Lee County, Illinois - Chapter 41, 1920

At the outset of the great world war there was a great variance of opinion in Willow Creek, some taking the side of the Allies while others took the side of the Central Powers wdth the vast majority, however, on the side of the Allies. America's entry into the war changed the complexion of the Central Power adherents and while there also appeared to be some ProGermanism in the township, the overwhelming number of loj^al, American spirited citizens caused the Pro-German attitude to fade into insignificance to such an extent that it is safe to assert that before many moons had rolled around Willow Creek became 100 percent American in so far as doing its part on the firing line at home was concerned. The vast anuiunt of work, however, fell uikiii the loyal citizens and willing workci-s in this as well as all otliei- coiuiinmities.

The first service performed by the township was in tlic registration of June 6, 1917 for the purpose of registering all male persons between the ages of 21 and 31, inclusive, for military service. In this instance W. J. Brown w:is appointed chief registrar with F. A. Bach and W. E. Byrd as assistants. This ivgistration disclosed the fact that there were 91 persons eligible to military service in the townshi]) under this rule and also disclosed the further fact that of this numlier 77 weic natiu-al born and three naturalized citizens while there were seven declarents and four aliens. From this number 23 were inducted into the service.

Willow Cicck township was organized on April 3, 1855, and is one of the youngest townships of Lee ('ounty. It has participated in the Civil war, the Spanish-American war and the great world war. It furnished many volunteers in the Union army of the Civil war from 1861 to 1865, and also two doughty volunteers in the Spanish-American War, they being Edward Ponell and Winfield Scott Wigginton.

In the fall of 1917 the Second Liberty Loan came on with the townshi]) fiuota at S48,000.00. Lars C. Risetter was appointed chairman of this dri\'e anil he in turn apjiointetl J. A. Miller, J. Henry Eide and J. H. Grove his assistants. The sum of $31,700.00 was subscribed during this drive. The fact that Willow Creek did not make its quota at this time was not due to the committee, who worked incessantly and diligently to obtain their quota, but was due entirely to the lack of understanding on the part of the citizens as to the necessity of l^acking their government and that LTnited States government bonds were the best investment obtainable. As the understanding of tlie value of these bonds became moic general. Willow Creek immensely made up for this deficiency.

In September of the .year 1917 the first Y. M.C. A. drive was launched. This drive was delayed on account of neglect as well as lack of time on the part of the persons appointed to carry on this drive. The township's quota was S500.00 with but two days to make the drive. Seeing tli<' necessity, as well as the imiiortance, of Willow Creek bearing equal burden witii the rest of the county in this matter, a meeting was called at the Lee State bank and W. J. Brown elected chairman. A volunteer committee composed of S, M. Maakestad, O. C. Brown, J. H. Eide and G. P. Peters canvassed the entire township and at the prescril;ed time went over the top with $30.00 to the good.

the State ( 'oimcil of Defense was created with the appointment of Mrs. W. J. Brown of Lee. as I'hairman. The singular event in this appointment being that her husband had I ecu appointed chairman of the Alen's Council of Defense and left the executive authority 111 the hands of this one family as it had 1 ceii previously istaLlished that tlie chairman of the Glen's Council of Defense and the chainnan of the Women's C.umcil of Defense together with a third person appointed ly tin m constituteil the executive committee ot the township. This was properly dame ly the apipointment of Miss Ida Durin of Scarboro which left the personnel of the execuii\e ei mniittte as follows - W. J. Brown, Mrs. \V. ,1. Brown and Ida Dunn.

