Will County, Illinois - The whole text, 1878 (part 5 of 29)

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties m another.

No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but m consequence ot appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account ot the receipts and expeditures of all public money shall be published trom time to time.

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, ofBce, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

Sec. 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.

No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws, and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.

No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty oii tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

Section 1. The Executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same term, be elected as follows :

Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of Electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress ; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

[*The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each ; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President ; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the vote shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President,

AND ITS AMENDMENTS. Jgijthe person having the greatest number of votes of the Electors shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice-President.]

The Congress may determine the time of choosing the Electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President ; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-Pr.esident, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States or any, of them.

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Sec. 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; be may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardon for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be. established by law ; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the President alone, m the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.

Sec. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may on extraordinary occasions convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

Sec. 4. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Section I. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

Sec. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority ; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls ; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party ; to controversies between two or more states ; between a state and citizens of another state ; between citizens of different states ; between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects.

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, and those in which a state shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction.

In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed ; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

Sec. 3. _ Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.

Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.

No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on the claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.

Sec. 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this Union ; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state ; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the Legislatures of the states concerned, as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any particular state.

Sec. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protexjt each of them against invasion, and on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature can not be convened), against domestic violence.

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be vaUd to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress. Provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in anv manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article ; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution as under the Confederation. i. n i.

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; and the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything m the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.

Constitution Of The United States

bers of the several state Legislatures, and all executive and judicial oificers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

The ratification of the Conventions of nine states shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same.

Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

Geo. Washington

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in tfme of war or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Article VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor ; ana to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Article VII. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no tact

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name in their ballots the person to be voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice- President, and of the number of votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest number not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from twothirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next' following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice- President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be the majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a major- ity, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the oiEce of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Sec. 2. Representatives shall be appointed among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed ; but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of Electors for President and Vice- President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged except for participation in rebellion or other crimes, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

Sec. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath as a Member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebeUion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability.

Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebelhon, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall pay any debt or obligation incurred in the aid of insurrection or rebelhon against the United States, or any loss or emancipation of any slave, but such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Electors Of President And Vice-President

Note. - It Is generally assumed that the gross weight of Hogs diminished hy 1-5 or 20 per cent ol itself gives the net weight, ana the net weight increased by K or 25 per cent, of itself equals the ([ross weight.

Rule. - Multiply (by short method) the number of cubic feet by 6308, and point off one decimal place - the result will be the correct answer in bushels and tenths of a bushel.

NOTE. - In estimating corn In the ear, the quality and the time it ias been cribbed must be taken Into constderation, since corn will shrink considerably during the Winter and Spring. This rule generally holds good for corn measured at the time It is cribbed, provided It is sound and clean.

Rule. - Multiply the square of the mean diameter by the depth (all in feet) and this product by 5681 (short method), and point off ONE decimal place - the result will be the contents in barrels of 31i gallons.

Rule. - Under the square of the mean diameter, write the length (all in inches) in ebveesed order, so that its units will fall under the TENS ; multiply by short method, and this product again by 430 ; point off one decimal place, and the result will be the answer in wine gallons.

Rule. - Multiply the length (in feet) by the width (in inches) and divide the product by 12 - the result will be the contents in square feet.

Rule. - Multiply the width, the thickness, and the length together (the width and thickness in incties, and the length in feet), and divide the product by 12 - the result will be square feet.

Rule. - Multiply the length by the width (in rods), and divide the product by 160 (carrying the division to 2 decimal places if there is a remainder) ; the result will be the answel' in acres and hundredths.

Bricks are usually made 8 inches long, 4 inches wide, and two inches thick ; hence, it requires 27 bricks to make a cubic foot without mortar, but it is generally assumed that the mortar fills 1-6 of the space.

Miscellaneous Information

To find the length of the rafters, at one-fourth pitch, multiply the width of the building by .56 (hundredths) ; at one-third pitch, by .6 (tenths) ; at two-fifths pitch, by .64 (hundredths) ; at one-half pitch, by .71 (hundredths). This gives the length of the rafters from the apex to the end of the wall, and whatever they are to project must be taken into consideration.

Note. - By K or K pitch Is meant that the apex or comb of the roof Is to be a or a the width of the building higher than the walls or base of the rafters.

Rule. - Level the grain ; ascertain the space it occupies in cubic feet ; multiply the number of cubic feet by 8, and point off one place to the left.

If the corn in the box is in the ear, divide the answer by 2, to find the number of bushels of shelled corn, because it requires 2 bushels of eai corn to make 1 of shelled corn.

In measuring land, the first thing to ascertain is the contents of any given plot in square yards ; then, given the number of yards, find out the number of rods and acres.

The most ancient and simplest measure of distance is a step. Now, an ordinary-sized man can train himself to cover one yard at a stride, on the average, v^ith sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes.

To make use of this means of measuring distances, it is essential to walk in a straight line ; to do this, fix the eye on two objects in a line straight ahead, one comparatively near, the other remote ; and, in walking, keep these objects constantly in line.

Farmers and others hy adopting the following simple and ingenious contrivance, may always carry with them the scale to construct a correct yard measure.

Take a foot rule, and commencing at the base of the little finger of the left hand, mark the quarters of the foot on the outer borders of the left arm, pricking in the marks with indelible ink.

Rule. - Multiply the square of one-fifth of the circumference in inches, by twice the length, in feet, and divide by !'.44. Deduct 1-10 to 1-15 according to the thickness of the bark.

Rule. - The reciprocal of the rate is the time for which the interest on any sum of money will be shown by simply removing the decimal point two places to the left ; for ten times that time, remove the point one place to the left ; for 1-10 of the same time, remove the point three places to the left.

Note. - The reciprocal of the rate is found by inTerting: the rate ; thus 3 per cent, per month, inverted, becomes J^ of a month, or 10 days.

U. S. Government Land Measure

A quarter section, half a mile square - 160 acres. An eighth section, half a mile long, north and south, and a quarter of a mile wide - 80 acres.

The sections are divided into quarters, which are named by the cardinal points. The quarters are divided in the same way. The description of a forty acre lot would read : The south half of the west half of the south-west quarter of section 1 in township 24, north of range 7 west, or as the case might be ; and sometimes will fall short and sometimes overrun the number of acres it is supposed to contain.

Surveyors' Measure

A league is three miles, but its length is variable, for it is strictly speaking a nautical term, and should be three geographical miles, equal to 3.45 statute miles, but when used on land, three statute miles are said to be a league.

How To Keep Accounts

Every farmer and mechanic, whether he does much or little business, should keep a record of his transactions in a clear and systematic manner. For the benefit of those who have not had the opportunity of acquiring a'primary knowledge of the principles of book-keeping, we here present a simple form of keeping accounts which is easily comprehended, and well adapted to record the business transactions of farmers, mechanics and laborers.

Interest Table

Multiply the principal Camquiit of money at interest) by the time reduced to days; then divide this product by the auotient obtained by dividing 360 (the number of days in the Interest year)by the p^ cent of intefest andt/ie quotient thus obtained will be the required interest. J'""' J "J t"" vi^r ceni. oi ijiieresc,

Virginia. - The oldest of the States, was so called in honor of Queen Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen," in. whose reign Sir "Walter Raleigh made his first attempt to colonize that region.

