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

Pawpaw

PawPaw is the southwest corner town of De Kalb County. Most of its surface is occupied by rolling prairie, - some portions of it rather flat, yet none so much so as to render it unfit for the plow. There is no waste land in the township, and its deep, black soil, resting over a subsoil of clay, is extremely productive. The Big Indian Creek and its tributaries, which run through the township in various directions, furnish a good supply of pure, running water. Ross Grove, Coon Grove, and a portion of PawPaw Grove, lie in this town, and supply its inhabitants with a considerable portion of their fencing and fuel. These, and other natural advantages, attracted those seeking homes in the West at a very early date.

The first settlers in this township arrived in the autumn of 1834. David A. Town came first, and was soon after joined by Edward Butterfield and Benjamin Harris. In the family of Mr. Harris was his aged father, Benoni Harris, a Methodist clergyman, who immediately began to preach the doctrines of the Cross to the few scattered settlers, who gathered together from great distances, coming on foot, on horseback, and with ox teams, to hear the word.

A plain marble slab, erected on the east side of PawPaw Grove, and bearing Masonic emblems, marks the last resting place of this pioneer minister in De Kalb County. He died at the age of eighty-four. 1 1 is wife, Thankful, whose remains repose beside him, was the first white person buried in this town.

into the township, among them David A. Town, Mr. Baldwin, and Mr. Ross, who first settled and gave name to Ross Grove. PawPaw Grove took its name from the abundance of pawpaw apples found there, and which grow there to this day - a fruit small, juicy, and luscious, found nowhere else in this vicinity.

At this grove the celebrated Shabbona, chief of the Potawattamies, with his tribe, was accustomed to make long stays. The old inhabitants say he about divided his time between this and Shabbona's Grove. Here was their burying ground for common Indians, and the place where, between two half logs, dug out in the center, they stood up their noted dead in the crotches of trees. Here, too, lived the chief AVabonsie, concerning whom but few of the oldest citizens knew anything, and they but little, as he soon disappeared.

For some services in the Indian war, the government n-ave a reservation at this "rove to one Le Clair, a half-breed Frenchman. Most of this is in Lee County.

Game was found quite plentiful at that early date. Deer, prairie wolves, wild cats, and an occasional bear, with wild turkeys, geese, ducks, and prairie chickens, were the principal species.

PawPaw Grove has the reputation of having been, during early times, one of the principal rendezvous of the horsethieving and counterfeiting fraternity. Wyram, or "Bogus," Gates, John Bryant, Bill Rogers, and one Webber, with others, who resided at a small grove west of PawPaw, gained, by means of the suspicious circumstances which surrounded them, the reputation of belonging to that gang, and of procuring by these means those large amounts of money which their neighbors saw them to possess, and knew no other way to account for their possessing.

A citizen relates that, coming on horseback from the north, he endeavored to relieve his lonely way by overtaking two horsemen in advance. But the faster he rode, still faster rode they, till the pursuit became a chase, and they hid in the woods. The horses were next day found in Gates' barn, the men arrested, tried, and sent to the penitentiary, from whence they soon escaped.

Bill Rogers was a marked character. He was bold as a lion, tall, and straight as an Indian. lie sometimes acted as detective of criminals, and sometimes, it is said, in the character of principal. An exciting story is told of his arrest of a huge, powerful negro, Avho had hitherto defied all efforts to capture him. Rogers met him on the prairie, when both were unarmed, and after a fight, lasting over an hour, succeeded in pinioning his arms, handing him over to the officers, and securing the large reward offered for his capture.

Rogers was the contractor to remove the Indians from this country to their new homes west of the Mississippi. Five or six years ago, an early citizen of this County, crossing the plains to California, was astonished to meet him far beyond civilization, dressed in Indian costume, and mounted on a wild mustang with long hair and beard as white as snow, still hale and hearty, and still a pioneer.

Ten or twelve years after, two of the new settlers discovered on the prairie a buried deposit of some eight hundred dollars in silver coin, which it was surmised had been hidden there by one who had been many years imprisoned in the penitentiary.

