Freeport Township (part 1 of 10)

Freeport Township

rigidly enforced, and penalties more unflincliingly imposed. Outlaws and bandits, however, occasionally indicated their presence at intervals, and sought to disturb the law and order which prevailed, by the assumption of prerogatives in harmony with their inclinations and characters. This class was, as a rule, composed of adventurers and gamblers, who, with horse-thieves and vagrants generally, had been run out of the lead mines, and, halting long enough at a safe distance from the scene of banishment, endeavored to defy opposition to their practices, but failed ignominiously, and received the extreme penalty of the law as a testimony against them.

From 1840 until 1846, indeed up to the building of railroads, the growth of the county, as compared with earlier years, was slow. Other portions of the West were sought by settlers, particularly the lead mines, and received accessions more rapidly. One cause of this was the absence of markets. The population was engaged almost exclusively in agriculture, and after farms were opened there was but a moderate sale of their products for this reason. Settlers have been known to take a load of pork to Mineral Point, where it was disposed of with difficulty at $1.25 per hundred weight, and occasional shipments of grain were made down the Mississippi from Savannah, which practice continued up to the very period, when railroads were operated in the country. These flatboats were laden with produce and floated down the river to New Orleans, unless a market was found en route, and disposed of. The cargo being disposed of, the flat was sold for the lumber it contained, when the merchant who had shipped the venture, together with his supercargo or clerk and laborers, began his wearisome journey homeward. A partial market was found in the lead region, but as productions increased that market became overstocked, and prices decreased so that the transportation of commodities thither could not be made to pay. The same can be said of the Chicago market, though for a difi'erent reason - the distance. Chicago was at that early day beginning to be an important factor in the building up of the West. It was the point at which settlers procured their final outfits, and the market to which farmers transported their grain for sale. The means of conveyance was a lumber wagon drawn by four or five yoke of oxen, the driver pasturing his cattle at night by the wayside, himself camping out and cooking his meals. If he succeeded in progressing over horrible roads, or surviving the crossing of seemingly impassable sloughs and reaching his long journey's end, he was extremely fortunate. Not more so, however, if he was able to find a customer to whom a sale of the grain could be eff"ected at 50 cents per bushel. Whenever he was able to control their patronage, he returned with a load of merchandise for the merchants of Freeport, for which he received a nominal consideration of store goods. Occasionally he found a family of emigrants, who, having reached Chicago by "way of the lake, were waiting for the means of conveyance to continue their trip. In such cases the household goods of this "'lucky find," together with the emigrant and his wife and little ones, were laden on the wagon for the return trip. Such a cargo was a bonanza to the teamster, for passage was invariably cash. With such difficulties to encounter, and the low prices paid for commodities, together with the extravagant charge made for many of the necessaries of life, it is not surprising that wealth was not rapidly amassed. As a compensation for these disadvantages, land was cheap. The broad prairies, which proved to be the finest farming land in the State, were held at a price within reach of the most impecunious. The suggestion is frequently ma^e to some who came at an early day and are yet comparatively the reverse of independent, as to the reason why they failed to invest and wait for a rise ;

Why it was that they were not possessed of the colossal fortune which might now have been theirs had they but invested their moderate resources in land. The answer to both these interrogatives invariably has been that they came here in search of moderate resources and didn't bring it with them.

Among those who came subsequent to 1839, not including those who settled in Freeport, there were : John, Reuben, Levi, Adam and Michael Bolander, George and Jacob Maurer, W. P. Naramore, Joseph Barber, Andrew Hinds, D. A. Baldwin, Captain Knese, Thomas and Adam Wilson, Christian Bennett, John Flynn, the Babb family, Mathias Ditzler, George House, John Lamb, Warren and Anson Andrews, Horace Post, Truman Lovdell, William Barkalow, Thomas Foster, Joseph Rush, Samuel Shiveley, Henry Loyer, Reuben Tower, William Schermerhorne, Frederick Gossmann, John Hammond, Nathan Ferry, Charles W. and Robert Barber, Frank Maginnis, Benjamin Illingworth, J. B. Clingman, George and Philip Reitzell, Henry Wohlford^

Cyrus Woodman, Isaac Miller, Lyman, William and Nelson Hulburt, John Clarke, Joseph Norris, Seth Schockley, Henry Rybolt, with numberlessothers.

Mormon Meddlings

In the spring of this year the Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints, a religious sect with which the world has since become familiar, made their advent for the first time into the State of Illinois. The representatives of the doctrines taught by Joseph and Hyrum Smith had been guilty of crimes in Missouri of a characer difi'erent from that included in the polygamous tenets expounded from their pulpits, in consequence of which the indignation of the warlike Missourians had been excited to a degree that compelled their leaders to flee to Illinois, where they took refuge in Hancock County and commenced the building of Nauvoo. The accounts furnished by the saints of the cruel treatment they received at the hands of their enemies excited feelings of sympathy for what was then thought to be a Christian body of men and women, suffering in the cause of religion. This sympathy found expression in various ways; among others, by the passage of a bill providing for the incorporation of the city of Nauvoo and conferring extraordinary powers upon its municipal officers, including the military and constabulary.

Thus protected, the Mormons began in Illinois a career of missionary work which has attracted thousands to their fold at the sacrifice of every sentiment of self-respect and the regard of all mankind. The emissaries of the sect were distributed throughout Illinois and States contiguous thereto, with results that were made apparent by the annual increase of population in Nauvoo. The proselytes were by no means the ignorant classes represented as the converted of late years, but educated, reasoning men, with their families. The meetings, it is said, held in Stephenson County, were quite respectable, but conversion was accomplished by means entirely dissimilar to those adopted by other denominations. There was little public speaking, the missionaries having recourse te private interviews and personal solicitation to accomplish their miracles. The result of their labors was not, if report in that behalf is predicated upon fact, proportioned to the means used or the diligence and energy exercised. The saint& were thick as lice in Egypt, according to report, but were unable to perform miracles as was Moses, and departed from Stephenson County, wise in their experience, but impoverished as to results. True, there were some who accompanied them, notably Hector C. Haight, of Jefferson Township, and a settler named Shumway, residing in the northern part of the county.

Both Haight and his wife became charmed with the teachings of Joe Smith's agents, if the sermons of this religion can possess any charm for a man above mediocrity, as Haight is represented to have been, and disposing of his possessions in Jefferson, he with his family crossed the Mississippi and made one of the number of martyrs, who, a few years after, suffered all the pangs of the inquisition in their weary pilgrimage across the plains to Salt Lake. For years nothing was heard of him, and the pioneer settler in Jefferson Township was forgotten in the hurry of life at home. But after a season, reports came of his success, which, upon being investigated, were found to be far more than the baseless fabric of a vision. He had prospered in temporal affairs, and spiritually he was above the vainglory of this world. He was one of Young's trusted advisers by the "Salt Lake's sad waves," and his wife had become a leading spirit in the revivals and meetings held in Zion. Both had increased the number of " sealings " to be found in Brigham's domain, but not without money or price. A short time back they re-visited the locality of their early residence in Stephenson County, upon which occasion they expressed an unalterable and abiding faith in the religion they embraced, and, though it is said they pictured the lives led by the elect of Salt Lake citizens in glowing colors, none were influenced thereby or persuaded to return with them.

In the history of Haight's apostasy to the cause of morality and good government, the writer had forgotten Shumway and his less prominent companions. Well, so much the better. He was never heard of, however, after being '* led astray " by Latter-Day Saints.

