DeKalb County, Illinois - Chapter 7: The Resurrectionists (2 of 2 so headed), 1868 (part 6 of 8)

The elections, at this period in the history of the County, were generally held at the residence of some citizen centrally located in the precinct, and right glad was he, after a year or two of experience of the annoyance and trouble of such gatherings to procure the removal of the place of election to some other location. The place of election in Orange precinct, was at this term, changed from the residence of W. A. Fairbanks to Calvin Colton's spacious and comfortable hotel ; and in Franklin precinct it was changed from the mill of Henry Hicks to the residence of Theophilus Watkins.

Martin M. Mack was re-elected County Commissioner at the August election of this year, and D. W. Lamb was made County Surveyor, an office which he held Avith occasional intervals during the next twenty-two years.

The chief matters of record of the County Commissioners' Court still continued to be the location of new roads ; but about this time their breadth, which had hitherto been only fifty feet, was enlarged to sixty-six, and in some cases to eighty feet. The Oregon State Road was laid out one hundred feet in width. The Circuit Court this year held but one session, and that in September. It was presided over by John D. Caton, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court. S. B. Farwell was States' Attorney, J. C. Kellogg, Clerk, and Morris Walrod Sheriff. Among the leading practitioners at its bar were T. Lyle Dickey, E. L. Mayo, B. F. Fridley, W. D. Barry, N. II. Peters, W. R. Crothers, and A. J. Brown.

1843. The finances of the County were now in a situation of great embarrassment. A report of a committee appointed to make a careful examination of its affairs, reported that it had issued orders which were still outstanding, to the amount of nine hundred and seventy-two dollars and thirty-seven cents, and the taxes to be collected to pay them would only amount to four hundred and eighty-three dollars, and twenty-nine cents, leaving the County in debt to the amount of four hundred and eighty-nine dollars and eight cents. Small as this amount seems now, it was a troublesome load for the young County to carry, and M. M. Mack and Sylvanus Holcomb were authorized to endeavor to effect a loan. Fov this purpose they made several journeys, but to no avail. So large an amount of capital could not be obtained. But the County was generous enough to allow them fifteen dollars each for their expenses, and in place of putting them off with County orders which were of little value, it allowed them to endorse the amount upon their indebtedness to the County for the lots that they had purchased on the town plot. A tax of one-half of one per cent, was ordered for the ensuing year, but the duties of Mr. John Waterman the County Treasurer, must have been small and the danger of robbery still less, for nearly all of the tax was collected in Jurors' certificates and County orders.

The land in the central towns of the County came in market during this year. This was an important era in the affairs of the settlers. Many had for years previous been hoarding the money that they had been able to save, in anticipation of this important event. From the old stockings and secret recesses of their log cabins, the glittering gold was drawn out and they started in a strong company for the land sale in Chicago. The land was sold off" at auction, and from each neighborhood one trusty man was selected to bid off* the property as it was offered, while the remainder stood around, armed with clubs and a most ferocious aspect, ready to knock down and execute summary vengeance upon any speculator who should dare to bid for lands that had been claimed and occupied by any of their party. Few were bold enough to attempt it. One unlucky fellow, who committed this offense through mistake, thinking that he was bidding upon another piece of land, was seized in an instant by the crowd of excited squatter-sovereigns, hustled away and nearly torn in pieces, before he could explain the occurrence and express his readiness to correct the mistake.

redations of pick-pockets than from anything else. Such a crowd furnished a harvest-field for these gentry, and several of our citizens who had come with pockets well lined with gold, found them emptied when they wanted to pay for their land and were obliged to go home moneyless and landless. It was a severe loss. Years of labor would be required to replace it, and before that time they would lose their land and the improvements which they had spent years in effecting. Simultaneously with the land sale, a number of new claim associations were formed throughout the County, to prevent persons who moved in, from purchasing of Government, lands which those then living near, chose to claim by plowing around them. They were no doubt useful in "preventing many from entering farms, to which the expense of improvement and long occupation gave the squatter an equitable title, but they were also in many cases a means of injustice. Men banded themselves together in such organizations, in order to keep by the force of mob law, other settlers from occupying and holding lands, while they themselves held tracts of enormous extent and paid for none of it.

The County now found itself in a fresh quandary. The one hundred and sixty acres, upon which the village at the County seat had been built, now came in market and was subject to entry. It had pre-empted the quarter-section, but had never proved up its pre-emption right. It had solemnly bound itself, in giving deeds of its lots, to acquire the title so soon as the land should come in market, but now that this time had come, it found itself destitute of money and utterly unable to borrow. Any speculator was at liberty to buy and take the best of titles to the town by paying to the Government one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for it. Few of the citizens had money enough to enter their owTr claims, and none were willing to lend money to the County. In this dilemma three of the neighboring inhabitants, Jesse C. Kellogg, Carlos Lattin, and Curtis Smith who had an interest in adjoining lands came forward and furnished the necessary funds, entered the lands in their own names and promised to wait for re-payment until the time in which it was supposed the County would bo able to return the money. This lifted the County out of this temporary embarrassment, but it subsequently happened that the County failed to get back the title from some of these parties, and finally lost a part of the land.

The whole amount of tax collected this year was three hundred and eighty-six dollars and fifteen cents, and of this one hundred and seventy-eight dollars was paid in Jurors' certificates and one hundred and forty-nine in County orders.

The County during this year, commenced a suit with Amos Harman, whom it required to open the Ottawa State Road, and was defeated. It was compelled by the Circuit Court, to allow him thirty-five dollars for damages- This bankrupted the Treasury, and nine patriotic citizens stepped forward and contributed the amount, taking County orders in payment. The Justices elected this year were George IT. Hill, Isaac Crampton, Abner Jackman, James Byers, Aaron Randal], Kimball Dow, George Flinn, Russell Huntley, and Z. B. Mayo.

Reuben Pritchard, J. R. Hamlin, and B. F. Hunt, Commissioners appointed-by the State, laid out the Chicago and Grand-de-Tour State Road, past II. Dayton's, P. Holcomb's, M. Walrod's, Phineas Stevens', Calvin Colton's and thence to the west line of the County. Robert Sterrett built a mill this year on Somonauk creek, and E. P. Gleason and W. A. Miller built others at or near the present village of Genoa. This village was at this time and for many years after, the largest and most lively in the County. There were several stores, a line of stages running through from Chicago to Galena, and II. N. Perkins this year built a fine large hotel which has been a famous resort for balls and parties even to this day. A handsome framed school-house also replaced the shabby old log structure heretofore used for that purpose.

This was the second since the settlement of the County, of the regular septennial wet seasons. The floods began early in summer, but not early enough to ruin the splendid crops of winter wheat which were everywhere abundant. Some farmers report that they cut and bound their wheat while standing ankle-deep in water, and then carried it out on the high knolls to dry before stacking. When they went to Aurora to mill, four yoke of cattle were required to draw a moderate grist. A great many cattle and horses feeding upon the prairies became mired inextricably, and the calls were numerous for teams to attach long ropes or chains to them and draw them out. Most of the crops were seriously damaged by the floods and storms. All of the bridges that surrounded the County seat were carried away by the flood, and the same was true of the bridges all over the country. The Mississippi was swollen to four times its usual size, and steamboats moved freely through the streets of St. Louis, Kaskaskia, and other cities upon the rivers. Houses, fences, and stock of all kinds were swept away, and when the water subsided, the soil of the valleys was covered with sand so as to ruin the land for cultivation. The grist mills were almost universally swept away, and there was a great destitution of meal and flour. It was a severe blow to the prosperity of the young, growing State. One good growing out of this evil was that the war with the Mormons which was then in active progress, was stopped - neither party being able to continue it through such endless storms, and seas of unfathomable mire.

At the August election, Carlos Lattin was chosen County Treasurer ; Marshall Stark, School Commissioner ; E. L. Mayo, Recorder; A. J. Brown, Probate Justice, and Morris Walrod Collector for the County. E. P. Young resigned his office of Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court, and W. H. Beavers was appointed in his stead.

Eighteen Forty Five

expenses by the State. But County indebtedness was still purchaseable at a large discount. When one of our since prominent citizens was fined ten dollars for assault and battery, he was glad to be allowed to pay it with a County order of thirty dollars.

The settlement of DeKalb County at this period progressed very slowly. Indeed, emigrants avoided the whole State of Illinois, and passed west to Missouri, or north to Wisconsin. Illinois had a bad reputation. The State was overwhelmed with a vast unwieldy debt. It was unable to pay even the interest upon it. Taxes were high, money scarce. Repudiation was talked of, and by many was thought to be inevitable. DeKalb County furnished no especial attractions to the few settlers who came into the State. The beautiful valleys of the Fox and Hock Rivers were far more alluring to the few emigrants who at this period, made their homes in the debtridden, heavily-taxed, much-abused State of Illinois. Many of those who came to make their homes in this section, were of a lawless class who were hardly fit for better settled and better regulated communities.

Settlers were also deterred by the acts of the claim associations who boldly banded together and threatened the lives of any who should enter lands around which any of their gang had ploughed the furrow which constituted the commonly received marks of a claim. Some account of these contests - these intestine wars, may be found in other portions of this work.