In 1850 the township organization was adopted, and the first town meeting was held at the residence of Shadrac Basley. Sixty votes were cast, and Pierpont Edwards was elected Supervisor; George V. Miners, Town Clerk; Stanley Ruggles, Assessor; W. J. Merritt, Collector; William Shepardson and Daniel Rexford, Justices of the Peace. The Supervisors subsequently chosen were: Pierpont Edwards in 1851; William Shepardson in 1852 ; Pierpont Edwards in 1853 ; Wil-

As the population increased, and the poverty usually accompanying new settlements began to disappear, and after the broad prairies had, to a considerable extent, been converted into farms, the people began to turn their attention to their educational interests. Accordingly, in the summer of 1854, a building was erected at South PawPaw, standing on the line, one-half in De Kalb and one-half in Lee County, for a seminary.

A kind of rivalry sprang up at East PawPaw, so that, during the same summer, a similar building was also erected there. Soon after, the same spirit erected a third building at West PawPaw, in Lee County. So there were three seminaries, occupying the three angles of a nearly equilateral triangle, the sides of which were about two miles. Of course, they destroyed each other, by dividing the patronage that should have been received by one ; and all ultimately became common schools.

The first church was built at Ross Grove, by the United Presbyterian church, in 1861. There are at present three in the town, - a second one near Ross Grove, and the third at East PawPaw.

PawPaw sent 186 men to crush out the slaveholders' rebellion. Most of them went into Captain Terry's Company, of the One Hundred and Fifth Infantry, into the Fourth and Seventeenth Cavalry, the Fifty-Second, Thirty-Fourth, Seventy-Fifth, Eighty-Eighth, and the One Hundred and Second Infantry regiments. They were men who did the hard fight-

Town Op Taw Paw

Of the fifteen citizens of PawPaw who went out in Company I, of the Fourth (Colonel Dickey's) Cavalry, five, who were of the best men of the place, gave their lives to their country. Three of these were of the highly respected family of Hydes, and each left a wife and two children.

Lycurgus Hyde was killed on a reconnoissance in Tennessee; Elliot L. Hyde was killed at Coffeeville, Mississippi, December -5th, 1862; Edwin Thomas, brother-in-law of the two former, died at Pittsburg Landing, two weeks before that great battle. Other members of that regiment, who died martyrs to the cause, were Henry Doty and Henry Jones.

John Densmore Dole, of the Thirty-Fourth Infantry, fell at the battle of Stone River, December 31, 1862, a rebel bullet piercing his brain. He was a youth of fine promise, who left his preparation for college at the call to arms, and after doing gallant service as a brave soldier, gave his life to his country. His body was recovered, through the entreaties of his mother to General Rosecranz, and was buried by Spartan Lodge of Odd Fellows, at PawPaw, February 10, 1863.

John D. Dole Victor

The town of Victor was organized in 1853. For many years previous it had been, with Clinton and half of Afton, in one town organization, which held its town meetings in Deacon Pritchard's large barn until the school house was built, near by, when they were convened at that place.

It was one of the prairie towns, remote from woodland, and consequently was not occupied by settlers until those sections of the country which were better favored by timber had passed out of the hands of the United States, and could not be purchased at "government price." In 1847 and 1848 some of the lands were first entered, and during the next five years it was all taken up.

Among the first settlers were: Jeremiah Mulford, - first post-master at Van Buren, and who named the post-office after his favorite President, - W. H. Keene, ArunaBeckwith, James Green, Newton Stearns, Peleg Sweet, Jerome Baxter, George N. Stratton, Simon Snydam, II. C. Beard, and W. R. Prescott.

When the railroad was built, in 1851, there was a large influx of new settlers. Many Irish and Germans purchased lands, and a considerable colony of Norwegians soon moved in. These are now among the most thriving and prosperous of its townspeople. There is now no land in the town that is not occupied by actual residents.

Ross Grove and Shabbona Grove furnish some of its people with timber, but most of them own no woodland. They purchase coal from Kewanee for fuel, and lumber from Michigan for fencing and building. The Little Indian Creek waters the township.

Town Of Victor

There is no village in the town. Leland, a thriving railroad village in La Salle County, about one mile and a-half south of the south line of the town, is the principal center for the trade of its people, and for those conveniences and accommodations which villages furnish.

Those who lost their lives in the service were : Ferdinand Van Derveer, who died at Louisville, Kentucky, March 30, 1865; E. T. Pierce, at Alexandria, Virginia, April 23, 1861; C. T. Bond, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1865; C. Pi. Snydam, at Alexandria, Virginia, January 26, 1862.

The town of Somonauk for ten years past has contained a larger population, and a larger amount of taxable wealth, than any other in the County. It occupies the southeastern portion of the County. Its surface is rather level; it has a good supply of timber, and is well watered by Somonauk Creek, a handsome stream, which turns two mills.