After her apiiointment Mrs. Brown in tuni aiipointed :\Iiss Ida. Durin as sub-chairman, and Miss Ila Olson, Miss Ruth Schoenholz and Mrs. Florence Pitcher as members of the ^^'ollM ii's ( ommittee of the Council of Defense for Willow Creek township. The women iliil spli iidid work. In tlieii- registration of the women of the townshiji they worked ceasel(ssly and unlinngly until every woman in ihr townslii]) had been registered except six who. although repeatedly reciueste.l. positively refused. The peculiar coiii.adence in connection with this registration and which was immensely amusing to the committee, was the fact that a great many of the women, after registering, launched upon an earnest meditation of the matter and came to the conclusion that it was a serious matter and that by registering they 1 ecaiiie liable to be drafted inio the military service of the United States the same as men, and not a few in the wee hours of the next morning after they had registered arrived at the residence of the chairman long liefore she had intended to arise and earnestly pleaded and rccjuested to have their registration cancelled, but u]ion b-eing foi-cefully and courteoush' assured that their L'ncle Sam had no design on such purpose, they in every instance allowed their registration to stand.

Their work in the s:ile ni IJimI ( ioss ( 'lu-istni:is seals during Christmas of 1917 surpassed any township in the I'ciunty. h;i\inK s(]ld 4,"()l) seals or approximately seven seals per capita.- The counniltee did siilen.lid work lor tlie Allied Relief, Child Welfare, Red Cross Work, procurinii funds for tlie l-"reneh wounded and the adoption of French war orphans. They gavr valuaMe assistance in the sale of Liberty Bonds. In all, their work was liii;;hly conmieiidal.le, their patriotism above rather tlian at jiar. and their loyalty in ever,\- respect 11)0 |>ei-eent. This committee was ,i.'iven splendid assistance by their county ch.airman, Airs. John C. Ralston of Dixon.

The citizens of \\ill,,w Creek were members of the two H( sections comiirisinu; the Scarboro umt, an auxiliary of the Lee ( '( can \U'd Cross. The president of this is ALss Lla Durin w residence which was used b.r Led Cr.,ss purinises throui^hout the war. This unit held meetiiiiis rejiiularly every week and while not laijie in number of amount of work in 1917 and 1918 and holds an envial.le reconl, unit still in 1919 it reached a membership of about 2'2() meml

( »n July 4, 1917 the Lee ( 'ornet band i^ave a celebration lor the A lar-e crowd as.sembled on this day and variotis ,iiames an.l siioi purpose of procuring monej'. The speakers of the day were Rev. J. J. Kitchens, pastor of the M. Iv church at Lee, and Rev. J. O. Tweten, pastor of the S. W. Lutheran church of Lee. These men gave excellent addresses and were splendidly applauded by the large assembly. The proceeds of the day amounted to over $300.00 which amount was turned over to the local Red Cross. At this time there were not many Red Cross members in Willow Creek and in consecjuence thereof the Red Cross girls and band memljers launched out upon a membership drive and before the celebration was over the American Red Cross became nearly 300 members stronger. One of the band lioys, N. G. Munson, secured 68 members alone upon that day.

Again in 1918 on July 4, the business mcni of Lee and the Lee Cornet liand gave another celebration the proceeds of which were to be turned over to th(> Red Cross.

The entire moving picture show of F. .\. Bach was turned over to the Red Cross, the two shows netted SSO, and the dance in the evening netted S.-,(). When the proceeds of thc'iitireday weresumme.lupit wasfoundthat the American Red Cross had been enn.-he.l in the sum of about S4.")().

In the spring of lOlS the Third Liberty Loan was launched. Up to this tim<> each of the various school districts thought they were carrying a heavier burden than the other in the amount allotted to each district to make up the townshijj's quota.

The (|uota for Willow Creek in this Loan was $24,750 and at the end of the drive had rolled up a grand total of S5fi,350 or 230 percent of its riuota for wdiich it received a star in its Third Liberty Loan flag, there being but two townships in the county receiving this distinction in this drive, Willow Creek and Wyoming.

The second Red Cross drive was completed in May 1918, the township's quota being .'sllOCi.iT). It was an easy matter to obtain money for the Red Cross at this time as the peophdiad began to realize fully the value of this great arm of mercy and were very liberal in their donalions towards it. While it was the instructions to the committees to see that there was no o\-ersubsciipt ion still when the campaign came to a close Willow Creek had suliscribed S147S.S.-) lo the American Red Cross.