In this year the town of Oneco, in Oneco Township, was laid out under the direction of John K. Brewster, and Orangeville, within sight of Oneco, was also surveyed about this period by John M. Curtis, though its platting and building up were delayed until 1846, when John Bowers came in and established the place.

But it was to Oneco that the sanguine hopes of Mr. Brewster, Mr. Corwith and others, were turned in lively anticipation of what that town would become. These hopes, as is known by the world and the flesh resident in Stephenson County, were doomed to disappointment. The eligible site was never improved to its utmost capacity, and the water privileges that it was thought would become unexhaustible and invaluable, were never availed of. A church, schoolhouse, post office, one or two stores, and other indications of life, survive the flight of time, and the proud man's contumely, to illustrate to a later generation the beginnings of what might have been.

Before the year 1840 had run the race set before it, the county was commencing to show good results of the years of labor that had been expended upon its improvement, and it promised, upon its advent into the fourth year of its existence, to do more than had been done during the years that had rolled into the past. "Let there be light," was the first word of the Creative Power, and "Let there be light" must remain the motto of every future development. The year was remarkable for many improvements, and an increase in the number of farms that were occupied and cultivated. Very little can be said concerning the emigration hither, for, beyond the fact that some come in, its measure was not in any ratio with what it should have been. This was due to the causes cited, more than the absence of large numbers who were only waiting for the sign that was to move them to change their several camps. The population was increased very slightly, as will be inferred, and did not, during the entire year, receive accessions of more than two hundred to the number already there. The post office, which was established at Freeport a year before, was not an unfruitful source of comfort and convenience to citizens throughout the county, as they were by its means enabled to communicate with their friends more frequently than when Thomas Craine was accustomed to carry the mail once or twice a month to Freeport. A stage line had been in operation for some time at this period, and the inspirations of delight that were felt when the bugle was sounded, need but to be referred to to be recalled. The notes brought back a consciousness that its auditors were not altogether beyond the pale of civilization ; that a trip of two days and two nights, and the expenditure of a round sum of money, would carry one to the heart of the city, Avhere he might be brought directly in communication with scenes and incidents to which he had been theretofore a stranger. And no doubt there will be many who read these lines to echo their truth and be carried back to days when they made their first trip to Chicago, arriving in the city and stopping at the old frame tavern on Lake street, near the river, as the day was declining into evening.

The fact that there was no material increase in the population during 1840 would argue the conclusion that there were, comparatively, no improvements. This was generally the case outside of towns, but not altogether so in Freeport, and other less pretentious but more ambitious bailiwicks. Freeport then had about sixty houses, divided into stores, saloons and residences, the major part being, of course, devoted to the latter purpose, with a population, within the present city limits, of about fifty families* With this measured showing, the town aped the manners of a city. Saloons were maintained, and gambling was indulged without limit. John Barleycorn reigned in those days more generally in proportion to the number of the inhabitants, than he does now, while the Tiger of Pharaoh was a beast that roamed abroad freely, and, though no one was ever known to fear him, there were many who retired wounded after encounters with his strength and skill.

Secret societies and granges had not at this time become objects either of curiosity or interest to the people, and the square and level were as yet in the unborn future. Temperance societies, were in existence, though, and had been for two years. Not that there was a vital necessity for their existence, for the early settlers were not topers. But they came into being as the settlers came into the county, doubtless, for the enjoyment of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, in which trinity of objects they were aided by patrons and admirers. Along in 1838, L. W. Guiteau made a pilgrimage to the present town of Cedarville, where he was to deliver a temperance address, at the invitation of A. Goddard and others. At the time appointed, a snow storm was prevailing, and, though Mr. Guiteau disliked to go there, he went, and was confronted by an audience of fifteen or twenty, to whom he spoke with reference to the advantages to be derived from a practical application of .the doctrine of total abstinence. This was the first speech ever delivered in the county on the subject, but the work of reform begun upon that night, amid the storm and surrounded by many, very many, discouraging circumstances, has grown in strength, and, stretching out its sympathetic arms, has since gathered into its folds many of the loved and lost of Stephenson County. Two years later, the Rev. F. C. Winslow and John A. Clark headed a temperance movement in Freeport, holding sessions of an order of Crusaders in a little room over a saloon, at the corner of Galena and Chicago streets. From these insignificant commencements, the cause of temperance has increased each year, until to-day it is a power for good in the county, including among the members of its organizations some of the most capable, intelligent and educated influences in this portion of the State.

The amusements of the people, for by this time amusements had become more general, were naturally, by reason of the limited resources in their behalf, confined to a class of entertainments requiring preparations and expenditures by no means elaborate or extravagant. With some, dancing was a species of pleasure, indulged upon appropriate occasions, and there are a number of ladies residing in the county to-day, married years ago, who well remember the sharp, frosty nights, upon which they mounted a horse and galloped off through the brisk air to attend a dance in some distant log cabin to the inspiriting notes of a fiddle manipulated by Daniel Wooton, "Professor" Clark, or musicians of equal skill and repute. Sleigh-riding became a favorite amusement in time, as did skating, while the elegant accomplishments were made up of the house-" hold duties with which the girl of the period, to whom gilt is gold, and curbstone wit philosophy, is entirely unfamiliar.

To those who regarded dancing as an evil to be avoided, quiltings and sociables were substituted, and no doubt contributed a fund of humor to the company attracted. The circus was never known in the county until along about 1842, and it was years after that, before the lecturer or facial contortionist came along and paved a way for the building of a theater to accommodate tragedians very much crushed, limp disciples of Comus, the ballet, the minstrels or Little Buttercup and Pinafore.

The public health was never quoted in those days, and sanitary commissioners, harmless as doves, but without the wisdom of serpents, were reserved for the future to delineate. Physicians were somewhat of a rarity, too, and, when sickness prostrated settler after settler, these indispensable adjuncts to comfort and consequent happiness were without leisure. The complaints suffered from in those days were generally of a kind indigenous to a new country, being made up of chills, ague, intermittent and other fevers that most always yielded temporarily to remedies. Senna, salts, quinine and calomel were staple commodities kept by storekeepers, and it was a rare occurrence when they were without all of these articles. The patient was most generally charged with compounds of which the constituent parts were as above indicated. While his system remained thus impregnated he was free from ailment, but let him suspend a dose and the last stage of his disease was worse than the first. This liability to attack remained until the lands were drained and cultivated, the forests cut down, and pure air substituted for the miasmatic vapors that proceeded from rank vegetation and the swamps. When these improvements were gradually completed, they brought health to the frames that were palsied by sickness and bloom to cheeks from which the color had long since fled. The waste places were built up and the lands were made to bud and blossom again.

Society, it might be here observed, was such as is peculiar to a new country, and, while there were many marriages, there were also many bachelors, living by themselves, and, with fewer women to reverence than in older settled constituencies, there may have been a lack of reverence for women. But there was an absence of scandal, either of a private nature or of the weakness of public characters, which cannot be otherwise regarded than as a compensation. For the absence of agencies, which, while they may conduce to enjoyment yet promote infelicities, is to be desired and commended. This condition of affairs is not only natural but inevitable, in new countries where the first fight is for life, and the masculine quality predominates. But with the progress made, and the civilizing influences that come with Time, the feminine nature increased. It crept in everywhere, in men and women alike, in intellectual culture, in art and social intercourse, refining and hallowing the atmosphere of every-day life. In affairs of public morals, of education and religion, it created a healthy progress. The New England element was largely represented, their Puritan habits softened by association with the free life of a young settlement and its cosmopolitan inhabitants, though preserving the best qualities of decency, order, justice and constant progress upward in morality and virtue. As the ratio of production increased, the ratio of comfort and prosperity grew, and as productive enterprises were ventured, the country was benefited by an increase in the amount of capital seeking investment. Countries, like individuals, are great only as they are teachers, and the history of early settlements in the Northwest shows that they are great because they have taught that there are mines of treasure to be gained by industry and perseverance, and that rich gems of blessing will be laid bare to the toiler.