The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad runs diagonally through the southern portion of the town, and upon it, four miles apart, but within the township, are the thriving villages of Sandwich and Somonauk.

In this town the first white man's habitation built in the County was erected. It was a small log house, built in the spring of 1834, on the bank of Somonauk Creek, and was used as a station house on the mail route between Chicago and Galena, by way of John Dixon's ferry, which route was first started during this year. The house was abandoned in the autumn, was used during the winter by one Robinson, and next year was kept as a tavern by James Root. It was afterwards occupied by John Easterbrooks, and subsequently became the property of the Beveridge family.

In 1835, a number of families moved into the town, and claimed the fine timber land upon the borders of the stream. Among them were Dr. Arnold, Joseph Sly, Thomas Brookes, and Simon Price.

In 1839, there were about thirty houses in the township. Among them were two taverns, one kept by John and Henry Lane, the other by Mr. Hummell. Robert Sterrett had a mill erected this year; Mr. Easterbrooks kept the post-office upon the Beveridge place; and among the householders upon the east of the creek were: Burrage Hough, Frank Dale, Joseph Sly, Frederick Witherspoon, Hubbard, -Joseph, and Thomas Latham, Harvey Jolcs, George S. Pierson, Captain William Davis, Alvin Hyatt, David Merritt, and Francis Divine. On the west of the creek were: Mr. Burchim, Owen and Simon Price, Dr. Thomas Brooks, William Poplin, Conway B. Rhodes, Amos Harmon, and Messrs. Frisby, Dobbins, Bliss, and Townsend.

The settlers were all poor. Their dwellings were nearly all of logs, covered with shakes, and floored with puncheons. Many of them were ill constructed, cold and comfortless. This was a sickly season, and in many of the little cabins the puncheon floor was at times covered with the beds of those suffering from various illnesses, leaving hardly enough of well persons to take proper care of the sick. The wealthiest among them hardly had a sufficiency of comfortable clothing. Every body was shaking with ague, and the new comers, most of whom were accustomed to the comforts and luxuries of life in their eastern homes, felt that the hardships of frontier life in the new settlements were severe indeed. Nothing that they produced was saleable, except winter wheat, and although they got fine crops of this cereal, it hardly paid the heavy expense of drawing it to the Chicago markets, over sixty miles of almost trackless prairie, and through the unbridged streams.

The land sale in 1843, when this section of country came in market, and when their farms must be paid for or lost, drained the township of nearly every dollar remaining, and left the people poor indeed. Many a fine claim of timbered land was given away to friends who were able to "enter" it, and most of the prairie land remained the property of the -zovernment till about the year 1850. But the settlers maintained the kindliest feelings among each other, and aided one another with a generosity that is now most gratefully remembered.

ual necessities were ministered to by Father Abram Woolston, a Methodist preacher, a good surveyor, and a shrewd man of business, who boasted, as not the least of his many accomplishments, that he could kill and dress a four hundred pound hog in fifty-seven minutes.

Father Lumrey, an Episcopal Methodist, was another favorite preacher, and Joseph Sly's comfortable cabin was always hospitably open to as many preachers as could make it convenient to stop with him.

David Merritt, the post-master at Frceland Corner, came regularly to the meetings, bringing his mail in his hat; and much shrewd financiering was often required to raise the twenty-five cents in postage that was required to obtain the letter from his custody.

In 1851 the railroad, - that great life-giving stimulant to the impoverished West, - was built through the township, and with the thunder of the iron horse came the advantages of a market for produce at the doors of the producers, free access for the population of the world to its fertile acres, and the conversion of the rich waste into fertile and profitable farms.

In a few months, every acre of land in the township was taken up by settlers or speculators, and the population rapidly increased. A railroad station was at once established at Somonauk village, and for a year or more it was the only station in the town.

The Village Of Sandwich

In the fall of 1852, William Fatten, Washington Walker, and Lindsay Carr, farmers in the neighborhood of the present thriving village of Sandwich, called a mass meeting of the citizens of Newark, then a lively village six miles south, upon which occasion a committee was chosen to petition the railroad company to establish a station for their accommodation. At this time, Mr. J. II. Furman made a census of the citizens who would probably use this station, and reported one hundred and fifty at the south and fifty at the north of the railroad. The company consented to stop trains when flagged. The neighbors contrived to have every one who could raise the necessary funds take a trip as frequently as possible; they ran a carriage to Newark daily; and, in a few months, they succeeded in inducing a belief that it was a good point for travel, and it was made a regular stopping place, with the name of Newark Station.