Florida. - Ponce de Leon landed on the coast of Florida on Easter Sunday, and called the country in commemoration of the day, which was the Pasqtia Florida of the Spaniards, or " Feast of Flowers."

Texas is the American word for the Mexican name by which all that section of the country was called before it was ceded to the United States.

Introductory

It is probably well known to most who will read these pages, that the writer, some few years since, delivered two lectures on the early history of Joliet and Will County, which Mr. James Goodspeed thought worth printing and publishing. Those lectures were hastily prepared, and the record which they gave was very imperfect. Many names of early settlers were overlooked, and one entire settlement was strangely omitted in copying. The writer is, therefore very glad of an opportunity to revise and rewrite the sketch, adding many more names of the first settlers and noticing many matters in our later history. We will, at the same time, omit much that appears in " Forty Years Ago," that was not strictly historical. There will be found in the following pages brief notices, also, of many of our early prominent citizens who have passed away. But no one will be more sensible than the writer that the record will still be imperfect, and that some names will probably be left out, and many matters escape notice which some one will think to be unpardonable omissions. This is one of the things which detract from the pleasure of writing local annals ; but it seems unavoidable, as no one can know and remember everything, and both the time and space allotted to the writer are limited.

In one respect, the writer is happy. In the previous effort to preserve a little of our early history, the letter "I" occurred quite often - disagreeably so. The writer did not then know that he had the right to use the word " we." He supposed that the editorial fraternity had the exclusive privilege of hiding behind that impenetrable shield. But having discovered that there is no law to prevent its free use by any one who desires to do so, he has adopted it and will use it freely, leaving the reader to guess when it means only the writer and when it means a clique, a city, a township or a county.

The writer regrets that circumstances have made him a fixture in Joliet, and that, like the sessile crustacean known as the barnacle, he cannot go about in search of historic food, and can only gather up that which comes within the reach of his tentacles. But, fortunately, he is to be followed now by others, who will gather up the history of each township separately, and will thus record the many names and facts which he will overlook. This, too, will atone for the prominence which he has given to Joliet - a thing which was unavoidable, as an annalist must necessarily say most about events and circumstances " most of which he saw, and part of which he was."

Boundaries And Topography

Will County, as it is now constituted, consists of twenty-three and about one-half townships of land, and is bounded on the north by Du Page and Cook Counties : on the east by Cook County and the State of Indiana ; on the south by Kankakee County, and on the west by Grundy and Kendall Counties. It has an area, therefore, of (about), 541,440 acres, or 840 square miles. In its widest part it is (about) thirty-seven and one-half miles east and west, and thirty-six miles north and south. The fractional half township is occasioned by its embracing a strip about one and a half sections wide of Townships 33 and 84 north, Range 15 east, which lie between Range 14 and the State line, and are added to the towns of Crete (34) and Washington (33). Otherwise, and excepting the towns of Wesley and Custer (which are divided by the Kankakee), and the town of Reed, which is the west half of T. 32, R. 9, the town organizations are identical with the survey of townships - that is, each town consists of a township of land. This will be apparent at once to the eye by reference to the map which forms a part of this work.

The plan of survey, which was early established for the public lands, renders the description and identification of tracts of land easy and certain. This plan, which is said to have been devised by Thomas Jeiferson, and was adopted in 1786, consists in establishing, first, at convenient distances, meridian lines, which are called ^'principal meridians," and which are started from some wellknown point and are run due north and south. Next, a parallel of latitude is run at right angles with the meridian, and is called the base line. From these main lines others are run, called township lines, just six miles each way, which divide the land into townships of six miles square, which are subdivided into thirty- six sections, of 640 acres each, which can again be subdivided, by imaginary lines, into quarters, half-quarters, etc. The lines running north and south divide the townships into ranges ; and those running east and west, into townships. The meridian line from whch we count starts from the mouth of the Ohio River, and is the Third Principal Meridian. Our ranges are east of this meridian, and the townships are north of the base line. The base line from which we count is somewhat below Centralia, so that the southern line of townships in our county is 32 north, and the western range is 9 east. It is from this Third Principal Meridian that most of the State of Illinois is surveyed. By this simple mode of survey, any piece of land is definitely and easily described, even down to ten acres. In all townships the sections are numbered, beginning at the northeast corner and numbering through first course west, then returning on the second, and so on through the township. Of course, along large rivers and on lakes, fractional sections occur. Plats of the surveys are recorded in the general and local land offices, and secton corners are marked on the prairie by stakes, and in timber by " blazed " trees.

The county is largely prairie, although it exhibits a great variety of soil and surface. There are several townships in which there is not a stick of timber (except as introduced by cultivation), yet considerable bodies of timber are found along the streams, and in isolated groves which were early called "islands." In the early settlement of the county, and of the Northwest generally, the settlers were very careful to select locations adjacent to some grove, and to secure a timber lot was deemed indispensable to settlement. It was then supposed that the prairie land two or three miles from timber would be always open to the range of cattle. The prairie is generally of the kind called high or rolling, and many of the low portions were called "sloughs," as they contained water except in the dry season. There is, however, very little of actual swamp land (although considerable was returned as such) in the county, and at present scarcely an acre that is not inclosed. The system of drainage by tiles is coming largely into use, which is making the "sloughs" the most valuable portions of the land.

The county is well watered, except in the eastern townships, which are the highest part of the county. A considerable stream is the Des Planes,* or as it is often called, the Aux Planes, which rises far to the north (in Wisconsin) and passinfT through Lake and Cook Counties, enters this county on Section 24, Township 37 North, Range 10 East, or the town of Dupage, and passes on through the towns of Lockport (Township 36 North, Range 10 East), and Joliet (Township 35 North, Range 10 East), a corner of Troy, and through Channahon (Township 34 North, Range 9 East), into the edge of Grundy County, where it is united to the Kankakee, and with it forms the Illinois. Just before leaving the county, it is united with the Du Page, a beautiful stream of about the same size and naturally the fullest in dry seasons, which rises in the northern part of Du Page County, where it is fed by copious springs, and enters this county in the town of Dupage by two branches - East and West Du Page - is united on Section 7 of the township, passes through the towns of Wheatland, Plainfield and Troy, and unites with the Des Planes in the town of Channahon. This union of the two rivers (by the way) is what gives rise to the name Channahon, that word being the Pottawatomie word for "meeting of the waters." The name was given to it by Judge Peck, one of the early settlers in that locality, of whom mention is made elsewhere. The Kankakee, which is the largest, perhaps larger than the Du Page and Des Planes united, enters the county at the southeast corner of Township 32, Range 10, and dividing it unequally, passes into Township 32, Range 9, then into Township 33, Range 9, which forms the town of Wilmington, near the southeast corner,

^e give what we believe the correct spelling of the name, although it la often epelled O^l^'"-. ^^ /""""f,* J?' word to be of French origin, and that the meaning is the river of planes, or button-woods, which resemble the European plane tree.

