Will County, Illinois - The whole text, 1878 (part 9 of 29)

The Joliet & Northern Indiana Railroad, commonly called the cut-off, and now owned and controlled by the Michigan Central, is becoming one of the most important railroad connections, furnishing as it does a direct communication with the Eastern markets, and it is making Joliet one of the most important centers of the grain and pork trade, as will appear from statistics elsewhere given. The opening of this road was strenuously opposed by Chicago, she being unwilling to lose any part of her immense trade. A fierce paper war was waged during its incubar tion, but the project was so important and so obviously just that it was bound to carry in time. This road was built in 1855, and among the benefits which accrued to us from it, we must not forget, was the coming here of Calvin Knowlton, long time its Superintendent. His given name, we think, another case of lucus a non lucendo. It has also built up two stations - the villages of Spencer and Frankfort.

The Chicago branch of the Illinois Central road, which was part of the grand scheme of 1837, but had no vitality until Congress made the magnificent donation of 3,000,000 acres of public lands to the State for its construction, passes through the towns of Peotone, Will and Monee, having created the two flourishing villages of Peotone and Monee. Several other roads have been projected and surveyed through our county, and will, perhaps, sometime become fixed facts ; but as they are still in the future, we leave them for some future historian.

The Oswego & Indiana Plankroad was chartered in 1849-50, and the subscription books opened in 1851, and the stock soon taken. Directors were chosen in May, 1851. These were J. A. Matteson, M. H. Demmond, H. D. Risley, Isaac Cook and Uri Osgood. The Directors organized by choosing H. D. Risley, President ; Uri Osgood, Treasurer, and H. E. Streeter, Secretary. Under the energetic superintendency of the President, the road was soon opened to Plainfield. Work was also done beyond. This road was in use for several years until worn out, when the road was abandoned. It was under its charter, which was a liberal one, that considerable railroading was done. A plankroad was also constructed for a few miles south of the city. Lockport also rejoiced in a plankroad, chartered under the name of the Lockport, Plainfield & Yorkville Plankroad, organized in June, 1855, at Plainfield. Hiram Norton, John F. Daggett, George Gaylord, D. C. Norton and S. Hamlin were Directors. Hiram Norton, President; J. F. Daggett, Treasurer and SecretaVy; A. J. Mathewson, Surveyor. They built a road to Plainfield, which has also ceased to be a plankroad. Plankroads, like many other things, seem to be obsolete.

There are several persons who have been prominent in our early history, but who have now passed from the scene of their earthly activities, about whom it is proper that something more should be said than we have found it convenient to do in the progress of our narrative. Some of these we will now briefly notice. We begin with

Jesse 0. Norton

He was born in Bennington, Vt., in December, 1812. His father. Col. Martin Norton, was a soldier, serving his country at the time of his birth. He pursued the usual preparatory course and entered Williams College in 1831, and graduated with honor in 1835. Having no means, and entirely dependent upon his own exertions, he immediately commenced teaching, first at Wheeling, Peun., and afterward in Potosi, Mo. While here, he formed the acquaintance of the lady he soon married, Miss Phebe A. Sheldon. In about one year after their marriage they came to Joliet^-^in 1839. The writer well remembers his first meeting with Mr. Norton, soon after his arrival, and how greatly prepossessed he was by his courteous and winning manner, and he soon formed an intimate acquaintance with him and his wife. His genial manners soon made him popular and beloved by the community where he had settled, while his ability and integrity soon won a way for him in professional and political life. In 1846, he was elected County Judge, and re-elected in 1848. He was chosen to represent our county in the State Constitutional Convention of 1848. In 1850, he was elected to the State Legislature, and, in 1852, was chosen to represent this District in Congress, and was re-elected in 1854. In 1857, he was elected Circuit Judge, and discharged the duties of the position with ability. In 1862, he was again elected to Congress. In 1866, he received the appointment of District Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and removed to Chicago. He discharged the duties of this office with ability until April, 1869, when he became associated with Judge J. R. Doolittle in the practice of law, and kept up this connection until the great fire of 1871, which destroyed their library and papers. He subsequently received the appointment of Counsel to the City of Chicago. He died August 3, 1875, and his remains were brought to Joliet, where the greatest portion of his active life had been passed, and they rest in Oakwood. Mr. Norton was an able and effective speaker, both at the bar and on the "stump," and in the legislative hall. During his residence in Joliet, he was a member of the Congregational Church (now the Central Presbyterian). Mrs. Norton and four children survive him.

Tjri Osgood

was one of our first lawyers - first in point of time and also of ability. He came here the same year in which our county was organized (1836) and from that day to that of his death was one of our most prominent men. He was gifted with more than ordinary mental powers, and took a high position at the bar. He also filled offices of trust and responsibility. He was elected to the State Senate in 1852, and was the Democratic candidate for Congress in 1858, and made a strong canvass in a Republican district and against a most popular opponent. Mr. Osgood accumulated a considerable property, and established a private bank. He was a man of strictly temperate habits and pure life. His death was remarkably sudden. He had partaken of his breakfast as usual, and risen to go down town to attend Court, when he complained of a pain in his chest. His family at once sent for Dr. Casey, who arrived in a few moments, but found Mr. 0. in a dying condition. He did not live half an hour after getting up from his breakfast. Mr. Osgood was a native of Chenango County, N. Y., and 62 years of age at the time of his death, which occurred February 8, 1871.

another Joliet lawyer, died October 19, 1870. He was the son of Deacon Ezra Goodhue, one of the early settlers of Plainfield, and a graduate of Knox College, Galesburg, He came to Joliet and commenced the practice of law in 1857. He was comparatively a young man at the time of his death, and his friends anticipated for him a useful and successful career. He had just served as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1870, participating actively in its debates and serving on important committees. He was one of the Committee that prepared the address of the Convention to the people. Mr. Goodhue was a member of the Congregational Church in Plainfield. He died Oct. 19, 1870, in the 39th year of his age.

Av. B. Little

In the year 1840, one of the most brilliant and promising young men we have ever had came to Joliet. This was William E. Little. He was born in the State of New York, 'but while quite young his parents moved to Pennsylvania. He acquired a good education, chiefly by his own exertions. One year he spent in Oberlin College, Ohio. After leaving Oberlin, he, at the age of 19, entered the law office of his brother, at Montrose, Penn., and afterward pursued his professional studies at Wilkesbarre, where he was admitted to the bar at 21 years of age. He was then married to Miss Mary J. Curtis, and immediately (1840) removed to Joliet. Young as he was in years and in his profession, he at once took high rank at the Will County bar, which then numbered in its ranks such men as Newkirk, "Wilson, Boardman, Henderson, Osgood, Fellows, Parks and others, and where he also encountered such men as Caton, Collins, Spring, Butterfield, Dickey, Goodrich and others from Chicago. In such a bar and in such a circuit, young Little commanded the respect and admiration of his older brethren, and was justly regarded as a young man of great promise. He also soon entered the political arena, and was as ready and as popular on the stump as at the bar. He was elected, in 1848, by the Democratic party to represent this district, then embracing Will, Du Page, Iroquois and Kendall Counties in the General Assembly. While in the Legislature, he was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and prepared able reports on the subjects committed to it. It is an interesting incident that, at the same time, his brother was Chairman of the like committee in the Legislature of Pennsylvania.

In the canvass for the Democratic nomination to Congress in 1850, his friends brought him out as a candidate for the nomination, and he received as high as 38 votes. Richard S. Malony, however, received the nomination. All who knew him believed that his election to Congress was only postponed a little, and that a brilliant political career was before him. He was a graceful and effective speaker, and while he lived he divided the honors of Fourth of July oratory with Judge Parks. But all his own aspirations and the hopes and expectations of his many friends were blighted by his early death, which occurred September 30, 1851, at the age of thirty-four. The members of the bar of this and adjoining counties, the societies of Masons and Odd Fellows from Lockport and Joliet testified their respect by full attendance at his funeral, and numerous testimonials of respect filled the papers at the time.

Mr. Little left a widow and four daughters, who have long been known to the people of Joliet, and loved and honored on their own account as well as that of the husband and father. A beautiful tribute to his memory was given in the True Democrat, from the pen of the assistant editor, Mrs. E. A. W. Hopkins.

must be added to the list of brilliant young lawyers who have once shone at the Will County bar, and who have now gone to a Higher Court. Of his early history, we are not informed. He came here at an early day, was some time editor of the first paper - the Courier, the predecessor of the Signal - was elected to the Legislature in 1840, was appointed Secretary of State by Gov. French in 1851, came within two votes of Grov. Matteson for the nomination for Governor; was appointed Commissioner to the Sandwich Islands by President Pierce, and after his return received an appointment to a Nevada land office, where he died in 1869. He was first admitted to the bar in Joliet. He was an accomplished scholar, a brilliant orator and a warm politician. We must mention the name, also, of once a prominent lawyer in the early day, a partner of Judge Henderson and a brother-in-law of Joel A. Matteson and Henry Fish. He was a man of strong reasoning powers and able in argument, although so quaint or odd in his manner of expression as often to make it difficult to suppress a smile. He went from here to Lake County, where he became County Judge. He died when visiting some friends in this county, in October, 1872. His death was very sudden.

