Charles H. Hibbard House

This township is surpassed by none for its rich lands and splendid improvements. Go where you will and nothing but beautiful farms under the highest state of agriculture greets the eye, together with the finest of residences and farm buildings. Nowhere in all the country do we see such marked evidence that enterprise has kept perfect pace with time and all its wondrous changes and improvements, and rapid strides in the interests of civilization. The township consists chiefly of prairie land which is so well drained by Nature's own provision that every foot is tillable and productive. For grain and stock raising the township is equally well adapted. The dairying business has grown to be quite an industry here, while thousands of bushels of grain are yearly raised. The township is scarce of timber, except along the branches of streams where some small timber is found, it being more plenty in early times than at present. Kishwaukee Creek crosses sections 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, and is joined on the east by Rush Creek. This is the only township in the county that can boast of a stone quarry. It is situated on section 31, and has proved to be a marked benefit. From it was taken the stone to build the school-houses at Marengo and Union. Near the southern line the railroad traverses the township from east to west, and the location of the depot at the village of Marengo makes an advantageous point for ship ping the products of adjoining townships.

Passage source: History of McHenry County, Illinois : Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Towns : Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History : Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens, Also a Condensed History of Illinois .., published 1885.

Calvin Spencer was the first man to take np a claim in Marengo Township. He came from Seneca County, Ohio, in the spring of 1835, accompanied by his sister, who was the first white woman whoever kept house in the township. At the time of Mr. Spencer's settlement his nearest neighbor was Joseph Boyington, whose residence was ten miles distant. Soon after coming to Marengo, Mr. Spencer married Miss Mary Ann Hance. They had a family of eight children. Her death occurred in the year 1875. In the fall of 1835 Moses Spencer, father of Calvin Spencer, located in Marengo Township. In November of the same year he buried his wife. This is said to be the first death that occurred in the township. The next settler was Ward Burley, who came to Marengo during the winter of 1835 and '36. He purchased a piece of land east of the present village bite, which he afterward traded to Frank Safford for a stock of dry-goods, and carried on the dry-goods business for a time in connection with his practice of medicine. He was the first physician to locate in the place, and here he remained in practice till his death, which occurred July, 1847. John Sponable came here in 1836 and made his claim in Garden Prairie, Boone County, where he remained but a short time, when he came to Marengo, where he remained till his death, which occurred in 1846. Among the very earliest settlers of Marengo Township was Bichard B. Simpkins, who came in September, 1835, and made his claim where William Sponable afterward resided. He afterward located in Coral Township. He came from Bradford County, Pa. In 1838 he married Eveline Ames, of Boone County, who made his home a happy one till her death, which occurred in 1860. He died in 1884, leaving a family of seven children.

Passage source: History of McHenry County, Illinois : Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Towns : Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History : Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens, Also a Condensed History of Illinois .., published 1885.

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Read the whole chapter on Marengo Township - 37,385 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.