In the following month the War Saving Stamp drive was on in full force to comiilete (he couiily's (|Uota for 19bS. Willow Creek's share in this campaign was $20,025. The drives had come (|uite regular and fre(|uen( (his year, so much so as to absorl) the avail-

September of 1918 saw tlie sei between the ages of IS ami 4.") im Creek had 99 iiersons within thes( to carry on this registration were holz, assistants.

In October of 1918 the Four this being the largest sum that large but the committees felt th the county in this dri\-e was " ( every school district had icporie which formed a grand total of s( of S5,150.

On the 11th day of Noveml with an apportionment to Willov of the people would select one or the other of the seven activities to make their entire donations to, thereby causing an extra amount of work to the committees, but when the ctirtaiii had rolled down upon the drivi' it w;is found that every citizen had contrilmted to all seven activities and donated a total of 81887.00.

The Fifth and last loan was lloatcd in April of 1919. There was some pessimism prevailing in the township with rcteivncc to this loan, the general concensus of opinion being, that the armistice having been signed and the war practically over, the people would not feel the great neces.^ity of subsciibing to any further loans, but this did not jirove true a.s it was the easiest loan or di'ive of tlicm all. Scarcely a ix-rson in the township was solicited in this drive and yet with a (|iiota, of 839.000 the people voluntarily stibscribed $50,400.

There were two Ked Cross membership drives in Willow ("reek. The hist drive in January 1918, was conducted through a fierce snow storm and at a time when the roads were practically impassible. It took three weeks to complete the dri\-e and then a great many in the township had not been solicited but the memliership reached over 10 jicr cent or nearly 330 members. This drive w-as made by W. J. Brown, chairman, and .1. 11. Eide covering the northeast quarter of the township. Lars C. Rissetter the Southeast quarter, Joseph Miller and Lewis Hackman the southwest ciuarter and P. S. Snyder and P. J. Schoenholz the northwest quarter.

The second drive was made in January of 1919. This drive was put through by the various conmiittees of the Council of Defense. In this drive through the splendid work of G. W. Sanford anfl Walter Barringer, school district No. I.'i4 lacked but two memliers of having a 100 percent ilistrict. The townshi]! itself enrolled a, memliership of nearly 4.50.

During the ciiliiv wai- (licic was no vi<ilati(iii of llic Fcdcial or food regulations, 'riicrc was, however, consiilei-.ahlc fiiuiiililiiiii; as llie proportion ot the food became siiiallci- in tlieii- allotment, still neail>- all the people felt tliat it was a sacrifice that they must make, and was nrccssaiv to Feed llie lninur>' and heroic people of our allies as well as to give our soldiei-s and sailors the liest the land could afford and produce. The patriotism was of such splendid calil.re that during all the drives never a citizen of the township was haled before the loyally conmuttee. There was one (-vent, however, which man-ed and stained the record of the township and that was a few of the young men in the draft who hid behind plows, tractors oi- some other larm implements, young men who feU over themselves to get to Dixon and JMceport, who wasted an enormous amount of time going l:)ack and forth to the district exemption l.oaids. lime that could have been used to a better advantage upon the farm, - who binned up gasoline and rubber tiics cai'i-ying friends and relatives to these boards to corroborate their dilatory tactics practiced for the purpose of procuring deferred classification. It seemed as though simultaneoush' with the order of the first registration the entire township became infested with farm managers between the ages of 21 and :U years of age. an extraoi'dinary condition which hail never existed before. Had it not been for the foregoing the patriotism of Willow Civek wo\dd have been s|iolless and its record as clear as the noonday sun. While there were very few who avoideil military service, and the performance of their duty to \\u-\v country, there are 22 yonng men whose names will be engraved upon the pages of the history of this township, county, state and country, men who, although drafted, willingly went forth to defend the honor of their country.

Many young men of the township made attempts at enlistment, some being rejected on account of physical disabilities and othcis failcil of enlistment because the recruiting officers refused to accept them for the perio.l of llu' dniation of the war only. In every warthusfarthatthe township has |iartiripatcd in. all her sol.lirrs have served in the army and no one so far has ever servc<l m the navy which shows that Willow Creek does not take kin.llv to water.