and, passing through the town diagonally, goes into Grundy County near the northeast corner of the town. A smaller stream, known as Hickory Creek, and which on some old maps was put down as Joliet River, which rises in Cook County, enters the town of Frankfort (Township 35, Range 12 East), passes through it and New Lenox (Township 35, Range 11), and empties into the Des Planes in the town of Joliet, just below the city. Of these streams, the Du Page, the Des Planes and the Kankakee afford good water-powers, which have been more or less improved as will be elsewhere noted. Hickory Creek has also a good water-power at times. Besides these there are minor streams of much value as water-courses. The most considerable are Forked Creek, which enters the Kankakee in the town of Wilmington; Prairie Creek, which enters the Kankakee from the northeast in the township of Wilmington ; Jackson Creek, which enters the Des Planes from the east in the town of Channahon; Spring Creek, which enters Hickory in the town of Joliet; the *Lillycache, which enters the Du Page in the town of Plainfield; Horse Creek, which enters the Kankakee in the town of Reed, and Rock Run, "which enters the Des Planes in the town of Troy. These last mentioned streams and several others for which we have no names, are considerable streams in times of high water, sometimes becoming impassable where not bridged, but in dry seasons become mere brooks or dry up altogether. The Lilly-cache, however, being fed by springs which are permanent, is always a beautiful little stream. In the extreme eastern part of the county in the town of Washington (Township 33, Range 15), there is a small lake or pond called Eagle Lake, covering perhaps, a half quarter of land, and surrounded by a considerable tract of marsh. The Des Planes River below Joliet Mound, expands to a considerable width, and is called Joliet Lake. The county also, especially along the watercourses, abounds in springs of good water.

All the larger streams abound in fish of the kinds known in common language as pike, buffalo, red horse, bass, sunfish, etc., etc. In the times of Indian occupation they were favorite resorts of the natives for fishing and trapping, and abounded in muskrats, mink, otter, beaver, etc., some of which still remain for the delectation of amateur trappers. The muskrat still tells the weather prophet whether we are to have a mild or hard Winter, and is almost as reliable as the moon. This region furnished large supplies in the early days for the fur traders. The various kinds of water-fowl are still abundant and furnish " sport " for those whose hearts and consciences will allow them ruthlessly to take the life of God's beautiful creatures. The prairies also abound in the native hens and quails, the destruction of which has been restrained by game laws. In the early settlement of the county, deer were very abundant and an occasional one is seen still, but they have mostly gone with the Indian. Prairie wolves were also very abundant in the early day, and a source of much vexation

*Thi8 name is often spelled LillycMh, which we suppose to be incorrect as there is no unusual amount of cash on Its banks so far as we know. The word cache is French and means a hole or hidine nlace the namo <riv«n hv t^rt.^S and Indians to the places where they often hid corn and other things * ^ ' ^ ^^ and damage, and are not yet extinct. Buffaloes, no doubt, once roamed in vast herds over Will County, but had disappeared before settlement. The timber which filled the native groves and bordered the streams consisted of the various varieties of oak, black walnut, hickory, elm, hard and soft maple, button-wood and iron-wood. Of these and others there was a large and vigorous growth of fine trees on the first settlement of the county, most of which in a few years fell before the ax of the settler for the purpose of building log houses, rail fences, fire-wood, etc., and, as soon as saw-mills were built, for lumber. There were also numerous groves of the wild crab-apple, the fruit of which was tolerable for sauce, when we could get nothing better, and when in blossom the trees wefe a sight which cannot be excelled in beauty. Wild plums were also abundant and good, and wild grapes festooned the trees and furnished a fruit which was fair in quality and made good wine. The present growth of timber has mostly grown up within the memory of the older settlers. The scarcity of timber has now been amply compensated by the discovery of coal and the substitution of other material for fences, as well as the bringing in at low rates of the products of the great pineries of Michigan and Wisconsin. For building purposes, a sub. stitute has also been found in our abundant quarries, and also in the manufacture of brick, the material for which are found in abundance within our own borders. The bluffs and bottoms of the streams - notably of the Des Planes - furnish a limitless supply of the most beautiful limestone. The quarries of this county and Cook, on the line of this river, have become known the United States over. The southwest corner of the county - embracing portions of the towns of Wilmington and Reed, which is a rich, level prairie - is included in the coal-fields of Illinois, which furnishes, at cheap rates, the coal needed for our manufactures and our firesides. The extent of the Wilmington coal-field is not large, but it furnishes a large supply of valuable coal. The area is estimated at twenty square miles, and the thickness of the vein averages, it is thought, three and a quarter feet. This, according to the usual mode of reckoning, would give sixty-six million tons. This corner of the county is honeycombed with shafts, the depth of which varies from twenty to seventy feet. Hundreds of thousands of tons are annually sent to market. This industry has built up a considerable city in the township of Reed, of the name of Braidwood, the name of which has figured somewhat in our recent history. To show the different overlying and underlying strata in this locality we give a section of the Eagle shaft as we find it in the geological survey of the State :

Through the valleys of the three principal streams, alluvial deposits constantly occur. In the Kankakee Valley, these are mostly in the form of sandy ridges, similar to those found on the shores of Lake Michigan. In the valley of the Des Planes, are found extensive beds of limestone gravel and sand. The most noted of these is the Joliet Mound, one fourth of a mile long and two or three hundred feet wide, and sixty feet high. This is composed of gravel and bowlders lying upon a bed of blue clay six feet in thickness. The early explorers imagined this to be the work of the mound-builders, but its composition and that of neighboring ridges and bluffs show very clearly its alluvial origin. The symmetry of the mound which was once so striking, and which led to the belief that it was of artificial orgin, has been in part destroyed, first, by the canal, and subsequently by the "Joliet Mound Tile Company," which has exported its gravel, and made use of its clay in the manufacture of tile and brick. All along the valley on either side and above and below it are ridges of gravel, and a still larger mound, known as Mound Flat Head, presents the same appearance on its western side, a bold, gravelly blufi" some sixty feet high.

Quarries of limestone of different varieties, and of more or less value, are found in the valley of the Des Plaines from the northern line of the county to the Joliet Mound. These furnish a supply of stone for building and flagging that is practically inexhaustible. The particulars respecting the various workings will be given in the township histories. There is also a good limestone quarry at Twelve-Mile Grove, in the town of Wilton, but its distance from railroads, has prevented its being worked, except for the wants of the immediate neighborhood. Good stone is also found on Jackson Creek and on the Du Page. Some of these varieties of limestone furnish the right material for lime, which is largely manufactured, especially in Joliet. Peat has been found in small patches in the eastern part of the county, but there are no extensive beds.

Specimens of copper have been found, and iron nodules are found in the shales overlying the coal ; and it is found in the form of pyrites in the limestone ; but there are no important deposits of either metal. Indications of petroleum have been found in a boring upon the island at Wilmington, and in the Des Planes River, near its mouth. Considerable oil fever was generated at the time, and some money thrown away in boring for oil.

