first camp meeting in the state, and the first quarterly meeting in Chicago, and also to have preached the first protestant sermon in St. Louis. In 1829 he had charge of the Des Plaines Mission, and formed the first class at Walker's Grove. Many of these facts I have gathered from Mrs. D. C. Searles, of Troy township, who is a grand-daughter of Jesse Walker, and daugh ter of James Walker. I am also indebted to the book of " Father Beggs" for some of the incidents of his early life. He died in 1835, at the age of 69. Many valuable manuscripts left by Jesse Walker were in possession of Mrs, Searles, but they were burned a few years since, with the house of Mr. Searles. He was accompanied in his journey to Plainfield, or, rather, Walker's Grove, as the beautiful grove was subsequently called, about one mile south of the present village of Plainfield, by his- son-in-law, James Walker, a Tennessean, then from Ottawa, of which he was one of the earliest settlers. James Walker did not at that time remain, but returned to Walker's Grove in March, 1830r and made a permanent settlement. He brought with him from Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 11 Ottawa a horse power mill, which he set up, and proceeded at once to construct both a saw and grist mill on the Dupage. The grist mill was destroyed by a flood in 1837 or 1838. At this saw mill the lumber was sawed of which a Mr. Peck built the first frame house in Chicago, upon the southeast corner of La Salle and South Water streets, which lot had cost him eighty dollars. Reuben Flagg, named below, hauled the lumber to Chicago. Jas. Walker was a prominent man in the early history of our county, and I shall have occasion to mention his name again. He was one of our first representatives in the legislature. Another Methodist preacher, S. R. Beggs, was also identified with the early history of Plainfield, and of the Methodist church in Will county, who settled on section sixteen of that township in 1831. Father Beggs is well known in Will county, and still sur vives, enjoying the honored old age promised to the servants of God. In 1829, a Frenchman by thename of Vetel Vermette, settled in the same vicinity. Another importation was made to Chicago from Plainfield in the year 1832, when Father Beggs held his -first quarterly meeting at Chicago. Timothy B. Clark (named below) took an ox team loaded with provisions to Chicago, to meet the ex traordinary demand which would be made upon the provision market of Chicago by a few extra Methodists ! In the summer of 1830, Mr. Reuben Flagg left Vermont with his family, and after a journey of two months they arrived in the same vicinity on the 9th day of July. Passing through Chicago, they found it a village of about a dozen log houses, and on the route down passed two log cabins on the Des Plaines. He found on his arrival at Plainfield, besides the families of Walker and Ver mette, already named, two others, those of Timothy B. Clark and Thomas Covel, who had come in the same spring from New Eng land. From Detroit, Mr. Flagg was accompanied by Jedediah Wooley, sr., who bought out the elaim of the Frenchman, Ver mette, who left for pastures new. These facts are gathered from a letter of Mr. Flagg's, written to H. N. Marsh, Esq., in 1851. , Mr. Flagg also states that he knc w of no other settlers in the county at that time, except three 12 Joliet and Will County Forty Years Ago. families on Hickory Creek, Mr. Rice, Mr. Brown and Mr. Ker cheval, and that the nearest white settler on the west was at Dixon's^ Ferry. We also gather from this letter, that the first white child born in Will county was his daughter, Samanthe E., born Septem ber 9th, 1830. We owe an apology for presuming to tell a lady's age — but the interest of this history demands it. To this settlement was added, Wm. Bradford, John Shutliff,. David, Chester and Enoch Smith, in 1 832. Chester Ingersoll, James Gilson, Oliver Goss, Dea. Goodhue, Hardy Metcalf, Benj. Shutliff, Jason Flanders, John Bill, W. W. Wattles, Robert W. Chapman and others, soon after the close of the Sac war. The village of Plainfield was laid off by Chester Ingersoll in August,. 1834. We pass now to the settlement on Hickory Creek. The com piler of the new "Combination Map of Will County," quotes a letter from a Mr. W. R. Rice, in which he says : "In June, 1829, Miller Ainsley, William Rice and myself, left Fountain county, Indiana, to look at the far west. We struck the Iroquois, which we followed to the Kankakee, keeping down the latter to the Des Plaines, up which we went until we reached Hickory Creek, where we found a Mr. Brown, and old Col. Sayer, living in an old Indian bark shanty, near where Dr. Allen's house now stands, and about eighty rods west, across the creek, was an old Mr. Friend, who> had the body of a log cabin up." These statements are no doubt reliable. I will add, that the Mr. Brown spoken of, died soon after, in November, 1830, and was buried on the Davidson farm — probably the first burial of a white person in Will county. CoL Sayer, above named, built a saw mill on the north side of the creek from where the red mill now stands, and Mr. Mansfield Wheeler, who came in the fall of 1833, went into partnership with him. At this mill was sawed the lumber of which the first frame houses in Joliet were built. To this Hickory Creek settlement were added in 1830: Mr. Lewis Kercheval and son, William Rice, sr., John Gougar, Michael Runyon, Jerrod Runyon and James Emmett. In 1831, John and Joseph Norman, Aaron Ware, Thomas and Abram Francis, Isaac Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 13 Pence and Samuel Pence. In 1832, Cornelius C. Van Home, John Stitts, Peter Watkins and his two sons, William Gougar and sons, and Joseph;, Alfred and James Johnson. The Johnsons located on Spring Creek, in the edge of Yankee Settlement To these were added in 1833,,John M., Isaac and Milton Reynolds, Judge Davidson and Matthew Van Home. Henry Higginbotham came in 1834, and bought out Col. Sayer, and the saw mill firm became Wheeler & Higginbotham. C C. Van Home was, in early times, one of the most promi nent men in all the region. He was postmaster and justice of the peace, and transacted the business, of the early settlers, and aided them in procuring pre-emptions. He was afterwards our first mayor under the present city charter. Mrs. Kinzie, in her "Waubun," gives an account of a ballon Hickory Creek, (probably at Kercheval's), in 1831, at which three of th.Q five single gentlemen then residing at Chicago were present. The ball commenced at two p. m., after a hospitable dinner, and lasted until the next morning. I suppose the Chicago gentlemen were better dressed, and could even then put on " city airs and style," — at any rate, they had the smiles of the " belles" of Hickory and the other precincts, and the native beaux had to take back seats. This, of course, highly gratified the Chicago gents; but their satisfaction was dampened when, in the early dawn, they brought out their fine horses to return, and found that during the night, all three had lost their manes and tails ! About the same time another settlement was made, mostly on the south side of Hickory, in this township. Robert Stevens and David Maggard made claims in 1830, and came with their fami lies in 1831. Robert Stephens located on the well-known Ste phen's place, and David Maggard on the Bluff, about opposite the rolling mills. Philip Scott, William Bilsland, Major Cook and father, Daniel Robb, Jesse Cook, Reason Zarley and Benj. Mag gard, also came in 1831. Seth Scott and Aaron Moore, in 1832. William Hadsell, in 1833. Joseph and Jacob Zumalt, in 1834. Reason Zarley, above named, was one of our earliest J. P.'s, and a prominent and influential man, and it is to him that our city is 2 14 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. indebted for a city clerk, and two editors, who know how to run a reliable democratic newspaper! David Maggard built the first house within the present city limits. The old Sac trail divideo somewhere near the cemetery, and one branch crossed at a ford a little below the present tannery, and passed up the bluff, through a ravine, and on west. The house of Maggard was on the edge of this ravine, and was standing not many years since. The other branch of the trail crossed at the ford just below the island, and passed on to Ottawa. This trail was a well-worn path, made by the Indians in their annual jour neys from the