Kendall County, Illinois - Chapter 19: Claim Furrows, 1877

Chapter 19: Claim Furrows

R. SCHNEIDER havino; finished Paper's mill the previous season, put up his own at the mouth of Blackberry creek, that spring - 1834. A few days after he came on the ground his oxen broke away and returned to their familiar quarters on the DuPage. He had a man with him who was too timid to venture by himself on the lonely journey, so they went both together, leaving their wagon, tools, chains, and cooking utensils on the knoll west of the Blackberry mill. Instead of being absent two days, he was detained two weeks, and returned fully expecting to find his little property stolen by the Indians. But not an article was disturbed, and Mr. Schneider ever had a superior respect for his dusky neighbors.

William and John Thurber, from Chatauqua county, N. Y., came in with Almon Ives. John went on down the river, but William settled on the south side of Long Grove, where the noonday sun would shine the warmest. He had a family of four sons and two daughters, who constitute the present families of Thurbers in this county. After taking his original claim he bought out one and another around him until he owned a tract of thirteen hundred acres of good, available land. He died in 1862. It was the ambition of many of the new-comers to embrace as much land as possible, though it were but to sell ao;ain to the next settler. Lonor claim furrows ran everywhere, across the prairie, around the groves, intersecting each other, and telling in their mute language of the cross-purposes of mankind. Every man felt that the virgin country was before him, and it was his privilege to be married to as much of it as his squatter sovereignty could defend.

David Carpenter and John Dunlap, with an ox team, ran a furrow around their claim, at the head of the big slough, south of Oswego. Soon after, Lemuel Brown and T. B. Mudgett ran their furrow around a still larger section, east of Ebenezer Morgan's, enclosing a part of the other. On this last, excluding what it embraced of the first claim, nine farms are now laid out. But this, besides their own, included also claims for L. B. Judson and Mr. Hill, who had not yet arrived. Over the river, the following year, a claim furrow was run a half day's journey, from Milford far out to the Somonauk prairie. So gloriously large were the ideas of our grandfathers. Mr. Dunlap remained here but a short time. Mudgett stayed several years. L. B. Judson came in the fall. He was from Massachusetts. He bought out Brown, Mudgett, Clark, Dan. Ashley, and others, until he owned seven or eight hundred acres of land. Lemuel Brown's cabin, on the bank of the run, in West Osweoro, was the second house in the place.

Waubonsie And Whisky

speculators. They stayed on a place long enough to stake it out and build a log hut, and sell it for what they could get. Among these was a man by the name of Fowler. He had several sons, and pursued the business for a number of years, both in this and in other counties. At one time he lived between Oswego and Aurora, and occasionally furnished whisky to the Indians, by which rows followed. The settlers made complaint to Fowler, and he stopped it. But Waubonsie, the fierce Pottawatomie giant, who then lived at Oswego, could not do without his fire-water. He could not terrify his braves nor abuse his wives without the aid of the hellish fluid. So when his messenger was refused he sent again. He only wanted a gallon - that would be enough for another precious spree. But the second messenger returned empty. Then Waubonsie's mighty soul was infuriated, and seizing his royal canoe, he went up the stream like a dusky thunderbolt, crazy for a drunk, and in a short time came back with a barrel half full. At one fell swoop he cleaned out the unfortunate white man. History does not state whether he returned the barrel or kept it for his squaws to stir hominy in.

Several settlers claimed along the Blackberry. Among them were Mr. Lowry, James W. Helm, and John Short. The latter afterwards built the first tavern in Bristol. It stood on the hill above the bridge. He now lives in Iowa. John Darnell, on the Little Rock, was joined by his brothers.

Hartley Cleveland

lives, in the town of Na-au-say. There were on it three basswood trees, which could be seen for miles in all directions, and were called the Lone Tree Grove. It had long been a landmark for the Indians, for their trail passed it, and Mr. Cleveland built his cabin over the trail. One tree of the original three still survives, and if it had a tongue in its head it would be a wonderfully interesting historian, for it had a wide field of observation before orchards and shade trees obstructed the view. Another settler at Long Grove was Abijah Raymond, from Ohio.

George B. Hollenback put up another building opposite his store, where Mrs. Niblo's millinery shop now is, and it began to be more widely known as '* Hollenback 's Trading Post." The second building he sold the next year, 1835, to John C. Phillips, for a tavern. There was also a cabin on Mrs. Cook's corner, opposite S. Bingham's, and that comprised the sum total of Newark in 1834. Out on the north-west edge of Big Grove, Mr. Love, Mr. Moore and one other settler had claims, and Walter Stowell bought them out and lived in Love's cabin. Mr. Stowell had lived for three years on the DuPage, above Naperville, and was originally from Connecticut. South of Big Grove, adjoining Deacon Whitney's, William Perkins had a field of corn, and Edward Wright, then a young man, husked it for him. Mr. Wright met Perkins in Plainfield, and after the huskinowas done he went to Whiteside county and remained several years, afterwards settling at Lisbon and finally at Newark. Another settler east of the grove was George

Beginning Of Millington

W. Craig, a brother-in-law of the Havenhills. On November 11th, 1834, a daughter was born to him, who is now Miss Eliza M. Craig, of Piano. Mr. Craig moved to the present site of Waukegan, where his wife died. He afterward died in California. Rev. Jno. Beaver also died in California. He came to Pavilion in 1834, and used to preach occasionally. C. Y. Godard came the same year, traveling all the way from New York on horseback. Caleb Mason, a son-in-law of Daniel Kellogg, came from Vermont, and claimed the old Badgley place, near Newark. He wintered at Kellogg's. Charles Royal settled above Milford. Thomas Ervin, of Ohio, bought a claim, south side of Long Grove, of Robert Ford, for $100. Lived there eight years, and then bought south on the prairie. There were four sons : Thomas, Robert, William and Edward. George H. and Alexander Rogers date from about this year. The latter made the claim which he afterward sold to John Cook, in the town of Fox. He lived some time in Little Rock. He was a public spirited man, and filled several offices of trust. He was well known as riding a peculiar mule that sometimes balked. His sons were John and William K. Rogers.

the first beginning was made by Samuel Jackson and George F. Markley, in the fall of 1834. Jackson came from near Cincinnati, and on his way up the Ohio river, falling in with Markley, the two joined fortunes. They were both single men. They took up all Millington, including Marshall Bagwell's farm, and three hundred acres on the other side of the river. They built a log

No additional settlements were made in the town of Lisbon. At Piatt's, two men died and were buried on the banks of the AuSable. Two saw mills were started - Schneider's at Bristol, and Morgan's in Oswego - but not in time to do much that season. Fielding and Marshall Havenhill and Mr. Booth hauled logs to the mill at Munsontown, on Big Indian Creek, to get lumber for cabin floors. Up to that time their floors had been the hard ground - floors which required no scrubbing, save that which could be given with the round splint broom that stood in the corner or hung by a string outside.