A sandstone quarry has been opened between the Kankakee and the feeder on Section 6, in the town of Wilmington, and also one on Section 20, just across the Du Page, near its mouth. There are also fine beds of molding sand in the town of Channahon. This sandstone quarry, a few years since, promised to become a valuable property. It was opened by a company, of whom our citizen, M. Haley, was one, and large quantities were sent to Chicago to aid in the rebuilding of the city. The Sherman House, and other extensive blocks are built of it. Quite a town grew up about the locality, but, for some reason or other it is not now worked, and the town of Shermanville is deserted. The opening of the quarry showed, after the removal of the surface soil, two feet of molding sand, two feet of fire sand, eight feet of sandstone and clay, and then twentyfive feet or more of hluish sandstone. This was considered to be what Chicago especially needed - something that would not burn. But its beauty, we have heard was impaired by containing traces of iron, which soon gave it a rusty appearance ; and Chicago doesn't like to be thought rusty, and abandoned its use. Artesian wells have been sunk in Joliet and Lockport, and the number in Joliet is not less than twelve. Prom most of these, a steady and copious flow of water is obtained, and very clear and pure, except that some of them contain a little sulphur. It is believed that in almost any part of the county a flow of water could be obtained at less than six hundred feet. Water was obtained in Joliet at less than five hundred feet. The drilling of one of these wells showed 220 feet of limestone, 80 feet of soap and slate stone, 110 feet of sandstone, bearing the water. When the first one was successfully accomplished in Joliet, a great number of our citizens assembled to witness the flow. So deeply interested, it is said, did some become, that they actually drank more or less of the crystal fluid, a thing which some had not done before for many years, thus renewing the experiences of their youth.

Survey, Etc

The reader has perhaps observed on the maps of this State two lines running parallel to each other and diagonally across the townships, and called the Indian Boundary. The land included between these lines - a strip twenty miles - was surveyed in 1821-22 (the Indian title having been extinguished to this in 1818) for canal purposes, as hereafter explained. The land lying outside of this was surveyed in 1837-38. Consequently the portion lying between these lines was brought into market earlier than the other. At the time of the first survey, the parties who did the work were obliged to go to Fort Clark, as Peoria was then called, for their supplies.

To each of the townships the same act which provided for the survey gave the sixteenth section for school purposes. Another section, the thirty-sixth, is also set apart for the same purpose by a later act, but this was too recent to benefit our State.

At the time of the first settlement of our county the title to the land (the Indian title having been purchased by treaty) was in the United States. Acts of Congress had, however, been passed for the purpose of encouraging settlement, by which actual settlers were allowed to gain a pre-emption right, as it was called, or a right to purchase, to the exclusion of all others, 160 acres of land, or a quarter-section, at $1.25 per acre, whenever the same should be brought into market. Land offices were established where settlers could prove up their rights and receive certificates in the form of receipts for the purchase money, for which patents were afterward given by the United States. In cases where the whole amount could not be secured in one place, or when prairie or timber could not be secured contiguous, a right to locate one eighty on unclaimed lands was given, which was called a " float." After the lands had been opened to pre-emption for a time, public sales were held, and outside parties, not actual settlers, were allowed to purchase. Early settlers will recall how conflicting claims often occurred between "squatters" and other claimants, and how neighborhoods often established a kind of mock court for their settlement. These were without any authority of law, but their decisions were generally received without appeal. Certain acts were required by the law to entitle a person to pre-emption - such as a certain amount of fencing, a cabin and actual residence for a certain period. When public sales occurred, however, "squatters' rights " were enforced by the combined settlers against speculators, whether the claimant had done what the law required or not. Many actual settlers also had not secured their pre-emption by reason of their not having the money to pay for the land. Speculators and squatters often compromised by the speculator paying for the whole claim and giving the squatter one-half These various terms, pre-emption, float, claim, squatter, etc., have now become obsolete in this region, but they were, forty or fifty years ago, words of great significance.

Another act had been passed by Congress, in 1826, giving to the State every alternate section of land in a strip ten miles wide, lying along and each side of the contemplated route of a proposed canal. This act appropriated 300,000 acres of land for the purpose of constructing the canal, and laid the foundation for the Illinois and Michigan Canal, a brief history of which is given further on. It was, no doubt, this act, as well as the natural beauty and fertility of the region, which gave rise to the tide of immigration which set in hither fprty to fifty years ago.

Earliest History

In tracing up the history of any locality or people, it is always "pleasing to go back to the beginning of things, and to learn who first trod its soil and voyaged upon its streams. Such an investigation in reference to Will County carries us back to 1673, when Louis Joliet, a French trader, and James Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, started out from Green Bay on their successful voyage for the discovery of the great river which, the Indians informed them, flowed to the Great West. Going up the Fox and across the " divide " into the Wisconsin, they came, in due time, to the great river, on whose ample bosom they floated as far as the Arkansas. This was far enough to satisfy them that it emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, and they retraced their steps. Coming to the mouth of the Illinois, they returned by that stream to Chicago, having learned from the Indians that it was a shorter route, passing, of course, up the Des Planes. Tradition says that they encamped upon the mound below'Joliet. However this may be, it has borne the name of Joliet Mound from earliest times. This was probably the first time that the region now known as Will County was trodden by a white man. A few years after, two other early French explorers - La passed from the St. Joseph River into the Kankakee, and down it into the Illinois. These- facts and the following incident from Indian history, ought to make the Des Planes and the Kankakee classic rivers. In a very interesting work published a few years since by N. Matson, of Bureau County (and who, by the way, seems to be one of our indefatigable searchers after the Indian history of this region), we find the following tradition respecting the mound :

" One of the most celebrated Indians of history was Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawas, of Michigan. After the surrender of the Northwest by the French to England, in 1763, Pontiac for a while contested the claims of the English, and was known as their most able and bitter enemy. When he could no longer maintain the contest, he left the vicinity of Detroit, where he was born and had always lived, and with the remnants of his once powerful tribe (about two hundred warriors and their families), found a refuge on the banks of the Kankakee, in this county, somewhere in the vicinity of Wilmington. He merged the remnants of his tribe into that of the Pottawatomies. This region was claimed by the Illinois, and a conflict arose between the tribes, especially in reference to the right to hunt the buffalo to the west of the Illinois River. After fighting over the matter awhile, a council was agreed upon to settle the question. This council met at Mound Joliet, in 1769. During a speech which Pontiac was making in support of his side of the question, he was treacherously assassinated by " Kineboo," the head chief of the Illinois. This act of treachery led to the bloody war which resulted in the destruction of the great Indian city "LaVantam," which stood on the site where the paper city of Utica was afterward built, and to the tragedy of Starved Rock, and to the ultimate extinction of the great nation of the Illinois.

After the visits of Joliet, Marquette, La Salle and Hennepin, there is no record of these regions having felt the tread of the white man for nearly one hundred and fifty years. But it was no doubt a favorite hunting and fishing ground for the Indians ; and many a tale of peace, of the chase and of war could be woven from the imagination, without doing violence to the facts. The portage from the South Branch of the Chicago River to the Des Planes was easy and short, and the canoes of the Indian and of the Indian trader made frequent passages up and down the Des Planes. The next white man who explored this route, of whom we have any certain knowledge, was Gurdon S. Hubbard, now the oldest white settler of Chicago, and who was an Indian trader there, as early as 1824, and who entered the employ of the great American Fur Company much earlier. He, no doubt, and other white men in their employ, used to convey goods along this route and gather up furs in exchange. We have a record of one such trip (the first), made in 1818. Mr. Hubbard is still living, and we think the world might be challenged for another such experience as his. To have seen Chicago, the mere outpost it was, in 1818, and for some years after, and then to have lived to see its morasses transformed into a well-built city of half a million inhabitants ! Old Methuselah, in his nine hundred and sixty-nine years, saw nothing like it.