With the progress made, as cited, the history of Stephenson County enters upon another year of its existence. This year would contain many new features, it was thought, and be an improvement upon the one that had closed. The people had met discouragements in years gone by, in opposition from sections possessing greater inducements for settlers, but were never overcome by them. They had encountered difiiculties which are always strewn in the walks of life. In place of being vanquished, these awoke their sleeping energies and set them to working with increased determination. Their resources were tested, and the metal of their composition tried in the fire. They realized that the earth was not a Paradise, but put forth thorns at every season. They also realized that labor and perseverance conquer every opposition, surmount every difficulty and overcome misfortune. They were taught these lessons in the schools of experience, and guided in the future by the admonitions they impressed.

During 1841, there was absolutely nothing to discourage the people or make them to rejoice with exceeding joy. No event of importance, it is believed, occurred to startle the nation or paralyze the public. If human agencies were lacking of contributions toward perfection, Dame Nature continued to act in her blandest, most beneficial mood, lavishing her gifts to promote the welfare of all, the productive soil yielding abundantly of every farm staple intrusted to its keeping, and the forests giving up their choicest growth for building, fencing and other purposes. The falling-off in the number of emigrants, begun the previous year, was continued, and improvements were, as a rule, confined to the villages. The professions began to be more freely represented this year, and some who have since left the impress of their characters upon the years that followed, identified themselves with the county from 1839 to 1842. But few remain to recount the difficulties that met them at every turn, or how dangerous a thing to them the "little learning" they possessed often proved to be ; but they survived opposition, and became powerful advocates and accomplished scientists in after days.

One of these gentlemen, who has since occupied distinguished positions on the bench and at the bar, related to the writer a scrap of his experience when first landing in Freeport. It was almost at the close of the year, and the wintry sky hung lowei'ing and repellant. With ten shillings in his purse, a few books, and a still less generous wardrobe, he dismounted from the '"jumper" at Mr. Goddai'd's Mansion House, and contemplated the immediate future, as may be imagined, with no very cheerful conclusions. As a matter of course, he began to climb the hill, and it was many days before l^e halted for the rest and encouragement occupation begets. But the day came ^Jien forensic eloquence was demanded, when, to express it in the spirit of the day, the present Judge was in town, where he has since remained, honored and enriched by the practice which he obtained. He long since attained the summit of professional prosperity, but in his days of retirement he often recurs to his entry into Freeport as among the most eventful, if not the happiest, of a life that has been passed amid scenes as varied with sunshine and shadow as a day in June.

During the early period of 1842 there were no changes, either in the temporal or spiritual surroundings of the situation in Stephenson County to report. But, as the days came and went, they were characterized by events out of the ordinary channel in which the lives of settlers and citizens had previously drifted. The payment of interest on the public debt had been abandoned, and the financial embarrassments of the State began to be felt. To add to the distress of the people, State banks were beginning to grow " shaky," and finally to collapse. There was no trade, and business stagnation was complete. Values declined, and the agricultural portion of the community were unable to dispose of their crops, except at prices that entailfed a loss on the cost of production. In this crisis, the farmers of Stephenson County, and merchants of towns located within her boundaries, though not entirely unscathed, suffered less than points more thickly settled, and from other causes susceptible to its influences. But there is no doubt that emigration hither was lessened, though some of the choicest spirits ever associated with the county's history came in during this period.

Wallace Suicide

During the summer of this year, an old settler named William Wallace, who had settled in the county five years before, suicided by hanging at the edge of Rock Grove, and died before he was discovered. His neighbors regarded him as insane from infelicities, with the exact import of which no one could be found who was familiar, and, while thus oppressed, he had sought in the unknown world that peace of mind denied him here. He was discovered, it is said, by some lads traveling in pursuit of cows, who advertised the fact to the few settlers in the vicinity, by whom he was cut down and buried almost in sight of the tree under which his troubles were dissipated with his life.

Notwithstanding the tight times made mention of, the county was regarded as a terminal point of great excellence by residents of the Eastern States and elsewhere, and agents from communities contemplating emigration to the West were to be found here prospecting and making examinations of the resources, with a view to submit reports that should be acted upon by those who had commissioned them. This was not confined to the Eastern States alone, but extended to foreign parts. It will be remembered that the Norwegians, who settled in Rock Run about 1839, adopted this policy before determining upon settlement, and their judgment obtained in other countries of Europe - for example, in England. In the spring of 1842, the inhabitants of farming shires there empowered an agent to visit America and select a location where they could secure land at reasonable rates, that, by the employment of the same means which at home gave them only a tolerable income, they might be enabled to amass a competency. Acting upon these instructions, he visited Illinois, and was so impressed with the inducements ofi'ered in present Ridott Township, that he advised the colony to settle there as possessing every advantage that could be had at home, in addition to many inaccessible in England, even to those in easy circumstances. The communication containing this ultimatum was received, and, after some delay devoted to deliberation, its adoption was decided upon, and preparations were inaugurated for the journey. These completed, sail was set, and a colony, consisting of about twenty-two, landed at their future home in Ridott Township, on the 28th of August, 1842, and established themselves in the timber near the present village. They were composed of the sturdy class of English yeomanry, under whose watchful care and taste Devonshire, Sussex and other vicinages have prospered, to-day abounding in scenes of exquisite beauty, with groves, gardens and residences that charm the beholder, inspiring him with emotions of the sublime and beautiful, and educating the heart to reverence the gifts of Nature and Nature's God. The settlement made here was inhabited by this character of people, who have aided most liberally in the improvements of that portion of the county, some of whom reside there still. In many cases, they are the proprietors of vast estates, which are highly cultivated, and stocked with the choicest specimens of improved breeds. Their houses are commodious, substantially built, provided with libi-aries and centers of comfort. Industrious, with much of that geniality and bonhomie recognized as characteristics of cultivators of the soil, they have done a great deal to develop the section in which they settled, by the appropriation of improved systems of agriculture, the large crops they have laid by, and the air of independent comfort made manifest in their surroundings.

The original settlement remained intact for about one year, when the community of interest which prevailed was interrupted and never afterward resumed. Death visited the home of one and left his mark upon its posts. A wife who came to the new world sickened and died before she scarcely realized the change, but, amid strangers and scenes unlike those she had come from, closed her eyes in death. May it not be, however, that in her cabin in the wilderness, where she may have lingered through the night unconscious of friends around her, she heard a strain of the mysterious harmony from afar, in the midst of dreams of England, the long path across the ocean and friends and home?

This event, with others of a similar character that followed in its wake, bred a feeling of discontent and loneliness that comes when frail mortality has run its race and the golden ripple comes back no more, which precipitated a dissolution of the band and distributed its members over the West. The separation came gradually, however, and it was not until two years after their coming that the surviving members left the rendezvous rendered sacred by associations and mournful memories. Many remained in Stephenson County with results already quoted, whose worth and standing axQ as pronounced as they are the fulfillment of a promise always pledged to industry and enterprise.

