Kendall County, Illinois - Emigration at Low Tide, 1877

Emigration at Low Tide

'he year 1838 opened with a decrease of emigrants over any preceding year. The crash of '37 had not only bankrupted the nation, but had exposed many of the fallacies set afloat by western speculators, and had dissolved into thin air those hopes of sudden wealth which had been beckoning the east toward the setting sun. The State of Illinois, however, weathered the blast as well as might be, by abandoning the system of internal improvements, except work on the canal, and passing pre-emption laws. Real estate, for the time, however, was a drug in the market, and even in Chicago could scarcely be sold at any price.

was laid out by Major Hitt. As in laying out Newark, he brought his lines from the Indian boundary, five miles away. Mr. Jackson was anxious to have it exact, so as not to touch the school lands, and though it was a foggy day, Hitt did it so well that when the government surveyor, Eli J. Prescott, the following year surveyed the county, the half section corner intersecting the county line, near Joe Jackson's, was only three feet from Hitt's corner. The new town was called Milford by Jackson and Hitt. The postoffice was not established there for some twenty years, when the name was changed to Millington, out of respect for another Milford somewhere in the State. The grist mill was started this season, and also the " Milford Pottery," a little above the village. Mr. Grroover owned the land, and being a potter by trade, manufactured a quantity of unglazed ware, mostly chimney and flower pots. The clay was said to be very good, but has never been utilized to any extent.

The Milford M. E. Church

Lancellot Rood was the treasurer of the building fund. Philip Verbeck did the mason work. The subscriptions ranged from ten to seventy dollars. Only the first five names mentioned were members of the church. The first sermon preached in the new house was by Rev. John Sinclair, at the funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson, wife of Jesse Jackson, who died May 7th, 1839. After five years, a movement was made to seat the church, and one hundred and twenty bushels of wheat were subscribed. The cash was realized by selling the wheat in Chicago for forty and fifty cents a bushel. The financial committee made the following report :

George Paddock made the seats, the carpenter work costing twenty-four dollars. The building is now William Gunsel's barn. Following are the circuit preachers on the charge from the first, and for twenty years during which the old house was used :

Nathan Aldrich, Thomas Finnie

George Sleezer, James Thompson and Henry Waddle came together from Orleans county, New York, and Aldrich an(/ Finnic bought their present farms of W. W. Pickering Mr. Aldrich has three children surviving : Lyell Aldrich, Mrs. Thomas Finnic, and Mrs. L. H. Carr, of Sandwich. An aunt, Miss Lizzie Aldrich, died and family, from Oneida county, New York, settled at Mission Point. George Southworth had bought the property two years before. There was a cleared spot of an acre in the woods, on which had formerly been several log buildings, but they were taken down and the logs used for a larger house. Quite a large tract of land belonged to the mission. It was broken up by the Indian war, and the mission farmer shot in the door of his cabin, near J. S. Armstrong's. James Southworth bought of Ole Oleson in 1839, and the following year built the house now occupied by George Cooper, Newark. He died in 1841. The surviving children are Mrs. L. T. Aldrich - better known as " Galva " - Mrs. C. J. 0. Verbeck, Mrs. J. R. Whitney, Missouri, and L. R. P. Southworth, of Chicago. Mrs. Aldrich says : " We took passage in which sailed from Oswego, New York, July 6th, 1838, and arrived at Chicago August 12th, being five weeks making the trip. At that time the Welland canal was not constructed so as to admit of the easy passage of so large vessels as the Detroit, and frequent delays occurred from running aground, getting stuck in locks, etc.

"From two causes when out in the open lake we were driven about by every gale. The keel had been taken from the schooner so as to admit of her passage through the canal to navigate the upper lakes, which caused her to drift at all times, but far worse unless well laden ; and as the owners of the vessel could not find sufficient freight at Oswego, we sailed with enough for ballast, stopping at all the principal cities, hoping to get more, but finding little for Chicago ; a few grind-stones were got in at one place, and a few barrels of salt and whisky in another, but a full cargo was not obtained.

"At Mackinaw, we were delayed more than a week by head winds, giving us ample time to visit all those places of interest, the reputation of which has become almost world-wide, such as the Soldiers' Burying Ground, The Case, Old Fort Home, The Arch, Sugar Loaf, Lover's Leap, and the Mackinaw Fort, each having a legend of its own, which we learned from the inhabitants and natives.

'* But the winds becoming favorable, we left the Island and went to Chicago, sailing up the river and landing on the opposite side from the old log Fort, which was then in a state of tolerable repair.

"As we stepped from the deck of the Detroit, the crew, from Capt. Hawkins down to the cook, each gave us all a parting grasp and a goodbye. And would you believe it? - the most of us shed tears on leaving the old schooner which had come to be almost like a home."

In addition to the names already given, the following may be mentioned as being here, many of them previous to and all of them as early as 1838 : Isaac and Orange Potter, Joseph Sly, Michael Graw, Wm, Sly, Henry Sherman, John and Jacob Heath, F. B. DuBois, Alanson Parker, Peter Teal, W. P. Lettson, John Whitmore, came to Chicago this year, and the following season settled in Na-au-say. He was a sailor, and had visited many of the principal seaports throughout the world. His brother, P. P. Richardson, M. D., a graduate of Harvard College, came out in 1846, and the two were together in the nursery business some time. Thomas J. Phillips came on horseback from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He started alone, but fell in with others on the road.

John Chambers was a tailor in New^ark, and George and James Armour opened a store where D. A. Hunger's house now stands. George A. is a well-known elevator man of Chicago. The was celebrated at Big Grove by a great assemblage from the surrounding settlements. There was a free dinner, gathered by Dr. Kendall, an oration, and a flag made of flannel by Mrs. Barnard. The flag stafi" was fastened in a hollow stump near the church, and the patriotic colors floated as proudly in the breeze as if the material had been shining silk. It was a famous day, well remembered by every one of the few survivors.

Among the arrivals in Kendall and Bristol, were David Cook, M. D., James, Elihu and John J. Griswold, George D. and C. F. Richardson, Joseph and Daniel Wing, VV. P. Boyd, John C. Scofield, R. R. Greenfield, Mr. Chittenden, Lewis Morgan.

The old Bristol cemetery was opened in '38, and Mrs. James McClellan, Sr., was the first one buried. Her daughter-in-law was the next. B. F. Alden dug the first grave. It is now superceded by the new Elmwood cemetery.

Government Surveyors

under Eli Prescott. A township was first laid off, and it was then divided into sections, the corners marked by little mounds, two feet high, filled with charcoal, and a stake set in, on which the number of the sections were marked. The county was full of ponds and sloughs, and the season was wet and the chain carriers were not accurate. So section lines do not always agree, and fractional sections are found on the north and west sides of townships. The Land Sale did not occur until the next year.