Mr. Almon Gage, the first proprietor of the land upon which the station was built, offered lots to all who would build upon them; and A. R. Patten, James Clark and Myrlin Carpenter availed themselves of the offer, and became the first inhabitants of the village. James Clark built the first house, - a large, rambling one-story structure, known as the Donegana House.

Numerous additions to the village were made in the following year, and in 1855 a great impetus was given to the place by the establishment of a manufactory of agricultural machinery by Hon. Augustus Adams, Senator for this district. It has since grown more rapidly in trade and population than any other village in the County. In 1860 its population wTas 952, and it is now estimated at 1800. It has been several times ravaged by destructive conflagrations, but has speedily been rebuilt more substantially than before.

In 1865, 300,000 bushels of wheat were shipped from this station, and one grain dealer paid $450,000 for grain purchased. The manufacture of agricultural machinery has constantly increased, and in 1867 the original company was merged into a stock association, with a capital of $75,000, which has since been enlarged to $125,000. It employs eighty men, and has proved very remunerative to the stockholders.

In 1856 a bank was established by Mr. M. B. Castle, which is still in existence; and from an exchange business of fifty dollars the first year, has now grown into a large and flourishing institution. Mr. J. II. Carr opened the first store in the place; Mr. G. W. Culver and Robert Patten the first lumber yard.

In 1857, William L. Dempster started a weekly newspaper, - The People s Press, - which was discontinued six months after. The Prairie Home, published in 1859, soon met the same fate. The Sandwich Netvs was subsequently issued bi-monthly by James Higbee, and afterwards made a weekly, with J. II. Sedgwick as editor. He was succeeded by Mr. James II. Furman, one of the first settlers and most substantial farmers of that town; and, under the name of The Gazette, it is now the largest paper in the County.

The first church in the township was that of the United Presbyterians, or Seceders, which was orgmized in 1844, with nineteen members, and with Rev. 11. W. French as pastor. It now has two hundred and thirty-five communicants. Their place of worship is at Freeland Corners. The first church built at Sandwich was that of the Baptists, in 185-3; the second, the Methodist, in 1854; the third, the Presbyterian, in 1855; the fourth, the Congregationalists, in 1864, ^they had previously worshipped in a small chapel) ; the fifth and sixth, the German Lutheran and the German Methodist. There are now fourteen church edifices in the township, in all of which regular worship is maintained.

The Village Op Somonauk

The first proprietor of the land on which Somonauk village is built was William Mitchell. He sold it in 1844 to Alvarus Gage, who may be called the father of the village It was the first railroad station established in the County, and, although there had previously been a small collection of houses there, the people flocked in so rapidly that many were obliged to live in tents for the first few months of their stay. Mr. Franklin Dale built the first store and the first grain warehouse in the place. Mr. Hess built the next one.

It is now one of the most flourishing villages in the County, and has had a rapid growth during the past few years. It has nine large brick stores, in which are four dry goods establishments, two groceries, one hardware store, one drug store, and one furniture warehouse. It also has a steam grist mill, a broom factory, a brewery, a livery stable, three grain warehouses, a large agricultural warehouse, a hay pressing establishment, and two lumber yards.

It has seven churches. The Protestant Methodists built the first church edifice, the Baptists the next; and to these have been added the churches of the Presbyterians, German Baptists, German Lutherans, the Catholics, and the Episcopal Methodists.

The village has twice suffered severely by fires, which destroyed a large part of its business buildings ; but the energy of its people triumphed over their misfortunes, and it was never in a finer or more flourishing condition than at present.

Ten days after the fall of Sumter, a company of Somonauk soldiers, under Captain L. II. Carr, was guarding the important strategic point of Cairo. It was the first company raised in the State, and probably the first in the Union, under the first call of the President. It was subsequently incorporated in the Tenth regiment. The gallant and honored Captain Carr met his death from the bullet of a sharp-shooter, while at the siege of Island No. Ten.

Frederick W. Partridge, a native of Vermont, a lawyer, and in 1860 post-master of the place, was chosen Captain of the next company raised in the town. It was made a part of the Thirteenth Infantry, and with it he fought most gallantly through its three years' term of service. He was an accomplished soldier, and a thorough disciplinarian. He was twice wounded, rose to the command of the regiment, and was brevetted Brigadier General; and upon his return, was elected to the office of Circuit Clerk and Recorder, - the best office in the gift of the County.

