Addison Township

Addison Township

Tur settlement of this town began in 1834. The first inhabitants were Ebenezer Duncklee and Hezekiah Duncklee, from Hillsborough, N. H., and Mason Smith, from Potsdam, N. Y. They left Potsdam on the 13th of August, 1833, and arrived at Chicago on the 3d of September, traveling by land across Michigan and Northern Indiana. Leaving Chicago on the 8th of September, they followed the trail of Gen. Scott's army, which had preceded them, to the Des Plaines river, where they camped for the night, near a party of 300 Indians. On the following day, they proceeded along the trail as far as the south line of Addison. Here they found a grave, which was supposed to be that of a soldier in Gen. Scott's army. The grave was on the west bank of Salt creek. On the opposite bank, near what is now called Grey's grove, were the remains of the army encampment. Some of the tent posts were still standing. Upon examination, it was found that the waters of the creek were not salt, as they had supposed. The stream received its name from this circumstance: A hoosier team, loaded with salt, became " stalled" while fording it, and the driver was obliged to lighten his load by rolling several barrels into the water. The party left the creek at 5 o'clock, and pursued the trail. Soon after dark they discovered a light, which seemed at no great distance. One of the company set out in advance, hoping to reach it, but after making a circuit through the tall prairie grass, he came upon his comrades near the place from which he started - - and the party camped for the night among the prairie grass and flowers. Their slumbers were somewhat disturbed by the prairie wolves, which howled most hideously about them during a greater part of the night; but wearied by their long marches, they rested full as well as could be expected under the circumstances. On the following day they reached Meacham's grove, where they found three settlers by the name of Meacham. Here they obtained some instruction in the arts of border life. They learned how to make their claims, how to construct cabins, and how to manufacture their beds. From this place they proceeded to Elk grove, and thence along the west bank of Salt creek to Duncklee's grove, and camped for the night on the spot where the house of H. D. Fisher now stands.

On the 12th day of September they took a northern direction through the timber, and made their claims near the north end of the grove. The timber claims were made by marking trees, and the prairie claims by plowing a furrow entirely around each. Immediate preparations were made for the erection of a house. The ground was leveled with a hoe, and prairie grass, which was cut with an ax, was spread upon it for beds. A tent was made of cotton cloth, and here they lived for half a month, until their cabin could be completed. The sides of the new cabin were formed of logs, drawn together by the pony - an important member of the company, of whom honorable mention is hereafter made - the floor was formed of split logs, and the roof of oak shingles. The family of E. Duncklee arrived in August, 1834. The 18th day of June, 1835, was the date of the birth of the first white child in the town. Three barrels of frozen apples were planted by Mr. Duncklee in the spring of 1836, from which nearly all the region has been supplied with fruit trees. He sold from his own orchard, in 1855, upward of $600 worth of fruit. There is a cotton-wood tree standing in his yard which sprang from seed sown in 1837, and measures five feet two inches in circumference, at a height of fourteen inches from the ground.

This is strictly an agricultural town. The first attempt at farming, of which the writer has any account, was in the fall of 1834. Mason Smith and Hezekiah Duncklee cut and stacked a few tons of hay near Salt ereek, to keep a small pony, which was their joint possession, and which had brought them all the way from Detroit. Their stack was completed after several days' hard labor, and they were advised to burn the grass for several rods around it, in order to protect it from the annual fires set by the Indians. Being unacquainted with the business, they set the fire too near, and not only burned up the grass about it, but the whole stack was consumed, leaving the pony destitute of a winter's allowance. Winter came on, and having no hay, they turned him into the grove, where he lived and prospered until the opening of spring. The land in this town came into market in 1842, haying been surveyed the previous year. When the first settlers came into the town, the land being unsurveyed, each made what was termed a claim, by staking or surrounding with a furrow as much land as he thought he would be able to pay for, when it should come into market. The usual quantity claimed was 160 acres; some, however, claimed more, and some less than that amount. There were some conflicting claims; but these difficulties were generally settled when the land was sold, by the one having the largest portion of the disputed claim buying the whole, and then re-deeding to each holder his proportion. In this way all obtained their lands as claimed, without regard to government lines. There are three groves of thrifty growing timber in this town. Duncklee's grove lies on the east bank and along the Salt creek. It is about three miles in length, and half a mile in width. Grey's grove lies also on the east branch of Salt creek, and contains about 100 acres. Kaler's grove, though smaller, affords considerable fuel and timber.

The balance of the lands of this town is chiefly flat prairie. The soil is from two to two and one-half feet in depth, with a subsoil of clay. It produces good spring wheat, oats, corn, potatoes, etc. Winter wheat generally kills out in the spring, by alternate freezing and thawing. The greater part of the hay is made from prairie grass, which grows luxuriantly on the creek bottoms, and on the low ground. Clover, timothy and herdsgrass do well, but require manure to neutralize the alkalies in the land. The lands produce an average of about twenty bushels of spring wheat, forty bushels of oats, forty bushels of corn, and one hundred bushels of potatoes to the acre.

The school section of this town sold for $800, which has been increased, by addition of interest from time to time, to $1,300. There are eight school districts in the town, six of which are provided with good school buildings. There are three German schools taught. Henry Bartling is the post master in the south part of the town, and S. D. Pierce at Sagone, in the north part. There are three churches, two establishments for the manufacture of brick, one grist mill, one carriage shop, one cabinet shop, four stores, two boot and shoe shops, and two blacksmith shops in the town. The Lutherans have a large society, and worship in a

The German Methodist society of this town is also large. It has a house of worship, and the pulpit is regularly supplied by a se:tled pastor. The present pastor of this church is Rev. U. Macklin.