There was little money in the country. Of the three hundred and seventy-five dollars collected in taxes this year, one hundred and forty-three dollars was in Jurors certificates, and two hundred and nineteen dollars in County orders. Few debts were prosecuted by law, for the policy of the laws favored the debtor, and rendered it almost impossible to collect a claim by legal process. More settlers were anxious to leave the country than to move into it.

In May, 1846, the President called for four regiments of volunteers, for the war with Mexico. Nine regiments speedily offered their services. Most of them were of course disappointed in their hope to serve their country thus and win glory upon the battle-field, but among those accepted, was a company raised by Captain Shepard of Belvidere, from the Counties of Boone and Northern DeKalb. Early in June, Captain Shepard marched his Company across the country from Belvidere to Sycamore, paraded them through the streets of the village during two or three days, and enlisted in the ranks about twenty recruits. They were mostly from the northern towns or precincts of the County.

From Shabbona, Somonauk, and Paw Paw districts, a number of recruits were enlisted in a regiment that rendezvoused at Ottawa. Among them were Thomas S. Terry, and Horace Austin, who subsequently raised and commanded Companies in the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment, during the war of the Great Rebellion. Only a comparatively small number of those who thus went out, ever returned. Some lost their lives upon the Mexican battle-field, some died of the diseases incident to camp life, and some, who had no especial ties to bind them to this country, found other homes after their discharge from the service.

At the* March term of the County Court, the Paw Paw district and election precinct was divided by the creation of a new precinct, called Shabbona. It comprised the territory now contained in the four towns of Shabbona, Clinton, Milan, and Afton. Elections were ordered to be held at the house of William Marks.

A report on the County finances exhibited the discouraging fact that there were outstanding twelve hundred and ninetynine dollars in County orders, and but one hundred and twenty-six dollars of available means. Five hundred and seventy dollars of tax was collected, all of it in Jurors' certificates and County orders.

Eighteen Forty-Seven

Austin ffayden, George II. Hill, and Joseph Newberry were elected County Commissioners; dames Harrington, School Commissioner ; John A. Waterman, Treasurer ; E. L.

Mayo, Probate Justice. Jacob A. Simons and William Fordham each served as County Clerk. The Justices of the Peace elected, were George Flinn, Isaac Campton, Simon Young, Aaron Rand, David Merritt, G. T. Sandborn, Wheeler Hedges, Samuel Stevens, B. F. Johnson, Russell Huntley, Joseph A. Bilks, Z. B. Mayo, John Bycrs, George II. Hill, and William Marks. The first brick dwellings in the County were built this year at Sycamore by the brothers Mayo, and although they now look humble enough when compared with many of the more spacious and elegant residences of the present day, they were then decidedly the best houses in the County, and attracted a great deal of attention and admiration.

1847. The financial affairs of the County improved during tins year, and its indebtedness was reduced one half. This was in sympathy and accord with the general condition of the State which was now rapidly improving. Four years before, the State officers were sometimes troubled to get money to pay even the postage on their letters ; the credit of the State was gone, its Treasury warrants sold at fifty cents on the dollar, it was a hissing and a bye-word both in America and England. Now, it had paid or satisfactorily provided for, about ci^ht millions of its debt, and had been able to borrow money enough to finish the Illinois Canal, which was now in a fair way to completion. Emigrants came into the County more rapidly, but still the settlers were very poor. Good wheat sold in Chicago at thirty cents per bushel, and many drew it there from near the Mississippi river. Considerable amounts were also drawn to Ottawa and Peru, upon the canal. A very fair team of horses could be bought for eighty dollars. It was a difficult matter to collect taxes. They Avcre all paid in specie, and to pay a tax of six or seven dollars, distressed the payer more than one of forty times that amount would at the present time. The collector would have to call again and again for it. The roads were alive with teams loaded with grain, and the taverns were crowded every night. Fifty cents was the regular charge for supper, lodging, breakfast and the feed for a team. At the August election of this year, William Young was chosen County Commissioner, and William II. Beavers, Clerk of that Court. Sheldon Crossctt, School Commissioner ; E. L. Mayo, Probate Justice ; William Fordham, Recorder ; William Shepardson, Treasurer ; E. P. Young, County Collector.

The first recorded allowances for the care of paupers were made during this year. Before that time there cither were no paupers or they were otherwise provided for.

The increasing population demanded a division of the County into more election precincts and Justices' districts. Squaw Grove precinct was formed out of the present town of Squaw Grove, and the south half of Pierce.

For County Commissioners this year, Messrs. William Young, John S. Brown, and Arunah Hill were elected. The old Court House, a shabby two-story building, now standing nearly opposite the present one, was still almost the only building in the little village for public use. The County eked out its petty finances by letting it for various uses. The Conercsfational and Universalist Churches held alternate or occasional services there. Mr. Roswell Dow occupied it on week days for a select school, and the Sons of Temperance held evening meetings, paying twenty-five cents rent each evening.

Eighteen Forty-Nine

But itwas evident that the County demanded a better building. The subject was much canvassed and discussed all over the County. A large portion of the people of the County were unwilling to be taxed for the expense of a suitable building. The population at the County seat were willing to bear some share of the expense, but not the whole. After a great deal of discussion at the March term of the County Commissioners' Court in

The three Commissioners appointed Messrs. E. P. Young, Kimball Dow, and J. C. Kellogg, to contract for building a new Court House. It was to be placed in the center of the public square, to be of brick, sixty feet long and forty feet wide, and to cost not exceeding six thousand dollars. But this was to be done only upon condition that individual citizens should contribute fifteen hundred dollars of this amount. This they were authorized to pay in notes; two-thirds of which should be paid November 1st, 1849, and one-third November 1st, 1850. And the order of the Commissioners further states, that it is expressly agreed, that in case the County seat shall ever be removed, the County shall pay back to said individuals, the amount of said notes with interest. It was ordered that the notes be registered on the Court records, ' and be evidence of the liability of the County for the re-payinent of this advance.

At the same term another order was passed authorizing the erection of a jail by the same agents at a cost not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars. Nothing seems to have been done under this order. An active canvass of all those who felt an especial interest in the prosperity of the village now rapidly growing at the scat of justice was now commenced and more than the necessary fifteen hundred was subscribed as a free gift toward the erection of the present handsome Court House. The subscriptions of the principal donors were as follows :

The agents for building were also authorized to sell the old Court House, and all town lots owned by the County at miction, and that the proceeds were to be applied religiously to the payment of tli e forty-five hundred dollars of County orders issued for the erection of the new building. The lots were however, apprized at prices varying from ten dollars to four hundred.

It was during this year, that the wonderful stories told of the discovery of the gold fields of California, began to make a stir among the hardy pioneers of this section of country. The people were still very poor. Money was scarce - a dollar looked to them as large as a cart-wheel. Why should they spend their lives in ekeing out a poor and insufficient support in the shabby log dwellings and amid the inevitable hardships of pioneer life in this new country, when an abundance of the yellow, glittering metal that was the representative of all wealth, lay open to any one who chose to gather it, upon the pleasant shores of the Pacific. They were used to hardship ; they were accustomed to pioneer life ; the settlement of a new country had no terrors for them. Urged by these considerations, large numbers of men, among the best of the citizens of the County, formed themselves into companies, rigged out their old pioneer wagons, and settling their affairs as best they could, started on the long and weary march for the golden shores of California. Many came back in a few years mate- rially enriched, and used their means to fit up their old farms with fine buildings and comfortable surroundings. Many died on the way, and some still remain in the Golden State, and are among her best and most prosperous citizens.

At the election of this year Marshall Stark was chosen Sheriff; W. II. Beavers, County Clerk; William Fordham, Recorder ; Sheldon Crossett, School Commissioner and E. L. Mayo, Probate Judge. But a new election was held November Oth, under the provisions of the new Constitution, at which M. M. Mack was made Circuit Clerk and Recorder; II. B. Prescott, County Clerk ; Win. Shepardson, County Treasurer, and James IT. Beveridge and George II. Hill County Justices of the Peace.

Seven hundred and fifty votes were cast in favor of the adoption of the Township Organization, and only one against it. The County School Superintendent was paid twenty-eight dollars for his year's services, and the County Judge received seventy-five dollars for the performance of the duties of his office for six months.

The County Commissioners, at the December term, appointed Messrs. William A. Miller, William J. Hunt, and Robert Sterritt, to divide the County into townships, in preparation for a new organization, under the Township Organization law. They visited the different sections of the County, heard the statements of those citizens who met them, and divided off the County into thirteen towns, named as follows : Genoa, Kingston, Franklin, Vernon, Liberty, Sycamore, Richland, Orange, Shabbona, Clinton, Squaw Grove, Somonauk, and PawPaw. Most of these names still adhere to the towns to which they were originally given, although most of these towns have been diminished in extent by the creation of new townships Of those names which have been abandoned, Vernon belonged to the present town of South Grove ; Orange to DeKalb and some adjoining territory ; Liberty to Mayfield ; Richland to Cortland and Pierce. The County tax of 184!) amounted to two thousand eight hundred and eighty-three dollars.

