Cherry Valley, Illinois

Forty-three years have come and gone since white men began to exercise dominion in the Rock River Valley - erst the home of the Winnebagoes and their kindred. These years have been full of changes, and the visitor of to-day, ignorant of the Past of the county, could scarcely be made to realize that within these years there has grown up a population of about 3(>,00(>, that, in all the accomplishments and acquirements of life, are as far advanced as are the people of the counties of the older States. Schools, churches, colleges, palatial-like dwellings, beautiful grounds, large, well-cultivated and productive farms, as well as cities, towns and busy manufactories, have grown up and occupy the hunting grounds and camping places of the Winnebago tribe of red men, and in every direction there are evidences of wealth, comfort and luxury. There is but little left of the old land-marks. Advanced civilization and the progressive demands of revolving years have obliterated all traces of Indian occupancy, until they are only remembered in name.

Passage source: The History of Winnebago County, Illinois : Its Past and Present, Containing ... a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Etc, published 1877.

It; is not strange that among the pioneer settlers of any new country a deep-seated and sincere friendship should spring up, that would grow and strengthen with their years. The incidents peculiar to life in a new country - the trials and hardships, privations and destitutions - are well calculated to test not only the physical powers of endurance, but the moral, kindly, generous attributes of inanhood and womanhood. They are times that try men's souls and bring to the surface all that there may be in them of either good or bad. As a rule, there is an equality of conditions that recognizes no distinctions. All occupy a common level, and as a natural consequence, a brotherly and sisterly feeling grows up that is as lasting as time, for "a fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind." With such a community, there is a hospitality, a kindness, a benevolence and a charity unknown and unpracticed among the older, richer and more densely populated commonwealths. The very nature of their surroundings teaches them to ''feel each other's woe, to share each other's joy." An injury or a wrong may be ignored, but a Mndly^ generous^ charitahle act is never forgotten. The memory of old associations and kindly deeds is always fresh. Raven locks may bleach and whiten ; full, round cheeks sinken and hollow ; the tires of intelligence vanish from the organs of vision ; the brow become wrinkled with care and age, and the erect form bowed with accumulating years, but the true friends of the "long ago" will be remembered as long as life and reason endure.

Passage source: The History of Winnebago County, Illinois : Its Past and Present, Containing ... a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Etc, published 1877.

The surroundings of pioneer life are well calculated to test the "true inwardness" of the human heart. As a rule, the men and women who first occupy a new country - who go in advance to spy out the land and prepare it for the coming of a future people - are bold, fearless, self-reliant and industrious. In these respects, no matter from what remote sections or countries they may come, there is a similarity of character. In birth, education, religion and language, there may be a vast diflerence, but imbued with a common purpose - the founding and building of homes - these differences are soon lost by association, and thus they become one people, united by a common interest, and no matter what changes may come in after years, the associations thus formed are never buried out of memory.

Passage source: The History of Winnebago County, Illinois : Its Past and Present, Containing ... a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Etc, published 1877.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Cherry Valley Township - it names this place 100 more 100 times.