west to Fort Maiden, in Canada, to receive the presents which it was the cunning policy of the English govern ment to continue. to give them long after our independence* The fruit of this policy was seen in the war of 1812, in the massacre at Chicago, and other barbarities. John Norman built a mill on this river, at the head of an island which took his name, just above the penitentiary. He built a dam ' across one branch, which threw the current into the other, in which he placed his wheel, while the shaft at the other end connected with the mill-gearing in a log mill. This mill, which is said to have had the tremendous capacity of twelve or fifteen bushels of corn in twenty-four hours, and which drove such a brisk opposition to the mills of Rochester, and the Wabash, was projected and com pleted without any municipal aid! I suppose that this mode of making the poor contribute to the capital of the rich, was not then devised. I remember visiting this mill in 1834. The island was then quite a romantic spot, being covered with a heavy growth of timber. The digging of the canal has almost obliterated the locality. In the edges of the timber, lying along the Des Plaines and Jackson Creeks, and in the groves known as Jackson's, Reed's, Starr's and Troutman's, settlements were early made. Chas. Reed, Joseph Shoemaker and Wesley Jenkins, settled in Reed's grove in 1831. John and Thomas Coon, the two Kirkpatricks, Thomas Underwood, Eli Shoemaker, Charles Longmire, James Hemphill, Peter Eib and sons, Archibald Crowl, Henry and Lewis Linebar- Joliet and Will Comity, Forty Years Ago. 15 ger, Daniel Haight, John and Samuel Catron, Theophilus and Robert Watkins, settled in some one or other of these groves in 1831-2-3; and Benjamin and Joseph Shanks, Smith Johnson, John Brown, George Young, Peter Brown and son, and R. J. Boy- Ian, in 1833-4. To the credit of Jackson grove settlement it ought to be men tioned, that they built a school house as early as 1833, and Henry Watkins, of the Hickory Creek settlement, taught the same. We have mentioned "the Johnsons" as settling on Spring Creek, in the edge of Yankee Settlement. They were " Hoosiers," in the language of that day; but most of the settlers in Homer were from the east, and it was early called " Yankee Settlement." In the summer of 1831, Holder Sisson, a resident of Chattau- que county, N. Y., who had previously visited the west, with his family, and Selah Laufear and Orrin Stevens, with their families, from the same county, came around the lakes in a schooner, and after a somewhat stormy passage, landed at the obscure port of Chicago, in the latter part of July. Harry Boardman, who settled in East Dupage, came in the same vessel. After a short stay in Chicago, they came to Yankee Settlement, made "claims," and commenced improvements, and built log cabins. They found already there, the families of Armstead Runyon, Edward Poor, and Benjamin Butterfield. I think Edward Poor was the first settler in this neighborhood. His is the first name that occurs upon our county records, as transcribed from Cook county, of which we were then a part. The following are the names of other settlers in those localities now included in the town of Homer, and that part of Lockport east of the river, and which were known in early days as " Yankee Settlement," Gooding's Grove and Hadley : Before the Sac war, Jas. Richie, James Glover, Abijah Watson, John Pettyjohn, Wm. McGaffery, Peter Polly, Joseph McCune, Daniel Mack, John Blackstone, Nathaniel Weeks, William Ashing, Goodenow, Joseph Cox, Dick Boilvin and Uriah Wentworth. Some of these persons did not return after the "stampede" occasioned by the 16 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. Sac war. Goodenow, Potly and McCune, on their return, settled in other localities in the county. The following persons settled in the localities named, soon after the war, say in the years 1832-3 'and 4: Thomas Smith, Eben Beach, Charles M. Grey, George Grey, Orange Chauncy, Levi Fartwell, Jiroh Rowley and sons, W. H. Frazier, Alanson Granger, Addison Collins, Horace Messinger, John Lane, Lucius Case, H. S. Mason, Dr. Moses Porter, Abram Snapp, Deacon Wil liams, Benjamin Weaver, Hiram Rowley, Levi Savage, L. C. Chamberlin, Frederick Collins, William Bandle, Samuel Ander son, John Griswold, Comstock Hanford, Nathan Hopkins, John Fitzsimmons, Cyrus Cross, Andrew Frank, Aaron Hopkins, Rev. Mr. Ambrose and Lyman Cross. The following persons settled in "Gooding's Grove," and gave the name to the locality : DeacoD James Gooding and his three sons, James Gooding, Jr., William Gooding and Jasper A. Gooding, and his nephew, Charles Gooding, in 1832-3. A Rev. Mr. Kirby was also an early settler, and had charge of a Presbyterian church in Hadley, organized by Rev. Jeremiah Porter, the pioneer of the American Home Mission Society in the northwest. This, I think, was, exclusive of the " classes " formed by itinerant preachers of the Methodist church, the first church organized in Will county. A Mr. Freeman, also organized a Baptist church in Yankee Settlement about the same time, of sixteen members. Yankee Set tlement was also a station of Father Beggs' in 1833, together with Walker's Grove, East Dupage, Hickory Creek and Reed's Grove. John Lane was famous in the early days as a manufacturer of breaking plows. Addison Collins was, at one time, our county surveyor, and also represented us in the General Assembly. John Blackstone, generally known as Judge Blackstone, was a man of property and influence. He was the first justice of the peace in Yankee Settlement. Judge Caton remembers going down there from Chicago to try a suit before him in 1833, which was probably the first law suit in the county. Jiroh Rowly, generally known as Capt. Rowly, was a promin- Joliet 'and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 17 •ent man in the early history of our county. He had formerly been a contractor on the Erie canal, having built the great embankment near Rochester. While engaged in this job, Gov. Clinton passed over the route to look after its interests, and visited the job of Rowley, about which he had a good deal of anxiety, as it was a heavy and difficult work. While the Governor was looking on with some gentlemen visitors, Rowley spoke pretty sh,arply to him and his friends, telling them to get out of the way. Governor Clinton, instead of being offended, remarked to his friends, that he should go home with his mind at ease about the job, as Capt. Rowley evidently " meant business." William Gooding (named in the above list) was subsequently well known as the able and efficient engineer-in-chief of our canal. Yankee Settlement was especially famous among the boys of ^1835-6, as a good place to go to see the girls. I presume it still is! Holder Sisson, above named, who was one of the first county commissioners of this county, settled on the Haniord place, in the present town of Lockport, in 1831, and afterwards moved across the river, and located on, or under, the western bluff. Lyman Hawley and sons, Justin Taylor, Thomas and Harvey Reed, and William Rogers, settled on the same side in 1831-2 and 3. It is said that Butterfield, whose name was mentioned in the Yankee Settlement list, built the first house- within the present township of Lockport, and that a Mr. Everden built the first log bouse on the site of the present city, in 1831, which he sold to Arrnstead Runyon, who laid out the first town plat in 1 836, now called North Lockport, but formerly called Runyon's Town. The site on which most of the present city is now located, was laid out by the canal commissioners, in 1 837, and the good taste of the engineer-in-chief is apparent in its wide and beautiful streets. West Lockport was laid out by William Rogers, Lyman Hawley, William Gooding and E. S. Prescott, who also built the stone mill, in 1836. West Lockport, at one time, was the most flourishing part of the town. In the upper Hickory Creek timber, in what is now known as the town of Frankfort, it is said that a Mr. Osborn settled as early as 1828, but finding it rather lonesome, he returned to the State of 18 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. Indiana. William Moore, Robert Williams, John McGoveny and' sons, John McDeed, and a Mr. Ghost, came in 1831. Daniel Lambert, John Duncan, James Troutman and Hiram Wood, in 1832. Allen and Lysander Denny, Ambrose Doty, Charles Mar shall, Francis Owen, Eliphalet Atkins, Samuel