The County was now divided into Townships, and organized with Town governments. Each of the towns chose a Supervisor as the head of its town government, and also as its representative upon the County Board, which met for the transaction of the business which had hitherto devolved upon the County Commissioners. It is a question, however, among the thoughtful men of the County, whether its business under this more expensive and more ambitious method of administration, is any better managed than under the old Board of three County Commissioners, and there are not a few, who still think it would be wise to discard the Township organization and go back to the old method.

The first meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held at Sycamore, October 7th, 18.50. The Board consisted of thirteen members, viz : Henry Durham, representing Genoa ; John Sheely, Kingston ; Clark Bliss, Franklin ; John S. Brown, Vernon ; Mulford Nickcrson, Liberty ; James Harrington, Sycamore; I). F. Finley, Richland; Thomas R. Hopkins, Orange; William Marks, Shabbona ; Reuben Pritchard, Clinton; Abram L. Ilemenway, Squaw Grove; Lyman Bacon, Somonauk ; Pierpont Edwards, Paw Paw.

James Harrington was chosen Chairman. Among the first acts of the Board, was the passage of an order changing the names of Orange to DeKalb ; of Richland to Pampas ; of Liberty to Mayficld ; and of Vernon to South Grove.

Other towns inthe State had already appropriated the first chosen names, and to prevent confusion, the Board of Supervisors were authorized and directed to select others. Having accomplished this duty, the Board plunged at once into the business of auditing bills, arraigning delinquent collectors, appointing places for town meetings, and all of those multifarious duties that have ever since engrossed the attention of that body.

Eighteen Fifty-One

Ever since the first settlement of the County, the custom seems to have prevailed, of inaugurating all new puhlie buildings with a puhlie ball; exceptions only being made with the churches; so in accordance with the custom, a grand ball was given in the new Court House in February, 1857. It was a notable occasion. The company was gathered from all over the country, a considerable party coming even from Chicago, fifty-five miles distant. The building was not yet however entirely completed or partitioned below. That was done during the summer, under direction of the Board of Supervisors.

The regular seven years ilood and subsequent long wet summer, came again this year. There had been no snow during the previous winter, but a great amount of rain. On the first Sunday in April, one of the most furious snow-storms ever known in this country, set in and more than fifteen inches fell in the course of the day. On the Sunday following, came another similar storm of equal severity. About a month after and before the soil had become sufficiently dry for farming operations, a heavy rain set in and continued with but occasional intervals, for more than two months. It is related that at one time the sun did not shine through the clouds for ten days. The plowed ground became covered with a green mould. The wheat crop was all scabbed. Little or none was raised that was really fit for flouring, and in some cases it sickened and apparently poisoned those who were compelled by the prevalent destitution, to use it.

The roads became impassable and continued so during most of the season. It became evident tnat something must be done to secure means of communication with the outside world and transportation for the products of the country, to market. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was now in process of construction, and this promised relief to the southern portion of the County.

The Galena and Chicago Railroad was also being built, and a branch of it was this year extended to St. Charles, which was then a very flourishing little city, and the principal market for all the northern part of the County. Uut our people were too poor to extend that road to this County, and the main road was laid several miles to the north of the County line. The project of building a plank-road to St. Charles was started. Plank roads were then very popular in the eastern States, and during the first year or two of use they furnished the smoothest and most agreeable of highways. When more worn, they were found to be more a source of danger and discomfort than of advantage, and their use was abandoned. A subscription was started for the construction of a plank road from Sycamore to St. Charles. A large amount of money was raised, the road was graded, the plank laid down and toll-gates established. For about one season the road was a decided convenience, but soon the hard wood plank became warped by the sun ; the road was as rough as the old-fashioned corduroy ; no one used it when they could avoid it; the neighboring inhabitants finally confiscated the plank and the road was abandoned.

1852. The Assessors' reports for this year valued the total personal property of the County at three hundred and twenty-five thousand three hundred and fifty-three dollars, and the real estate at seven hundred and sixty-seven thousand four hundred and eighty-seven dollars. The prospect that the country would soon be" made accessible to market by railroads, had induced a great many speculators and settlers to purchase the wild prairie land. We find that two hundred and ninety-one thousand, five hundred and nine acres were assessed this year, which would indicate that only about twenty thousand acres still remained in the hands of the government.

The elections of this year were very exciting. The County was overwhelmingly Democratic in politics, but there was a very strong and active Free-Soil party, and a sturdy and enterprising minority of Whigs. The office of Circuit Clerk and Recorder had with the increase of population, become the most valuable office in the County. James II. Bcveridge, a merchant at Freeland corners in the town of Somonauk, was the nominee of the Free-Soil party for this office, and E. P. Young, of the Democracy. By a combination of the Whig and Free-Soil vote, Mr. Beveridge was elected, and he held the office for the eight years succeeding. Joseph Sixbury was chosen County Treasurer, Jacob 11. Crossett, School Commissioner, and Herman Furness Sheriff.

Bills for the care of paupers were paid by the County to the amount of six hundred and thirteen dollars. It was during this year that the Chicago, St. Charles and Mississippi Air Line R. R. was first projected, to run through St. Cnarlcs, Sycamore, South Grove and Oregon to the Mississippi river at Savannah. Messrs. Waterman and Fordham, of Sycamore, first proposed the matter, and began correspondence with E. S. Litchfield, the manager of the Michigan Southern Railroad. He warmly favored the project ; a large meeting was held at Sycamore; about twenty thousand dollars in stock was taken in the northern part of the county ; a company was organized ; it seemed certain that a railroad would be built.

During this year the first Agricultural Society of the County was organized and held an exhibition in marked contrast with the extensive collections of the present era. One old white bull was chained to a stake in the center of a vacant open lot, and two or three stallions with as many cows and colts, and a few beets and pumpkins completed the amusing exhibition.

But the newly proposed railroad promised to be an active rival to the Galena road ; and that Company was anxious to prevent its construction. They procured a charter authorizing them to build an air line road to the [Mississippi, passing through the central portion of the county to Dixon, and thence to the Mississippi river at Fulton and Lyons. Agents of this Company visited Sycamore and endeavored to induce its people to take stock in it to a sufficient amount to ensure its being built through that town. Had the citizens of Sycamore been able to foresee the future they would have consented to this arrangement, in which event the now flourishing villages of Cortland or DeKalb would never have had an existence, and Sycamore would probably have become one of the largest towns in northern Illinois. But Sycamore was full of hope and interest in the rival road and scouted the idea that any other Avould be built. This, the St. Charles Road was now being graded, and during the summer the work was completed for some forty miles. But now, trouble arose. The contract had been let to Litchfield at the high rate of twentyfour thousand, five hundred dollars per mile. The Board of Directors had promised to raise three hundred thousand dollars more stock upon the line of the road, payable at the rate of five per cent per month, which payments Litchfield was to receive on his contract. This was contrary to the advice of Directors J. S. Waterman and II. A. Mix, who knew that in this poor and thinly settled country, the amount could not be raised. Their surmises proved to be correct. The stock was never taken, the payments were not forthcoming, and the contractor refused to proceed with the work. But in the mean time the company had acquired a large amount of valuable real estate in Chicago for depot grounds.

At a sale of canal lands tbey had purchased all of those lots which they needed to secure the right of way, and had bought at a very low rate sixty acres additional. This had appreciated enormously in value - far more than enough to pay for all of the work that had been done upon the Road. E. S. Litchfield and Ira Minard of St. Charles, now bought up all of the stock which they could purchase at a low rate, obtained control of the Company, sold its real estate and Charter to the Galena Company, and it was reported? made a profit of over four hundred thousand dollars by the transaction. The embankments on the line of the road, and the piers of the bridges built but never used, only remain as mementoes of this project whose failure nearly ruined the business of several thriving towns and drained the country of a large amount of money.

Meantime the construction of the Dixon Road was pushed forward at a rate that had never before been equalled. The charter required that it should be so completed that a train could be run through to Dixon by January 1st, 1854, and it is certain that before midnight of that day a train was run over the road. But such a road ! For many miles of its course, no grading whatever was done. The sleepers were laid down upon the bare grassy prairie and leveled up with stove wood. It had neither station-houses, freight-houses, engine-houses, nor any other buildings. It was necessary that every thing should be built over from the foundation. But the road gave a powerful forward impulse to the country. It brought a market for all the abundant produce of this fertile country to the doors of its growers. It seems incredible now that speculators could not foresee the immense advance in the intrinsic value of the lands that was caused by this revolution in affairs, but yet large tracts of land which could be purchased with land-warrants at seventy-five cents per acre still lay open to entry.

The expense of supporting the paupers which had now run up to about six hundred dollars per year, was considered to be a heavy burden upon the County, and in the hope of lessening it somewhat, the Board of Supervisors resolved to purchase a County poor farm upon which some of this class of unfortunates could be made useful and contribute to their own maintenance. Messrs Tappan and Tindall were authorized to contract for such a farm, which was to be located in one of the two middle tier of townships, and Mr. Harrington who was still Chairman of the Board advertised for a loan of three thousand dollars with which to purchase it. In September, the farm of A. II. Cartright, on the road between Sycamore and DeKalb, was purchased for this purpose, the County borrowing the purchase money ^at the rate of ten per cent interest. Some applications for a license for the sale of liquors were also made at this session of the Board, but were promptly squelched by a resolution offered by IT. S. Champlin, and carried unanimously, that this Board would grant no license for that purpose.