The English colony was the largest addition to the inhabitants at any point in the county this year, it is believed, Freeport included. Settlers visited other portions of Stephenson, it is true, and some remained, but the large proportion that it was a few years before expected would make the county an abiding place, failed to materialize either in numbers or frequency of arrivals. The reasons for this were doubtless due to hard times and bad roads, though, as before remarked, the hard times did not produce that distress in this as in other counties and States. This was owing to the fact that the people, as also the county, having been accustomed to pay as they went, were comparatively free from debt. The failure of fresh arrivals, however, disturbed no one ; the farmers continued to labor for the development of this "beautiful land. " Schools, to cultivate the intellect of the growing generation to educate its uses, and religion to inculcate a respect for morals not less than for self. The merchants increased somewhat in number, as did their business, and they looked forward to a time, in the near future, when their days of probation would be over. Mechanical industries, though, had by this year, begun to assume a prominence in keeping with the times. Wagon and carriage shops were accessible, and that class of work obtained without resorting to lengthy trips and submitting to scores of inconveniences. Blacksmith shops had been established where once they were unknown, and agricultural implements were substituted where a few years before their use had been ridiculed.

The season of 1843 was, in point of material prosperity, an improvement over the previous year. Additions were made to the population, farms became more productive, though markets were as far beyond reach as they had been, farmers being still compelled to draw their wheat to Chicago and receive a price per bushel totally disproportionate to the cost of raising, thrashing and transportation. Yet the opportunities to obtain loads on the return trip were more favorable and paid better, for building in Freeport and at other localities was becoming more general, and not unfrequently the material was procured at Chicago. The lead mines were still visited occasionally, when the settler was in a hurry to dispose of his crops, but as markets they ceased to bear so important a relation to the county as had existed in earlier years. The spring was passed amid bustle and some disorders incident to the resumption of business and farming, and summer came and went without any apparent diminution in these particulars - not disorders involving violations of law, for this was not permitted by the orderly residents, but the hurry and carelessness evidenced where business is paramount to all other considerations. The composition of the emigrants who came in this year was remarked as gratifying. They were as a rule substantial men, untainted by association with adventurers, who seek to conquer adversity without reference to the means employed in that behalf. In the fall, when the crops had been gathered and stacked, and an account was taken of the season's profits, if a very small balance remained to the credit of the producer, it was gratifyingly exceptional and encouraging.

The Boardman Murder

This year witnessed the first murder reported in the annals of Stephenson County, that is, after the county was incorporated as such. The scene of the tragedy was a farm in Rock Grove Township, at that time owned by Daniel Noble. It seems, according to report, that Noble employed a man to assist him about the farm, by the name of Boardman. The relations existing between them were of a character that, when the latter mysteriously disappeared, Noble's statements were received without dispute. One day in the fall of the year, Noble and Boardman took their guns and started ofi" on a hunt, remaining absent for a day or so without exciting distrust. One afternoon Noble turned up without his companion, and, upon being interrogated as to his absence, stated that, having tired of the point at which he resided, he had made up his mind to seek a location elsewhere. He had departed in the direction of, and asserted that he was going to, Wisconsin. Previous to separating, the missing man handed a watch to Noble and requested that he would deliver it to Mrs. Boardman, with the assurance that when he was established he would send for her. The gun, it was said, he had carried off. The winter passed without hearing from the absent one, and, though anxiety was expressed among the settlers as to the cause, no suspicion was directed toward Noble. The spring came and went without aught happening or being done to solve the mystery of Boardman's continued and prolonged silence. As summer appeared, with the dawn of June, a query was addressed to many in this connection, calculated to assail the innocence of Noble, and put him upon the defensive. One afternoon, Mr. Marsh, a neighbor, was engaged in the discharge of his farm duties, when his sense of smell was assailed by the stench of corruption, and he hastened to ascertain the cause. After a brief search, his efforts were rewarded by the finding of a human skeleton in the brush, so decayed that it was beyond recognition, yet bearing marks indicating that he had met death by violence. Mr. Marsh detached the skull from its connection with the body, and, proceeding to Noble's premises, exhibited his "find" to the latter, who was engaged in threshing in his barn. His appearance upon being confronted with the spectacle was calculated to confirm previous suspicions, and after consultation it was decided to arrest him on the following day, or as soon thereafter as a warrant could be obtained therefor from Justice Frankeberger. In the mean time. Noble directed his wife to get ready, and that night he quietly disappeared. Mrs. Noble he left at her father's, in Ogle County, while he proceeded to Dixon, where he left his team, thence to parts unknown. He was never arrested, and the death of Boardman, in all probability a victim to the unsettled condition of affairs at that day, or the turbulent passions of man, has always been involved in mystery.

A correspondent of the Madison (Wis.) Express, traveling through this country about that time, gives his impressions of portions of the county through which he passed, as follows :

" Since I have been here I have been about the county considerably, and have become well convinced that it is well deserving of the high reputation it has attained, of being one of the very best counties in the State. From Rockford to this place (Freeport), the road passes through one continuous prairie, with the exception of a grove about one mile in length. The prairie is quite rolling, in many places amounting to hills, with an uncommonly rich and fertile soil. There is in this county less waste land on account of sloughs or marshy places than in most prairie countries with which I am acquainted. Yet the land is admirably well watered, there being a clear creek nearly every mile, wending its way through the prairie to the Pecatonica. These, I am told, originate in springs, the water being always clear and pure, and the streams never dry. The banks of the creeks are usually high, and the land, on either side of the water's edge, is perfectly dry. A heavy body of timber is to be found on the north side of the Pecatonica River, the best growth I have ever found in the State. It is mainly oak, but in many places we find a great variety of heavy timber."

The population of the county was then supposed to be somewhere between five and ten thousand, and was "rapidly increasing." The amount of wheat raised in the county, that year, was upward of fifty thousand bushels, which talked well for a county that had been settled a little less than ten years. It was but ten years since Mr. Waddams erected the first cabin, and what vast changes time had wrought ! Since that day, though, the progress of the county has been far more rapid - far beyond the wildest expectations of the most hopeful enthusiast. The five thousand inhabitants have increased to nearly ten times that number. The prairies, with scarcely a cabin to vary the monotony of the landscape, now present unbroken chains of the finest farms in the country, ornamented with mansions and buildings. The dirt roads and corduroy tracks, with their lumber wagons and " prairie schooners," have given place to the railways and palace cars.

The following year, 1844, was characterized by the arrival of a class of settlers who were possessed of some means, and desirous of investing a portion of what they brought with them in lands, to hold the same until it appreciated in value, when sales could be effected with profit. At that time, F. D. Bulkley was Recorder of the county, and, in the discharge of his official duties appertaining to the position, he was sometimes assisted by his daughter and niece. These young ladies, though almost constantly occupied, were ever ready to assist the pursuit of knowledge by strangers who were endeavoring to trace a chain of title, and generally had little time td devote to anything else. These visitors were quite numerous, and many of those who came in at that time and became real-estate speculators have remained, and are now large land-owners.

About this period, the troubles arising between purchasers and claimants first found open expression, and sometimes reached a state of affairs that could only be likened to a combat between the cats of Kilkenny, or worse. As will be remembered, these troubles grew out of the land sales at Dixon, and were pursued until one of the contesting parties had reached the end of his worsted. In these sales, the doctrine caveat emptor should have obtained, but did not apply. The purchaser of a claim by no means secured possession of his property by the payment of the purchase money. If its location impinged upon the claim of an old campaigner, or rather one who had come in at an early day and borne the heat of the battle, he was decided in his refusal to yield the coign of vantage to one who came on to the field when the victory was won. In many of the townships the fight between claimants and purchasers was prolonged and bitter. If the purchaser insisted upon maintaining his title to the property, he was met by opposition which endangered his remaining, and in all cases realizing this fact, he generally abandoned the field of occupation to his foe, and departed for other scenes. There is no recorded case of homicide growing out of these disturbanaes, but these may have been avoided by the surrender of him whose alleged right was disputed. An instance of this is to be found in the case of a resident of Rock Run, who innocently became a trespasser, though he claimed title to lands purchased at Dixon. His neighbors, including the Seeleys, Carnefex, Webb, Davis and others, so interfered with his occupation that he was compelled finally to abandon the land and go elsewhere. These troubles, however, were finally compromised, and long since ceased to exist ; but, while they were active, nothing short of civil war, say those familiar with its ramifications, could equal the land contests for bitterness and refusal to yield.