In high water then, as even now occasionally, the Des Planes emptied through Mud Lake a portion of its surplus waters in the Chicago River. Thus the practice of the Indians and of the earliest traders seems to have been prophetic of that great traffic which it was decreed that future years should open up through this beautiful valley, and which, immense as it is, has not yet probably reached its acme. No doubt many now living, if not those who are called old settlers, will yet see the steamers plying busily up and down an enlarged canal and river.

The peace of Paris, in 1763, terminated the rule of France over the Northwest, and it passed into English possession, a fact which was destined to secure to this region another type of civilization and of Christianity. Of course, many of the early explorers, traders and missionaries remained, and of these and their descendants it was estimated that two thousand remained within the limits of our State when (1818) it was admitted into the Union. Now, however, there are only the names of a few localities to remind us that the mercurial Frenchman once exercised the right of eminent domain here. By the Revolution of 1776 and the treaty with England, the country passed into the domain of the United States, and, by the treaty of 1833, at Chicago, with the Pottawatomies, the red man surrendered his domain, also. In 1835, the Indians to the number of five thousand, were assembled at Chicago, received their annuity, danced their last war dance in Illinois, and took up their march for new hunting grounds on the far Missouri.

First Permanent Settlements

We will now proceed to detail such facts in respect to the first settlement of Will County as have escaped oblivion, and have been collected from the memories of early settlers and from public records. In so doing, we shall of course repeat much of what was embodied in " Forty Years Ago."

At the time of the admission of the State, all that portion lying north of Alton and Edwardsville, with slight exceptions, was a wilderness. Occasional explorers, soldiers on their marches to the distant outposts, as well as Indian traders and trappers, had, however, discovered the beauties of the region and given glowing descriptions of its attractions. The project of a canal, which was entertained during the war of 1812, as we have said, had also called attention particularly to this region and led to its purchase of the Indians in 1816, and, as early as 1820 and on, an occasional pioneer had pushed out into the great Northwest. The Methodist Church, also, which, if not as early, has been as zealous and self-denying, as the Jesuit Society in its eiForts to Christianize the "poor Indian," and to hold the restraints of religion over the pioneer, had early sent out its missionaries, furnished only with horse and saddle-bags, a bible and hymn-book, to establish missions over the region so soon to become the homes of settlers from the East and from the West and South, where Yankees and Hoosiers, Virginians, Kentuckians and "Buckeyes" were soon to mingle in neighborhood fellowship, in due time to be followed by Irishmen, Germans, Englishmen, Swiss, Norwegians, Swedes and " contrabands."

It was one of these Methodist missionaries who became the first settler within the present bounds of Will County. This was the Rev. Jesse Walker, a native of. the State of Virginia, born in 1766, twenty-five years before the death of Wesley. He joined the church at the age of 20, and entered the ministry of the M. E. Church on probation, in 1804. He married the daughter of a wealthy planter who was heir to much property in slaves. These she manumitted, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, and as the wife of a Methodist minister, than to enjoy the ease and comfort which could be secured by the sweat of unpaid toil. Like Moses, she no doubt had respect unto the recompense of the reward, and, no doubt, like him, she had entered upon that reward and does not regret her choice. In 1806, Walker, accompanied by Wm. McKendree (afterward Bishop), came to Illinois - then included in the Territory of Indiana. They were highly pleased with what they saw, and at the next meeting of the Conference were appointed to the circuit in Illinois. It is characteristic of the times, and shows how loosely the Methodist clergy of that day were held by worldly interests, that Walker returned home from the Conference about noon, commenced preparations at once for the journey, and by 10 o'clock of the- next day, he and his family were on theway to their new field of labor and self-denial. The state of the country at that time rendered only one mode of travel possible - ?, e., on horseback - and four horses were required for himself, family and possessions - one for himself, one for his wife and young daughter, one for his eldest daughter, a girl of sixteen, while the fourth carried, not his library, for an itinerant had only a hymn book and bible, but a small stock of Methodist books, the sale of which must eke out his slender salary. Such a mode of travel would not admit of carrying even a single Saratoga trunk, had such arks been at that time invented. Happily they were not needed, as the wardrobe of each member of the family consisted of only one suit besides the one worn, and these were spun and woven by the mother and daughter, and were of linsey-woolsey or jeans ! Think of this, ye Flora Mc-

Illinois, although he had received but a very limited education. He was a an of strong, native intellect, ready wit and good sense - -just the man for the lace and the time. There are still some living who remember him well. In the Indians; and in this capacity he came to the vicinity of Plainfield in 1826, where, and for several subsequent years, there was an Indian village. In 1827, he was Superintendent of the Fox River Mission, embracing a large extent of territory. He is said to have held the first camp-meeting in the State, and also to have preached the first Protestant sermon in St. Louis. In 1829, he had charge of the Des Planes Mission, and formed the first class at Walker's Grove, where the settlement was made, just south of the present village of Plainfield. Father Walker's labors as Superintendent of the Mission were not of course, confined to Will County. In the history of Livingston County, we find mention of his labors among the Kickapoos. The writer speaks of his success among this tribe as being considerable, resulting in many conversions. It is related of the converts that they were very scrupulous in the observance of the Sabbath, always returning from their hunting excursions on Saturday night. In this they were a good example to the whites, many of whom we have noticed start out to hunt on Sabbath morning. This writer also describes the kind of prayer books made use of, which consisted of black walnut boards on which they rudely carved the imageg and figures which represented their ideas, and these, it is said, they never failed to consult before going to rest at night. They did not forget their prayers, however sleepy and tired, as white Christians often do. To return to Walker's Grrove.

The Pottawatomie Indians had one custom which is worth recording. They set apart a certain number of their women as council women, whose duty it was, whenever the head men held a council, to sit in an inner circle and silently to listen to all that was said, and record, in their memories, the decisions arrived at by their lords. They were not allowed to speak in the council, or to gossip about it among themselves or with others, and only to speak when called upon ofiicially in relation to any matter thus recorded. It is said that these women were highly esteemed by the tribe, and were selected with great care, a fact which we can readily believe, for they must have been possessed of rare and admirable qualities. Many of these facts we have gathered from Mrs. D. C. Scarles, who is a grand daughter of Father Walker and the daughter of James Walker, presently to be mentioned. We are also indebted to the book of Father Beggs - another pioneer preacher of whom we shall presently make mention - for some of the facts respecting Father Walker. Father Walker died at Plainfield, in 1835, at the ripe age of 69. At a meeting of the Eock River Conference, at Plainfield, in 1850, his remains were removed from the old cemetery to the new one, and a monument placed over them with this inscription : " At the Rock River Conference, in 1850, his remains were removed to this place by his sons in the Gospel, who erect this stone to transmit his revered name to coming generations."