Hon. William Patten, a native of New York, has been one of the leading men of Somonauk. He has served three terms as member of the State Legislature, and is now Senator of this district. He raised and commanded a company in the One Hundred and Fifty-Sixth Infantry, during the great war, and has ever been prominent in every good word and work. Hons. W. TV. Sedgwick, Augustus Adams, S. B. Stinson, W. L. Simmons, M. B. Castle, and the Culver brothers, should also be mentioned as prominent among those numerous high toned and honorable men whose intelligence and well-directed energies have contributed to the prosperity of the place, and of whom it may be said that the town has honored itself by placing them forward as its representative men.

Colonel Isaac and Captain Karl Rutishauser, of Somonauk, soldiers in their native Poland, did gallant service also in the war for the preservation of the Union.

One of the most respected families of Somonauk is that of Mr. George Beveridge, who moved to the place from Washington County, New York, in 1844. The family are of Scotch descent, - sturdy Presbyterians in religious, and strongly anti-slavery in political faith.

In 1852, a gentlemanly stranger begged shelter for the night at this house. Something led the family to suspect that he was a detective, searching for evidence of their connection with the crime of aiding slaves to their freedom. Finally, seeking an opportunity of privacy, he asked directly of the venerable mother if she had not at times secreted fugitive negroes. "Yes," said she; "and in spite of your oppressive laws, I will do it again whenever I have an opportunity." Instead of immediately arresting her, as she had expected, the stranger laughed. He was an eminent physician of Quincy, engaged in establishing stations on the underoround railroad; and during many subsequent years, there was a frequent stoppage of trains at this station, and much time and money was spent in forwarding the flying negroes

Town Of Somonauk

Three sons of the family have attained distinction. General John L. Beveridge, a lawyer of Sycamore, and subsequently of Chicago, served as Major of the Eighth Cavalry and Colonel of the Seventeenth, and as Brigadier General in command in Missouri. He is now sheriff of Cook County. Hon. James II. Beveridge, a merchant at Freeland, was elected in 1852 to the office of Circuit Clerk and Recorder, which he filled most acceptably for eight years; and in 1864 he was made State Treasurer. Andrew M. Beveridge has attained distinction as an eloquent divine.

The village of Sandwich was incorporated in 1859, and as Presidents of the Board of Trustees the following men have represented its interests upon the Board of Supervisors: In 1860, Washington Walker ; 1861, George W. Culver ; 1862, Washington Walker; 1863, Perley Stone; 1864, W. L. Simmons;.1865, J. II. Carr; 1866, George W. Culver; 1867- (jS, W. W. Sedgwick.

Shabbona's Grove, twenty-five years ago, was one of the finest bodies of timber in the State, containing about fifteen hundred acres, well covered with heavy white, burr and black oaks, and black walnut. It is situated on the Big Indian Creek, and is named after an old Pottawattamie chief, - Shabbona, - who at that time, with' his tribe, lived at the north end of the grove, where his headquarters, a large, long loe house, now stand in a good state of preservation. It was surrounded by an immense tract of high, rolling prairie, well watered and well drained, - towards the east and south by the Somonauk, Little Indian and Big Indian Creeks, into Fox River, and towards the north by its tributaries into the Kishwaukee. All this country, - now comprised in the towns of Shabbona and Clinton, - was then called Shabbona's Grove. On account of the excellence of the land, its dry and healthy location, and the quality of the timber in the grove, it was very attractive to the early emigrants; and the settlement increased and flourished, outstripping other localities more conveniently situated.

After the railroads were built, - which, preferring on account of speculation the wide, unsettled prairies, were located on either side of our dividing ridge, - emigration tended towards either line of road, emigrants preferring convenience to market, and cheaper lands to this naturally more desirable location.

Eighteen years ago, almost every resident of Chicago could tell you where Shabbona's Grove was, and all about it; now, scarcely a citizen knows that there is such a place on the face of the earth.

In another chapter will be found a brief history of the honest and kindly old chief who has given name to this grove and this town, and whose manly and generous treatment of the whites entitles him to lasting remembrance; and also of his band of Indians, who, within the memory of men yet young, were living here in patriarchal style, - these groves their towns, and these vast prairies their fields; the one furnishing them shelter and fuel, the other food from the chase.