There were many other annoyances to which these same people were subjected, long after the introduction of civil process, and the establishment of courts; but they have not occurred during late years, and need only be referred to as among the incidents of life in the West at an early day.

Among those who came in 1844, was the Hon. John H. Addams, President of the Second National Bank, and as prominently identified with landed as monetary affairs. He settled in Cedarville, where he purchased the mill built, in 1837, by Dr. Van Valzah. He has represented the district, in which Stephenson County is included, in the State Senate, is the father of railroad enterprise in Stephenson County, and of the extension of lines to points that were thereby benefited. In all the departments of life he has sustained a character above criticism, and is esteemed not more for his unimpeachable integrity than his enterprise and public spirit.

The year 1845 was not different from 1844, in any of its salient features. The prospects were no more discouraging than had been those of that year, and the improvements had kept pace with the times, though the rush of emigration and the influx of money was not by any means proportioned to the wishes of the people. Farmers were yet obliged to market their products in Chicago, and put up with treatment that enforced a belief that their lives were not nearly so independent as they were considered by men who contemplated them from a distance. Little had been done even at this late day, to render the roads passable, and, when teamsters en route to Chicago or other distant points found them to be in a condition that forbade their attempting to proceed, they unloaded, and, returning to Freeport, waited until the weather and improvement of the highways permitted them to renew the attempt. This entailed a second loss in the depreciated value of the quality, which, with that estimated by the purchaser in Chicago, had a tendency to diminish the area of cultivation, and turn attention to other sources of revenue which would not be so severely assessed.

The coming of railroads, however, a few years later, rather equalized the necessities of both planter and factor, and removed this embargo to progress and wealth.

Mexican War

Before the close of 1845, the dispute with Mexico, consequent upon the admission of Texas, became so open and apparently beyond the powers of diplomatic agents to adjust, that war between that nation and the United States was only a question of time. This was what came, as all remember, after robberies and outrages had been perpetrated under the cloak of official sanction, involving the loss of millions of dollars' worth of property to Americans resident in Mexico and upon the border.

When hostilities were begun, a call was made for volunteers, apportioned mostly to the Western and Southern States, and the requisition from Illinois embraced three regiments. When this proclamation was promulgated, and reached Stephenson County, it created an excitement and enthusiasm only equaled by that precipitated by the firing upon Sumter. Age forgot its crutch and labor its task ; and youth, rank and genius rushed into the lists, anxious to be of the number who should follow the eagles of another Cortes and camp in the halls of the Montezumas. Nor was this spirit of ardent patriotism confined to the men. It was manifested by ladies, who formed sewing societies and aided in the fashioning of uniforms for the soldiers, and flags for the regiments. Public meetings were convened and the situation discussed by men who hurled oratorical thunderbolts against the pugnacious foe. Volunteers were enlisted without bounty or effort, and, after imperfect preparation, hurried to the field of battle, thirsting for reputation and gore.

In Freeport, a public meeting was called, which convened at the court house, during the continuance of this excitement, and was largely attended by representatives from all portions of the county. Maj. John Howe officiated as Chairman ; addresses of patriotic import were made by Thomas J. Turner. S. B. Farwell and others, and some enlistments were secured that evening, What is true in this connection regarding the feeling at Freeport, applies to other portions of the county. Wherever a settlement existed, the utmost enthusiasm was manifested, and volunteers were greatly in excess of the demand. About twenty-five recruits were obtained in Stephenson County, including William Goddard, of West Point, who was promoted to a Captaincy, and survived the contest to fall at Shiloh ; the Pattee boys, George and Jason, from Lancaster and Silver Creek ; Foster Hart, from Florence, with others representing the remaining townships. They were apportioned to the company commanded by Captain McKinney, of Dixon, it is said, and formed part of the Second Regiment of Illinois troops, of which J. L. D. Morrison, of St. Clair County, but latterly a resident of St. Louis, was appointed Colonel. The regiment was mustered in July 2, 1846, and, after a brief sojourn in camp, crossed the Rio Grande and entered the city of Santa Rosa, thence proceeding to the base of the Sierra Gorda. This regiment participated in the battle of Buena Vista, and other engagements, being finally disbanded at Camargo, whence they returned home, arriving in Springfield, June 4, 1847, thence to their several places of enlistment.

The soldiers on their reaching home were received with marks of afiection, and tendered, as they deserved, the enthusiastic welcomes of the people. Dinners, addresses, toasts and speeches greeted their arrival ; newspapers in the vicinity lauded their patriotism, while, as candidates for office, civilians were obliged to yield precedence to the victorious warrior. Those who had fallen on the battle-field, or died in the hospital, were held in sacred remembrance, while the wounded who bore the marks of strife, were regarded with an awe and veneration passing comparative comprehension.

In April, 1847, the Government issued another call for troops, that was responded to with equal readiness, and the lists of volunteers, it is believed, were made up in part of residents of Stephenson County, mustered into the Sixth Regiment. However, the fall of the City of Mexico virtually ended the war, and, beyond investing Vera Cruz, and the engagement at Tampico, the duties of the two battalions into which this regiment was divided, were confined to garrisons, returning home when peace was declared, to again take part in the duties which had been temporarily abandoned to engage in the pursuit of arms.

In the fall of 1846, according to the record, the people began to appreciate the necessity of an outlet and a market for their crops, and a strong feeling in favor of railroads began to manifest itself. This was the beginning of an era in the progress of the ^tate, county and city. The farmers had long before realized how utterly hopeless any approach to independence could be made under the existing condition of affairs. The labor employed in cultivating the soil and laying by the crops, together with the expense of conveying them to market, left but a small margin when high prices were paid for their products. But the rates received by them, per bushel for their grain, and other expenses incurred in its delivery, left them no margin for present necessities or future operations. They must either obtain more remunerative prices, less expensive means of transportation, or engage in occupations that would not only afford a living, but a surplus upon which to live when age incapacitated them from the active duties of life. With these sentiments, the project of securing a railway, accessible to farmers in the county, was canvassed, and met with a hearty response from those interested. Scheming brains, with an eye to the future, endeavored to formulate a plan by which this inestimable desideratum might be attained, and its powerful aid secured to develop the country, as also to educate, civilize, and Christianize the people. People talked about the influences it would exert, and it became a topic of general conversation on the streets, or in the hotels, in the commercial marts, and by the fireside. However, nothing came of the efforts made in that connection during the year 1846 but plans which did not crystallize into acts, and it was not until the following year that practical work commenced.

On January 7, 1847, quoting from the recollections of John H. Addams, who was prominently instrumental in agitating the subject until it was regarded feasible, the first railroad convention ever held in the Western country was convened at Rockford, The attendance was very large, and included representatives from all portions of the country. Among those who attended from Stephenson County, the residents of which, by the way, were instrumental in calling the meeting, were John H. Addams, Luman Montague, Jackson Richart, D. A. Knowlton, Martin P. Sweet and Adrian Lucas. W. B. Ogden, Walter Newberry and I. N. Arnold were present from Chicago, and, after the disposition of preliminary business, the questions at issue were very generally discussed. The Chicago party proposed to commence the building of a road under a charter previously obtained, and this led to the organization of a company under which the Galena & Chicago road was constructed.

Though there was scarcely any money in the country, and it was indispensable to the success of the corporation that ^20,000 of stock be taken in the county, the people subscribed as liberally as their limited means would permit, and succeeded in raising this amount. Railroad meetings were not frequent in those days, the settlers residing so far apart that they could not assemble at a moment's notice, and those interested in placing the stock were obliged to travel the county to secure its taking. Wherever they went the residents were found willing to co-operate, the ladies vieing with the sterner sex in their readiness to render assistance. They appreciated how necessary it was to have the road built, and were prepared to make any personal sacrifice to further the undertaking. Many of them helped pay for the stock subscribed for at their solicitation from the profits derived by the sales of butter, cheese and other household productions, even depriving themselves of the means necessary to educatetheir children that a railroad might be built for the good of that and future generations. The stock sales were but incidents connected with an enterprise the establishment of which is always attended with difficulties. The road was finally completed to Belvidere, when the management was called upon to encounter greater vexations than any it had been able to dispose of up to that time. At this point an effort was made to divert th^road from its original route to Savannah, which would leave Stephenson County without the benefits her people had so industriously labored for and liberally contributed to obtaining. Those who had urged the taking of stock were discouraged at the apparent failure of the scheme, while those who had subscribed were bitter in their expressions of disappointment.

Finally, a committee of gentlemen from Freeporc, composed of J. H. Addams, D. A. Knowlton, 0. H. Wright and John A. Clark, visited Rockford to endeavor to procure the execution of the original contract, and secured the indorsement of the people that so far as they could influence a decision it should be done. The trip was continued to Chicago, and after labors that were eff'ectual as were the laborers deserving of the public thanks, the project of diverting the road was abandoned. Labor was continued on the route, and in August, 1853, the iron horse entered Freeport amid the rejoicings that such an occasion would bring forth. After many days, the trials of the people had become resolved into a triumph both pronounced and valuable. Those days have long since glided into the past, and the pioneer, who then acted his part in the struggle for improvement, realizes in the present days, always bright and clear with the glad sunshine and the song of birds, that " God will remember the world."

The building of the Illinois Central was begun almost with the building of the Galena &, Chicago, and its entry into Freeport was made almost at the same time. The grand scheme of connecting Lake Michigan with the

Mississippi had long been a desideratum with the people of Illinois, and when, in 1850, an act was passed by Congress granting 3,000,000 acres to the State to aid in its construction, the completion of the road was regarded almost as a foregone conclusion.

The act granted a right of way for the railroad through the public lands the width of two hundred feet from the southern terminus of the Illinois and Michigan Canal to a point at or near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and for branches to Chicago and Galena. The construction of the road was to be commenced at its northern and southern termini simultaneously, and when completed, the branches were to be built.

With the passage of this bill, it became the duty of the Legislature of Illinois to make a disposition of this grant, which should be not only prudent and wise, but satisfactory. After no inconsiderable delay, caused by the efforts necessary to defeat peculation and the appropriation of the franchise by other parties, a bill was passed by the Legislature, and became a law February 10, 1851, providing for its survey, construction and equipment.

When the bill passed, or rather prior thereto, an understanding existed between the agent of the English capitalists, who were to furnish the money to build the road, and the Galena & Chicago management, that the former would proceed to Galena and the Mississippi River via Freeport. In consideration of this, the Galena road was to terminate at Freeport, and assign the right of way thence to Galena to the Illinois Central. This was the outgrowth of the efforts made during the construction of that road to divert its route in the direction of Savannah. When that question was under consideration, as will be remembered, a committee representing Stephenson County visited Rockford and Chicago, and labored for the prevention of so great a violation of the contract under which stock was subscribed to its building. The labors of this committee produced a restraining effect, as would appear in the light of subsequent events, upon the influences exerted, and brought the road, as was promised it should come, direct to Freeport.

Surveys were at once commenced, and by the spring of 1852, had made such progress that grading and track-laying were succeeding each other with gratifying rapidity, and the road completed to Freeport in 1853, with but little interruption. While the work was progressing in Silver Creek Township, near Crain's Grove, an emeute was caused among the laborers by the dissatisfaction expressed by strikers for higher wages. At first no attention was paid to the demands or complaints by the contractors. Emboldened by the admissions this silence was construed into conceding, the "gang" suddenly abandoned work, with the significant assurance that it would not be resumed until they had a surfeit of leisure. Soon after their pugnacity became excited with drafts of liquor, which was on tap in the camp, and for a brief period it seemed as if a reign of terror would be substituted for peace and order, so difficult to maintain. At this juncture, the railroad authorities appealed to the law for protection, whereupon Capt. J. W. Crane marshaled his militiamen and, marching to the scene of disorder, distributed the whisky among the woods and creeks, dispersed the rebels, suppressed the disorder and came marching home with a consciousness of duty well performed.

The road was completed to Dubuque, Iowa, in May 1855, and on July 18, of that year, was formally opened with a celebration, attended by many who had been instrumental in procuring its construction and equipment. Stephenson County sent her prominent men to the city of Julien Dubuque, to grace with their presence an occasion so felicitous with the results of labors in which they had been " wheel-horses." Stephen A. Douglas orated, and the predictions he ventured regarding the future of Illinois, many have lived to see realized.

The Illinois Central enters the county in the southern portion of Silver Creek Township, passing through Silver Creek, Harlem, Erin and West Point, a distance of about fifteen miles. The Northwestern or Galena and Chicago, passes through Ridott and Silver Creek, to Freeport, its western terminus.

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul line, entering the county near Davis, in Rock Run Township, was formerly operated under the name of the " Racine & Mississippi Railroad." It passes through Rock Run, Dakota, Lancaster, Silver Creek and Florence Townships, and does a large way business. The company was chartered in 1852, to build a road from Racine to Beloit, and was organized the same year. The city of Racine and the towns of Racine, Elkhorn, Delavan and Beloit subscribed an aggregate of $490,000 for that amount of stock, while farmers along the line of the road took considerable of the same, for the payment of which they mortgaged their farms. The road was completed to Beloit in 1856, but, failing to pay interest on its bonds and maturing indebtedness, a new company took possession of the property and refused to recognize the rights of the farmers who had hypothecated their realty for stock. Almost endless litigation followed the transfer of the corporation, but, the holders being innocent purchasers, the courts recognized their equities, and the mortgagors were compelled to pay them.

Along in 1858-59, the extension of the road to Freeport was commenced and prosecuted with vigor. The labors thereon were continuous and uninterrupted, save by an experience similar to that encountered by the Illinois Central in Silver Creek Township, i. e., a strike instigated by a number of unruly laborers who attempted to compete successfully with capital, but failed of achieving results. The affair occurred at " Deep Cut," and was participated in by a majority of those employed ; but Capt. Crane's company, with their arms at a " right-shoulder shift," hurried to the scene and suppressed the mutiny without loss.

These enterprises stimulated industry and improvements, attracted increased emigration, appreciated the price of lands and increased the prospects of markets so instantly, that landholders became feverish with expectations of suddenly acquired wealth and were happy in contemplating the cheerful out' look.