As appears, from the foregoing pages, Mr. Fellows first came to Channahon in 1834, and soon after took up his residence and hung out his shingle in Joliet, and from that time until failing health prevented, he was one of our busiest and most successful lawyers. He was a man of keen and penetrating mind, and especially noted as a criminal lawyer, generally employed on the side of the defense, and no client ever suiFered from his neglect. He was a native of Columbia County, N. Y., and died at Lockport in August, 1876.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Nebraska, was still another Joliet lawyer for several years, and figured somewhat in our politics. He had many friends here who justly esteemed him for his many fine qualities of head andheart. He always labored under the disadvantage of poor health and a feeble physique, and his ambition always outran his strength. He was a fine speaker, and at the commencement of our war era, as well as in political campaigns, was often heard in eloquent advocacy of what he believed to be the cause of justice and the Union. He enjoyed political excitement, and if his health had been equal to his ambition, would have made, no doubt, a brilliant career. But consumption had early marked him as her prey, and he died February 20, 1863.

Firman Mack

was for many years one of our most active and reliable business men. He resided in Chicago a few years, and came here about 1837. He commenced here at his trade as a shoemaker, and gradually increased liis business from year to year, growing with the place until he became a wholesale dealer and manufacturer of boots, shoes and leather, employing largely, at one time, convict labor. He built several stores, not less than six in all, and two fine residences, one on

Broadway and another on Richard street. He served the city as School Director, Alderman and Mayor. He was a member and a liberal supporter of the Methodist Church, and aided liberally all other church and benevolent enterprises. He was a man of few words, but he led an active, busy, useful life. Many will remember his mysterious death, and how startled the community was by the intelligence that his body had been found in the Chicago River. Various theories and conjectures have been entertained in respect to his untimely taking off; but the facts are still wrapt in mystery and will probably never be known until the great day when all things shall be revealed. His death occurred August 10, 1872, at the age of 65.

was born in Schenectady, N. Y., came to Joliet in 1845, and was for a long time a prominent business man here. He received the appointment of Postmaster under Taylor, which he resigned in 1852, to take the position of Cashier in the Merchants' & Drovers' Bank, established by Matteson - the first bank of issue in Will County. While on the Tennessee River, in the Spring of 1862, upon matters of business connected with the army, he was taken sick and reached St. Louis only to die May 19, 1862.

Rev. Edward Savage

for some time Pastor of the Baptist Church, bookseller. School Commissioner in 1859 and 1860; highly respected as a Christian and an able preacher; died of consumption April 27, 1863. He left one son, on whom his mantle has fallen. He was 46 years of age.

one of the early settlers of Channahon, afterward Sheriff of our county for four years - 1840-43, President of the Joliet & Oswego Plankroad, and long and well known in business circles here and at Wilmington, where he some time resided; was born in Oneida County, N. Y., and came west from Onondaga County in 1833. He died in December, 1862.

John Miller

one of the earliest settlers of Du Page, and the first Supervisor of the town, and also our Representative to the State Legislature in 1846 and in 1848, was a fine specimen of a Will County yeoman, physically, intellectually and morally. He died, greatly regretted, in March, 1851.

There have been several county agricultural associations in our past history, and two places, besides the one now occupied, have been fitted up for their use. The first was located on the well-known Stevens Farm, in a beautiful grove having a beautiful and abundant spring, and buildings were erected, and considerable improvements made. When the war came on, it was changed into a military camp and barracks, and afterward reverted to Mr. Stevens. A place was also fitted up on the hill above the Penitentiary, on the Lockport road, and considerable money expended. This was, however, more of a hippodrome, we believe, than an agricultural association. The present Agricultural and Mechanical Association is now (Sept. 12) holding its ninth annual fair. It has beautiful grounds in the southeastern part of the city, near the termination of the street railway, which have been beautifully fitted up with the necessary halls and stock pens, and all the usual conveniences of such establishments. There is a fine spring on the grounds which furnishes all the water necessary. The programme for the fair now being held, offers a large and liberal list of premiums, which are open to all competitors. The Association was organized in 1869, under the general act of the Legislature, and has a capital of $26,000. The Board of officers is as follows : President, Charles Snoad, of New Lenox; Vice Presidents, William E. Henry, of Joliet; C. A. Westgate, of Peotone; B. F. Carter, of Troy ; R. J. Boylan, of Elwood ; Frank Searles, of New Lenox ; Secretary, William T. Nelson, of Wilmington ; Treasurer, B. H. Aikin, of Joliet ; with a Board of nine Directors, and eighteen Superintendents under the General Superintendent, L. E. Ingalls.

Agricultural Productions

In no way can we so well give an idea of the kind and amount of productions of the county as by the following condensed abstract from the Assessor's returns :

The Sorghum Fever And Other Things

From the above it will be seen that sorghum makes but a small figure in our present agricultural productions ; but, in common with many other counties, Will County took its turn at the sorghum fever. This raged along between 1855 and 1865. The farmers generally, at one time or another, raised sorghum. They made their own molasses, and tried to make their own sugar. Merchants sold sorghum-seed, and the sorghum-mills ornamented the farmers' door-yards, and the tall and handsome canes grew in luxuriant beauty in his fields. The war added stimulus to its production, as it seemed for a time as though we should be cut oflF from our Southern supply of sugar altogether. Sorghum conventions were held, at which samples were displayed and the modes of cultivation discussed.

Among the most enthusiastic believers in sorghum was the Rev. Royal Reed, for some time a Congregational preacher here and elsewhere. He believed that it was going to prove a bonanza to the farmers and the country ; that it would supply sirup and sugar from its juice, a beautiful dye, outvying the famous Tyrian, from its seed, the best and cheapest fiber for paper in its stalk, and last but not least, a spirit could be distilled from the pomace which would put New England and Jamaica to shame. The dominie had a little plantation on which he raised the cane, and he set up a mill in his yard, and the steam of his evaporating-pan went up, day after day, a sweet incense to Ceres. He tried to make sugar, but the product was small. But his rum was a success. The libations he poured out to Bacchus were the admiration of the neighborhood. Many were permitted to taste just enough te see what could be done with sorghum, but only in medicinal doses. Not much was heard about the dominie's sugar, but the praises of his rum were on the lips of not a few. But the sorghum fever passed away, like many another. It did not prove a success ; its sirup always had an unpleasant twang, and refused to granulate, and soon the farmers stopped raising it, and the sorghum-mills rotted and no longer ornamented the landscape. This mention of sorghum has given us an opportunity to tell a pretty good story of its enthusiastic disciple. He is still living, but just over the county line in Grundy County, so we think it will be safe. It illustrates the manner in which so many people blunder when they attempt to quote Scripture, and thus it has a good moral. If it were not for the good moral we should not tell it. While Pastor of the old Congregational Church here, he boarded awhile in the family of some ladies who kept a female boardingschool. They had quite a large family of teachers and boarding scholars. These ladies had a rule that, as each one, teachers and boarders, took their seats at the table they should repeat a text of Scripture - a very pleasant and commendable practice, in favor of which much might be said. On one occasion, one of the ladies gave as her text: " Duty is ours, consequences are God's." It was the dominie's turn next, and he matched her quotation with another equally scriptural, if not equally beautiful : " Let every tub stand on its own bottom." The Dominie had to hunt another boarding-place.

How many fevers we have survived ! The bilious fever, the gold fever, the land fever, the oil fever, the superheated steam fever, the war fever, the sorghum fever, the woolen-factory fever, the rolling-mill fever, the Linden Heights fever, the horserailway fever, the "Dolly Varden " fever - and yet we still live ! And then the dress-reform fever, which raged in 1850-51-52. We had thought seriously of writing up its history, but we feel incapable of doing the subject justice, and it is a delicate theme. It was a brave and heroic attempt ton the part of a few to bring about a change in female costume ; but it failed, notwithstanding it had the zealous support of both the Signal and True Democrat, and those who were its zealous advocates and exemplars now wear dresses longer than ever !