Haven and Josiah - Holden, in 1834 or 5. A settlement was made on the east branch of the Dupage as early as 1830, by Pierce Hawley, Stephen J. and Willard Scott, and Ralph Stowell. In 1831, it was increased by the coming of Israel Blodgett, Robert Strong, John Dudley, Harry Boardman, and Seth Westcott; and 1832, by Jonathan Royce, Isaac Scarrittj. Lester Peet, Simon Ferrill and John Barber; and in 1833 and 4, Samuel Goodrich, Andrew Godfrey, Harry and Philip Lord, Sam uel Whallen and William Smith. Isaac Scarritt was a Methodist itinerant preacher, a cotempo rary of Beggs and Walker, and succeeded Walker in 1828, as Superintendent of Fox River Mission. Samuel Whallon was county commissioner in the years 1841-2-3, and has lately died at the ripe age of 94. Col. Smith, will be well remembered as one of the prominent residents of this city. Mrs. Kinzie, in "Waubun," speaks of stopping at Hawley's over night, after a long exposure in traveling from Fort Winne bago to Chicago, in the winter of 1831. A brother of Hawley's, a Methodist preacher, was killed by the Indians, near his place, in 1832, after cruel torture. In that part of the town of Channahon which lies east of the Des Plaines river, Joseph McCune, recently deceased, settled in 1832, also John Troutman, the same year, and Robert Thorn- berg and sons, in 1833. On the river, Seymour Treat and Dr. Treat, his son, settled in 1833, and built a grist-mill at the foot of an island which took their name. The following persons settled in that part of the town which lies between the Des Plaine and Dupage, in the years 1832-3-4: Isaac Jessup, William E. Peck, H. D. Risley, Peter McCowan. Capt. Willard, Michael Morehouse, Jedediah and Walter Emes, Joseph N. Fryer. Ira Knapp, Hosea Buell, George and Russell Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 19 Tryon, Uncle "Bont" Schermerhorn and his two sons, Peter and Jacob B. and John Ward; and in 1835, Joseph and Dr. Lewis, Isaac and Burke Van Alstine, and, under the Fifteenth Amend ment, we must not omit to mention " Nigger Dick." This locality was a favorite- one of the Indians. They had a village there at one time, and the traces of their cultivation could be seen there in 1835, and the mounds where they buried their dead. I believe they cultivated corn there as late as 1834. It is said the squaws made very neat cultivators. There used to be the grave of an Indian near Treat's, in which the body was partly out of the ground, in a sitting posture, and surrounded by rails. This was supposed to be the grave of a prominent man, as they took great pains to visit it when going up and down the river. I remember having seen, north of Joliet, just this side of the Sanger farm, in 1834 or 5, the grave of an Indian child, buried in the top of a tree — if one may be allowed so grave a bull. The body was placed in two rough slabs, hollowed out and fastened together, and to the tree, by strips of bark. I do not know what the Indian's idea was in thus disposing of an infant's body, but I can fancy it a dim reflection from the memorable words of our Savior, "of such is the kingdom of heaven." As the spirit of the child had taken its flight to the skies, they would fain place the deserted casket as near to it as possible ! ,'The village of Channahon was laid out by the Canal Trustees, by whom it was named Snifton, after one of their number. Through the influence of Judge Peck it was changed to Channa hon — an Indian word, which means, the meeting of the waters — a beautifpl and appropriate name, and I presume the change has been no material damage to W. H. Swift, Esq. Judge Peck was a prominent man in our county, a commissioner in the years 1839 to 1842. J. B. Schennerhorn was also a county commissioner in the years 1848 and 9. It is generally supposed that Troy was first settled by the Irish, in canal times, but such was not the fact. A little north of Channa hon, on the Dupage, in the present town of Troy, Jedediah Woolley, Jr., settled, in 1831, and commenced building a mill, which, owing 20 Joliet and Will County Forty Years Ago- to the war, was not completed until 1833. Two men of the name of Rexford, also settled in that locality, and rented Woolley's mill. John Van Riper and sons, and a Mr. Fleming and Carey Thorn ton, were early settlers in this vicinity. Just west of the Joliet Mound, Andrew and Marshall King- settled in 1833 or 4. Edward and Ephraim Perkins settled in Five Mile Grove, in 1833. Joseph Lawton and Samuel Holcomb at Twelve Mile Grove, in 1832. On Forked Creek, in territory which would now be included in the towns of Florence, Wesley and Wilmington, John Fra- zier, Hamilton Keeney, John Williams, Robert Kilpatrick, James Kelly, James Jordan, John Howel and George Beckwith, settled in 1834, and Joseph Hadsall and William Goodwin in 1835. There were also settlements farther up the Kankakee river, but as they are not included in the present limits of the county, we make no record of them, although one of our first county com missioners, Thomas Durham, was from Bourbonnais' Grove. After the breaking out of what is known as the Black Hawk War, in the spring of 1832, there was great alarm felt by the set tlers in this region. Although the seat of war was to the west and north, on Rock river, and although the Indians in this immediate vicinity claimed to be friendly, or neutral, yet none could tell how soon the war whoop would be heard on the Dupage and the Des Plaine, or how much dependence could be placed upon Pottawat tamie friendship. That their fears were not without reason, appears from the massacre on Indian Creek, about fifteen miles above Ot tawa, on the 21st of May, where the settlers belonging to three families, to the number of fifteen, men, women and children, were suddenly assailed by a band of Sacs, and butchered with all the usual barbarities of indian warfare. One boy escaped and carried the news to Ottawa; and two girls, named Sylva and Rachael Hall, fifteen and seventeen years of age, were carried off and held for ransom. As we shall see, by and by, the history of Joliet is closely connected with this event. The settlers at Walker's Grove, with some who had fled from Fox River, to the number of one hundred and twenty-five, col- Joliet and. Will County, Forty Years Ago. 21 lected at the house of "Father Beggs," on section 16, which seemed most favorably located for defence, and this they fortified by pulling down the log sheds and stables, and forming a barricade with the logs. They chose James Walker captain, and resolved upon a vigorous defence. They collected all the weapons which could be of use, such as hoes, forks, axes and guns, and melted their pewter spoons and plates into bullets. After a while, they concluded that as they had but four available guns, the better part of valor was discretion, and they withdrew to Chicago for a while, where, from the over-crowded state of the fort, they suffered nearly as much as from their fears of the Indians. The settlers in Yankee Settle ment, and other localities, also fled to Chicago for protection. The alarm was given to the settlers here by Hiram Pearson, of Chicago, and Dan'l Mack, of Hadley, who had started for Danville, and met refugees from the west, near the Des Plaine river. They returned at once and gave the alarm, and the families were gathered together and went to Chicago. While there, they organized a company of twenty-five, and chose Holder Sisson, from the Yankee settlement, captain. This company went out on a scout, to ascertain whether there were any Indians in the vicinity. They stayed the first night at Lawton's, on the Des Plaines ; went thence to Naper- ville and Walker's Grove, stopping the second night at Fort Beggs. They proceeded to Holdeman's Grove, where they met a company from Ottawa, and with them went to the scene of the massacre on Indian Creek, where they found and buried the mutilated bodies, fifteen in number, including six children. They then went to Ottawa, where they found the remains of a regiment which had retreated from the affair at Stillman's Run. They then returned over the same route to Chicago. On their return they found the body of a Mr. Payne, a Dunkard preacher, who had been mur dered by the Indians — his long beard being no protection. After a few weeks, the settlers from Yankee Settlement re turned, and built a fort on the Sisson or Hanford place; and also most of those from Walker's Grove returned to Fort Beggs. When Scott arrived at Chicago, bringing