This town has been visited with several violent and destructive storms within a few years past, the effects ot which were also experienced in other parts of the county, and through the kindness of Mr. M. L. Dunlap, Esq., we are enabled to place some account of them before our readers. The following communication was published in the Chicago Democrat, of June 13, 1847:

The Hail Storm

"This part of the country was yesterday visited with one of the severest storms of rain and hail that I have ever witnessed - the country is completely inundated. The morning was cloudy, with wind from the south, occasionally shifting to the southwest; during the forenoon, the clouds gave the appearance of good weather. At 7 A. M. the barometer stood at 29.50 inches, and thermometer at 68°. At 12 o'clock the latter had risen to 770, and the former had fallen to 28.40 inches. At this time a thunder shower was rolling up its black masses from the northwest, and at 1 o'clock it burst upon us with full force, attended with large quantities of hail of icy firmness. The mass of hail stones would average three-eights of an inch in diameter, while many specimens picked up measured over one anda half inches in circumference.

the southeast; and at 4 o'clock a heavy shower presented itself in the north, extending itself south and east, with wind from the east. In a few minutes the wind suddenly shifted to the north, when the rain commenced falling in torrents, completely shutting out the view. The rain partially abated, when the hail commenced pouring down at a fearful rate, the averagesize of the hail stones being half an inch in diameter, while many of them would measure over three inches in circumference, being an aggregation of hail stones cemented together - perfectragged lumps of ice. The barometer fell to 28.30 inches, and thermometer to 59°; after the storm the latter rose to 67°, and the former to 28.40 inches. There was but little wind during the falling of the hail.

This morning the houses, gardens and fields were a dismal sight. Nearly all the glass is out of the windows on the north sides of the houses, the young fruit is stripped from the trees, buds and grafts of this year's growth are broken off, and the field crops are more than half destroyed. The damage to our farms in this part of the county will be severely felt." Here is another dated July 15th, 1854.

A Destructive Storm

"We turn aside from our usual articles on culture, to record one of the most destructive hail storms within our knowledge. It occurred about 5 o'clock P. M., Thursday, the 13th instant. Commencing in the town of Bloomingdale, Du Pace County, and passing through Addison in the same county, thence into Cook county through the north part of Leyden, the south part of Elk grove and Maine, thence through Niles to the lake. Its track of greatest destruction was about a mile in width, though the hail fell in torrents, doing more or less damage for a mile on each side of this line. .The entire crops of grain and potatoes are completely broken down and ruined; the grass has fared little better, being badly injured and much of it not worth cutting. The corn is completely stripped of its leaves, and mostly broken off near the ground. Fruit and shade trees are nearly defoliated, badly bruised, and in many cases large stripes of bark knocked off. At the house of I, Knowles, in Addison, a pile of hail stones accumulated in an angle of the building three feet- deep, and at 5 o'clock next day, hail stones were measured from this pile from three to five inches in circumference. The trees on this farm are mostly stripped of their bark.

All the windows on the south and west sides of the houses had the glass broken. Cattle ran bellowing through the fields - horses broke from their fastenings and ran with whatever was fast to them. The ten minutes the hail was falling, were of fearful grandeur, alarm and rapid destruction. The dark mass of cloud streaked with the lurid lightning - the roaring of the hail like the pouring out of a thousand torrents might well inspire terror and dismay. In afew short minutes the hopes of the husbandman were gone; the broad ears of beautiful waving grain fast ripening for the reaper, and which were destined to feed and clothe those he held most dear, were utterly ruined and prostrated before him. Think you, gentle reader, that no tears coursed down the sun-burnt cheeks of those hardy sons of toil, to see their cherished hopes thus swept away, themselves, teams and farm implements turned out nearly idle for the remainder of the season ; and the hopes of their families resting on their daily labor, or the' prospect of. a mortgage to carry them forward to another harvest? We know the heart of the farmer is large, and ever open to relieve the unfortunate, and in this case we feel assured that those in the immediate vicinity will extend a helping hand in the way of grass, grain, and labor, not forgetting those garden vegetables so desirable to the health and comfort of a family.

Yesterday we passed over a small portion of the unfortunate tract, and made some figures of the loss, but these embrace only a small portion, and do not include all within the distance passed over, as we prefer to omit the estimate rather than take them from hearsay. In this estimate we have-taken, the probable amount of grain, etc., at its market price, after deducting the cost of harvesting and marketing. It is probably much below the ultimate loss in deranging farm operations, and the extra expense of procuring hay and grain for farm use:

This list, imperfect as it is, shows a large loss for a small neighborhood in a rural district, and nearly all within the delivery of the Sagone post office, in the town of Addison. The south margin of the storm passed over Dunlap's nursery, in the town of Leyden, injuring the young grafts and knocking off fruit from the specimen grounds, which is to be regretted, as many varieties were fruiting for the first time, by which their correctness of nomenclature would have been decided. Such large quantities of decaying vegetable matter, now sweltering in a summer sun, cannot have otherwise than a deleterious effect on the health of families residing on this track of desolation."

Under the township organization law, the first town election took place in Addison, in April, 1850. The following list includes the names of town officers since that time: