Burlington Township

Burlington Township

In Burlington township. Dr. I. W. Garvin was the first doctor to locate. After practicing a number of years he went to California in 1849. ^"^ some time later returned to Illinois and settled at Sycamore. . . .Dr. A. J. Willing practiced a few years in Burlington village, but removed to Hampshire about

1875. and later to Wheeler, Indiana. Dr. Carl E. J. Christiansen, a native of Germany, and an assistant surgeon in the Ninth Artillery during the Franco- Prussian war, was graduated from the University of Giesses February 13. 1872. He came to the United States in 1873, upon the steamer "Atlantic," and was one of the survivors of the wreck of that ill-fated vessel. He came to Burlington township in August, 1877. . . .Dr. Carl M. Maxfield was graduated from the Eclectic ^Medical Institution, Cincinnati, Ohio. February 8. 1870.

Dr. J. W. Stone, formerly from Michigan, was located in Burlington for a short time, beginning about 1880. He finall)^ removed from the township.

Other physicians who have at various times practiced in the county, Avhere some of them are still located, are included in the following list, w'hich names also the schools from \\hich they were graduated, in most instances :

Dr. E. A\\ Nash was in the county in and previous to 1847. '^s was also Dr. A. Gardner - the latter at Blackberry .... Dr. C. A. Jaeger. Elgin, graduate of Cleveland Homeopathic jNIedical College, March i. 1854. . . .Dr. John Joseph Crane. College Physicians and Surgeons, New York city. March i.

1876. . . .Finla McClure. Geneva, Rush Aledical College. Chicago. February 15. 1876.... Emma F. Wells, medical department University of Michigan. June 26. 1879. . . .James E. Bumstead. graduate of Chicago Medical College, in 1880. . . .\\'illiam T. Putt (Oswego) Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati. Ohio. May 12. 1874. . . .John S. Nitterauer (Sycamore), Hahnemann Medical College. Chicago. February 26, 1880. . . .Alfred Schmidt. University of Tubingen, Germany. November 8, i860. . . .Lorin A. Kelly. Bennett College of

Eclectic Medicine and Surgery, Chicago, March 15. 1869. . . .L. G. Hemenway, same institution. February 21, 1877. . . .Samuel R. JMiliard, graduate of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery ... .James Bradley, Chicago Medical College. March 4, 1868. . . .Hiram Hopkins, Rush Medical College, Chicago, February 17, 1885. . . . Margarite Weber, Medical College of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, August 2. 1881 . . . . Alvin Piatt Dewey, Rush Medical College, Chicago, February 19. 1884. . . .Royal McTaggart, Syracuse Medical College, New York, February 22, 1855. . ..Charles W. Ray, Bennett Eclectic Medical College, Chicago, ^ilarch 31, 1885. . . .Augustus James Thibodo, University of Trinity College. Toronto. Ontario, April 6. 1854. . . .Carleton E. Starrett, Bennett Medical College, Chicago, in 1884. Died at Elgin in 1907. . . . .C. H. Waldschmidt, Rush Medical College. Chicago, March 20, 1877. . . . Fred A. Larkin. Bennett College of Eclectic Medicine and Surgery, Chicago, March 23. 1886. ... Marian Elizabeth Strain, department of medicine and surgery of University of Michigan, July i. 1886. . . .Charles V. Jenkins, University of Buffalo, New York, in i860. . . .Howard L. Pratt, Rush Medical College. Chicago. February 26, 1878. ... David Charles Thomas Watkins, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1887.... Theodore D. \\'illiams. Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, 1871 .... George Green (Bristol Station). Rush Medical College, Chicago. March 2, 1870. . . .Josephine Dickes, midwifery, Le Conseil de Gouvermente du Grand Duche de Luxembourg, January 6, 1846.

At Aurora - P. A. Allaire. F. H. Van Liew, A. R. Bartlett, Stephen Bateman, George Higgins, O. D. Howell, Wesley Krymer. Mason M. Miles, Charles Naeher, Salisbury & Humphrey, L. A. Winslow and D. W. Young. J. A. Hatch. Jerome Van Allen, Otis \\'inslow, W. C. Winslow and Martin Woodruff were medical students.