the cholera with him — a foe more dreaded then than even the savage Indian — there was almost as great a stampede from Chicago to the country, as there 22 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. had been from the country to Chicago. Lanfear and his ox team, with others, were, pressed into the government service by Scott, to take his " impedimenta " to Galena. At this time there was a Pottawattamie encampment between Fraction Run and Big Run, in Lockport, and remained for two or more years. The settlers on Hickory Creek, in Jackson's Grove and neigh boring localities, and this township, being from Indiana, naturally sought safety by flight in that direction. Hearing that the Indians were at Walker's Grove, they got their teams ready, and their fam ilies, and sent one of the Normans, in the meantime, to reconnoi tre. He saw some Indians on the prairie near the Lillycash, and returned at once and gave the alarm. It was afterwards ascertained that they were friendly Pottawattamies, coming to assure the set tlers that there was no danger. But the settlers commenced at once to flee toward the Kankakee. When gathered together on the prairie there were about seventy in number, and about twenty teams, mostly drawn by oxen. Some of the men also formed a guard on horseback. Some ludic rous accounts are given of the coolness and presence of mind dis played by the fugitives. It is related of one from Jackson's Grove, that in his haste and confusion he mounted his horse facing the wrong way, and his horse being as badly frightened as the rider, he could get no chance to change front until he reached the Kan kakee ; and also that he had loaded his horse with supplies of bacon, flour and sugar, which he threw overboard, one after the other, to increase his speed, and was pulling off his coat when his flight was arrested. This story is, I presume, somewhat exagger ated, but if true, he could at least claim the merit of facing the enemy ! These fugitives met a company of armed men from Indiana, who had come out to aid in protecting the settlers, and some returned with them. It was this company which built the fort, known in early days as " Fort Nonsense," which used to stand on the spot now occupied by the residence of H. N. Marsh, Esq. I have this statement from Mr. Jesse Cook, who was one of the company that returned, and assisted in building the fort. Mr. Cook also states, that they found on their return to their homes, that the friendly Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 23 Pottawattamies had taken care of the chickens and pigs which they left on their flight — such good care that they never saw them again ! Robert Stevens and David Maggard also returned, and concealed themselves for a while in a cave, a little above town. Most of the families returned in the fall and ensuing spring. I have now given the names of those who can be considered " first settlers " in Will county, as now bounded, so far as I have been able to gather them. The rush of immigration in 1835-6, was too great to attempt any record of those years. We'will come now to the history of the first settlement of this city. In 1 833, Charles Reed, who has been mentioned as one of the first settlers at Reed's Grove, made a claim on the southeast quar ter of section nine, town thirty-five, north range ten, east, and built a log house on the same, just below where the National Hotel now stands. He also commenced building a dam, and making preparations for a mill. It was his design to start his mill on the Housier, or Norman plan ; putting his wheel in the race, depend ing on the current for power to drive the machinery. In March, 1834, James McKee, a Kentuckian, from Jacksonville, bought out the claim and improvements of Reed, for the sum of $ 1,960, "which improvements," says the original document, now in my possession, " consists of a dam partly made, on the east side of the river, a house, some fence, a mill race, and some machinery for a mill, both of wood and iron, on the west side of the river." McKee proceeded at once to the erection of a mill on an im proved scale, and in the fall of 1834, got help enough together to raise, in two days, the heavy oak frame, which still stands- just above and between the bridges, (one story of it now under water), and is used by Charles Ward for storing sash, doors, etc. I had the honor of assisting at this raising, and remember it took some tall lifting ! McKee was provided with a state " float," which he laid on ¦ the quarter section, and thus secured the title to the land. This " float," as it was called, was obtained in this way : At the time of the attack on Indian Creek, to which allusion has been made, all except two girls, of the name of Hall were killed, to the num- 24 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. ber of fifteen, as I have already stated. These two girls, named Sylvia and Rachael, and of the ages of fifteen and seventeen, were carried off by the Indians and held for ransom, which was effected after a while through the agency of a Winnebago Chief. The leg islature of the state, being no doubt composed of very gallant and sympathetic men, donated to each of these girls eighty acres of the canal lands. McKee bought the grant to Sylvia of her husband, William S. Horne, who, it seems, had married her. The patent from the state is to Horne and his wife Sylvia, and they conveyed to McKee, December 18th, 1833. To this deed Sylvia makes her mark, from which we conclude that the schoolmaster had not made his appearance at Indian Creek in 1832, and that she married (as girls sometimes will) before she had completed her education. It is the general impression that James B. Campbell bought the float of the other Hall girl, and that he laid it upon the other quarter on the east side. But this I think is a myth, as the patent is direct from the state to Campbell, and for the consideration of one hun dred dollars. Campbell was the treasurer of the board of canal commissioners, appointed under the act of 1829, and probably got his title under that act. Campbell laid his quarter off into town lots — the original town of Joliet — in 1834, and held a public sale of the same on the 18th and 19th days of June. Campbell was from Ottawa, and was never a resident of Joliet, he has recently deceased, leaving, it is said, a widow, who by the efforts of her attorneys, is disturbing the slumbers of some of our property own ers. At this sale the lots brought from nineteen to one hundred and eight dollars. The lots on Jefferson street generally brought about fifty dollars. This seems low now, but then Jefferson street had no grand sewer! Campbell named his town "Juliet," being more desirous to perpetuate the name of his daughter than that of the French explorer, and by this name our city was known until changed by an act of the legislature in 1845. There are still many who do not seem to know the origin of tbe name, or how to spell or pro nounce it. Many spell it with two Ts,' two we see some men at work on a dam, other men digging a race, and 28 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. some hewing timber. We find the log house built by Reed, where we are welcomed with true Kentucky hospitality, by James McKee and his ^wife Sally. Just below the house is a little enclosure, which we take to be a garden, although we find it called a "truck patch," through which flows a little brook from a beautiful and abundant spring, welling up under a rocky and beetling bluff.. This spring is now changed into a well, some six or eight feet be low the present surface, and its water is dispensed by a vulgar pump; all its beauty is gone, but not its usefulness, as it still con tinues to supply "Adam's Ale" freely, to all. Happy those who- are content with its healthful refreshment, rejeoting all human sub stitutes in its vicinity, or elsewhere ! A little to the north we find the house built by Clement, where we find the hands at work on the mill are boarding, and where we, too, find a temporary home. Among these boarders was Richard Hobbs, familiarly known as " Uncle Dick," and who will be well remembered by many, and whose sons perpetuate his name among us. A little north is another building, which has been erected for Mr. Dem mond, in part of which the family is to live, and in part of which a store is to be opened, with the goods on their way around the lakes. A little way above the middle bridge we also find a log house, just