In the treaty made at Prairie DuChien,in 182i>, - by which the Pottawattomies ceded this section of country to the United States, - two sections of land at this grove were made a reservation to Shabeney. In another treaty, made at Tippecanoe, Indiana, in October, 1832, these lands were again reserved to Shabonier, - a French method of spelling the same name. In a third treaty, made in September, 1833, it is provided that these lands reserved shall be grants in fee simple, which might be sold and conveyed by the recipient, - a privilege which he had not before possessed; but in the following year this provision of the treaty was rejected by the Senate, leaving them, as before, simple reservations.

This fact becomes important, as explaining the difficulty in the titles to these lands, which has caused a vast deal of perplexity and loss to those of the white settlers whose title to the grove came through the old chief.

In 1845 Old Shabbona, ignorant of the repeal of that provision of the treaty which gave him a right to sell his land, sold to Azell A. Gates and Orrin Gates his entire reservation. This was speedily divided into tracts, and re-sold by the Gatea to the inhabitants of the adjoining prairies.

But three years later, these purchasers were astonished at finding that these lands were offered for sale by the United States government, as were the adjoining prairies. An investigation, made through lion. John Wentworth, then member of Congress for this district, disclosed the fact that the deed of Shabbona to the Gates was void; and that the government held that, as Shabbona, by transferring and giv- ing up possession, had forfeited the use of the reservation, it was competent for the government to sell it as other public lands in this department were sold.

Nothing remained for the purchasers to do but to purchase the lands again of government. But they were now worth twenty, - perhaps forty, times the government entry price, and it was supposed that upon their being offered at auction the price would be raised by speculators to rates which they could not afford to pay. To provide for this emergency, the purchasers met in council, selected William Marks and Reuben Allen, two of their most respected fellow-townsmen, to bid in the land at the minimum rate of $1.25 an acre, and, arming themselves with clubs and pistols, they went, an army of one hundred and fifty determined men, fully resolved to prevent (by force if necessary) all others from bidding upon the lands.

Arrived at Dixon, they found a number of men prepared to purchase their lands, and they arranged to seize any such bidder, and drown him in Rock River. Their resolute aspect overawed all opposition, and they secured their lands at the minimum rate.

They had almost forgotten their difficulties with their titles when, in 1864, they were again alarmed by notice from a lawyer of Chicago that he was about to proceed to secure the title to the lands for the heirs of Shabbona, upon the ground that the government had wrongfully dispossessed him, that he had not forfeited his use of the reservation, that his heirs still held title to the property, and that it was made a grant in fee simple, by an act of Congress passed as late as March 9th, 1848.

The owners of these lands now placed the matter in charge of Mr. C. W. Marsh, who visited Washington, and made a thorough examination of the question of title; and from his elaborate report, made to a meeting of settlers upon his return, the foregoing facts are obtained.

Chicago lawyer to force the purchasers to pay a third time for their lands was abandoned; but the question of the security of the title is one upon which lawyers still disagree.

Shabbona and his twenty or thirty immediate descendants occasionally returned, and lived at intervals upon his reservation, but did not make a permanent residence there till 1844. New-Year's Day of 1836 was celebrated at Shabbona Grove by the erection of the first white man's dwelling at this place. Mr. Edmund Town and David Smith, the first white inhabitants, who had lived for a few weeks in the wigwams which the Indians had abandoned for awhile, assisted by Mr. Russell Town, the first resident of PawPaw Grove, rolled up the logs, and speedily enclosed a dwelling, celebrating the event with some bottles of liquor, which the Indians had left hidden in a tree near by.

In the following year came Messrs. William, Lewis, and Colman Olmstead, Darius Horton, William Lyman, and Jefferson Sturtevant, who made extended claims and erected for themselves comfortable log dwellings and stables. The Indians, when not abroad upon their rovirg excursions, lived by their side in perfect peace and good fellowship. The children of the white families were numerous, and in 1842 two school houses were built at the grove for their instruction. In 1845, the population had been increased by the immigration of the families of Mr. June Baxter, William Marks, Peter Miller, and William White. They were an honest and law-abiding population, and struggled courageously with the poverty and many hardships which were common to all the inhabitants at this early day. The deer in the neighboring groves and prairies furnished them with a considerable supply of venison, and from their skins they made durable garments. Prairie fowls, which were then vastly more numerous than now, together with sand-hill cranes, swans, ducks, and geese, contributed liberally to the supply of their tables. The Indians living near them baked these fowls in the ashes, or boiled them in their kettles, with entrails, claws and feathers; then, tearing them in pieces, devoured them like beasts. The sight of Sibiqua, Shabbona's pretty daughter, and the belle of the settlement, engaged in this kind of a repast, destroyed all the charms of her personal beauty, and it is not strange that the current report, that Shabbona would give a bushel of dollars to any good white man who would marry her, should not overcome their repugnance to a bride with such personal habits; but Jjeaubien, a Frenchman near Chicago, married one of the daughters, and to her home Shabbona made annual journeys.