Nothing could have happened since the coming of the first settlers to add so pronounced an impetus to the agencies of civilization, which had been for years, it might be said, falling behind, as these undertakings. Towns were surveyed and laid off along the routes of these roads; manufacturing, educational, religious and other interests were cultivated, lots sold for city prices, buildings were erected, the area of cultivation increased, and when the roads were completed a bound was experienced in prices that repaid the toilers for all the sufferings and privations they had previously undergone. Since then, with these arteries of wealth and commerce coursing the territory' in nearly every direction, Stephenson County has enjoyed unrivaled facilities for its complete development and thrift and prosperity, barring the panics of 1857, and that precipitated by " Black Friday," continuous and unfailing.

Freeport was not less benefited than the surrounding country. Thence onward the history of the city is not marked by any of the great trials, troubles or vexations of spirit which have been the lot of other corporations. The jealousies which had previously been indulged by rivals in the county, yielded to the logic of events and were dissipated. Strange contrast with the closing month of 1835, when William Baker erected his ''Indian Trading Post" and Ransomburg was coming to the front in its race for prominence. But the inhabitants who came into the future city, disregarding opposition, struggled manfully in the contest with results which not only attested their wisdom and pluck, but fully confirmed the truth of the premise, that excellence in any undertaking invariably follows in the wake of patience, perseverance and industry. The tide of emigration which tended in the direction of Stephenson County, at or about this period, left many who had come with it, residents of the town. Commercial interests increased, Freeport began to be regarded as by no means the least promising municipality west of Chicago, and farming was prosecuted constantly and successfully. The uncertainties that succeeded the panic of 1837 were settled, and in their stead a feeling of confidence was substituted, which found expression in permanent and remunerative investments. Some improvements were projected, and a limited number completed. The waterpower of Pecatonica River had been utilized, and mills and factories were completed or contemplated. In short, the aggregate of business in city and county would be far in excess of previous years. These predictions were surely realized. The business portion of the town was limited to Galena and Stephenson streets, and, though carried on in establishments by no means epitomes of architectural skill or elegance, answered the purposes for which they had been erected. The residence part of the town was not a prominent feature, either. Some of the merchants not only " traded," but lived, moved and had their being in their stores. The court house was the most elaborate structure, and continued to do duty for a variety of purposes, as of yore. The log schoolhouse on the bank of the river had been abandoned for school purposes, and the " old red schoolhouse" had become its successor. Religious classes were formed, and congregations organized, though it was not until two years later that the Presbyterians erected the first church edifice in the town.

Politics had by this time assumed some degree of prominence, if not regarded as a staple commodity, and leaders were found, representing opposing sentiments, who attracted a generous following and support. The Whigs contended for superiority, and the Democrats felicitated themselves in the belief that they were the sole possessors of an air-line route to future success.

The towns tributary to Freeport were equally fortunate, though to a more limited extent. Those who, for reasons satisfactoi:y to themselves, preferred to identify themselves with those of similar ambition without its growth, " skipped " the county seat, and wended their several ways to Winslow, Orangeville and other points advertising advantages of location and promise of future eminence. Both these places were building up, having been laid out, as already mentioned, in anticipation of that dawn of prosperity which came gradually but surely. The New England Land Company, through agents in one and private enterprise in the other, had employed capital and labor in behalf of each with happy results. The history of neither of these points has ever been fruitful of events that would either immortalize the names of their founders or startle the nation ; but both offer the inducements of quiet, social, educational and refining influeur ces to the professional and mechanical representative, for homes afar from the busy haunts of trade, where the sunshine of days unborn may be reflected, beautifying the present and lighting up the future with rays of purity.

Such was the outlook, as it appeared to citizens and settlers in the fall of 1847, and was prorogued into 1848. These encouraging signs gave birth to a new condition of things, and elicited the most enthusiastic expressions among men who reason correctly. The spring of 1848 opened with a revival of business, and some settlers came with its dawn. Trade and commerce, which had so short a time before only survived, were large, and agriculturists, who had previously been dependent upon purchasers at other points for the sales of their products and stores of supplies, found accessible markets at home. This year, it will be remembered, the great famine prevailed in Ireland, and America responded to the calls of their famishing brethren over the sea. Stephenson County then contained a large number of Irishmen, who contributed of their abundance to the relief necessitated by the afflictions at home. And this was not confined to that nationality, either. Though there does not seem to have been any concert of action throughout the county, or the convening of meetings for the purpose of inaugurating united action, the sympathies of the people were not backward of expressing themselves, in liberal donations to the needy and afflicted in Ireland. Charity, generosity and sympathy, a trinity of virtues that grace the composition of true manhood, were not then, nor have they ever been, found wanting among settlers in new countries, and those who created Stephenson County proved no exception to the rule.

From 1837, the year during which Stephenson County was set apart from Jo Daviess, and civil government inaugurated, until the adoption of township organization, the county government was composed of three Commissioners, the first of which were Lemuel G. Streator, Isaac G. Forbes, and Julius Smith. This form of municipal government was maintained until 1850. '

The Constitution of Illinois, adopted March 6, 1848, and in force from and after April 1 of that year, declared that " the General Assembly shall provide, by a general law, for a township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the voters of such county, at any general election, shall so determine."

At the session of the Legislature of 1849, the following act, providing for the proper organization of a township, by way of supplement to that quoted, was adopted :

" Art. 1. Section 1. * * * * That at the next general election to be held in the several counties in this State, the qualified voters of each county may vote, for or against ' township organization ' in their respective counties," etc.

Acting in obedience to these enactments, the constituted authorities issued a proclamation directing the holding of an election in Stephenson County, on the 5th day of November, 1849, for the purpose of indicating their adoption of the organization, provided for by the act cited. The opposition to this change in the form of government was neither numerous nor intense. There were some few, however, who were antagonistic to the proposed new order of affairs, but their votes of discord were drowned in the general acclamations which greeted its introduction, and at the election holden according to law, township organization was accepted by a vote of 973 to 99. At the same election, George Purinton was elected County Judge, with George W. 'Andrews and Lewis Gibler, Associates; William Preston, County Clerk, and J. B. Smith, School Commissioner.

These preliminaries having been disposed of, the county entered at once upon its changed plan of government, and little delay was experienced in adapting the same to immediate and successful practice.

The officers elected under the law qualified, and the County Court was convened in December, the Hon. George Purinton presiding. At its first session, Levi Robey, Robert Foster and Erastus Torrey were appointed Commissioners to lay off and subdivide the county into townships, pursuant to the statute in such case made and provided, and proceeded to organize and discharge the duties imposed without the exercise of unnecessary delay.

After some time employed in laying off the township boundaries, adjusting disputes and completing their work, the Commissioners appointed by the court submitted a report, detailing the result of their labors to have been the subdivision of the county as provided by law, into the following townships : Rock Grove, Oneco, Wislow, West Point, Waddams, Buckeye, Rock Run, Freeport, Lancaster, Harlem, Erin, Loran, Florence, Silver Creek and Ridott. The township of Harlem was subsequently changed to Wayne by Commissioner Torrey, but the change, having been made after the submission of the report, and being without authority, was never confirmed.

This report was accepted, and on the 5th of November, 1850, the following-named persons were elected Supervisors for their respective towns : Jonathan Reitzell, Lancaster ; C. G. Epley, Rock Run ; James J. Rogers, Rock Grove ; George Cadwell, Oneco ; Cornelius Judson, Winslow ; Michael Lawver, Waddams ; John Montelius, Buckeye ; Daniel Wilson, West Point ; William M. Buckley, Harlem ; John I. F. Harman, Erin ; Conrad Van Brocklin, Florence ; Gustavus A. Farwell, Ridott ; Samuel McAfee. Silver Creek ; Hiram Hart, Loran, and E. S. Hanchett, Freeport.