Schools And School Matters

The donation by the General Grovernment of the sixteenth section of each township of the public lands - one-thirty-sixth - was made by the same act which provided for their survey. This was a most generous donation on the part of our parental Government, and was designed to furnish a nucleus, at least, of a general system of education ; and, although many of these sections were prematurely sold, and the avails of such sales have, in many instances, been squandered, still the fund derived from this and other sources lightens to some extent the taxes raised for school purposes. There is besides this, a school, college and seminary fund, being 3 per cent of the net proceeds of the sale of public lands, which is distributed by the State to each county in proportion to the number of scholars. Our county receives nearly $1,000 annually. Certain fines inflicted for misdemeanors are assigned to the school fund. The amount varies from $200 to $800, according to behavior of the citizens. In 1877, it was $510.63. There is also a general tax levied by the State for school purposes, which is distributed to counties according to population under 21 years. The amount received by our county, for 1877, was $16,432.53. In addition, each school district has the power, within certain limits, to raise the amount needed for keeping up the respective schools, and also special taxes for building schoolhouses. In incorporated cities, the city schools come under the city control, and the corporation has power to assess the needed tax. During the earlier years of our history, of course, schools were left chiefly to the voluntary efforts of neighborhoods. Some of them we have already noticed.

The present system of schools assumed substantially its present shape somewhere about the year 1850. The duties of School Commissioners were pre-; viously confined to the charge of the funds, and the duties of the School Trustees, in each township, to the sixteenth section and care of the township fund. It is greatly to be regretted that the people have been so careless in their selection of school ofiicers. These should be selected with the greatest care and from the best, wisest and most responsible citizens, without regard to politics. Some townships have paid dearly for their carelessness in this regard, and still, what ought to elicit the most interest is really treated as of little importance. The last published report of the County Superintendent, Mrs. Mcintosh, gives :

Total amount paid male teachers for the year ending September, 1876.. 29 057 48 Total amount paid female teachers for the year ending September, 1876, 62,538 55

Matters specially relating to the different towns, are left to the township historian. Private schools have been taught, from time to time, in the principal towns of the county. In Joliet, by Alexander Mcintosh, S. W. Stone, S. 0. Simends, K. J. Hammond, Miss C. C. McDonald, and Mrs. Grover. An academy was once organized by the efforts, principally, of Rev. L. H. Loss, and flourished awhile under the administration of Samuel Emerson. There was once a young lady's boarding and select school, which flourished some years, and was managed by Mrs. Crowley and her sister and daughter. S. 0. Simonds taught a normal school at one time. Commercial schools have also been in operation much of the time, by Prof Russell and others. There have been and still are several parochial schools, and Mrs. Mcintosh has at present a select school. These will come under the. notice of the township historian. Mr. K. J. Hammond had, at one time, a flourishing academy at Plainfield, and there was once a college, called the Northwestern, in operation there, but which has now been removed to another county. After its removal, the building was occupied by an academy under the auspices of the Fox River Union. We wish we could place upon record a flourishing college or even a high school or academy ; but, after all, the people's colleges are the most important to our well-being, and should be looked after in all their interests much more closely and wisely by our voters and tax-payers, and especially by parents.

Literary

We had intended to devote a page or two to the literary history of Will County, but we have found the work too vast as well as too delicate. Although we should know well where to begin - with that first fourth of July oration - we should not know when or where to stop. We have already spoken of Mrs. E. Jessup Eames, of Channahon, our first poetess in point of time, and, perhaps, in point of ability. She published a voliime in her lifetime which contains some beautiful pieces. Mrs. E. A. W. Hopkins, a long-time resident of Joliet in its earlier days, also has published a volume or two. Of these we could safely speak ; but when we should undertake to go into a full list of writers, both in poetry and prose, who have flourished during the forty-odd years of the county's existence, we should be lost in the multitude of names and in the effort to select those most worthy of notice ; and we should be sure to leave out some one who would be entitled to have his or her name handed down to future fame on the pages of this history. We therefore forbear to undertake the work.

and leave it to another. Even while we write, we have heard that one of our well-known citizens has a poetical work in the press ; and it is but a day or two since, a grave Judge, while sitting upon the bench, broke out into verse at the sight of a brother lawyer's new overcoat !

Penitentiary

In 1857, the Legislature authorized the building of a new Penitentiary, to be located at Joliet. Commissioners were appointed to superintend the work. They purchased a tract of land on Section 3 of this township, of 72 19-100 acres, with a front on the Canal of 55 rods. No better selection could probably have been made. The ground is underlaid by our limestone strata to such a depth as to render all tunneling out an impossibility. There was a fine natural spring on the property, and considerable stone, valuable for its construction, and large quarries in the vicinity. The Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad passes between it and the Canal.

Boyington & Wheelock, of Chicago, were selected as the architects, and a most extensive and beautiful plan was projected. John B. Preston was appointed Superintendent of construction and engineer, but served only a short time, as his duties as Superintendent of the Canal required his time. On his resignation, George R. McGregor was appointed to fill the place. Work was commenced in August, 1857, and by January 1, 1858, $125,000 of work was under contract with Sanger & Casey. Sixteen acres were inclosed by a wall six feet thick and twenty-five feet high. A beautiful Warden's house occupying the center of the south front, with wings which contain the cells, was commenced on the plan drawn by the architects we have named, furnishing 900 congregate cells and 100 solitary and 100 fenjale. In May, 1859, prisoners began to be removed from Alton, and by June, 1860, all were removed.

At the start, the prison was leased, but in June, 1867, the State assumed control, and three Commissioners were temporarily appointed. They were subsequently elected by the people.

A Warden, Deputy Warden, Chaplain, Matron and Physician were chosen, and the work has been completed on the original plan. Within the walls, also, many buildings, sheds, etc., necessary for the mechanical operations carried on, have been from time to time erected, and at present the walls inclose an immense amount of mechanical and manufacturing establishments, and is a vast hive of industries, where those who have forfeited their right to freedom are required to serve the State, and earn their own support.

The original estimate of the cost was |550,000. The sum of |300,000 was originally appropriated to operate it. In 1869, |350,000 more were appropriated, and in 1871, $175,000. In 1871, the law was revised for its govei-nment, and the appointment of Commissioners vested in the Governor and subject to his removal. The Commissioners were also authorized to lease the labor of the convicts, and this is the plan now pursued as far as possible. During the

The prison has passed through various changes in its administration and policy, both during its construction and since, and has been a source of much discussion, which it is not important to record. It seems now to be wisely and carefully managed, and has been as prosperous during the era of hard times as any other establishment. The prisoners are under good and kind discipline, and no efforts seemed to be spared, consistent , with their safe-keeping and the ends of justice, to secure their physical, moral and religious comfort and improvement. A chapel with regular religious services, a hospital and well-stocked dispensary, and the necessary attendants, with a skillful physician outside who visits the prison daily, a library of 6,000 volumes for reading, and a school and over 1,000 books for instruction - these are some of the provisions made for their benefit. Each cell is also supplied with a Bible. When the prison was first planned, it was thought to be on so large a scale that it would answer the needs of the State for many years ; but it has alreadj been found insufficient, and a new one is being constructed.

Efforts for the spiritual good of the convicts were made by a former Chaplain, Rev. Mr. Lathrop, who is entitled to the grateful remembrance of the community ; and these are continued by the present Chaplain, A. T. Briscoe, who resigned the post of Commissioner to take his present one, and is devoted to his work.

The number of inmates at present (October 12, 1878) is 1,646. Of these, 1,621 are males and 25 females. There are leased 1,244, and employed by State, 402.

There has been much discussion at times as to the effects of the Prison upon the prosperity of the city and county, and it is often the theme of partisan denunciation. One thing seems plain, that the State must either keep its convicts in idleness and tax the people for their support, or employ them in such work as is remunerative ; and while it may in some cases interfere somewhat with the wages of mechanics outside, yet the same objection is urged against labor-saving machinery. The disadvantages in this respect we think have been trifling and temporary, while the benefits to the place have been many and permanent. The Penitentiary gives employment to a great many men besides the convicts, as guards and keepers, foreman and engineers, and also brings in men to reside here (who employ their labor) with their families. It makes a ready market for the products of farmers in the vicinity, as will appear from the following estimate which we have seen of an ordinary dinner : 30 pounds of butter, 1,700 pounds of beef, 1,300 pounds of pork, 10 bushels of beans, 300 pounds of hominy, 300 pounds of rice, 10 bushels of peas, 24 bushels of potatoes, 2,800 pounds of cabbage, 10 barrels of krout, 1,200 pounds of bread, 250 pounds of coffee, etc.

Not the least among the benefits which the city and county have derived from the location of the prison must be reckoned the valuable and enterprising men it has from time to time added to our population. Among the earlier of these we must reckon the genial, large-hearted Samuel K. Casey (now deceased) ; Dr. John R. Casey, his brother, who was several years the Physician in Charge, and still resides among us ; and our enterprising citizen, William A. Steele, who was Clerk for the original contractors, Sanger & Casey, and who has since done so much to develop the stone business here* The list might be extended through the years, and would be found to include many valuable citizens, some still residents here.

