President John Williston Cook Mansion

By way of explanation we will state thai the timber land of DeKalb township naturally divided itself into three parts. 'Flic South Grove, or Huntley's Grove, was separated from the Central Grove, later called Union Grove, by a gap extending east and west over the present site of the Norma] bridge. Another gap was found on the land owned by Phineas Stevens and extending westward, and for a long time these settlements were known by the names Huntley's Grove, Union Grove and Coltonville. The latter became the more populous settlement and had a village that was aspiring to be the county seat and in fact the first court, held in the county after its organization was held at that place.

Passage source: Past and Present of DeKalb County, Illinois, published 1907.

In the summer of 1836, the first election held in the county was at the home of Captain Eli Barnes, on land now owned by Henry Groves. Voters came from all parts of the county- It was an election for justice of the peace and we must remember at this time that the available settlements of what is now DeKalb county were known as the Kishwaukee district and were a part of La Salle count}''. Stephen Mowry and Captain Collier were elected justices and received their commission from the governor, countersigned by a county officer from La Salle county. Mr. Samuel Miller of Squaw Grove, relates that ten dollars was sent down to him by one of the candidates to pay him for bringing up ten voters and that these voti re carried his election. Mr. Boies says, in his history, that this was probably the first $10 spent to cany an election in this county, but not the last by thousands.

Passage source: Past and Present of DeKalb County, Illinois, published 1907.

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 DeKalb Township - 5,161 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.