A little hamlet of houses had now sprung up at the present location of DeKalb. Indeed there had been a couple of stores, a tavern, and a blacksmith's shop for two or three years. The village was called Buena Vista, and went by that name for several years.

On the 31st of May, 1864, appeared in Sycamore the first number of the first newspaper ever printed in DeKalb county. The first number of this paper which was ever printed, is now in the possession of Jabez Gwinnup, of Cortland, who prizes it as a valuable relic. It was called the Republican Sentinel, and edited and published by II. A. Hough. The editor announced that the politics of the paper would be "Republican Democratic," which sounds oddly enough at this day ; but before the year was over, he was publishing in his columns the proceedings of the Conventions of two parties, the Republican and the Democratic. The Sentinel gave a vigorous and enthusiastic support to the Prohibitory Liquor Law presented to the people of the State that year for adoption or rejection, and from its columns one would have inferred that the politics of the county, that season, hinged on the question of prohibition. And indeed, the people of DeKalb county went into this canvass with deep earnestness. On the 29th of June 1854, a Main Law Alliance was formed, and a thorough canvass of the county commenced. It cannot be stated with truth that there was an unusual amount of drunkness in our county ; but they fought the dragon with weapons of flaming fire, and if it had depended upon the vote of De- Kalb county, the vending of ardent spirits would have been forever silenced in the State of Illinois. But two towns in

Eighteen Fifty-Pour For. Against

During the year 1854 the land speculators seem to have been fully aroused to the sense of the value of the prairie lands of DeKalb county, and nearly all of them were entered. Messrs. C. C. Shepard, H. A. Mix, J. M. Adsit, Mark Howard and a number of others entered with land warrants which cost them about eighty cents per acre, immense tracts of the richest land in the world, and which they are now selling at twenty dollars per acre.

In glancing over the files of the Sentinel, we find the account of a trip made by the editor into the southern portion of the county ; and in this article he made the prophecy about one of our towns which the reader will perceive has been more than realized. He said : " We next visited Newark Station, three miles east of Somanauk Depot. This is also a brisk little town and improving rapidly. It is in the midst of a beautiful farming country, and does the railroad business for Newark in Kendall county. It will be a formidable competitor of Somonauk." When we consider that

" Newark Station" has become a town of twenty-five hundred inhabitants - Sandwich by name - and that instead of being distinguished simply for "doing the railroad business for Newark in Kendall county." she is the centre of a rich and populous region, shipping annually hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of her own manufactures, and receiving annually a million dollars worth of merchandise for her own trade, we can form some conception of how DeKalb county has increased in wealth and population within a few years past.

On the 14th of September 1854, there was held at Sycamore a political mass meeting of such a peculiar nature that a'part of the record of its preceedings are worth perpetuating. It was the organization of a new party out of the three old parties, and from this meeting may be dated the existence of the Republican party in DeKalb county. At this meeting delegates were appointed to attend a Republican Convention called to meet at Aurora ; and these delegates were thus apportioned among the three old parties represented. As most of the names are prominent ones in our present politics, the reader may be interested in seeing their former affinities.

The Third Annual Agricultural Fair of DeKalb County was held on the 11th and 12th days of October of this year. It was a very tame and spiritless affair, only twenty-six premiums being awarded in all, and these being divided among eighteen persons. Those of our citizens who participated in the demonstration were mortified at the poor display of the industry of the country, and at the close of the Fair a meeting of the County Agricultural Society was held, at which it was resolved to put forth every effort to enlist a deeper interest in the Annual Fairs among the farmers of the County ; and from the success which has attended subsequent Fairs, it is evident that their resolution was carried out with energy.

At the County election this year, William Patten of Somonauk, was chosen Representative in the Legislature, William Phelps, of Sycamore, Sheriff, and Lorenzo Whittemorc, Coroner - the latter oiTicc having been held by Mr. Whittemorc uninterruptedly up to the present time.

John Settle, the Treasurer of the County, an old and respected citizen, died on the 22d of October of this year, in the township of Pampas ; and the vacancy in the office occasioned by his death was filled by the County Court by the appointment of Joseph Sixbury.

The assessment of personal property in the County for 1854, was six hundred and forty-two thousand, five hundred and thirty-four dollars ; the total taxable property was one million nine hundred and fifty-two thonsand, eight hundred and two dollars. The total tax levied was twenty-five thousand, three hundred and seventeen dollars. The number of horses in the County was four thousand and ninety ; the number of neat cattle, fifteen thousand, seven hundred and forty ; sheep, eight thousand, five hundred and eight.

An act of Congress passed in September, 1850, had donated to certain States the swamp and overflowed lands within their borders for educational purposes, and this State had decided to transfer this property to the several Counties to be expended at their discretion. The land had been surveyed and a Commissioner of Drainage appointed as early as 1853. A special session of the Board of Supervisors of this County, was held in September of this year to take measures to dispose of these lands. On motion of Supervisor William Tatten it was voted, that the net proceeds of the sale of these lands, should be paid to the County School Commissioner, and by him to the Township Treasurers, to be loaned out for the benefit of the school fund, in the same manner as were the proceeds of the sale of the 16th. or school section in each town. The price of the first-class land was fixed at six dollars ; of the second class at three dollars and fifty cents, and of the third class at one dollar and twenty-five cents. But no small amount of these lands had been purchased of Government, by individuals, before the report of the Surveyor, designating the lands selected as swamp lands had been received by the United States authorities. It was provided that titles to these lands should be confirmed to the original purchasers upon their paying the County the purchase money or relinquishing the warrant used in the entry, it being understood that the United States would refund the purchase money to those who had thus entered them. At this session a petition was received for the organization of the town of Afton which was duly accepted.

A smart enterprising village had grown up about the railroad station at Buena Vista or DeKalb, during the preceding two or three years. It had grown up with wonderful rapidity, and promised ere long to become the largest village in the County. Being the most centrally located, its people looked upon it as likely to become at an early date the seat of justice for the county, and with good reason, as there was then no railroad to Sycamore, and people were extremely impatient of traveling to the county seat, through the almost unfathomable mire that always impeded the traveler at the time of holding courts. A sharp contest over this question arose at the September term of the " Supervisors' Court " as the records then described that body, upon the proposition to build a jail for the use of the County. There was a pressing necessity for such a building however, and an order was passed to appropriate thirty-five hundred dollars for that purpose if the citizens of Sycamore would subscribe fifteen hundred additional.

The County tax for 1855 amounted to eight thousand two hundred and fourteen dollars, and a committee of the Board reported that the County owned a poor farm valued at four

Eighteen Fifty-Six

In 1855, the relative population of the three principal villages in the northern portion of the County was : Sycamore eight hundred and sixty-six, DeKalb five hundred and fiftyseven, Cortland one hundred and eighty-six.

This year may be marked with a white stone in the annals of our County. It was one of extraordinary prosperity and remarkable increase of population. The new comers now became fully satisfied that farms could be advantageously occupied and worked upon the broad prairie at great distances from timber. Proximity to a railroad and consequently to a market for their produce, they concluded was of greater importance than proximity to their supply of fuel and fencing. Many new settlers began farming without any timber at all. They fenced their farms with wire, and bought coal for fuel.

The Crimean war was in progress and created an extensive demand in Europe for the wheat which those countries could no longer procure from the ports of the Baltic. The spring wheat, which old residents had been accustomed to sell at thirty and fifty cents, now rose in price to one dollar and a half per bushel. Lands rose in value ; but still the produce of one acre in a single year would often pay the cost often acres of land. The real intrinsic value of lands so productive, with an ununlimited market in the immediate vicinity, seemed enormously above the price at they were sold. Every farmer bought more land. Men entirely without capital bought wild lands on credit and commenced the expensive process of improving them entirely with borrowed money. In spite of the great amount of money received for the sale of produce, the people of the County were more deeply in debt at the end of this year than ever before. The merchants, stimulated by the nourishing condition of the people, gave credit to every one and sold enormous quantities of goods " on tick." When the time of payment came in the autumn, but few were willing to pay. They wanted to use their money in payments upon their land or for other purposes, and the merchants generally took notes for the indebtedness and extended the time of payment. Everybody was " good," and everybody got credit for all they wished to buy. The results of this unlimited extension of the credit system will be found in the record of the following years.

At the January term of the Board of Supervisors the Committee appointed to solicit subscriptions from the citizens of Sycamore for the erection of a County Jail reported no success in their mission, and recommended that the County proceed to build a jail without their aid. After a heated discussion and considerable filibustering in opposition, the Board appropriated five thousand dollars for this purpose and appointed J. S. Brown, James Harrington, and Alonzo Ellwood a building committee. Supervisors G. II. Hill of Kingston, J. S. BroAvn of South Grove, AVilliam Patten of Somonauk, I. W. Garvin of Genoa, W. T. Kirk of Franklin, H. S. Champlin of Pampas, James Parker of Mayfield, C. M. Humiston of Pierce, and James Harrington of Sycamore, voted in favor of this action, and T. S. Terry of Shabbona, and Alonzo Converse of DeKalb opposed it. The work was at once begun and after twenty-one years passed without that convenience, DeKalb County had its Jail.