It is very much to be regretted that the manuscripts left by Father Walker, respecting his life and labors, which must have been of great historic value and interest, were burned, a portion of them in the fire which afterward consumed the house of James Walker ; and such as were saved from that fire were con- sumed in the burning of D. C. Searles' house a few years since. While on the subject of Indians, we will relate an incident which occurred a little later. During the Black Hawk war, one of the council women of whom we have spoken, came to Mrs. James "Walker, the daughter of Father Walker, who had been a teacher at the mission, and who was highly esteemed by the Indians, and left with her her infant boy, to whom she had given the name of Shon-onise, charging her that if she did not return she must be a mother to him, which Mrs. Walker, without much reflection at that time, promised. The council woman was then on her way to Milwaukee to attend a council. It so happened that she was attacked with cholera and died, leaving to Mrs. Walker the charge she had accepted. This duty she faithfully fulfilled, and the Indian boy was brought up in the family with Mr. Walker's children, and received the same advantages of education as his own, and when he became of age was given a generous outfit. But Shon-on-ise at once showed the truth of the adage, " once an Indian, always an Indian," for he immediately tui'ned his pony's head toward the setting sun and sought out his tribe in the Far West. Having the advantages of education, he became an influential chief among the Indian tribes, and made frequent visits to Washington in furtherance of their interests. On such occasions he always called to see Captain James and his foster-mother.

In this village, as elsewhere, the Pottawatomies were generally well disposed toward the settlers, giving them but little annoyance except when under the influence of good-na-tosh. This article, which, under another name, plays the mischief among white people as well, was a source of great trouble and, indeed, of danger to the mission and the early settlers, and it became necessary to keep strict watch and to use arbitrary measures to keep it from them. On one occasion, Capt. James Walker, finding that by some unaccountable means the Indians had access to the contraband article, determined to find out how they got it. Being perfectly familiar with Indian customs, and speaking their language, he disguised himself in their attire and walking into their encampment or village, he seated himself among them, as he found them gathered tosether evidently for some special purpose. Presently a man stole in whom he recognized as an Indian trader from Fox Kiver, and began to deal out the fire-water. He soon came to Capt. Walker, who jumped to his feet and called out the name of the trader, who exclaimed, "My God, Captain, is this you ! " The result was that the traffic ceased, for a time at least. But it is time to tell who Capt. Walker was.

Capt. James Walker had married one of the daughters of Jesse Walker. Although of the same name, they were not related. James Walker was , a native of Tennessee, and came to Ottawa at an early day, where he became acquainted with Jesse "Walker, and married his daughter, and accompanied him in his mission to Walker's Grove. He brought with him a horse-power mill which he set up for temporary use, and proceeded at once to construct a sawmill and a grist-mill also on the Du Page. These rendered valuable service to the early settlers in this region. It is said, and no doubt truly, that the lumber for the first frame building erected in Chicago was sawed at this mill. This was erected by a Mr. Peck, on the southeast corner of La Salle and South Water streets, upon a lot which had cost the enormous sum of $80. We presume that the lot is now occupied by a better building, and that it has advanced somewhat in price. The lumber was hauled to Chicago by Reuben Flagg, Esq., mentioned below. On the organization of Will County, Jas. Walker was chosen one of the three County Commissioners without opposition, and soon after was chosen to represent the county in the Legislature. He also served the county as Commissioner during the years 1845-8. Mr. Jas. Walker died in 1850, at the age of 57. He was a man of strong good sense, integrity of character, and enterprise and energy, and a consistent member of the Methodist Church.

Another Methodist pioneer preacher is identified with the early history of Plainfield and Will County, Rev. Stephen R. Beggs, who is well known throughout the county as one of the earliest itinerants through this region. He settled his family on the southeast quarter of Section 16 of the township, and built a log house, etc. He subsequently obtained the title to the same at the sale of the section under the school law. His house became historic, as we shall have occasion to mention by and by. Father Beggs still survives in a ripe old age, and is still able to put in his strong appeals in behalf of religion, temperance and justice. In 1825, a Frenchman of the name of Vetel Vermette, strayed into the same vicinity. He did not remain long and little is known of him.

In the Summer of 1830, Mr. Reuben Flagg left the State of Vermont with his family, and after a journey of two months arrived in the vicinity of Walker's Grove, on the 9th day of July. He settled on the northeast quarter of Section 10 in the township. On his way, he passed through a village consisting of about a dozen log cabins, a block-house and stockade. Such an obscure point, surrounded by low, wet prairie, barren sand and impassable sloughs, presented no attraction to the emigrant. No prophetic vision of the great city which afterward arose from the mud, and more recently from its ashes, had then troubled the brain of even the most enthusiastic squatter. Mr. Flagg found in the vicinity, besides the families of the Walkers and Vermette, two other settlers and their families. These were Timothy B. Clark and Thomas Covel, who had emigrated the same Spring from New England. Mr. Flagg was accompanied from Detroit by Jedediah Wooley, Sr., who bought out the claim of the Frenchman Vermette. It is an interesting incident that in 1832, Father Beggs, who was then Presiding Elder, held his first quarterly meeting in Chicago. The incipient city had by this time grown a little, but it had not yet become the greatest hog and corn market of the world, and it was thought necessary that some extra provision should be made for the Methodists and others that would congregate there upon the occasion. Accordingly. Mr.

Clark, above mentioned, hauled a load of provisions by ox-team express to Chicago to meet the emergency. A daughter of Mr. Flagg's (now deceased), was perhaps the first white child born within the precincts of Will County, although several others claim the honor. To this settlement additions were soon made. We give the names, so far as we have been able to gather them, up to 1837, with the dates of their arrival, without vouching for their correctness in all cases. In 1832-3, Wm. Bradford, John Shutliff, David Smith, Chester Smith, Ralph Smith and Paul Kingston. Although there are several Smith families, we believe that these three were brothers.

In 1833-4, Alva Culver, Sereno Culver, Miles Royce, Chester Ingersoll, Jas. Gilson, Oliver Goss, Deacon Ezra Goodhue, Hardy Metcalf, Benj. Shutliif, Jason Flanders, John Bill, W. W. Wattles, Robert W. Chapman, John Kellogg, Rev. Alfred Greenwood, Wm. Sanborn, Benj. Highland, Thomas J. Lang, James Mather and Andrew Carrier ; in 1835, '36 and '37, Jonathan Hagar, Levi C. Aldrich, Fenner Aldrich, Samuel Sergeant, Wm. E. Morgan, J. E. Ambrose, Elder R. B. Ashley and sons, Bela Luce, Myron Piersons, S. S. Pratt, Dr. A. J. Corbin, Alonzo Ray, Rev. Isaac Foster, Winthrop Wright, Cyrus Ashley, David Rossiter, A. J. Hatch, R. D. Hatch, Hugh Alexander, George Burrell, Dudley Beckwith, Lorin Burdick and S. B. Tyler. Flanders, Lang, Sanborn and Goodhue came together from New Hampshire.