erected by a Mr. Campbell, who sold out the next sum mer to Barton Smith. These are all the indications of the future city on the west side.. We climb up the bluff by way of a gully, which is now Cross- street, and find still to the west another bluff, which is heavily wooded. On the highest part of the first bluff we find the fort and palisades, of which mention has been made, and this is the first intimation we have had that Juliet is a fortified city. A little to- the north of this, the bluff is interrupted by a deep woody ravine, {the present location of Spring street), which is the outlet to a large- swamp covering the area between Hickory street and the west bluff, and extending up as far as the present breweries. The log cabin of Mr. Maggard is so far to the north that we cannot; see it. Such was Joliet as we then saw it, on a late September day in the Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 29 year 1834. I sat down upon the brow of the bluff, and "viewed the landscape o'er." I confess that I felt a choking sensation in my esophagus! You will not wonder that to a boy just from home, and from an old, cultivated and populous village, the prospect of passing the winter in such a locality, was anything but cheering. To my eyes, which had not been touched by that prophetic vision which only an investment of dollars can give, the future city — then predicted, now, happily, partially realized — was not discernable, and an opportunity to return would have been gratefully accepted. In which case, Juliet would have lost one of its tallest citizens, and you would have escaped the present infliction. In the course of the fall the mill is erected, and also a saw mill is built and run by Clement and Clark, and a brisk lumber trade is created, for the logs are near by, and " Uncle Sam " does not keep watch.- Mr. Demmond opens his store, and we take a posi tion as clerk, and make the acquaintance of the people. These we find to be of two kinds, Yankees and Hoosiers. All who came from any state east of Ohio, are called Yankees; and all who are of western or southern origin, and who wear "jeans" clothing, and use such phrases as " right smart chance," " powerful weak," " ornery," " heap," etc., and to every question or remark, answer "which" are called Hoosiers. During the winter, Mr. Demmond bought out McKee's quar ter section, except the portions already sold, and the mill and mill yard, and immediately surveyed and recorded " West Juliet." According to the best of my recollection, refreshed by Dr. Bowen and Mr. Clement, the number of those who passed the winter of 1834-5, within the present city limits, was less than fifty. I give the names as far as I am able. A. W. Bowen and wife, Charles Clement, Daniel Clement and wife, Thomas H. Blackburn and wife, Thomas Cox and wife, O. D. Putnam, Henry Bone and wife, two brothers Baily, Asaph Webster and wife, Harlow Webster, George West and wife, N. H. Cutter, James McKee and wife, Richard Hobbs, Chas. W. Bran don, M. H. Demmond and wife, Miss Murray, Mr. Campbell and wife, Jay Lyons, Eri Dodge and wife, N. H. Clark, D. Maggard, 30 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. Edw. Perkins, Jas. C. Troutman, a family named Lumereaux, and last, but not least, G. H. Woodruff. These, and their families, are all that I can now recall. (Mr. Makepeace and his wife had gone on to Fox river). Rev. J. H. Prentiss, under the auspices of the Am. Home Mission Society, visited Juliet during the winter, and finding that there were even then heathen enough to justify the step, came on the next summer with his family, and established preaching, and soon after organized a Presbyterian church — sometime in 1835. George West, named in the above list, was a Methodist local preacher, and probably preached the first sermon in Juliet. But the first organized religious society was, I think, " Christ Church," Episcopal, which was organized by Bishop Chase, the 16th day of May, 1835. Comstock Hanford, John Griswold, Miles Rice, Or- len Westover, A. W. Bowen, Julia Ann Hanford, Amorette B. Griswold, being the original members, all of whom, except Dr. Bowen and wife, resided in the adjacent country. Some here will remember a little stone building on the lot how owned by Mr. Plant, on Broadway, and used as a stable. It was pulled down within a year or two. It was in this building that Mr. Prentiss preached for a while, until the first school house was built, which is still standing on Hickory street, west of the Catho lic church, now occupied as a residence by Mr. Terrill. This house was built by Demmond, McKee, Beaumont, and some others, and was used for school and church purposes. The first teacher in this school house was John Watkins, who had previously taught in Chicago. He is still living in. New Lenox, nearly blind. He was not, however, the first teacher in either place. Mrs. Kinzie tells of one earlier than him in Chicago, and the first attempt at a school in Joliet was made by Miss Persis Cleveland, now of California, in the old log fort, of which I have spoken. The Rev. S. R. Beggs, in 1836, was appointed to the Joliet Circuit, and commenced the work of building the first Methodist church, which was also the first church edifice in Joliet, in 1837. This building is now the blacksmith's shop of Rock Island Rail road; and in this year, 1837, the Methodist church of Joliet became an organized legal body. Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 31 The season of 1835 made considerable additions to the embryo city. Among them were John L. and Richard L. Wilson, George Higley and family, Levi Jenks and family, Archibald Crowl, Wm. Walters, O. F. Rogers, Rev. J. H. Prentis and family, Abel Gil bert, George Squire and wife, Rodney House and family, William A. Chatfield and family, S. W. Bowen, C. C. Pepper, Abijah Cag-r win and family, a Mr. Boland and his two sons, Abner and An drew, H. N. Marsh and wife, Elias Haven and sons, David Rattray, James Brodie, Francis Nicholson and wife, W. R. Atwell and wife, Allen Pratt, Dr. Curtis Haven, Barton Smith and two sons and family, Joel George and wife, Sullivan Demmond, Jonathan Barnett, Charles Sayer, J. Beaumont and family, E. M. Daggett, E. C. FelloWs, Fenner Aldrich, George Howliston, Asa Rowe, Elias Hyde, Dr. Daniel Reed, William Sheriff, S. B. Hopkins, Walter Seeley, Edson White, O. W. Stillman and John M. Wil son. Several buildings were erected on each side of the river during this year, but the exact number cannot be told. Many of the new comers lived for a time in "shanties;" Rev. Mr. Prentiss had one on Oneida street, under the bluff. I will say a few words here, by way of explanation of what I said above in reference to the lumber trade; and also explanatory of several other matters to which I shall refer in the course of this lecture. In the first settlement of this county, the title to the land was in the United States, except that which had been granted to the state for canal purposes; and also, except every sixteenth section in each township, which had been given to the state for school purposes. To encourage settlement, persons were allowed to locate on any lauds not already occupied, to make a claim, and on build ing a cabin and enclosing and cultivating a few acres, they estab lished a "pre-emption right," that is, a right to purchase the land in preference to all others, at one dollar and a quarter per acre, whenever the same should come into market. Settlers were, of course, allowed to make use of timber for building their cabins and making their fences. This indulgence on the part of the gov ernment was grossly abused. Every one in those days regarded the timber as free plunder, and only took care not to trespass upon 32 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. a settler's claim. To steal from " Uncle Sam," was regarded then (as I fear it still is) as a very venial sin. Persons who had no claim as settlers, cut down the timber and hauled it to the mills, and had it manufactured into lumber for sale. Nor did they confine them selves to United States' lands, but canal lands and school sections were also subject to depredation. The bluffs about our city, and also the groves, all over the county, were then covered with a heavy growth of full grown timber, mostly oak and black walnut. These were, to a great extent, sacrificed to the greed of the trespassers, and manufactured into lumber and sold at ten dollars per thousand. Great, splendid