In 1847, Shabbona returned from a journey to Washington, elegantly dressed, but sad and discouraged. He had sold and lost his home, and the soil in which the bones of his fathers were interred had become the property of strangers. Their burial place may yet be seen where they holloAved out shallow graves, covering the bodies with earth and poles, bound down to prevent the ravages of the wolves. Shabbona Grove is the natural center for the trade of a large extent of fertile country, and would, undoubtedly, have been a prominent village but that the railroads were built some fifteen miles north and south of it, and drew population in that direction. But, the railroads, - built in 1851 and 1853, gave value to the lands, and raised the people from the poverty which had hitherto repressed their energies. The prairie lands were all entered and enclosed as farms ; and there is now no section of the County more handsomely improved, or betokening a more substantial and comfortable condition of its farming population than the township of Shabbona. There is a small village at the south end of the grove with two churches, three stores, two tavern, the usual shops, and a handsome Masonic hall, which was built in 1862. The Lodge of Masons was organized in 1862 with M. V. Allen as W. M. ; G. M. Alexander, S. W.; L. Marks, J. W.: T. S. Terry, Secretary; W. Marks, Jr., S. D. ; A. S. Jackson, J. D. ; Isaac Morse, Tyler. It has now fifty-four members.

the great war, and raised $12,291 for war expenses. A large number of thefee went under the gallant Captain G. W. Killett in the Fifty-eighth, and Captain Thomas S. Terry of the One Hundred and Fifth. Captain Terry was for many years a prominent citizen of the town. He was its Supervisor for three years, and represented the County in the Legislature in 1860. He died in the service at North ville, February 15th,

1863. Captain Marvin V. Allen, who succeeded him, lost an arm in the service. Upon his return he was elected to the responsible office of County Superintendent of schools. Sergeant Thomas E. Taylor, of the same company, a native of Scotland, lost his life in the service at the age of forty-one.

D. W. Jackson, of the same company, a native of Schenectady, New York, gave his life to his country at Bowling Green, Kentucky, at the age of twenty.

Sergeant J. M. Dobbin, of Company E, Thirteenth Infantry, a native of Washington County, New York, died of wounds received at the assault on Vicksburg, December 28th, 1862, aged thirty-eight.

Sergeant George C. Harper served most honorably for three years in the One Hundred and Fifth, and subsequently lost his life at Fort Harper while in the Seventh Regulars ; aged twenty-three.

John McFarland, of Company E, One Hundred and Fifth Infantry, a native of Cayuga County, New York, died at Frankfort, Kentucky, October 26th, 1862, aged forty-three. Henry Davis, of the Tenth Infantry, a native of Chataqua County, New York, died at St. Louis, May 5th, 1862, at twenty-one years of age. Oliver Pattee, of Company H, Fifty-second Infantry, a native of Grafton, New Hampshire, died at St. Joseph, December 20th 1861. Lyman Kilbourn, of Company E, One Hundred and Fifth, a native of Kane County, Illinois, died at Resaca, Georgia, April 16th, 1862, aged twenty-four.

Sergeant W. E. Grover, of Company E, One Hundred and Fifth, a native of New Gloucester, Maine, was killed at Dallas, Georgia, while bearing off a wounded comrade from the skirmish line. His age was forty years.

Company P, Op Sycamore

(The following sketch should have appeared in the History of Malta :) Among those from Malta who gave their lives in defence of their country, was Orderly Sergeant Edward Bridge, an intelligent, exemplary and patriotic young soldier of Company B, Fifty-fifth Illinois. He was severely wounded at Shiloh, but recovered and lived to fight the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Haines' Bluff, Champion Hills, Black River, Vicksburg and Jackson, winning the highest commendation in his relation as a soldier and as a man, but he died of pneumonia at Larkinsville, Alabama, January 11th, 1864. Aged 21.