Mr. Greenwood was the first Pastor of the Congregational Church, which had been organized by the pioneer home missionary, Rev. N. C. Clark, in September, 1831. It was composed of the following members at organization : James Mathews and Sarah, his wife ; Ezra Goodhue and Martha, his wife ; Andrew Carrier and his wife, and Oliver Goss and Mary, his wife ; Ezra Goodhue Deacon. The first resolution passed by this Church was a strong temperance one, and the first case of discipline was that of a brother reported to have sold whisky to the Indians. Mr. Greenwood was succeeded in 1836 by Isaac Foster, who was an able preacher and one of the blackest of " black Abolitionists " (of which we had a good many in Will County in the early days). He subsequently removed to California and took up the profession of law, and no doubt made a sharp and able lawyer. A characteristic anecdote is told of his California life : California, as well as other free States, had a fugitive-slave law passed in obedience to the slave power, which in those days was well-nigh supreme. In this case, however, the statute expired at a certain date by its own limitation. A "fugitive" was pursued to California and arrested. Foster, being well known there as well as here for his anti-slavery principles, was appealed to for the management of the defense. In his investigations, he discovered that the act under which the claimant had proceeded would expire in a few days. He therefore obtained an adjournment of the case to the day subsequent to the expiration of the act. The other party little dreamed that there was any limit to their rights, and came prepared to insist upon their bond, like Shylock of old. Foster was ready, and soon surprised the Court and the other party by the information that the bond, under which they claimed not only a "pound of flesh" but the whole man, body and soul, was worthless, and demanded the discharge of the prisoner. To this demand the Judge was obliged to yield. Well knowing that other proceedings would be instituted, the friends of the slave had made arrangements by which he was safely conducted elsewhere by the underground railroad, and beyond the reach of the manhunter, who, in his rage at being balked of his prey, challenged Foster to mortal combat. Foster declined on the score that it was none of his quarrel, but offering to get the negro to fight him if he wished.

James Mather built the mill at the upper end of the village, afterward known as McAllister's. He left Plainfield in 1844, and has died within a few years in California. Wm. E. Morgan and Samuel S. Pratt, named above, started the first cabinet shop in Plainfield, and we think in Will County ; and Pratt, with Benj. Richardson, afterward started a cabinet and chair factory in Joliet. Oliver Goss and one of the Smiths were merchants. Jonathan Hagar was for a long time a merchant in Plainfield. He now enjoys the comfortable fortune which he has acquired by upright and diligent attention to business ; a prominent man in the Congregational Church and in the prosperous town of Plainfield. He is one of the stockholders in the First National Bank of this city. Jason Flanders was a native of New Hampshire, came to the grove in 1834, was an industrious, honest man, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died in 1875, at the age of 6t). Winthrop Wright has been a prominent man in the county, and was Supervisor of the town in 1855 and 1856. A. Culver was Supervisor of the town in 1852 and again in 1857.

Elder Ambrose organized the Baptist Church at Plainfield, and was succeeded by Elder Ashley, who organized the original Baptist Church at Joliet, of which we shall speak by and by. We are informed by Elder Ashley, who still lives in Plainfield, carrying the weight of 79 years, that himself and Elder Powell held the first protracted meeting in Chicago. Elder Ashley counts up more that eighty meetings of that kind which he has conducted.

Chester Ingersoll kept a hotel, we presume in " Mark Beaubien " style, in the early days, and laid out the first village plat of Plainfield in August, 1834. He was an active speculator, and subsequently resided at Lockport, where he held the office of Justice of the Peace. He was the Justice of the Peace who accomplished an official feat which has probably never been equaled. Justices of the Peace were legally competent to take the acknowledgments of deeds, etc.; and the law, as is well known, required that the ofiicer should examine the wife separate and apart from her husband, in order to relinquish dower. Having sold a piece of land, Ingersoll, with an eye to thrift or convenience, took his own acknowledgment, and also that of his wife and af art from her said husband," and certified to the fact under his own hand and seal, and the writer hereof put the deed and acknowledgment upon the county records. Just how he accomplished the feat, history is silent ; but that he did it has long been a matter of record. There has been considerable litigation in the way of s claim for dower on score of defective acknowledgment, but we think this one would defy the sharpest lawyer. Ingersoll emigrated to California just before the discovery of gold, and died there. Several letters from him are in the files of *he Signal.

Of these early settlers in Plainfield and vicinity, three have been represented in the bar of Joliet by one son each, viz.: Hager, Flanders and Goodhue. Thomas Lang furnished us with two brave boys for Company D, One Hundredth Regiment - Sergt. George A. Lang, and John C. Lang, who was wounded July 2-2d, before Atlanta. The latter is now on the editorial staff of the Republican. James Mather built the mill at the north end of Plainfield, subsequently remodeled by the McAllisters. Later names and facts respecting the history of Plainfield are referred to in the town history. We are only attempting to record the beginnings of its history. One fact, however, of later date we will record. Such was the reluctance of the early settlers to launch out into the open prairie, that at the land sale in 1835, Judge Caton found two sections of land in the town of Plainfield still unclaimed, which he entered. These sections, 30 and 31, with a half-section in Kendall, make (next to that of C. C. Smith, in Channahon) the largest farm in our county. The Judge opened the farm in 1838, and resided upon it until 1842 or 1843, and was a most vigorous granger during those years, and could often be seen driving his long ox-team and breaking-plow, barefooted, over his ample and fertile acres. In those years, he used to vary the routine of daily life with occasional pettifogging before Justice Hagar. We do not suppose that Mr. Hagar would claim that it was this experience which qualified him for Chief Justice of Illinois. The Judge still retains the farm, although Will County cannot claim him as a citizen. The property was many years in charge of his brother, Wm. P. Caton, who was eight years the Supervisor of the town and Chairman of the Board. Let us also note the fact that Plainfield was the first town that got a company (the old battery) into the late war from our county, and she also furnished the greatest number of volunteers, in proportion to her population, of any town, and she is also the only town in the county that has erected a monument to the memory of those who perished in defense of the Union. This monument cost

Wheatland

Immediately north of Plainfield, lies the town of Wheatland - Township 37, Range 9 - the northwestern corner of the county. With slight exceptions, this township remained unsettled until after 1840. Two things contributed to delay its settlement. Lying mostly outside of the Indian boundary line, it was not surveyed until 1837 or 1838, and not brought into market until 1841 ; and being entirely prairie (with a trifiing exception in the northeast corner), it did not so early attract settlers as other portions. But this was also an advantage, as it was from these circumstances, kept out of the hands of speculators, and reserved for the hardy immigrant. But so fine a section of land could not long remain vacant after the discovery had been made that timber was not so indispensable as the earlier settlers supposed.

Isaac Foster, of whom we spoke in the history of Plainfield, settled in the south part in 1837 ; Josiah B. Wightman, in 1838 ; L. Q. Colgrove and Chester Ingersoll, in 1839 ; Simeon B. Tyler, in 1841, and Anthony Freeland in 1842. These were all on the east side of the Du Page. D. W. Cropsy, the first Supervisor of the town, settled on the west side, in 1846, but soon moved to the east side ; and S. Simmons, who was also Supervisor of the town five years, and our County Judge four years, located there in 1847.

In 1843, there was a considerable addition to the township. William McMicken, and John McMicken - the present Supervisor of the town - who were directly from Scotland, settled in the extreme northwestern corner of the township. In this year, came, also, Wm. Cotton, A. B. Cotton, James Robins, John Robins and Fitzjames Robins, Englishmen, from the Isle of Wight, and George W. Brown, from Pennsylvania, and Joseph B. Wait, E. T. Durant Warren W. Boughton, P. Haviland and Asa Canfield, from New York ; and Wm. Kinley, from the Isle of Man ; and Julius Piedlau and John Martin, from Canada

In 1844, Stephen Findlay and sons founded the Scotch settlement, in the southwestern part of the town, at and about Tamarack Post Office. In the same year came Robert Clow and his five sons, Robert, Jr., Adam, William and Thomas, and a little later another son, John H. The Clows were Scotch, but had tarried a few years in the State of New York before finally pitching their tent in Wheatland, where, the land being still not taken up, they entered 1,080 acres of its beautiful prairie, embracing Section 15 and parts of 14 and 10. We find in the files of the True Democrat an enthusiastic notice of the editor's visit to Wheatland in 1850. The editor, H. N. Marsh, Esq., was then taking the census of the county. He makes special mention of the Clow plantation, of the white school houses, and of D. W. Cropsy 's fat beeves and toothsome cheese.