black walnut trees, the lumber from which would now bring one hundred dollars per thousand, were cut down and made into common lumber. The saw mills were kept running night and day, and Sundays too. All the woods which we now see, are of a subsequent growth. Almost all the buildings erected previous to the opening of the canal, were made of this hard wood lumber. You have noticed that when one of these takes fire, it is long enough in burning to accommodate the fire department. At the time of the land sale, in the summer of 1835, many of the settlers were unprepared to pay for their land, even at the low price asked by the government. But there were many speculators here from the east, who were anxious to invest in land. They dare not, however, bid against a "settler," even though he might not have established a pre-emption right; for the settlers had organ ized a kind of court to decide on all settlers' claims, and they were bound to protect each other against not only Uncle Sam, but " the rest of mankind." The lands were worth more than double the government price, and hence compromises were effected between the settler and the speculator, by which the speculator supplied the money to buy the land, and the settler gave him one half. Thus the settler got a reasonable amount of land for nothing. In con sideration of the grants made to the state of lands for school and seminary purposes, and a per cent, upon all sales, these lands were exempted by the state from taxation for five years after sale. As a matter of course, for the first few years, we were mainly dependant upon older settlements for our supplies. These were brought mostly from the "Wabash." This region, somewhat inde- Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 33 finite perhaps, was a kind of nursing mother to the northern part of our state. Flour, bacon, corn meal, dried fruit and whitewood . siding, were the principal articles of commerce. These were trans ported in those curious and capacious old wagons, which originated, I believe, in Pennsylvania, but which we used to call " Hoosier wagons," or " Prairie schooners," and which, with their canvas covers and long ox teams, traveling in company, reminded one of the caravans of the east, as they slowly moved over the unob structed prairie. A curious specimen of humanity, too, was the driver, armed with his long whip, which he cracked with a noise like the report of a pistol, as he sat perched up in the bow of his schooner, or plodded his way beside his cattle, clad in butternut jeans, his face, hands and feet about the same color as his "bacon." This "bacon," by the way, was a curious product. It con sisted of the "sides" of the hog, with the ribs removed and cured by salt, in stacks, then smoked a little, and was handled loose and unprotected by any kind of package or cover. It thus became •exposed in summer to the flies, and was often well stocked with maggots. In this state it was not particularly relished by Yan kees, and before offering it for sale, it is said to have been the cus tom to stop outside of town and subject it to the action of smoke, with sufficient heat to cause a stampede of the maggots. I suppose ;after a week or two at Andersonville or Libby, one would not be so fastidious ! The Hoosier and his team traveled in entire independence of taverns. His capacious wagon carried his supplies for the journey. His wants were simple. Corn meal and bacon, coffee and tobacco, and most likely some whisky, formed the "common doings" with which he was content. And for his cattle he carried some corn, and allowed them to feed upon the rich herbage of the prairie night ^nd morning. Camping by a spring or brook near the timber, he made his coffee with water from the spring, and toasted his bacon by a fire of faggots gathered from the woods, and now and then, when these were hard to find, a rail or two from the settler's fence. He slept at night under his canvas cover, secure from rain and dew. The years 1835 and 1836 were characterized by a rush of im migration, and a rage for land speculation all over the west. The 34 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. land sale at Chicago in June, 1835, brought many into the county eager to invest in lands and city lots, and in 1836, the fever reached •its acme. We have had many epidemics since, such as the gold fever, the oil fever, the super-heated steam fever, and the fever and ague ; but I think none have equaled in intensity and universality the land fever of 1836. Everybody was eager to invest in lands and city lots. Many were the cities located, projected, and most beautifully platted, with liberal appro priations for public squares, churches and academies ; and these were taken to eastern cities for the benefit of those who could not come west, and there sold. Indeed, town lots may be said to have been the only export from the west. We imported our flour and bacon, as at that time sufficient was not raised for the wants of the settlers and visitors. I presume that many here present are not aware of the fact, that Will county is dotted with the ruins of great cities. Yet such is the case. Palmyra, Williamsburg, Mid- dletown, Vienna, Carlyle, West Lockport, New Rochester, Buf falo, Lunenbergh, etc., etc.; these are the names of some of these cities, which flourished in imagination and on paper, but they have passed away, leaving no vestige except upon the county records,. and in the memory of their victims. But there was also another famous city, just over the line in another county, of which a little Dutchman, Johnny Beard, was the proprietor. Johnny thought this was to be " one very great city." He made a splendid looking one on paper, with the great Kankakee coming down from the east, and the Des Plaine and Du Page united from the north, the " city of Kankakee " reposing in native beauty at the junction. Johnny used often to come up with his wife in a little old "coachee," and was always full of his "city." He used to squeeze in a little whisky, too; but the old horses and coachee used to take him safe home, whether he could drive or not. He built a dam across the Des Plaine, a little above its junction with the Kankakee, (which forms the Illinois), and commenced building a mill. But the next spring the Kankakee, which drains a great extent of country far to the east in Indiana, got on a rampage long before the Des Plaine, which rices much farther in the north, and coming down with its great volume of Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 35 water and ice, dammed up the Des Plaines — turned its current north ward, and sent Johnny Beard's dam, city, mill and all, a kiting up to Treat's Island, where it deposited the fragments. This was the last we heard of " Kankakee city," until some of our citizens " struck ile " there a few years since, and sunk a well, — and sunk a little pile of money, too ! The additions to our population in 1836, became too many to attempt a full enumeration. Among these were : J. A. Matteson, Orange Chauncey, Albert Shepard, Uri Osgood, James Stout, Thomas, Edward and Bennett Allen, Mr. De Berard, John Cur- rey, J. J. Garland, Dr. Comstock, Otis Hardy, Edmund Wilcox, Thomas R. Hunter, W. J. Heath, David Richards, Hugh. Hen derson, J. C. Newkirk, Hervey Lowe, Richard Doolittle, William Blair, Rufus Colton, Elnathan Bassett, William A. Boardman, Stephen' Hubbard, Dr. Scholfield, William G. Hubbard, Dr. Lit tle, Henry Fish, M. Worthingham, David L. Roberts, Isaac H. Palmer, E. E. Bush, Dr. Simon Z. Havens, Theo. Woodruff. We attempt to give only a few prominent well-known names. Building was prosecuted rapidly during this year. Of the names given in the preceding lists, some are still citizens of Joliet. Many have passed away from earth ; some have found homes else where. Thomas Cox laid out the town of Winchester, (now Wil mington,) and built a mill there. McKee initiated the town of Pontiac, by building a mill on the Vermillion. M. Worthingham is the Lieut. Worthingham who fills a soldier's grave in Oakwood, having been killed at the battle of Stone River. Allen Pratt was for many years one of our most active men, built a considerable number of buildings, but has been dead for some years. John M. Wilson is the well-known and honored Judge Wilson of Chicago, and the proprietor of the Joliet Mound Tile Manufactory. Some, :such as William Blair and Thomas Allen, were afterwards, when hard times came on, seduced away by Chicago, and — poor, fellows, they deserved a better fate — got rich ! I see I have omitted one prominent name from the list of 1836, and I will introduce it by a little story. It was sometime in this year that I received from the post office a letter, directed to George Woodruff. The address was wanting one initial letter, and it was 36 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. in a delicate chirography, but I did not for a moment doubt that- it had reached its proper destination, and I opened it and began to read. It began, "Dearest George," — this was just what I had long wanted her to say! — and it proceeded in a very tender and affectionate style. I liked it, so I read on until it seemed to imply some things that I had not been guilty of, so I turned to look at the signature. Now, I am not going to tell what this was — as I don't know but it might make trouble even at this late day — but it was not the name of the girl I left behind me, and so, very reluctantly, I returned the letter to the post office, when I learned that there was " another Richmond in the field," to maintain the honor of the name, and to become the banker of the family ! To relieve the tedium of the winter of 1834-5, I made my first visit to Chicago. My old friend Risley, of Channahon, was going up, and I took passage. Many here will remember him as the second sheriff of the county. He has now been dead sev eral years, but when living he used often to tell the story of that ride. It was a cold day in January — cheerless was the way and rough the road. We filled the wagon with straw, and Mrs. Dem mond, having a tender regard for our "creetur comfort," gave us a little bag of doe-nuts to beguile the way. Risley, when he told the story, used to aver that there was a pillow-case full, but I think this was a slight exaggeration. Well, the wind was cold and I was unused to the exposure, so I soon got down into the straw, along side the bag of doe-nuts. After a while I asked Risley if he did not want a doe-nut, to which he replied in the negative. This question was repeated several times as we rode along, and always- received the same reply. Of course, after a while I ceased to press the matter. After riding along in silence some time longer, Risley himself began to feel an aching void under his vest, and he says, "I don't care, George, if I do try some of those doe-nuts."' " You spoke too late," was the mildest way in which I could break to him the fact that the bag was empty ! The moral of this story ie : Take your doe-nuts when you can get them, especially if you- are in " cahoot " with a hungry boy ! In due time we arrived at Chicago. The last nine miles of the road was splendid. In those days, the prairie from the- Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 37 Chicago river out to the Des Plaines was covered in the fall with water, which, freezing up, made a fine road-way in the winter. We stopped at the " Saug-a-nash," the crack hotel of those days. It was part frame and part logs, and stood at the forks of the river, on the spot where the wig-wam in which Lincoln was nominated for president, was afterwards built. Upon the west side, close to the river, there were two or three buildings, and from the Saug-a-nash down to the few stores and houses on Lake and Water streets, was a long stretch of prai rie,— while the old log fort, " Dearborn," its offices and palisades, brilliant in whitewash, was the most conspicuous object in all that vast area now covered with marble1 palaces. I suppose the popu- lation of Chicago was then less than two thousand. I called at the office of Collins & Caton, where I found an old college friend, and made the acquaintance of that law firm, so well known subse quently. I well remember the appearance of Judge Caton — not then Chief Justice, but at the other end of the judicial ladder, be ing a justice of the peace. He was a good specimen of the "style " of that day, — broadcloth pants, tucked into the tops of "stoga" boots, satin vest, plug hat, ruffle shirt, and over all the blanket ,coat, then so universally worn by all classes. The "stoga" boots were a necessity in those days, as in no other rig could the streets of Chicago be navigated. But I have got away from my subject, and yet not altogether, for Chicago was as much a suburb of Joliet then as now. During this first winter of 1834-5, we were obliged to go to " Uncle Billy Gougar's," a little way above the red mill, to get our mail, and a letter then cost us twenty-five cents. This was the nearest post office, and was on the route of a weekly horse-back mail from Danville to Chicago. C. C. Vanhorne was the post master, but the office was kept by one of the Gougar boys. I am not able to state what was the revenue of this office, but I know that the box rent was not much, as the entire office was but one old dry goods' box, divided off into a few pigeon holes. I wish I had the pencil of a Nast, that I could here illustrate this produc tion with the picture of a young man I remember, astride an indian pony, with his long legs drawn up behind him to. keep them out of 38 ' Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. the wet grass or snow, eagerly taking his way every Saturday to " Uncle Billy's " for the anxiously expected letter. I should like to catch the look of eager expectation on his arrival, or the satis fied expression of his phiz as he reads the letter for the twentieth time, slowly riding home; or the downcast, disconsolate air with which he turned about when the postmaster told him there was nothing. Oh, fathers and mothers ! don't forget to send promptly the desired letter to your absent boy ! Young woman, do not let any other engagement interfere with the duty of writing to the absent lover— and don't be backward about calling him "Dearest George," or John, as the case may be ! Be as gushing as you feel ! he can stand it ! In February, 1835, Dr. A. W. Bowen obtained an appoint ment as postmaster for Juliet, and a post office was soon after opened, and we got our mail by a cross route from Plainfield, con necting with the stage route from Ottawa to Chicago. For a while in 1836, there was some trouble about the mail arrangements, and Dr. Bowen used to commission any reliable person who happened to be going to Plainfield, to bring over the mail. On one occasion Charley Sayer had been over after the mail, and returning just at night found the office closed, the doctor having gone to supper. 'Charley had of course been solemnly sworn safely to keep and deliver the mail, and he stood upon the doorsteps of the office in a quandary what to do. Just then a newly arrived lawyer passed by, and Charjey told him his trouble, and asked the lawyer what he would advise him to do. The lawyer pondered a moment to give his opinion due weight, and then told him to take the mail bag home with him, get his own supper, and return with it, by which time the doctor would undoubtedly have returned, and he could relieve himself of his responsibility. Charley concluded to do so, and was about starting off, as was the lawyer, when it occur red to him that he had been taking legal advice, and so, with some thing of an air, he put his hand into his pocket and asked, "How much is your charge, Mr. O. ? " Now, Mr. O. was then1 a young lawyer, and not so celebrated as he afterwards became, but I never heard of any lawyer, old or young, so green as not to be ready with a reply to such a question, and he promptly replied " Five Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 39 dollars." Charley hardly knew whether he was in earnest or not, but he handed over a "V" to Mr. O., who coolly placed the same in his pocket, and bade him good evening. " What ! what !" says Charley, "you don't mean to keep that five dollars, do you?" " Certainly, certainly," was the reply, " you do n't expect legal ad- vice for nothing, do you?" Charley went home crest-fallen, mad at Mr. O., mad at tbe postoffice department, and above all, mad at himself; and the more he thought about it the madder he got, and the story getting out, and the boys laughing at him, he got so mad that he went off and sued Mr. O. for the recovery of the five dol lars. Of course he lost his suit, and another five dollars went for costs. Now this story has two great moral lessons; one is, if you put money into a lawyer's hands, don't think it a joke! and the other is, never sue a lawyer, for, like throwing fire at the devil, it won't scare