Eighteen Pifty-Seven

hundred and eighty-three dollars and seventy-six cents, and received in cash fourteen thousand, five hundred and seventyfive dollars and eighteen cents, and in notes nine thousand, two hundred and sixteen dollars and fifty-eight cents. The Committee report that they are satisfied with the course of Fordham in the matter.

The town of Malta was created at this meeting of the Supervisors under the name of Milton, which was subsequently changed to iEtna. The north half of the township at the south of it, now called Milan, was made a part of this new town.

The winter of 1855-5G was signalized by the most furious snow-storm ever' before known in the country. For three weeks no trains ran through upon the railroads, and not a mail was received in the County.

1857. The year 1857 opened very auspiciously, and business of all kinds was prospering. The credit of the people of the County was good, the crops were bountiful and abundant, but about the middle of the summer came a crash in the financial affairs of the country. Business of all kinds all over the country had become expanded to an unusual extent, and it was flush and easy times everywhere. With the sudden failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company, confidence in every banking or commercial institution of the country became destroyed, and they fell into bankruptcy by hundreds. The hard times fell upon no part of the country with more severity than upon this new and enterprising County of De Kalb. Nearly every merchant in the County was forced to suspend payment. They urged the payment of their claims upon the farming community, but grain had fallen in price. Good wheat, which had been worth §1.50 per bushel during the previous year, now fell to forty and fifty cents, and the farmers, who had based their calculations upon the large prices of the previous year, now found themselves unable to meet their engagements. Large numbers made assignments, others covered their property with mortgages to favored friends, so as to keep their numerous creditors in the background, and many others gathered together what they could convert into money, and fled the country. The business of chasing down run-away debtors was an important pursuit during the fall and winter of that sad, disastrous year, 18.37. One of the prominent business men of Sycamore, an extensive manufacturer of carriages and wagons, a generous, high-spirited man, harrassed by the necessities of a number of his workmen whom he was unable to pay, and the importunities of other creditors who were equally urgent, after a day spent in scouring the country in the vain endeavor to collect money due him, and a night of sleepless anxiety over his want of success, rose before daylight, and plunged headlong into his own well, whence he was dragged out a few hours after, a suicide's corpse. He was a citizen who could ill be spared, a firm friend, an affectionate husband and parent. The event deepened the general gloom that hung over the town, and scarce a ray of light pierced the dark clouds of adversity that obscured the prospect.

The Board of Supervisors during this year devoted much of their time and attention to an investigation of, and an endeavor to arrange, the vexed and intricate matter of the swamp-land fund, so as to make it a source of some profit to the County, but without much success. They, however, sold the claims of the County to W. W. Ileaton for eight thousand five hundred dollars, but Ileaton subsequently failed to pay for it. A summary of their proceedings will be given at a later date. Roswell Dow was re-elected County Treasurer, and James Harrington School Commissioner, both gentlemen of the highest character, whose long connection with its polit-

Eighteen Fifty-Eight 421

The township of Milan was organized during this year, which completed the organization of the County into eighteen townships, each six miles square.

The Republican Sentinel, the only newspaper in the County, was purchased, during this spring, by the political friends of Senator Douglas, and under the editorial care of E. L. and Z. B. Mayo, and Jacob A. Simons, began to teach the political doctrines of the Douglas Democracy. Political feeling was excited at this time, and the Republicans, under the lead of C. M. Brown, James II. Beveridge, D. B. James, and others, at once took measures to start a Republican paper. Their efforts resulted in the establishment of the True liepublican, which, for years, continued to be one of the best country weeklies in the State. Its editor, Mr. C. W. Waite, was a facile and fluent writer, with a good deal of literary taste and talent, and a remarkable enthusiasm in politics.

This year was another in the regular course of those wet seasons which have been noted as coming every seventh year. The spring weather was tolerably fair, and promised well; but before the season for planting corn arrived, floods of rain drowned vegetation, enveloped the country in seas of mud, and rendered it almost impossible to conduct farming operations with any degree of profit.

The wheat crop had become well started and near harvest time was promising an abundant yield when a series of moist hot days blighted it and in a few days' time destroyed its value. There was less than half a crop.

This was a staggering blow to the farming community who had depended upon the promising crop to tide them over and out of the depths of depression to which the financial crisis of the year before had consigned them. In June the village of Sandwich which had grown up like Jonah's gourd, into one of the largest villages in the County, was visited by a destructive fire "which consumed a considerable portion of the business buildings of the place, and caused a very serious loss to the thrifty little town. But the recuperative energies of its citizens proved equal to the emergency, and in a few months, that part of the town was rebuilt, and the prosperity of the place seemed greater than before. The citizens of Sycamore convinced that they must secure a connection with the great railroad system of the country in order to maintain the vitality of the town and retain its position as the seat of justice for the County, during this year commenced the construction of a branch railrood to connect with the Galena Railroad at Cortland. It was completed during the following year.

The first Teachers' Institute ever held in the Couuty assembled in October, and had a successful and profitable session. It gave an impetus to the educational interests of the County, and stimulated its teachers to improve their systems of instruction.

The County Agricultural Society held a very flourishing fair during this year, and at its regular meeting decided to locate a Fair ground permanently upon the grounds adjoining the Kishwaukee river directly north of the village of Sycamore.

William Patten of Somonauk, was re-elected Representative to the Legislature from this Couuty, which at this time was districted with the neighboring County of Kane. A. K. Stiles was chosen County Clerk, and held the office for the following eight years. Henry Safford was chosen Sheriff.

At the December session of the Supervisors, the name of ths town of Etna was changed to Malta. A strong report was presented in favor of erecting a fire-proof building for Court Records, but the proposition was voted down.

During the year 1860, four weekly papers were published in DeKalb County. There were the True Republican edited by Daniel Dustin ; the Sycamore Sentinel edited by E. L. Mayo, who had lately succeeded Charles M. Chase ; the DeKalb Times edited by ,and the Prairie

Eighteen Fifty -Eight

Home, which was published at Sandwich. The three first named papers were edited with usual ability. The Sentinel and Times were Democratic in politics, the Prairie Home was neutral, and the True Republican, as its name would indicate, was devoted to the principles of the Republican party.

Some idea of the scarcity of money and the pressure of the times may be inferred from the fact that the list of lands advertised as delinquent for taxes this spring comprised about four thousand tracts. Upon petition of the Board of Supervisors, our Representative procured the passage of an act suspending the collection of taxes for two months.

A tornado swept through the Northern portion of the County during the month of April, prostrating broad belts of heavy timber like grass before the scythe of the mower. Many lives were endangered, but none were lost.

A remarkable meteor during the succeeding winter excited some attention. It appeared to have fallen to the ground a mile or so north of the village of Sycamore, and a party went to find it. Their explorations failed to bring to light any portion of the expected aerolite, but unwilling to be laughed at for their pains they brought back some glassy fragments from a brick kiln with which, they so far succeeded in imposing upon public credulity, as to induce a visit from a scientific gentleman connected with the Smithsonian Institute, who came post haste from Washington to examine and report upon the phenomenon.

The total tax raised in the County during this year was sixty-nine thousand, nine hundred and five dollars, of which about seventeen thousand was State tax, seven thousand school tax, eight thousand County tax, and the thirty-eight thousand Town, Road, Bridge and other taxes. The total valuation of the property of the County was three million, five hundred and fifty-six thousand, nine hundred and fortyone dollars.

on quietly during this year 1859. The country was constantly improving and increasing in population in spite of the hard times which had continued since 1857 to oppress the energies of the people. The crops of this year were seriously injured by a prolonged drought which Avas so severe that large numbers of cattle were reported to have perished for want of water. The prices of produce were still low, the people were still deeply in debt, and many who had Aveathered the storm till this time now fled before it and ran away from their accumulating debts.

The papers contained column after column of advertisements of sales by the Sheriff, and foreclosures of mortgages. Money was readily loaned on good security at twenty-five per cent per annum. Indeed this had been a common rate for many years before, and to this in a great measure was due the present distress of the people.

The poor farm was filled with paupers whose support upon that place had become more costly than before the farm had been purchased. Twelve hundred dollars were appropriated out of the Treasury for the support of paupers in addition to what had been raised upon the farm.

Mr. Roswell Dow ran as an independent candidate against Mr. Ellwood and one of the most sharply contested elections ever known in the County was held. Ellwood received nine hundred and eighty-five votes, and Dow nine hundred and sixty-two.