The same year (1844), came Mungo Patterson, Daniel Catchpole, Jacob Spaulding, George Wheeler and Elias Myers. The Scotch Church was organized in 1847, by Rev. Mr. Oburn, and the house of worship, which is such a conspicuous landmark to the travelers over the prairie, one mile north of Tamarack Post Office, was built a few years after.

In 1843, the following persons settled in the northwest part of the township, and gave the neighborhood the name of the Vermont Settlement : David L. Davis, G. Washington Davis and their aged father, Jonathan Davis, and Levi Blanchard. In 1844, Laton Rice, also from Vermont, with his five sons Alphonso, John I., Asahel, Philander and Isaac, in company with Rudolph Houghton and General Davis and their families, making the journey from Vermont with their own teams, camping out nights, after a journey of forty-four days, reached the same settlement and became a part thereof in October of the year named. .Let us say, in passing, that Alphonso Rice was one of Wheat- land's contributions to the war for the Union, and that he laid down his life at Champion Hills in 1863, being a member of Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Infantry; and that John I. is now a resident of Peotone, and, in the year 1877, was Supervisor of the town of Will. To this Vermont settlement there was added in 1845: Jacob Yaggy Ya German), Edwin Lillie (a Verraonter), and in 1846 Laban Clark and family, and in 1847, Willard Hayward, and in 1850 Zidon Edson and Dr. Allen and families. All these, together with the Mr. Kinley we named above, settled in the same district. To these were added, also, Leland Houghton, Hiram Johnson and Sampson Pratt, in 1844 or 1845.

In 1844 or 1845, the following persons settled east of the Du Page : F. Boardman and A. S. Thomas, and Sumner Heminway, on west side. Mr. Boardman was Supervisor of the town three years.

In 1846, and the three or four following years, the population of the town increased rapidly, and among the later settlers were many Pennsylvania Dutch and Germans, and these now form nearly half of the population of the township. They are the same staid and substantial citizens they are elsewhere, and have built two neat and substantial churches.

We have spoken of the absence of timber in Wheatland, and this fact reminds us of a little story. In 1846, the first election was held in the township, which, by the way, was then known as " Oregon Precinct," for two Justices of the Peace. Robert Clow, Sr., did not attend the election, but his sons did. When they came back, the old gentleman asked Robert, Jr., who they had put mto office. Robert, Jr., replied : " Mr. Lillie." " Varra gude ! Varra gude ! " says he. " And wha' else ? " " Me," was the modest and hesitating reply. "You!" says the old man, "you! A-weel, a-weel, timber is varra scarce in this country, sure enoo. !" But fathers do not always put the most correct estimate upon their own boys. The people of Wheatland seem to have thought the timber pretty good, as they have chosen Robert, Jr., for their Supervisor seventeen years, while the county has chosen him as its Representative for two terms, and finally made him Circuit Clerk and Recorder. Mr. Robert Clow, Sr., died October 5, 1870, at the age of 83 years and 6 months. His death was hastened by an accidental fall.

In the digging of a well in Wheatland, on Section 6, in 1870, a bone was found forty-four inches long and of the diameter of one foot, supposed to be the bone of the lower leg of a mastodon, which must, it is estimated, have been at least seventeen feet high.

The Dupage Settlement

In the town of Dupage (Town 37, Range 10), which lies east of Wheatland, settlements were early made. This town is beautifully watered by the two branches of the Du Page which unite just before entering Wheatland. The first settler in this township was Stephen J. Scott, a native of Maryland, who came into this State in 1826, and made a claim at Grose Point, now known as Evanston. He had the year before located on the eastern shore, but was not satisfied with the place, and crossed over with his family. There were then but few white people north of Peoria, besides the garrison. Only two or three families of Indian agents and traders at Chicago. While out hunting with his soa Willard, then a young man of twenty or more (now a resident of Naperville, and a banker), he came upon the Du Page River near Plainfield. Struck with the beauty of the stream and the adjacent prairies and groves, he followed the stream until he came to the forks, or the union of the east and west branches, on Section 7. The beauty and evident fertility of the spot led him at once to the determination to leave the vicinity of the lake and locate on that spot, and make it his future home. He, accordingly, in the Autumn of 1830, made his claim, built a comfortable log house and moved his family to the spot. This is the farm now occupied by Mrs. Sheldon.

Willard Scott, who accompanied his father, had acquired a good knowledge of the Indian language and character, and had great influence with the Pottawatomie Indians, and at a council held at Big Woods in 1832, was largely instrumental in preventing the tribe from joining the Sacs in their murderous war upon the early settlers. He had been adopted into the tribe and received an Indian name - Kish-wash, an Eagle. The sterling honesty and undaunted bravery of the young man commanded their respect and confidence. On one of his early hunting expeditions he wandered as far as Holdeman's Grove, and there found a wife in the family of Hawley. This family removed to the same locality in 1880. These Scotts subsequently removed to Naperville and became identified with the history of Du Page County.

In the years 1830-32, this vicinity was selected as their future home by Israel Blodgett, Pierce Hawley (above named), Robert Strong, John Dudley, Ralph Stowell, Harry Boardman, Seth Wescott, Isaac Scarrett, Lester Peet, Simon Terrill, John Barber and Samuel Goodrich. In 1833-35, the settlement was incl-eased by the coming of Andrew Godfrey, Harry Lord, Philip Lord, Hiram Warren, Hannibal Ward, Daniel Stewart, Peter Stewart, Samuel Whallen, Shubal Swift, Joseph Berry, S. Clifibrd, George Spicer, William Smith and Jonathan Royce and sons.

Isaac Scarrett, above named, was another Methodist pioneer itinerant and colaborer with Beggs and Walker, and he succeeded Walker, in 1828, as Superintendent of Fox River Mission previous to his settlement in Du Page. His son, P. P. Scarrett, was Sheriff of our county in 1854-55. Elder Scarrett died at the residence of his son in Joliet, in May, 1861, at the age of 78. Samuel Whallen was a County Commissioner in the years 1841, 1842 and 1843 and died about five years since at the ripe age of 94. Wm. Smith, commonly known as Col. Smith, removed, in a few years, to this city, having been elected Clerk of the

Circuit Court, which office he held for seven years. He was a prominent citizen until his death, in November, 1870 ; was 82 years old. His son, R. W. Smith, was Supervisor of Dupage in 1855-57, and has also deceased.

Harry Boardman was one of our most popular and genial citizens and Supervisor of the town in 1855 ; a son of Jonathan Royce, of same name, was Supervisor of the town in 1870-73. John Barber was the father of our well-known citizen, R. E. Barber, Esq., and settled on the south side of the east branch, and gave name to Barber's Corners. Robert Strong still lives, one of our most worthy citizens and an Elder in the Dupage Presbyterian Church, and was Supervisor of the town in 1862. Judge Blodgett, of Chicago, is a son of Israel Blodgett.