The amount of supplies purchased from Will County farmers and merchants for the use of the prison cannot be less than $100,000 annually ; while the amount paid out by the State and by contractors for salaries and wages to ofiicers, employes and foremen who, with their families, live in Joliet, will at least reach the same figure.

State Work

Of the 402 men employed for State work, 88 men in stone department, 56 men in State shops, and 10 men in store and farm are absolutely productive. The balance are mostly employed for the service and at the expense of the institution.

Wishing to get some idea of the religious efforts which are made for the benefit of the inmates of the Penitentiary, we availed ourselves of the kind permission of the Warden to attend the Sabbath service on the beautiful Autumn morning which greeted us the 20th of October, 1878. A short walk brought us to the gate which opens on the graveled serpentine path leading up from the Lockport road, through a beautiful, well-kept lawn of brightest green, dotted with flower-beds, to the handsome stone porch which commands the entrance to the main hall. Pausing here a moment to look at the lawn, consisting of two terraces, the upper one, over which we had just come, in front of the east wing, and the lower one, running along the west wing to the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, with a beautiful, well-filled greenhouse at the dividing wall, we push open the door and find ourselves in the marble-paved hall, from which we enter the reception-room. Here we find quite a company, largely composed of ladies, who have come on a similar errand. After a few moments, the Chaplain and the Warden enter, and invite us to accompany them. We pass through the iron-grated door in the iron grated partition, which turns noiselessly upon its hinges at the bidding of a turnkey, and find ourselves in another hall ; but now we are separated from the outside world, and can only return by the permission of the turnkey who has admitted us. But we pass on through another similar door into the prison-yard, where we catch a glimpse of many work-shops of various kinds, and find the building for which we are bound, in the second story of which is the chapel. This contains, on the first floor, the kitchen and other rooms, and is bordered all along the west front by a narrow terrace of green turf, which affords a grateful relief to the glare of stone walls and well-beaten thoroughfares. At the south end of this building, we pass up an outside stairway, through a door in the southwest corner, which admits us to the chapel, a large, rectangular room, well lighted and ventilated, and plainly seated, with a capacity, we judge, of ten or twelve hundred. At the further end is a door, through which the striped audience is filing in, taking their seats in squads as directed by guards. At the end by which we have entered, is an elevated platform, filled with the comfortable rustic chairs of the prison manufacture. These are being filled with that portion of the audience which are not in uniform. In the center of the platform, is a neat desk, on which lies a large Bible, and a cottage- organ is on the eastern end. As soon as all the audience - consisting, on the main floor, as we judge, of about eight hundred men, uniformed, and a dozen guards who occupy chairs on raised platforms on either wall, and on the platform at the south end, of a company of thirty or forty well-dressed gentlemen and ladies - are seated, the choir of nine young men in the prevalent uniform, assisted by Miss Cleghorn, of Joliet, at the organ, commence the singing of a familiar hymn, in which many of the audience join. The services then proceed very much as in any of our churches - prayer, reading of Scripture, singing, etc., after which the Chaplain delivers a plain, practical and pungent discourse from the text, Romans, viii, 34.

After the discourse, the Chaplain invited Mr. Jones, one of the Commissioners, who happened to be present, to make an address, who did so in an earnest appeal to the hearers to resolve to lead a better life.

During these exercises, the audience was quiet and attentive, and apparently as deeply interested as any we have ever seen. How much of this was due to the watchful eyes of the guards, we cannot tell. Although the attendance is not voluntary (except upon the class meeting), many, we presume, attend also from choice. If they do not do so for moral reasons, it must afford an agreeable diversion from the labors and thoughts of the week ; and if they are greeted every Sabbath with such an array of youth and beauty as met them upon the occasion of which we write, we should think they would look forward to it with eager anticipation. But to be thus reminded of the sisters, wives, mothers and children, whose hearts they have broken and whose names they have dishonored and whose prayers and entreaties they have disregarded, may not be a cheerful sight !

We scrutinized the audience closely to see if there was any marked difference in the apparent intellectual and moral development of the striped audience and the people we meet every day, and were forced to admit that no such difference was visible. We noticed, also, that many seemed to be deeply interested in the services.

After the service was over and the benediction pronounced, the largest portion of the uniformed audience withdrew at the north door, in charge of the guards. A part, however - about 200, as we judged - remained, and were seated in the front seats, when the Chaplain commenced a class meeting, opening it with singing, after which he called upon a brother to pray, when a young convict (who is the prison librarian) led in a fervent and well-worded prayer - every one in the seats kneeling. The brethren were then permitted to speak briefly, and ten or twelve responded, one after another, the Chaplain occasionally putting in a word of instruction or encouragement, and passing artund in his audience and shaking them by the hand. It was a deeply interesting and affecting sight. Some alluded to their situation, spoke of the causes that had placed them where they were, and avowed their purpose to persevere, with the help of God. One or two thanked God that they had been put- where they were, as it had been the means of their conversion. Among the number who spoke were three colored brethren, and one was especially fervent and happy. His face shone like that of Moses when he came down from the mount, and we have no doubt that the brother had himself been upon the mount and held communion with his Maker. He avowed his love for Christ and his happiness since he had found Him. Nothing now, he said, gave him any trouble ; all was joy and peace. He was full of the spiritual elan of his mercurial race, and spoke on with voluble earnestness, with his eyes rolled up to the ceiling, increasing, each moment, in fervar, his spiritual Pegasus mounting higher and higher, until he seemed just ready to go up in a chariot of fire, when he was brought back to earth by a judicious word or two from the Chaplain and the starting of a hymn, which brought the dark-skinned brother to his seat, seemingly, we thought, a little disappointed in being thus brought back to earth. The whole service was most admirably conducted by the Chaplain, who seemed to have his flock under perfect control. About one-third of those who remained seemed to belong to the class, or society. An opportunity was given to any of the rest to join. On this occasion, one did so, and was called out in front and greeted by the Chaplain with a hearty hand-shake and a word or two of advice.

The service was closed at half past 11 by the distribution of religious papers and the singing of the doxology, and thus we had spent two and a half hours in a most interesting manner and without weariness.

We were impressed with the conviction that the Chaplain is doing a good work in his chosen field; that he is the right man in the right place, and that he has, perhaps, as much evidence of his success as falls to the lot of most Pastors.

We understand that one of the Catholic Pastors of our city also holds a religious service at the prison, at which the inmates of that faith are permitted to attend, and that the Chaplain has an afternoon service for the women.

Official Record County Officers

Previous to the adoption of township organization in 1850, the county had been divided into precincts for the purpose of election, with precinct Justices of the Peace and Constables, the county legislation and general business being transacted by County Commissioners. The list of County Commissioners from the organization of the county to 1850, is as follows :

On the first organization of the county, there was included a tier of four townships on the south, lying east of Wesley, and also that part of the townships south of them and north of the Kankakee River, -which were lost to us on the organization of Kankakee County in 1853, and it was from this part of the county that Thomas Durham and F. Worcester were chosen. On the organization of Du Page County in 1839, we came very near losing half the townships of Wheatland and Dupage. It was left by the act to the voters residing on the half townships to decide by vote in August to which county they would belong. They very wisely decided to remain in Will County. But they had not much wisdom to spare, as the matter was decided by a majority of one vote.

We shall now close our historical sketch by giving a list of all the other county officers from the erection of the county to the present time, and follow it with a list of those who have filled State and other offices from the county. This will be more cheerful reading, and will get many good men into history :

Board Of Supervisors

At the July session of the Board, all that part of the town of Reed lying east of the section line dividing Towns 3 and 4, and running south, through the township, was set off into a new town, and named Custer - thus making it sure that the name of the hero of a late Indian battle should be preserved ; and at the September session of the Board, there was a new Supervisor for the town oP Custer - George W. Petro, 1876-78, 3 years.

Besides the county officers whose names are given in the preceding lists, Will County has furnished men to the Legislature, Senatorial and Congressional Districts of which she has formed a part, and to the State and United States service, as follows :

Joliet Postmasters. - A. W. Bowen, from the establishment of the office, in 1835, to the administration of Taylor; J. T. MoDougall, 1850, Taylor's administration ; M. K. Brownson, 1853, Fillmore's administration; Calneh Zarley, 1854, Pierce's administration ; Calneh Zarley, 1858, Buchanan's administration ; J. L. Braden, 1861, Lincoln's administration ; H. N. Marsh, Lincoln's administration; Alonzo Leach, 1865, Johnson's administration; Anson Patterson, first term of Grant's administration; James Goodspeed, second term of Grant's administration; James Goodspeed, Hayes' administration.

An Omission

We have already discovered one omission Tvhicli was made in the list of early settlers on Hickory Creek, to wit : Asher Holmes, who came in the Spring of 1835, from Chautauqua Co., N. Y. He has been dead twenty years or more, but left a widow who still lives, and sons who perpetuate his name.