This was a somewhat noted year in the history of our people. One marked and pleasant incident in its record was, that it gave to the hard-working and long-suffering farming community, the most bountiful crop of every kind of grain that had ever been raised in the County. The severe drouth of the previous year, drawing all the moisture of the sub-soil to the surface from an unusual depth, and with it the fructifying substances held there in solution, seemed to have covered the whole country with a coating of manure, and stimulated the yield of every crop to unusual productiveness. The average yield of wheat was estimated at thirty bushels to the acre, and all other products of the soil were equally remarkable. During a few weeks of the early autumn, prices ruled high ; money poured into the County in liberal quantities, and the debt-ridden farmers began to feel that they had cast off the heaviest of their burdens. But a new difficulty arose to complicate their affairs - one which during the following five years engrossed almost the entire thoughts of the people. It was the year of the Presidential election - the first triumph of the Republican party in the election of a President. DeKalb County gave to Abraham Lincoln three thousand and fortynine, out of her four thousand and fourteen votes, and the old guard of the Anti-Slavery party were filled with rejoicing at the final triumph of their principles. But in the midst of these rejoicings came the assurance that the South was determined to secede from the Union. In December, South Carolina adopted an ordinance of secession, and Mississippi soon followed, blockading the Mississippi river at Vicksburg, and preventing the outflow of the immense crops of corn down the river. The threatened war reduced the price of every species of produce. Corn sold in the markets of our County at ten cents a bushel, and large quantities of the bountiful grain was burned for fuel, it being considered cheaper than coal or wood. Hard times speedily came back again upon the agriculturists of this County.

One notable event of the year was the gathering of a collection estimated at thirty thousand persons at a great political meeting at DeKalb, when Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, Isaac N. Arnold, of Chicago, who was at this time elected to Congress from this district, John F. Farnsworth, and other eminent speakers addressed the vast gathering. An ox was roasted whole at this meeting, and distributed free to the attendants. The Wide Awakes, an uniformed political

The contest for the nomination of the Republican party, (now equivalent to election) to the office of Circuit Clerk and Recorder, which had been well filled for eight years by Mr. J. H. Beveridge, was a very exciting one. The candidates were Silas Tappan, Roswell Dow, J. II. Beveridge and C. M. Brown. Mr. Brown was nominated and elected. Thos. S. Terry, of Shabbona, was chosen Representative in the Legislature, Baldwin Woodruff, Sheriff*, and Lorenzo Whittemore, Coroner. Four thousand and nine votes were given in favor of a convention to form a new constitution.

The year 1861 will be ever remembered as the first year of the great war with the Southern rebellion. The part performed by the gallant soldiers of DeKalb County in the great contest with the enemies of the Union, has been fully related in another portion of this work.

No portion of the country gave a more prompt response to the call to arms. In nine days after the fall of Fort Sumpter, a company of troops from Sandwich under Captain Carr was garrisoning the fortifications erected at Cairo, and on the 10th of May, a company of which Z. B. Mayo was Captain and E. F. Dutton and R. A. Smith were Lieutenants, left Sycamore to join the famous Thirteenth Illinois, at Dixon. Patriotic citizens raised subscriptions amounting to over thirty thousand dollars, which they pledged themselves to pay if required, to maintain the families of volunteers, while they were absent in the service. The Board of Supervisors subsequently met and passed liberal appropriations for this purpose. In October, nine companies of DeKalb County men had gone into the service. Two were in the Thirteenth Regiment under command of Captains Partridge and Dutton, one under Captain Carr in the Tenth, one under Captain Stolbrandin the Second Artillery, one under Captain Butts in the Forty-second, one

Eioiitben Sixty-One

In the work of raising and equipping troops for the defence of the country, men of both political parties united, and in the selection of candidates for civil offices, no distinction of party was made. A Union Convention was held, at which the Republicans, although three times as numerous as the Democrats, divided the County offices equally with them, giving the office of County Judge to E. L. Mayo ; that of County Surveyor to Orange Potter ; that of School Commissioner to Dwight Crossett ; all of them members of the Democratic party, and awarding the office of County Treasurer to Hiram Ellwood, of County Clerk to Aaron K. Stiles, and of member of the Constitutional Convention to S. B. Stinson, all of whom were of the dominant Republican party. They were all elected without opposition.

The financial affairs of the people of the County were very seriously deranged during this year by the general depreciation and final failure of most of the banks of issue in the State. The security for the issue of the bills which constituted the principal currency of the people, had been the bonds of the several States, deposited with the State Auditor. Many of these were the bonds of Southern States which, when the States seceded, sank immensely in value, and consequently depreciated the value of their bills. The decline began in the winter of 18G0, and culminated in the following autumn, during which time the people had money, varying daily in value and which no one dared to keep on hand lest it should next day become worthless. Finally the entire currency in common use became useless as money, and gold became again the only money in circulation.

The census taken during this year by Mr. Z. B. Mayo, for the use of the United States Government, showed a population of nineteen thousand, four hundred and eleven, distributed as follows :

Was a year of general gloom. In place of the speedy and certain success of our armies which our people had confidently anticipated, we met defeat and disaster. The hideous monster of Rebellion confronted our forces at every point with unexpected strength and resisted our efforts with a vigor which we had not foreseen. None of our vast armies attained any marked success, while the victories of the rebels were numerous and disheartening. The bodies of the slain came back, and troops of the sick, the maimed, and the wounded victims of the Rebellion were to be seen about our streets. Still the Government asked for more troops to fill up the depleted ranks of our defeated armies, and most nobly did the gallant boys of DeKalb County respond to the call. In the midst of the busy labors of the harvest-field, a new call came and in a few days eight hundred of the best men of the County enrolled themselves in the ranks of those who were ready to endure toil and hardship, to sacrifice life itself if need be, for the defence of their country. In October, one thousand one hundred and thirty-three men had enlisted from this County and an enrollment made at this time with reference to a pos sible draft showed that only three thousand three hundred remained who were able to do military service. The enlistments were distributed as follows :

In every portion of the County the ladies united to form Soldiers' Aid Societies, and labored with zeal and energy in the work of providing those comforts and luxuries that army regulations did not supply. The total number of bounty orders paid from the County Treasury at the close of this year was 34G6.

The assessment made this year placed the total value of the property of the County at $2,712,534, of which $1,975,881 was in farms, $190,009 in town property, and $546,664 in personal property. The actual value of the last class was probably ten times, and of the former classes about five times, the amount at which they were assessed. The returns showed that there were 10,734 horses, 24,884 cattle, 16,020 hogs, 5092 sheep, and 138 mules, owned in the County.

At the November elections party lines seem to have again been drawn, and none but Republicans were elected to office. W. W. Sedgwick was chosen a member of the Legislature, Henry SafFord was made Sheriff, and Jacob R. Crossett Coroner.

At the autumn session of the Board of Supervisors the claim of the County against the United States, under the swamp-land grant, was offered at auction. W. T. Kirk offered $1500, A. K. Stiles offered $1925, Reuben Ellwood offered $2020, W. J. Hunt offered $2045, and Benjamin Page $2050, all upon credit. R. Ellwood then amended his bid to $2020 cash, and it was struck off to him.

their written protest against it was recorded. They were Messrs. C. Winne, R. M. Pritchard, T. J. Vandevcre, G. W. Culver, and S. Denton. Soon after it was reported that injustice had been done to the County by this sale, and the Board was called together for an investigation. A committee of the Board presented an elaborate report, giving the full history of the swamp-land matter, which was to the following effect :

They report that in 1852 John L. Bevericlge had been appointed Drainage Commissioner, with authority to drain and sell the swamp-lands, but that he was soon after succeeded by Williain Fordham. By April, 1853, Mr. Lamb, the County Surveyor, had selected as swamp-lands 31,153 acres, but none of these lands had been conveyed to the County until 1858, when only 5741 acres were conveyed, the remainder, about 25,000 acres, having meanwhile been sold by the United States to individuals. The policy of the United States in regard to lands selected as swamp-lands, but which it had thus sold, was to return to the County the money paid in cases in which money had been used in paying for these lands, and to give land warrants in cases in which the lands had been paid for in warrants. The United States had accordingly paid into the State Treasury for the benefit of this County $0786 in money, and a claim for about 20,000 acres in land warrants.

Mr. Ellwood had gone to Springfield immediately after the sale by the County, and had drawn $0543.19 in money. The land warrants he had not yet received. Messrs. Kirk and Stiles testified before the committee that they did not kno» that the money was at Springfield at the time of the sale Mr. Ellwood testified that he did not know that it was, but supposed it was, or would be soon. He supposed, however, that it was a smaller amount. He offered to re-convey all the land warrants to the County if it would pay the expenses of the trip he had made to Washington to procure them.

Eighteen Sixty-Three

but reported that he had received from the sale of these lauds $14,578.18; that he charged for his services $3443; and had paid for ditching $0000, leaving $5000 in his hands. The committee thought that very little of this ditching was ever done, lie had sold for the County 8731 acres, a large portion of which was land subsequently sold by the United States to individuals. Upon such sales the County had been compelled to refund to those who purchased from it, and had already raised by taxation and paid over $6000 for this purpose. The County had commenced suit against Fordhain's bondsmen, but had settled it for $1300.

Thus this rich heritage intended for the benefit of the County, and which, had it been retained and wisely managed, would now have been worth more than half a million dollars, had really cost the County several thonsands of dollars more than it had received from it.