much! During the summer of 1835, Mr. Demmond built the old stone block opposite the National. This was quite an event, and it was duly celebrated by a ball in the upper story. Plainfield, Yankee Settlement, Channahon and Hickory Creek, were canvassed for girls, and though you might not think it, our fellow-citizen, Chas. Clement, was particularly keen and active on the scent ! The next stone building was that of the Wilson's, south of the City Hall, which was built in 1836, and the stone block known as " Merchants' Row," was built in 1837. This, and the wooden block opposite, (which was burned in the late fire), was- the centre of business on the west side, while the two wooden blocks on upper Chicago street were the centre of business on the east side, and all were at one time filled with stores of the various kind. During this summer of 1835, occurred the first 4th of July celebration in Joliet, which was quite an affair. O. W. Stillman and Dick Wilson were prime movers, and they got together quite a crowd from the surrounding country. We had all the usual pro gramme. N,pise, music, procession, marshal, chaplain, reader, ora tion, dinner, toasts and champaigne — no essential was omitted. Rev. J. H. Prentiss was chaplain ; Jonathan Baraett, equipped with Major Cook's sash and sword, and mounted on a gray horse, cav- 40 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. orted as marshal, to the admiration of the' natives. The exercises were held in a little cluster of scrub oaks, somewhere near the St. Louis Round House. Dr. Bowen read the Declaration, and a young man who had lately rubbed through college, and who waa supposed to have the necessary spread-eagle eloquence, was selected to deliver the oration. I am sorry, on your account, that there is no record of this oration. It ought to have been preserved, and to have gone down to posterity bound up with those of Webster and Adams. But we had no reporter to embalm it. You may believe, however, that it did ample justice to the Pilgrim Fathers, ,and the heroes of the revolution ; drew lessons of warning and in struction from ancient Greece and Rome ; deprecated the evil of party spirit; and, while ignoring the subject of domestic slavery, commiserated the down-trodden millions of Europe, and closed with visions, almost apocalyptic, of the future glory of this great republic. I remember with what rapt attention my Hoosier friend, Joe Shanks, listened ; and how he inquired afterward if the speaker warn't a preacher! It detracts somewhat from this estimate of the impression it made, that my friend, Dr. Bowen, did not even re member who was the orator ! But such is fame ! But a still more important event occurred on this same 4th of July, 1835. This was no less than the first wedding in Juliet, which must be recorded. You will remember Henry Bone and wife as among those who passed the winter of 1834-5 in Juliet. I shall have to disturb those Bones again. This man Bone is enti tled to the questionable honor of opening the first doggery in town. Mrs. Bone was the daughter of the Mr. Pence I also named as one of the early settlers on Hickory. Mr. Pence, notwithstand ing his name, was rich iu the possession of another daughter — Ann Pence. And now comes the old, old story — ever fresh, and ever new! and always interesting, especially to the ladies, of the doings of the little god of the bow and arrow! But I am not go ing into the detail, and only say that one Thomas Ellis saw this sweet Anne Pence, loved, and told his love. And the sweet Anne Pence, she too, owned the soft impeachment, and in due time the all-important day was fixed, and came,, as I have said, on this 4th of July, 1834. The event came off at the residence of the said Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 41 Henry Bone, who occupied a building on the northeast corner of Chicago and Benton streets, having his saloon in front and living in the rear. . The officiating justice was B. F. Barker, Esq. The guests were A. W. Bowen and wife, Charles Sayer, James Draper and James Smith, (was there ever an occasion when some mem ber of this family was not present ! ) and the wife and daughter of the officiating justice. And it is from this daughter that I have the details of this event. Of course, ladies will want to' know how the bride was dressed. Thanks to the good memory of the lady I have mentioned, I am able to tell you. The bride was dressed in pink De Laine and white apron, calf-skin shoes and hose of her own manufacture ; and for head dress, she wore a cap with a double ruffle all round, and I presume her own hair. The groom wore a full suit of Kentucky jeans. The wedding "de'jeuner" consisted -of gingerbread, imported ,for the occasion, by ox-team express, from Chicago, and whisky sling, compounded by the skillful hands of the host. The hostess passed around the circle of guests with a card of gingerbread in each hand, and each one broke off as much as they pleased, and the host followed with two tin cups of sling, of which each one sipped as much as they pleased. The wedding tour consisted of a ride in a one-horse wagon to the plantation of Reason Zarley, Esq. I presume the honey-mooD was, in all essential particulars, much like other honey -moons, and passed as happily as if they had made the tour of Europe, or as if the wedding had been as magni ficent as that of Boss Tweed's daughter, a few years ago. Indeed, :at such times the parties, whether dressed iu silks and broadcloth, or calico and homespun, are supposed to be equally indifferent to time -and place and circumstance. As somewhat germane to this matter, I would say, that I have made considerable enquiry in order to ascertain who was the first person born in Juliet. But I have found so many first oues, that I do not undertake to settle the question. My own impressions would be in favor of a McKee, as, according to my recollection, -such an event was a yearly one at the McKee mansion. And it thus happened that the original mansion received numerous addi tions in the shape of lean-to's, made necessary by the fast growing 42 Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. family, until it looked like a summer squash covered with wartsi. The boys used to say that they could tell when "coming events cast their shadows before," by seeing "Jimmy" at work on an other "lean-to." But, although we are not able to settle absolutely the question as to the priority of birth, this much has been shown by the inquiry : that such events did, occur, even in those early days, and are no modern invention ! And I would say, in passing,. that the Hon. George C. McKee, representative in congress from. Mississippi, is one of those McKee children, though I think born a little too late to be the "first-born" of Joliet. But we don't disown him because he is a congressman ! Perhaps I ought to notice here the first divorce which occurred in Will county. This occurred in 1837. Levi Button obtains a divorce from " Matilda Button," on the ground of desertion.. This is all I know about the matter ! Why Matilda deserted Levi . I have not the slightest idea. Perhaps he had cold feet ! — perhaps she had found an "affinity." Evidently these "Buttons" were not matched ! And whether Levi ever got any one else to look after his buttons, I don't know. The only thing I do know further about the matter is, that it cost him only ten dollars to get the decree. Now, my good " Benedicts," don't make a rush for court ; the price of this, as of all other luxuries, has greatly advanced ! During the winter of 1835-6, through the active efforts of Dr. Bowen and James Walker as lobbyists, the legislature passed an act organizing Will county, and locating the county seat at Juliet. An election was ordered for three county commissioners, a sheriff, cor oner, and recorder. At a convention held in Demmond's stone block, without regard to party, Holden Sisson, Thomas Durham and James Walker, were nominated as commissioners ; Robert Stevens for sheriff; E. M. Daggett, coroner; and Geo. H. Wood ruff, recorder ; and, although the ticket met with some opposition, it was handsomely elected. For these were the early — the better days — the golden age of Will county, when the best men were selected for office ! Robert Stevens, however, declined to accept the office of sheriff, and Fenner Aldrich was chosen at the fall election. I need hardly say, that the county commissioners' court an- Joliet and Will County, Forty Years Ago. 43