Parting Words

The writer has now probably appeared in the role of a historian for the last time. Without feeling that he had any special fitness for the work, he has been led to undertake it by a desire to preserve the names and memory of the original settlers of Will County, and also of the brave boys, their sons, and the sons of the later comers, as well, who hazarded, and in many cases lost, their lives to save the Union. While the record may be somewhat imperfect, it is believed to be in both cases substantially correct. That he has been permitted to discharge this duty affords him no little satisfaction, although it has greatly interfered with his legitimate calling.

It is no small satisfaction, also, that he was permitted to see the region we now call Will County, when it was yet in its pristine beauty ; its prairies, fresh from the Creator's hand, still the lair of the wolf and the wild deer, while the canoe of the Indian still shot along its streams, and the solitudes of its forests echoed the crack of his rifle, and the paths worn by his moccasined feet were still the guiding trail of the emigrant ; and then to have lived to see those verdant wastes clothed with flocks and herds, with waving harvest-fields, and the vast forests of rustling corn, in whose depths armies might ambush ; to see its solitudes become peopled with 50,000 civilized and intelligent human beings; its streams forced to subserve the ends of manufacture and commerce ; to see the trail of the Indian obliterated by the railway track, and the ox-team and prairie schooner displaced by the locomotive and the rushing train ; to see the landscape dotted with happy homes, churches and schQolhouses, and the silence of its wastes broken by to have been permitted to witness all this change during the years that have come and gone in quick succession while the panorama has been unfolding before him - this he counts one of his chiefest satisfactions. And while the memory delights to linger over the past, and the imagination to recall the lovely pictures presented to his eye forty-four years ago, he is not of the number of those who say or feel that "the fprmer times were better than these."

The interest wliicli attaches itself to all that is connected with the explorations and discoveries of the early French travelers in the Northwest increases as time rolls on. That history read in the blazing sunlight of the present day, has all the fascination of a romance, and, after more than two centuries gone by, the names of many courageous and devoted men rise up in peerless grandeur. Penetrated with enthusiasm, and bearing high the cross, Marquette, La Salle, De Frontenac, Joliet, Hennepin, De Charlevoix, the Chevalier de Trull, and so many others, made their way into unknown lands, and through perils, and in the midst of savages, in the face of sickness and privation, desolation and danger, they planted the flag of civilization in this great section of country, known as the Northwest. In this beautiful valley of the Des Planes, some of these early French explorers wandered a hundred years before the oldest of us were born. But in our attempt to write a full and complete history of Joliet Township, we do not propose to go back to the days of Marquette and La Salle, and of Joliet and Hennepin, but shall commence at a period still green in the memory of some who are yet living, and whose minds run back with much distinctness to the early settlements in the Des Planes Valley. But few more beautiful localities are to be found in the State of Illinois than this valley, and the country generally, as embraced in the township of Joliet. Its hills and bluffs and picturesque grottoes, its fine rolling plains, and its timber-bordered streams, present a variety of scenery of which the great prairies are wholly destitute. The town is watered by the Des Planes River, which enters its borders from the north, and, passing through the city of Joliet, runs in a southwesterly direction to its confluence with the Kankakee. Hickory Creek flows in from the east, and empties into the Des Planes at Joliet City ; while several smaller brooks, together with the Illinois and Michigan Canal, pass through the township, so that no section could be better watered or better drained. Underlying the surface of a great portion of the town, perhaps the whole of it, are beds of stone, which for building purposes is almost without equal in this or any other country ; and the numerous quarries, more particularly referred to in the chapter devoted to the city of Joliet, give employment to hundreds of men, and are, perhaps, the most extensive business carried on in the city, or even in the township. The railroad facilities of Joliet are excellent. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific ; the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis ; "the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern, and the "Joliet Cut-off" of the Michigan Central, center in the city of Joliet, and traverse the township in every direction, affording means of transportation and of travel. The canal, too, is a valuable auxiliary, as well as a competitor, in moving the large quantities of freight from this section. The township is bounded on the north by Lockport, on the east by New Lenox, on the south by Jackson, on the west by Troy, and is known as Town 35 north, Range 10 east of the Third Principal Meridian, with a population, in 1870, aside from the city of Joliet, of 2,940 inhabitants. It is about one-half or, perhaps, two-thirds fine rolling prairie, while the remainder, principally along the Des Planes River and Hickory Creek, is well timbered - or was at the time of the early settlement of the country - and is, in places, rather hilly.

In the early settlement of Joliet Township and City, the Empire State contributed much of the population, both of city and township. So far as we have been able to collect the names of early settlers, and the localities from whence they came, up to and including 1835, together with the date of Settlement, we give them in the following tabulated statement, which we have taken considerable care in preparing :

In 1836 we may notice among the arrivals in the new settlement, George WoodruiF, Joel A. Matteson, R. Doolittle, Edmund Wilcox, Uri Osgood, Thomas R. Hunter, E. C. Fellows and Francis L. Cagwin, from New York, and Otis Hardy and H. Hartshorn, from Vermont ; Orange Chauncey, Albert Shepard, James Stout, Thomas, Edward and Bennett Allen, John Curry, J. J. Garland, W. J. Heath, J. C. Newkirk, William Blair, Rufus Calton, Stephen Hubbard, Dr. Little, Henry Fish, M. Worthingham, David L. Roberts, Isaac H. Palmer, E. E. Bush, Theodore Woodruff, H. K. Stevens, David Richards, G. W. Cassedy, and a great many others, whose native States we have not learned. A number of these, together with others mentioned, will receive additional notice in the history of the city of Joliet, as well as in the general history. But immigrants were coming in so fast that it is impossible, after this long lapse of time, to keep trace of them. A confusion of dates occurs in the attempt, something like that of tongues at the Tower of Babel. We have enumerated, in the foregoing table, the settlers both in the city and township of Joliet, and as already mentioned, a preponderance of them were from New York. Among the first from that State were Major Robert 6. Cook and his father, John B. Cook, and Philip Scott, who settled in the township in the latter part of 1831. The elder Cook was a Revolutionary soldier, and was old and feeble when he came to the settlement. A few of the early settlers who still survive remember to have seen him carried in the first Fourth of July procession had in the infant city. He died about 1833-4, and was one of the first deaths to occur in the town. Robert Stevens was born in Kentucky, but mostly reared in Ohio, and emigrated to Indiana, where he remained some years, removing to Illinois and to this township in 1831. He settled just east of the present city of Joliet, where his widow still lives. He arrived in the Spring of that year in time to raise a crop of corn. During the fright that prevailed in the scattered settlement incident to the Black Hawk war, Mr. Stevens took his family to Danville, and sent them under safe escort ta Indiana, while he returned and "put in a crop." David and Benjamin Maggard and Jesse Cook were also from the Hoosier State, otherwise Indiana, and made settlements in 1831. Jesse Cook made a settlement in what was called Troutman's Grove, and now lives in the southern part of the State, and is quite an old man, but full of energy for one of his years. David Maggard, who is noted for having built the first house in the present city limits, as elsewhere mentioned, and Stevens, after he returned from seeing his wife safe beyond Indian outrages, worked their farms together, as a matter of safety and protection againt surprise from the Indians. As a further means of safety, instead of occupying their cabins at night, would sleep in a cavern on the west side of the river, which they would always leave before daylight, that no lurking savage might discover their place of refuge. Maggard's settlement was. on the west side of the river, nearly opposite the Rolling Mills, while Stevens', as already stated, was on the east side. Usually at evening they would retire to the west side, and while Stevens cooked supper Maggard would stand guard, or rather guard in a tree-top. One evening he had mounted guard in a tree, and be ing tired from his day's labor, went to sleep and dropped his gun. The Maggards were related to Stevens' first wife, who survived the hardships of a frontier settlement but a few years. Robert Stevens was the first elected Sheriif of Will County, after it was detached from Cook, and with an utter indifference to the honors pertaining to office unknown at the present day, he declined to qualify and left the ofiice to those more anxious to serve the dear people. William Billsland and Daniel Robb were likewise Hoosiers and came to the neighborhood in 1831.