Physicians And Surgeons In Practice In 1908

Burlington township on the west of the county is dotted with groves and well drained bv creeks and small streams, some of which run northwest and some southwest. Its position and altitude make it the backbone of the county. There are higher points, such as Bald Mound in Blackberry, but Burlington is higher on the average.

A Burlington voting precinct was formed ( including the present territory) as earlv as 1843. When the county was formed in 1836 it was part of the Pleasant Grove precinct, which covered the north end of the county.

Stephen \'an \'elzer arrived in 1835 and laid claim to all the land in sight, including nearly the entire township. Allison Banker came from Xew York the same vear. In 1836 Solomon \\'right arrived from Putnam county. Xew York, and located on what was afterward the Hawley farm. Banker married one of Solomon Wright's daughters. P. R. Joslyn. of Xew Jersey, located in 1836; his son. Riley Joslyn, came in 1837; O. H. and T. C. Ellithorpe, of Franklin county. \'ermont, came the same year; John Holden came from Pennsylvania; A. W. Laurence from Xew York, and C. M. Andrews from Hampshire county. Massachusetts, in 1837. Stephen Godfrey arrived from Orange county. Vermont, in 1838 and bought land of Van Velzer, as nearlv all new comers had to do or have a controversy. His son, Chas. B. Godfrev, still owns over seven hundred acres. David Sholes left Genesee county. Xew York, for the fertile West and took up a claim in 1840 and remained until his death in October, 1881, when he owned nineteen hundred acres of land. John Sholes. son of David, came about the same time. Simon Young, Sr.. came in 1841 with his family, including William, Daniel. John. Simon, Jr., Stephen and David. B. F. Chapman arrived in 1842; James Alann. a soldier of the War of 1812. in 1843, by which time Eben Xorton. Isaac Newton, Spafford Orlin and Joel Root, John and Stephen Ellithorpe, and J. W. Hapgood had taken up claims. Harvey A. Matteson came from Jefferson county, X'^ew Y'ork, in 1842.

Claim jumping and controversies over land were the chief source of trouble in those days, and in Burlington once led to a riot. The mob had seized the culprit, one McClanathan, and cutting a hole in the ice had given him a plunge bath. He escaped and got to the village, where the people protected him from the mob. McClanathan had sold a settler a yoke of oxen, after which the purchaser had "gone bankrupt."' McClanathan then tried to get his land by entering it himself at the land office.

The first store was opened on the old Galena road near where the village now stands, by S. S. ]\Iann, later of Elgin. A brick store was afterward built. For years this was the only store in the township. Ezra Hanson opened a tavern in his log cabin. Van Velzer's wife died in 1837. the first death in the settlement. A postofifice was established in 1846. with J. ^^'. Ellithorpe as postmaster. S. S. Maim succeeded him in 1849. Another postoffice was opened at East Burlington in 1865. The rural free delivery now gives the fanners of this district their mail each day.

The first sawmill was built by Franklin Mann and Gideon Sherman in 1 8 so, and operated seven years, when it was removed. The first frame house was built in Burlington in 1845 by James Mann.

The first church was built by the Congregationalists in 1853. It was completed in 1858 and was a union church for many years. The Free Methodists built a small church in the south part of the township. The first preacher to minister to the settlement was Elder Eaton, of the Free Will Baptists, who came from Ohio in 1840.

The first school was kept by Mrs. Catherine EHithorpe in her log house in 1839. In 1840 a log schoolhouse was built about a mile from the village. Miss Nancy Hill and a Miss Larrabee taught there. Mrs. Godfrey taught in her house in 1840, and Fannie Putnam in 184J used A^an \'elzer's barn as a schoolhouse.

A cheese factory was built b} a stock company in 1871. Kraft & Parks erected another in 1872; a third was put up by Edward Jackson in 1874. This was the beginning of the dairy business, which has continually increased until it has become an important aid to the farmer. Burlington has not lagged in keeping up her end in making Kane county the greatest dain,- district in the world.

The first wedding was that of John Holden and Hanna \'an \'elzer. about 1840. In 1840 two births occurred, it not being determined which was first, the one at \'an \'elzer's or that at Banker's.

The Illinois Central Company some years ago built a branch of that line through Plato and Burlington township, which affords the residents there an easy outlet for their products. It crosses the Fox river at Coleman Station.