The year 1863 was, pecuniarily, a prosperous season for De Kalb County. Although it had been drained of a large portion of its laboring population by the demands of the military service, and although many rich farms lay waste and untilled for want of men to work them,.yet the country began to feel the stimulus of the inflation of the currency, caused by the necessities of the war ; the productions of the farm commanded higher prices than heretofore; farmers began to pay off their old debts; the goods in the hands of the merchants began to rise in value ; all parties felt richer than heretofore.

The Board of Supervisors voted an appropriation of $4500 for the construction of an extensive fire-proof addition to the Court House. Following the example set by the village of De Kalb, whose beautiful school-building was then the most costly and elegant owned in the State by any village of equal size, the village of Sycamore completed one this year equally tasteful and admirable in its plans. Many other places since that time have followed the example set by these two riva towns of our County, and have erected similar or more expensive structures for common educational purposes; but at this time these buildings, in their style, elegance, and perfect adaptation to the wants of the scholars, were unique. No other places, except the larger cities, had ventured upon such an expenditure for the purpose of common-school education.

During this year 600,000 more troops were called out by the President, for various terms of service, and although it seemed impossible that so many could still be raised by voluntary effort in this County as were required to fill its quota, yet the quota was filled, and the County and the State were still free from the terrors of the draft.

The Board of Supervisors in December offered a bounty of $100 to each recruit from this County, and appropriated $25 for each family of absent soldiers requiring aid.

At the Republican Union Convention of this year there was a sharp contest for the nomination for County Treasurer. Mr. William C. Tappan, of Squaw Grove, was chosen upon the sixth ballot, but one of his defeated competitors, Captain R. A. Smith, came out as an independent candidate, and was elected by the people, receiving 1571 votes to 062 given to the regular nominee. Captain Smith had lost an arm, and been otherwise severely wounded while in command of his company in the 13th regiment, in its assault upon Vicksburg, and this sacrifice appealed strongly to the sympathies of the people, lie has been twice re-elected to the same office. Mr. Hiram C. Beard, of Victor, was chosen School Commissioner, and D. W. Lamb Surveyor.

The amount of the County indebtedness at this time was $43,827, mostly arising from the payment of bounties to volunteers. Its debt for other purposes was $5825. The County tax levied this year was $26,340.

The jurisdiction of the County Court, which had previously extended only to probate matters, was this year enlarged so as to give it authority to try civil suits as in the Circuit Court. In place of the per diem allowance hitherto paid tojthe Judge,

Eighteen Sixty-Four

The high prices for sugars and syrups had at this time greatly stimulated the culture of the sorghum plant, then a new discovery, and large steam factories for manufacturing this syrup were established at Sycamore and Sandwich. Smaller establishments were in operation in various portions of the County. Isaac Crisman, an indefatigable worker and pioneer in this branch of manufacture, had several mills in operation.

The year 18G4 came in with a storm, more terrible in its fury than the "oldest inhabitant" had ever before known. Heavy, lowering, black clouds seemed to descend in a mass to the earth in prodigious drifts of snow, which were driven with great force by a powerful southwest wind. The country was buried beneath these drifts, and the mercury sunk to thirtytwo degrees below zero. This severity of cold was intensified by a fierce gale, which blew for three days with extraordinary fury. Many persons were frozen to death, and cattle perished in great numbers. More than one-half of the fowls in this County were frozen; the railroads were blocked up, and multitudes of passengers were compelled to remain in the cars for several days. Thousands of animals, in course of transportation upon stock trains, perished, and were brought to market a stiff, stark, frozen mass. None who lived through that fearful storm can ever forget its terrors.

The arrival of the re-enlisted veterans of Farnsworth's Cavalry, upon the usual veterans' furlough, was an event of interest to their friends. They came back in February, upon a furlough of thirty days, and were most hospitably welcomed.

Horace W. Fay, an early settler of Squaw Grove, died in April, at Vicksburg. He had been elected in 1848 a Representative of this County in the Legislature, had been County Surveyor, and held other public offices. Although old and grey, he early enlisted in the war for the Union, and after

A favorite shade-tree in this County had always been the rapidly-growing locust, and thousands of acres of them had been planted for the purposes of timber and as screens from the fierce winds of the prairie. During this year they were entirely destroyed by a species of borer, which left hardly one tree alive in the country.

The rapid rise in the value of gold, caused by the immense issues of bills required by the necessities of the government during this year, caused an equally rapid appreciation in the value of all kinds of property. Money was plenty, trade was lively, - every person seemed to be growing wealthy. Gold rose during the year to $2.40, wheat sold at $2.00, corn at $1.20, and barley at $1.90 per bushel. Those in trade rapidly made money by the inevitable rise in value of everything that they purchased, and large numbers, attracted by the profits of trade, moved into the villages, and filled every department of business. The wheat crop of this season was, however, a failure; it was destroyed by the ravages of the chinch bug.

In February the President made a call for 200,000 troops for three years, or during the war, and in April came a demand for 300,000 more, for one hundred days. The Supervisors met, and extended the bounty of $100 to all who should enlist upon the first call, and offered $35 to those who went upon the second. Two or three companies were raised for the latter term of service, and were soon garrisoning the forts and guarding the communications in the rear of our great armies of veterans, now marching under Grant and Sherman upon Richmond and Atlanta.

But the repeated calls for volunteers had exhausted the supply. In the autumn the long-threatened draft came upon some of the towns of the County. An enrollment was made,

The people of Sycamore found to their surprise that their town was credited with forty-one more men than their quota required. This was probally due to the fact that early in the war men from other towns, who joined companies formed at Sycamore, recorded their names as coming from that town, thus unwittingly defrauding their own towns of the proper credit. This created a great deal of complaint, and a convention of the County was held at Cortland, to endeavor to devise some means of remedying the wrong; but nothing of any avail could be done. In some of the towns, meetings were called by the town officers, at which large sums of money were voted as a tax on the property of the town, it being understood that the next Legislature would legalize these irregular taxes. Money was advanced by citizens upon these promises, and by offering large bounties recruits were procured, and the draft averted; but in others the conscription came, and fell with great severity upon many citizens. It singled out many men whose absence would leave their families destitute and dependent, and who, in some cases, were obliged to pay $1000 to secure substitutes. But most of the drafted men went willingly, and served their time most faithfully.

At the election this autumn General F. W. Partridge, of Somonauk, was elected Circuit Clerk and Recorder, I. V. Randall, of De Kalb, Representative to the Legislature, and II. A. Joslyn, of Sycamore, Sheriff. James II. Beveridge was elected State Treasurer, - the first person ever elected from the County to any public office whose duties were not exercised entirely in the County. The County gave 2985 votes for the re-election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, and 741 for General George B. McClellan.

A great deal of excited feeling against the railroad companies grew up this year, because of the high prices of freight, and a vicious system of warehousing and grain inspection. A County Convention was held at De Kalb upon the subject, and a committee was sent to confer with the companies. Some unimportant concessions were made to the demands of the public.

Captain J. M. Hood, of Sycamore, was appointed United States Consul to Siam - the first foreign appointment received by a citizen of this County.

During the winter of 1864-G5 a bill for the removal of the County Seat from Sycamore to De Kalb was introduced into the State Legislature by Mr. Randall, of De Kalb. A committee of the citizens of Sycamore immediately repaired to Springfield, to endeavor to defeat its passage. The number of names upon the petitions for its passage, and the remon- strance against it, was greater than the number of voters in the County, and many of the names were those of persons who had been dead for several years.

After an exciting discussion before the committee to whom the bill was referred, they reported against its passage, and the opponents of the measure returned home. The bill was subsequently, however, taken up by the House and passed to a third reading, but it was finally defeated in the House.

The quotas of soldiers demanded of the several towns, to answer the requisition of the call of December previous, were reported in February, as follows:

Most of the towns, since the call was made, had partially filled their numbers by enlistments of citizens and raising funds by taxation to procure substitutes in the cities and elsewhere. Sycamore had raised money, and put into the service twelve men, which was eleven more than its quota. From $400 to $600 was usually paid to each recruit. In several towns, however, a draft became necessary, and some of the drafted men paid nearly $1000 for substitutes.

To meet the expense caused by the taxation for procuring these men, the taxes levied this year were enormous. The percentage levied by the several towns of the County for all purposes was as follows:

But all now felt that the great war was nearly ended. The confederacy had been again bisected by the march of Sherman's grand army to the sea, at Savannah; Hood's army had been destroyed by the gallant boys under General Thomas ; Grant was holding Lee in his death-like grasp at Richmond ; and at last, early in April, came the glad news that Richmond had fallen, and the rebel army was Hying in dismay. This was soon followed by the still more joyous intelligence that peace, - the bright-winged, beautiful dove of peace, - so long wooed, was at last won. How every heart rejoiced, how every eye brightened, how every household was gladdened, by the delightful assurance that the most terrible of all wars had ended ! and gloriously ended ! that the last loyal son of De Kalb had fallen by rebel bullets! that the husband, the father, the son, would soon be home again on a long, - a perpetual furlough ! that the cankering fear of the lonely watchers at home, lest he come shattered with wounds, or a mangled, loathsome corpse, had passed away forever ! None can forget the glad rejoicings of that joyous occasion. Hundreds of the brave boys were soon among us again, and were received with that glad welcome which their sacrifices and sufferings deserved.

About three thousand men had been furnished by the County for the great war now gloriously ended. The official records of the State credit them to the various towns in the following numbers, probably reducing the number by estimating and averaging them as if furnished for three years' service:

With the close of the rebellion came a prodigious fall in the value of gold, and a consequent fall in prices of farm products. Wheat fell to seventy cents per bushel, and this was a criterion of the value of other property. The crops were very poor. This was the occasion of the return of the regular Septennial wet season. There was a drouth in the summer, but at harvest time the floods poured down, destroying a large portion of the ripened grain, and covering the country with a coating of slimy mud, so deep that the reapers would not operate upon it (when this was attempted in the intervals of the showers). The wet season continued during the fall.

At the autumn elections there was no opposition to the election of the following County officers: General Daniel Dustin,] as Clerk; Captain R. A. Smith, as Treasurer; M. V. Allen, as Superintendent of Schools, and D. W. Lamb, as Surveyor. Colonel D. B. James was chosen County Judge by a small majority over Hon. E. L. Mayo.

The wTar ended, the return of the soldiers J;o their homes increased the population, and gave new life to all branches of business. Many of the newly returned veterans crowded into the villages and cities, and filled to repletion every branch of trade. It was really a year of pros-perity. In anticipation of a decrease of prices, the people had prudently kept out of debt, paid cash for their purchases, and, foreseeing and preparing for a financial storm, all danger from its effects was averted.

Many elegant churches were erected throughout the County, pre-eminent among them the fine Gothic structure of the Methodist Episcopal Society at Sycamore, the finest temple of worship in the County. It was dedicated in May, 1866, and over $5000 was raised at the dedication to clear off the debt incurred in its construction.

On the 8th of August a most desolating hail-storm swept through a belt of the northern and central portions of the County, beating every species of vegetation into the earth, as would the tramp of an army. Farmers had just commenced harvesting their wheat and oats, and with the exception of that which stood in the shock every acre of it was rendered utterly worthless. Thousands of acres of corn were beaten to bare stalks. Hail-stones, measuring six and seven inches in circumference, fell by millions. Children were knocked senseless ; pigs, fowls and birds were killed by hundreds. The loss, which was principally in the destruction of vast fields of grain, was estimated at a quarter of a million of dollars. In most portions of the County this storm was a drenching rain, which continued for several days, and threatened the destruction of the ripened grain.

The cholera prevailed to an alarming extent in the cities during this summer, and there were a few cases in this County. The failure of the Sycamore Bank, on the 2d of November, was the cause of a great deal of embarrassment to the people of northern De Kalb County. Hon. James II. Beveridge, its President, and William J. Hunt, its Vice-President, with E. T. Hunt, its Cashier, were the only stockholders. The people had confidence in the honesty, skill and integrity of the two former, and all classes dealt freely with the Bank. But upon the failure it was discovered that these men owned but eight shares in the institution, while the remainder was in the hands of E. T. Hunt, an amiable young man of pleasant manners, with whom people liked to do business, but whose expensive habits and reckless management, together with a number of unfortunate speculations, had sunk the capital of the concern, and brought it down in ruin. Mr. Beveridge had for three years been absent at Springfield, in the performance of the duties of his office as State Treasurer,

Eighteen Sixty-Six

A public meeting of the depositors appointed a committee to examine its affairs, and they made a full report. They reported its debts at $95,000, and assets at less than $10,000. During the following year a settlement was made with its depositors, by which they received fifty per cent, of their claims.

At the November election, William Patten, of Somonauk, was chosen State Senator, Robert Hampton, of PawPaw, Representative, Morris Holcomb, of Sycamore, Sheriff, Lorenzo Whittemore, of Sycamore, Coroner, and V. D. Miller, of De Kalb, Surveyor. The total vote cast was 3049, - the smallest for many years.

The Assessor's report for this year valued the taxable personal property of the County at $754,771, and the total value of real and personal property at $3,068,322. The total County tax levied was $70,733.05, and the entire tax of the County was $208,030.74. The towns, which were most of them paying ten per cent, interest upon the indebtedness incurred for payment of bounties to soldiers, showed a commendable degree of determination to clear themselves of their debts. Their total taxes during this year were as follows :

It may be added that this tax, burdensome though it was, was more easily borne than would have been a tax of onehundredth of that amount twenty years before.

The indebtedness of the County, reported in February at one hundred and eighty thousand one hundred and fifty-one dollars, of which one hundred and sixty thousand seven hundred and fifty-three dollars was bearing interest, had been increased in December to one hundred and ninety-two thous- and seven hundred and sixty-two dollars, of which one hundred and fifty-five thousand six hundred and seventy-nine dollars was bearing interest.

A great many cases of destruction of sheep by wolves were reported, and the Supervisors increased the bounty to twenty dollars upon each animal killed, with the prudent proviso that, as some had been detected in the profitable business of keeping tame wolves, and raising them for the bounty, no claims thus originated should be paid.

The business interests of De Kalb County have always been to such an extent agricultural in their character that upon the abundance of crops and enlargement of prices all of its pecuniary prosperity has directly depended, and no record of its history for 1867 would be complete without mention that this was the third and the most fortunate of years of great prosperity among the farmers, and consequently with all classes of the population. With the opening of spring grain commanded the highest prices ever known in the County. Spring wheat readily Suld at two dollars and seventy-five cents per bushel, which a few years before has been a drug at fifty and sixty cents. Corn, which six years before was burned for fuel, was now worth one dollar and twenty cents per bushel. Cattle and other farm productions were equally high in price. Beef, which five years before was retailed at five cents per pound, now brought twenty cents. The farmers, who had since the war been expecting a great decline in prices, and had consequently been very cautious in their dealings, now began to place a higher value upon their lands. During the war no considerable rise in the value of real estate had been accomplished, but now there was a material advance. The beautiful prairies about Malta and Milan were fully doubled in value, and sold readily at twice the price of three or four years before. All over the County there was a similar advance, stimulated by a promising prospect for a very large crop of grain.

Eighteen Sixty-Seven

During this spring a new method of solving the vexed question of the location of the County Seat was invented. Upon the petition of citizens of Sandwich, which had now become the largest village in the County, Senator Patten, who was a citizen of that place, had during the previous winter introduced a bill into the Legislature, known as the Ilalf- Shire bill. It provided for a re-location of the County Seat at Sycamore and Sandwich, The latter place was to be the seat of justice for the six southern towns of the County, and the former for the twelve northern towns. It was argued in its favor that the business of the County, dividing in the thinly settled country in the central portion of the County, naturally flowed to the railroad towns at the northern and southern ends, and that neither De Kalb nor Sycamore afforded a convenient place for the transaction of the public business of the southern portion of the County.

One of the most exciting elections ever held in the County followed. To oppose this measure the citizens of De Kalb and its vicinity formed a stock company, and contributed nearly five thousand dollars to establish a newspaper office in that town. In March the Be Kalb County News was issued. It was edited by Aaron K. Stiles, the former County Clerk - a man of remarkable tact, shrewdness and energy. For a week or two preceding the election the paper was issued daily, and denounced, ridiculed and caricatured the measure without stint. The people and the papers at Sandwich and Sycamore supported it. Excited meetings were held in every portion of the County. But it turned out that a majority of the people in the six southern towns, who were supposed to be benefitted by the change, were opposed to it, and a final quietus was given to the measure by the efforts of a delegation from that section, composed of Messrs. Beard, Woodruff, Pritchard, McEwen, and Ball, men who commanded the perfect confidence of the people, who traveled through the northern portion of the County, undeterred by storms which enveloped the country in seas of unfathomable mud, and ad- dressed meetings in every town, beseeching the people not to impose this measure upon them. It was defeated by a large majority, only the three towns of Sycamore, Somonauk and Mayfield giving a majority in its favor.

During this season the attention of the citizens of the villages of the County was turned to the subject of the establishment of manufactories, as necessary to increase the business of the towns. The people of Sandwich established a stock company, with a capital of seventy-five thousand dollars, which on the following year was increased to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for the manufacture of agricultural machinery. A flax factory, foundry and cheese factory were started at Sycamore, a planing mill and manufactory of sash, doors and blinds, at De Kalb, and a large flouring mill at the rapidly growing village of Malta. A beautiful public school building was erected at Cortland.

The subject of hedges for the prairie farms began to attract a great deal of attention, and over two hundred miles of osage orange hedge were set out during this spring.

Among the meteorological phenomena of the year were unusually heavy falls of snow in January, a prodigious flood in February, extraordinary and long-continued storms in March, and a very destructive hail-storm in July.

Since the close of the war an unusual number of burglars had infested the country, and our County was not exempt from their ravages. Sandwich, Cortland and De Kalb suffered most from their depredations.

The County Agricultural Society, which held its fairs at Sycamore, was revived this year, and held a flourishing exhibition. A Farmers' Club was also established, which held weekly meetings of decided interest and value to the agricultural portion of the community.

The total tax of the County was $191,301, of which $63,173 was for County purposes, $51,664 for schools, and $17,128 for payment of bounties.