Reason Zarley, to whom is generally attributed the honor of making the first permanent settlement in Joliet Township, came to Illinois in 1829, from Ohio, and to this neighborhood in the Spring of 1831, where he made a permanent settlement. He was a soldier in the last struggle of the United States with Johnny Bull, and was one of the few survivors of the bloody affair of Brownstown, where 100 American soldiers were attacked by 800 savages and 400 English, but little less savage than their red allies, and from which few of the former escaped to tell the tale of carnage. He was in the army, also, at the time of Hull's disgraceful surrender. Mr. Zarley is mentioned as a prominent and influential man, foremost in every enterprise calculated to promote the interest of the city and country. When he died, a Chillicothe (Ohio) paper noticed his death, as one of the pioneers of that section of the country. So far as can be obtained with any degree of reliability, this comprises all who came to the township during the first year of its settlement. And the next year (1832), but few additions were made to the little community, doubtless owing to the fact that the Black Hawk or Sac war was raging in all its terror, and the mutterings of the storm extended to this locality. Aaron Moore, a brother-in-law of Jesse Cook, came from Ohio ; R. E. Barber, from Vermont ; Seth Scott, a brother of Philip Scott, from New York. These are all thatwe have any account of settling here this year. But in 1833, the colony was augmented by the arrival from New York, William Hadsell ; from Connecticut, Rodney House ; from Indiana, Charles Reed ; from New Hampshire, Cliarles Clement and Rev. Geo. West, a Methodist preacher. Where Rev. Mr. West came from, we have been unable to ascertain. Reed, one of the very first settlers of the city, and Charles Clement, generally acknowledged as the "oldest living inhabitant," will be noticed further in the city's history. William Hadsell is living, but old and infirm, both mentally and physically, and his memory is too feeble to give any information of special interest in this history. The year 1834, witnessed the greatest influx of new-comers of any year since the pale-faces had first "broke ground " in this section. During the year, the Empire State sent out to the new settlement Dr. A. W. Bowen, Geo.

H. Woodruff, Elias Haven and three sons, Philo A., Orlando H., and James Haven, Charles W. Brandon, Dr. David Reed, M. H. Demmond, Edward Perkins, William B. Hawley and Benjamin F. Barker. Benjamin Eichardson was from the East, probably from New York ; from Indiana, Abner Cox, Richard Hobbs, J. P. King, Joseph and Jacob Zumalt ; from Connecticut, James Rockwell ; from New Jersey, Charles Sayre ; from Kentucky, James McKee ; from New Hampshire, Daniel Clement, a brother to Charles Clement, who had come out the year before ; from Massachusetts, N. H. Cutter ; from Ohio, James C. Troutman ; and Jay Lyons, N. H. Clarke, Thomas H. Blackbui-n, 0. D. Putnam, Harlow Webster, whose native States cannot now be ascertained. Dr. Bowen was from Herkimer County, N. Y., and is noticed elsewhere as the first physician in the town. He arrived in March and made a claim on what was afterward known as the " Luther Woodruff Place,' and during the early part of the Summer, built a cabin near where the Union School House now stands. Soon after his settlement, he opened a store, which he afterward sold to Frary. He lives at present in Wilmington, and receives an extended notice in the general history. Hon. George H. Woodruff, to whose able pen we are indebted for our general county history, is one of the few old landmarks still left in Joliet. The Havens came in the Fall of this year, and Philo and James went to California during the gold excitement, where they still live. The old gentleman died several years ago. Dr. Zelotus Haven was a brother of Elias, but came to the settlement the next year. Dr. David Reed also came in the Fall, and was . the next physician after Dr. Bowen, and located on the west side of the river. Benjamin F. Barker came soon after Dr. Bowen, and built the first dwelling on the east side of the river, in the present city of Joliet. Charles Sayre, a nephew of Col. Sayre, was a tailor by trade, and the first in the town. Brandon came during the Summer. He was a stone mason, and built a house one mile below the present city. Martin H. Demmond arrived in June, and was one of the first ,merchants of the place. Perkins settled in Five-Mile Grrove, in the southern part of the township, as the place was then called. Hawley settled during the Summer. Benjamin Richardson settled first in the Plainfield neighborhood, and came here in 1836. He was a chair maker, the first of that craft in the township. Abner Cox, Richard Hobbs, J. P. King and the Zumalts all made settlements during the year. Hobbs was, for many years, a Justice of the Peace, and his courts, in those primitive times, furnished the legal fraternity with numerous anecdotes, illustrative of the pioneer days. James McKee is mentioned in the general history of the county in another part of this work, as one of the enterprising men of that early day. He bought a claim from Charles Reed, and upon it erected a mill, the frame of which, is yet standing, but devoted to other purposes. Though not the first mill in Will County, it was built on a far more pretentious scale than had ever been attempted in this part of the State. McKee was the first Justice of the Peace on the west side of the river. Daniel Clement came in May of this year. There were probably other settlers than those mentioned, who came this year, but if so, their names are forgotten by the few who still survive. During the year 1885, the settlement grew rapidly. Among those who came this year were the following : Hervey Lowe, S. W. Bowen, Hugh Henderson, Wm. A. Boardman, Russell Frary, Michael Shoemaker, John L. Wilson, Richard L. Wilson, Charles L. Wilson, Abijah Cagwin, H. N. Marsh, J. Beaumont, Levi Jenks, 0. F. Rogers, Rev. J. H. Prentiss, C. 0. Pepper, Francis Nicholson, W. R. Atwell, Jonathan Barnett, John M. Wilson, Blias Hyde, from New York ; Oliver W. Stillman and Allen Pratt, from the old Bay State ; S. B. Hopkins and Charles W. Hopkins, from New Jersey ; E. M. Daggett, Barton Smith, Wm. A. Chatfield, William Walters, F. Collins, from the Hoosier State of Indiana ; Thos. Culbertson, from Delaware ; Robert Duncan, from Detroit ; George Higley, from Ohio ; and J. Lyons, Asa Rowe, George Squire, whose native place we could not learn. Hugh Henderson came in the Fall of this year, and was the first lawyer in Joliet Township or City. Boardman came soon after, and was his partner in the law business. Russell Frary bought Dr. Bowen 's stock of goods, who had opened a store soon after he settled in the town. Frary remained in the mercantile business several years, but finally sold out and returned to New York. Michael Shoemaker was a brother to Dr. Bowen's wife, and lived in Joliet till 1840. He formed a copartnership with Dr. Bowen, which continued from 1836 to 1888, when Bowen. sold to J. A. Matteson, and the firm changed to Matteson & Shoemaker. The latter finally closed up his business and went to Jackson, Mich., and is at present a member of the Senate of that State. Hervey Lowe was a brother-in-law of Gov. Matteson, and now lives in Chicago. John L., Richard L. and Charles L. Wilson were brothers, and the middle initial of each name was the same, and was for the mother's family. They were from Albany, and came in March. Charles died within the present year ; Richard died several years ago, and John is in Chicago - one of the proprietors of the Evening Journal. Abijah Cagwin settled on Section 12, of this township, and is still living. H. N. Marsh, whose father first settled in Crete Township, was a cabinet maker, a business he followed until 1847, when he purchased the True Democrat, as noticed in the history of the city of Joliet. Rev. J. H. Prentiss was a Presbyterian preacher, and the first resident minister in the city or township. Chas. Hopkins settled here during the Fall. His wife was a literary lady, and a writer of considerable merit. Robert Duncan was at one time Recorder, and for many years an active merchant. Oliver W. Stillman was the first Justice of the Peace on the East Side, and was elected in 1836, while McKee was the first; on the West Side, as already noticed. John M. Wilson is the well-known Judge Wilson, of Chicago. Collins came this Summer, and lived for a while in Robert Stevens' house, whose wife had died just before Collins came to the settlement. Levi Jenks was for some time Clerk of the County Court, and at last accounts of him was in California. Wm. Walters settled on the West Side, and now lives in

Grundy County. Chatfield was another West Sider, and one of the early Justices of the Peace. Allen Pratt was an old bachelor or widower, and was a little near-sighted. " The girls used to have a deal of fun with him," as an old lady expressed it to us. One evening, he had been with a party of young ladies, and returning home by moonshine saw what he thought was a black place in the road, and upon stepping on it found it to be a cow lying down. It sprang to its feet, bringing him astride its back, and dashed away at full speed, treating him to a kind of John Gilpin ride. C. C. Pepper was one of the early disciples of Blackstone. L. B. Hopkins was a merchant, on the East Side, and Hyde was a carriage maker on the East Side. Atwell was a blacksmith, and one of the first in the settlement. Of the others mentioned, not much information can now be obtained. Thus we have endeavored to briefly notice the early settlers of Joliet Township. It may be that the names of many of those who settled here in the years named have been omitted from the list given, but we have taken much pains and trouble to obtain them so far as possible, and in doing so have drawn pretty freely on the memories of the few early settlerg still living and within our reach.

When the first white man came to Joliet Township in 1831, there were plenty of Indians in the present limits of Will County, and, though of the friendly Pottawatomies, yet the very fact that they were surrounded by savages, whose ferocity, when aroused, is scarcely equaled by wild beasts, coupled with the fact that low mutterings were now and then borne to them on the gale, of the threatening troubles with the Sacs, then on the verge of taking the war path, all conspired to divest the wilderness of its romance, and render their every-day life, to say the least, unpleasant. The Pottawatomies, though friendly as already stated, were looked upon with much suspicion at times, and required a good deal of watching to prevent their petty thieving, a penchant for which is a native characteristic of the red man. While the Black Hawk war was raging in 1832,. the few settlers who remained upon their claims built a fort in the present city limits of Joliet, which they called "Fort Nonsense," but as it is graphically described in the general history, we pass it with this slight allusion. Nearly half a century has passed since Black Hawk led his painted warriors over the prairies of Illinois, and the wilderness where a few hardy pioneers braving danger, planted a feeble settlement, has " flourished and blossomed like the rose." The Indians have long since taken up their line of march toward the "land of the setting sun "; their council fires burn far away in the " untrodden West," and the little settlement on the Des Planes River, which had its birth, as it were, in the midst of an Indian war, has grown into a prosperous community, with a prosperous city in its midst. The half dozen families that settled in Joliet Township in 1831, have increased in numbers, and, including city and township, aggregate several thousand.

In all new communities, one of the first things thought of is a mill. This branch of enterprise engaged the attention of the people of Joliet Town- ship at a very early period of its settlement. When we look around us at the magnificent mills of to-day and the unbounded facilities for procuring our supplies of meal and flour, it seems almost impossible to realize the liniited means of obtaining bread by the pioneers of fifty years ago. What would we think at the present day, of having to go to Peoria to mill, with a wagon and team, and a rainy season coming on, of being detained six weeks ? And yet there are those living within sound of the church bells of Joliet, who remember such aii experience. The first attempt at a mill in Joliet Township was made by one John Norman, in 1833-4. It was built at the head of an island nearly opposite the penitentiary and was rather a primitive affair. He built a dam across one branch of the river, and thus turned the current in the other. In this his wheel was placed, the shaft communicating with the machinery of the mill. It was a small log structure, and its capacity for grinding rather limited, as we have been told that fifteen bushels of grain in twenty-four hours was good work for it. The next mill was McKee's, built on the west side of the river, just above Jefferson street, the frame of which is still standing, a monument to pioneer enterprise. Several saw-mills were built in the town. A. Cagwin built one on Hickory Creek, near where the Reed Mills now stand. Col. Sayre and Mansfield Wheeler had a saw-mill also on Hickory Creek, in which was sawed the lumber for the first frame house in Joliet. Clement & Clark, and the Haven Bros, built mills in the early times, as noticed in the general history of the county. But the day of usefulness of these original mills has long since passed, and the more modern inventions and improvements fill their place.

The first roads through Joliet Township were the old Indian trails and emigrant trails, the latter made by the settlers' wagons passing through the swamps and prairie grass. When a man in those days started to a certain place he took the most direct route and turned aside for no surmountable object The stage route from Chicaga to Ottawa was the first effort at a public highway, and was opened for travel as early as 1834. Coaches were put on this route, which ran along on the west bluff of the Des Planes River, and was considered a grand improvement on the mode of transit, to the " ox-team express" hitherto in use between the settlement and Chicago. But for a number of years, there were no bridges over the water-courses and sloughs, and, as a consequence, travel on this was sometimes prolonged beyond the specified periods laid down in its time tables. The first post ofiice was established through the instrumentality of Dr. Bowen, in February, 1835, who was appointed Postmaster, a position he held until the election of Gen. Taylor as President in 1848. The mail came by a cross line from Plainfield where it connected with the Chicago and Ottawa stage line, that being the nearest station of the line to this settlement, at that time. A man of the name of McDougall succeeded Dr. Bowen as Postmaster. The first store in Joliet Township was in the present limits of the city of Joliet, where it will be noticed. The church history of the township is so closely identified

The first birth in Joliet Township cannot, at this distant period, be given with any degree of correctness. Mr. Woodruff, in his " Forty Years Ago," in speaking of this matter, says : " My own impressions would be in favor of a McKee, as, according to my recollection, such an event was a yearly one at the McKee mansion." This is as definite as " Forty Years Ago" is on the subject, and our own inquiries have failed to elicit any further information ; so, with Mr. Woodruff, we will accord the honor to McKee, in absence of authority to the contrary. The first death in the settlement is likewise involved in some uncertainty. Some are of the opinion that Mr. John B. Cook, mentioned elsewhere as a Revolutionary soldier, was the first to cross over the " Dark River." He was verging on to his fourscore when he came to this township with his son, Major Cook, and, it is said, died in a few years after he came. Others there are who think that the first wife of Robert Stevens was probably the first death. She was a lady of delicate constitution, and survived wilderness life but a few years, at furthest. The first marriage occurring in this township, was Thomas Ellis to Miss Anne Pence, of the Hickory Creek settlement, and the matrimonial knot was tied for them by Benjamin F. Barker, a Justice of the Peace. The marriage took place on the 4th of July, 1835, and was a part of the exercises - not on the programme - of the first Fourth of July celebration ever held in Joliet Towsnhip. This celebration of our National Birthday consisted of music, a procession, reader, orator, dinner, etc., and was held in a little grove of timber near the present round-house of the C. A. & St. L. R. R., and enjoyed by the crowd as such free entertainments usually are. Rev. J. H. Prentiss was Chaplain of the occasion, Jonathan Barnett, Marshal of the procession. Dr. Bowen read the Declaration of Independence, but the name of the orator of the day has been suffered to sink into oblivion. It was doubtless interesting, and -did honor to the day they celebrated.

^ The first practicing physician in the town, as already noted, was Dr. A. W. Bowen, who settled here in 1834, and is at present living in Wilmington, enjoying in his old age the competence obtained through a life of honest toil and square dealing with his fellow-men. Dr. Charles Reed was the next physician after Dr. Bowen, and came in the following Autumn. The first lawyers are more particularly noticed in the history of the city, where legal talent usually congregates, and where it is mostly employed. The first Justices of the Peace of Joliet Township were Oliver W. Stillman, on the east side of the river, and James McKee on the west side, and were elected in 1886, the first year of the formation of the county. The courts of these early Justices afforded many ludicrous and humorous incidents characteristic of the backwoods. One of these the front room of which was occupied as a saloon. A case was tried before him -one day in which two well-known attorneys were engaged - Messrs. D. L. Gregg and B. C. Fellows. It seemed rather a plain case, but the Justice decided it adversely to what the majority really expected, which so exasperated Mr. Gregg, whose case had thus been defeated, that he jumped to his feet with the complimentary remark, "You are a - old jackass !" Fellows arose, and with much dignity said, " May it please your Honor, the Court has been insulted, and should fine the offender $1,000 and imprison him for life." " Oh," said the 'Squire, " Mr. Gregg and I understand each other. Boys, lets all go and take something to drink." William R. Atwell was the first blacksmith, and had a shop on the west side of the river as early as 1834. The first school house was built about 1836-7, and was in the present city limits, and is further noticed on another page. A man named John Watkins taught the first school in this primitive temple of learning, and is still living (in New Lenox Township), though old and feeble and nearly blind. This was not, however, the first school in the township, or settlement it was then ; but the honor of teaching the first school is awarded to a Miss Cleveland, who, it is said, taught in the " old fort," which has been frequently mentioned in this work. She lived in California, the last known of her. Of the early schools of the township but little can now be learned. The first records are mislaid or destroyed, and hence no information can be obtained through that source. Through the courtesy of Mr. Fay, the School Treasurer, we have examined all the books in his possession, which consist mostly of loan, cash and account books, but no early records beyond these account books. The school facilities have increased somewhat since Miss Cleveland taught in " Fort Nonsense," and Watkins in the little school house, as we find in the report of 1872 that there were eleven school districts, with pupils enrolled to the number of 3,589. Forty-five teachers were employed, and there were in the town seventeen school houses. The special tax of township was 12,140.12, and city school tax $4,419.70. Mr. Fay's last report to the County Superintendent of Schools shows the following:

There are in the town eighteen comfortable and commodious school houses, five of which are built of stone, and the others are substantial frame buildings. The first bridge in the township of which we have any account was built over the Des Planes Eiver in the latter part of 1837. At that time, two substantial wooden bridges were built about where the lower and middle bridges now are. They were both washed away, however, in the next Spring, which was a season of unprecedented high water, and many a day passed before they were rebuilt, or other accommodations provided for crossing the river than a " dug-out," or ferry boat, when it was too high to ford. But at the present day, the town is well supplied with excellent bridges, wherever those useful and convenient inventions are needed.

In the early settlement of this section of the country, claims were usually made by "squatting " wherever the new-comer found land or a situation that suited him, provided there was no prior claim. Building a cabin and enclosing and cultivating a patch of ground established a pre-emption right to their claim - that is, a right to purchase it, when it should come into market, at the Government price of $1.25 per acre ; and at the land sales, though there might be ever so many speculators present, they dare not bid against a settler, unless they chose to risk rousing their vengeance. They (the settlers) had organized a regular court to protect and settle their claims, which was a kind of " Higher Law," and woe unto him who trespassed upon the rights of this court or the settlers. A compromise was finally effected between the settlers and speculators, whereby the latter paid for the land and the settlers gave them half, and thus securing to themselves a reasonable amount of land for nothing. The land sale of 1835 caused a great rush of immigration to this section and a rage for land speculation, and soon all the most valuable and available lands were taken up or secured by the speculators. In 1850, the county adopted township organization, and this further added to the convenience of laying claims and locating lands. Upon the organization of townships, this one received the name of Joliet - a name conspicuous in the early history of Illinois as that of one of the early French explorers, Louis Joliet. The first Supervisor of Joliet Township was Charles Clement, who held the position for three years successively. The present township officers are as follows, viz.: Frederick Rappell, Supervisor, and John Scheidt, John Lyon, William Gleason, Assistant

T. Millspaugh, Police Magistrate ; R. Doolittle, Edmund Wilcox, J. P. Murphy, Patrick Shanahan and William P. Webber, Justices of the Peace.

Joliet Township, including the city, politically is Democratic; and has always, we believe, been of that color in politics wherein party lines were closely drawn. As now, so it was in the days of Whigs and Democrats ; and upon all important occasions, the latter usually carried the day with ease, particularly during "canal times," when they used to bring the sons of the " Ould Sod" to the rescue. As to the township's record in the late war, it has been

SO ably and truly given in the " Patriotism of Will County " that we make no mention of it here other than to refer the reader to that excellent work. Perhaps the history of Joliet Township would not be complete without some notice of Joliet Mound, notwithstanding it is referred to in the general county history. It attracted a good deal of attention in the early explorations of the country, , and was believed by many to have been the labor of the Mound Builders, the remains of whose works constitute the most interesting class of antiquities found within the limits of the United States. But more modern theories and investigations have exploded that idea, and it is generally conceded to once have been an " island in the ocean," or in the mighty river which is supposed to have flowed through this valley ages and ages ago, as the southern outlet of Lake Michigan. That it was formed by the action of water there can be little doubt, since the mound has been dug into a considerable depth and found to be composed of sand and gravel, deposited upon a bed of clay. Being something of a natural curiosity, it seems to be a pity to have it destroyed, as is being done at present by the Mound Tile Factory. It would be an eligible site and a most beautiful place for a park. Should the city buy it for that purpose and. convert it into a park, a very fine one could be made of it, and the outlay would be well and judiciously made.

Having traced the history of the township through its early settlement and down to its organization, touching upon the main points of interest, we come now to the history of

The City Of Joliet

Joliet, or as sometimes styled, and very appropriately, too, the " Stone City," is situated on both sides of the Des Planes River, in a beautiful valley, with its suburbs extending back on to the bluffs like the wings of a great army. It is thirty-eight miles from Chicago, and connected with that suburban retreat by two of the greatest railroads in the State of Illinois, and has also water communication with Chicago via the Illinois & Michigan Canal. If Joliet is not a " city set on a hill," it is certainly " founded on a rock," for the entire surface upon which it is situated is stone. It is well laid out, the streets broad, with excellent sidewalks, and bordered with handsome trees. Many fine residences and business houses, built of stone - products of its own enterprise - are to be found here which would adorn any city. Its railroad facilities are excellent ; having the advantage of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific to the West ; the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis to the South ; the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern to the Southwest ; and the Michigan Central to the East. These roads have been of much advantage in building up Joliet ; and their machine shops located here give employment to a large number of men. A full sketch of the railroads and of the canal is given in the general history, and so will not be repeated here.

The names of many of the early settlers of the city have already been ^iven in the settlement of the township, but no mention made of them beyond the date of their coming to the county, their works and their deeds being left for this chapter. As common in townships containing county seats, most of the important history of Joliet centers in the city of the same name. Here many of the more stirring events of the times transpired, and here, as just stated, much of the important history has occurred. Charles Reed is generally regarded as the first settler in the city of Joliet, or was, at least, the first to lay claim to any portion of the land in the original city. He had made a claim on the southsast quarter of Section 9, upon which, in 1833, he built a small log house, west of the river, and very near where the National Hotel now stands. Reed was from Indiana, and had settled in Reed's Grove about 1831; but, attracted by the water power, came to this place, as already noted, and commenced preparations for building a mill. In the Fall of 1833, James B. Campbell and James McKee purchased the " floats " granted by the State to Silvia and Rachel Hall, two girls who had been captured by the Indians, as narrated in the general history. Campbell located his float in the early part of 1834, on the east side of the river, embracing a part of the present city of Joliet. On the 13th day of May, the Surveyor's certificate was filed, and on the 10th of June, 1834, the plat was recorded and the town christened to "Juliet," for Campbell's daughter, it is said ; a name it bore until 1845, when it was changed by act of the Legislature. President Van Buren and his Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Paulding, while on a tour through the West, stopped at " Juliet," and, noticing the difierence in the name of the city and of Joliet Mound, urged the people to have the former changed to correspond with the latter, which was done as above stated, by act of the Legislature, and approved February 26, 1845. The act further provided that all additions subsequently laid out " shall be known as additions to Joliet." In January, 1834, McKee, after purchasing the claim of Reed, located his float on the west side of the river, and laid it out into one-acre lots. In April, 1834, Charles Clement bought one acre from McKee, for which he paid him $125, and on which he erected a story and a half building, the first frame house in West Joliet. Bailey Brothers had sometime previously built a frame house on the East Side.

As already stated, Charles Reed is regarded as the first permanent settler in the original town of Joliet, or "Juliet." David Maggard, however, settled in what is at present the city of Joliet, some three years before Reed. But at the time Maggard built his house, which was nearly opposite the Rolling Mill, there was no city of Joliet. and it was years after the birth of the city before it extended its limits to include Maggard's original cabin. Charles Reed, the pioneer of Joliet, finally went to Winnebago County, where he died a few years ago. Charles Clement, who is considered the oldest living resident of the city, settled permanently in the Spring of 1834. He commenced merchandising after he had been here some time, a business he continued for many years. In 1839, he with others started the first newspaper in Joliet, which is more particularly referred to in the history of the city press. In late years, he has retired from active business life, and is enjoying his well-earned possessions. Hon. Goerge H. Woodruff, perhaps the next "oldest inhabitant," also came to Joliet in 1834. He is still an active business man of the West Side, and entertains the warmest feelings for the "country beyond the river," and it may be, some prejudice for that side of the city. His able pen has furnished some valuable history to the county, in his lectures of "Forty Years Ago" and the "Patriotism of Will County," a book every soldier of the late war should have. His last literary effort, and perhaps one of his best, is the wi'iting of the General County History of this work. Otis Hardy settled here in 1836. His father died when he was but 16 years old, leaving the care of the family to him, a duty he faithfully performed. He began business in Joliet as a carpenter, but finally drifted into the lumber business, which he followed for twenty years. Mr. Hardy has been a member of the M. E. Church since 22 years of age, a member of the Quarterly Conference since 1837. and President of the Will County Bible Society for forty years. He is a man of large benevolence and exalted charity, and built at his own expense the Richards Street Methodist Church and parsonage at a cost of over $5,000, besides liberal contributions to the other Methodist churches of the city. He had little when he came to Joliet except a strong arm and willing hand, and here he has accumulated his wealth. George Woodruff, one of the successful merchants and bankers of the city, came here in 1836. He first commenced in the grocery and commission business, which he continued a number of years. In 1852, he built a grain elevator and engaged in the grain business until 1864, in which year the First National Bank was organized, with him as President - a business he is still engaged in. Edmund Wilcox is another of the old settlers of 1836. He was for a time engaged in merchandising in partnership with Charles Clement. In 1858, sold out and became one of the originators of the Joliet Gaslight Company, was its first President, and superintended the erection of the works of the company. He is at present one of the Justices of the Peace of the city and township. In 1852, he was on the Legislative Committee for laying off the city into wards, and also member of a committee to confer with Eastern capitalists as to the expediency of building a railroad, the final result of which was the building by the Michigan Southern, the Rock Island Railroad, one of the best appointed roads in the State of Illinois. Another of the business men of the city still surviving, is R. Doolittle. He came in 1837, and was elected Justice of the Peace a few years later, an office he held for twelve years ; was also Assignee in Bankruptcy during the existence of the old bankrupt act of the United States years ago. In 1852, he resumed business as a merchant, which he had formerly been engaged in, and the firm of Doolittle & Stone erected the thiee-story brick building on the south side of Jefferson street, which was the second building west of Ottawa street. He sold to his partner in 1864, and engaged in railroad contracting, and, in 1871, was again elected Justice of the Peace, which office he now holds. Uri Osgood came from New