The first meeting of the board was convened on November 11, 1850, and its organization perfected by the election of John I. F. Harman as Chairman. The members of the board were all present except Hanchett, of Freeport, who was absent, and failing to qualify, John K. Brewster was appointed in his stead, and took his seat as Supervisor from Freeport.

The number of townships in the county was afterward increased by the formation of new townships out of those created as follows, and the representation augmented: On the 17th of March, 1856, the township of Kent was formed out of a part of Erin ; at the September meeting of the board for the same year, the township of Loran was subdivided, the western portion being organized into Jefferson, and, in 1860, the township of Dakota was formed by the appropriation of the eastern portion of Buckeye to its name and possession.

The Hegira To California, 1849

During this year, as will be inferred by reference to the tally lists kept at the election held in November, the population had become "numerous" throughout the county. The towns had grown, as every one who watched the progress of events admitted. Mills had become fixtures, and supplied the markets with lumber, flour and meal. Farmers disposed of their crops, and merchants and speculators made investments that the rust of age would not corrupt, and held them for the " boom " that came in after years.

About this time the California gold fever, which had been of an " intermittent " character since 1847, attacked Stephenson County residents with a violence that brooked no mitigation, and there were quite a number who procured outfits and proceeded across the plains to the Sutter discoveries. The excitement was not confined to any particular portion, but distributed itself quite generally ; wherever a settler had established his claim the "fever" put in an appearance, and, unless immediately checked, most generally added to the number of its victims. The list who wandered into that comparatively undiscovered land, numbered nearly a hundred this year, among whom were many young men who could be ill spared from the fields, or the commercial and professional walks in which they had become familiar to the public. Many of those who went thither returned with a surfeit of experience and poverty. A number remained in the West and rose to prominence, occupying positions of executive, as also legislative and judicial honor, in the Territories. Several that were well known in the town of Freeport, where, for the times, they were prosperously engaged, dropped the certainty of future preferment for the uncertainties of success in this new field, and became residents of that city beside the blue waves of the bay which rolls outward through fehe Golden Gate to the Pacific. Here they seemed to fail of realizing their too sanguine hopes, and fled to the interior, where they might be able to acquire in the mines that denied them in the city by arduous toil. Finally, they disappeared from these scenes, and, emigrating to Mexico, as some have it, or to Nicaragua, as others insist, joined the filibusters and went down with Walker, the "gray-eyed man of destiny," in his hopeless campaigns.

Among the rest, there went from Stephenson County, John Mease, Elmus Baker, B. T. Buckley, Charles Willet, John Kirkpatrick, William Vore, Onesimus Weaver, - Shutz, William Patterson, Alfred Cadwell, J. W. Shafier, P. C. Shaffer, Joseph Carey, S. B. Farwell, Charles Bogar, Joseph Quest, William Young, Robert Hammond, Charles O'Neil, Horatio Hunt (about this time), Cameron Hunt, who became Governor of Colorado, and many others whose names cannot be recalled, and whose fate is not of record.

The crusaders in pursuit of gold usually went in parties, but rendezvoused at Freeport to lay in their stock of supplies, reserving organization until they had departed from the last habitable location previous to entering the Indian country. When they had secured what their necessities called for, pending departure, they left homes and friends, and, " striking out " over the prairie, crossed Iowa and encamped at Omaha, where final arrangements were concluded, and the long, weary trip to this promising El Dorado entered upon. For a few years next succeeding, reports of their success and condition came at intervals, and in some cases were the opposite of rose-colored. Sometimes the friends of those who had gone were shocked at the news received, sometimes they were hopeful j at no time were they enthusiastic. Gradually, and in shreds and patches, the story of their lives, and, in some instances, the death that had befallen them, their trials and their triumphs, were detailed and combined to weave a story from the warp and woof of real life as pathetic as it had been disastrous, as discouraging as it was pitiful, with bright chapters of success and happiness interspersed among its somber pages like a glint of sunshine on a day in December.

There were citizens of Stephenson County also who went to California through another - that is, they invested in outfits for others' benefits, and provided the ways and means to enable them to reach the land of promise, with a specific understanding that they should participate in the profits ; but in nearly every instance this confidence was found to be misplaced, and the investment made by the too confiding capitalist became permanent, with all that the term implies.

The effects of this emigration, while not discouraging to those who remained behind willing to labor and to wait, were not specially calculated to promote an extravagant enthusiasm. Large sums, comparatively, had been expended by the adventurers in the purchase of outfits, which created an increased volume of trade ; but this diminished with the departure of the purchasers, and a seeming paralysis affected the commercial and agricultural branches. Indeed, business was carelessly prosecuted, and there was an absence of spirit that was not previously visible. The area of cultivation was measurably reduced in consequence of this exodus to California ; trade dragged, values were lowered, money became inconveniently scarce, and other evils followed in their wake. In fact, the effects that would naturally be produced on any settlement of substantially recent date by the withdrawal from its territory of fully one or two hundred residents, all young and able-bodied, was duplicated in Stephenson County.

The fall gave place to winter, and that most inhospitable season of the year remained undisturbed by the happening of any accident or incident out of the sluggish current of events. Settlers drifted in during its course, and united with those already there in expressing confidence that the temporary dull times would give way to prosperous days with the return of spring, and the doubts and uncertainties, in the midst of which they then suffered, would be dissipated by the "logic of events." Buoyed up by such hopes, this dreary, inactive winter passed, and, as predicted, the county and its municipalities were granted a new lease of life. When spring blossoms came once more forth, the California fever had spent its force, and the county was rapidly convalescing from the violence of its attacks. Emigration was resumed, the new arrivals hailing from Pennsylvania and the Eastern States, and bringing with them, to supply the absence of material resources, the thrift, industry, and other characteristics of a people reared in a sterile section, where man's daily bread is indeed obtained in the sweat of his brow.

In 1850, when the United States census was taken, the population of the county was quoted at 11,658, an increase of over 9,000 in ten years. Fifty private schools, with an average daily attendance of 2,000 scholars, had succeeded to ten schools and 170 scholars in 1840. The improved lands in the county were estimated at 76,343 acres; lands unimproved aggregated upward of 280,000 acres. Farms in the county represented a valuation of $1,689,550, and farming implements, $108,000. There were four church edifices in the county, the most prominent being the brick Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Walnut and Stephenson streets, Freeport, and other improvements which might be included under the head of "public." This year there were 764,814 bushels of grain of all kinds raised in the county, and the cultivation of fruit had assumed a reasonably gratifying prominence.

During this decade, experiences similar to those which had previously greeted the county and its inhabitants, as also those of other sections, were endured and enjoyed. In 1850, a colony of Germans settled in Ridott Township, and others who came at the same time, of the same race, became residents of townships immediately contiguous to and distant from the "tenting places" of their friends and countrymen, on the old State road, in the southeasternmost township of the county.

The construction of the Galena & Chicago Railroad was progressing slowly, and that of the Illinois Central only awaited legislation before commencing.

During the earlier years of the decade, beginning with 1850, pilgrims to California had, in some cases, given up their pursuit of gold, and returned home ; others, on whom the fickle goddess had smiled benignantly, evidenced the fruit of their labors by remittances to families and friends. In truth, there was a small per centage of liabilities incurred, and long since charged to P. and L., liquidated with the profits accruing from labor in the mines.

In the city and county new faces were seen daily, and new arrivals for business noted in the weekly record of current events, which was then published by S. D. Carpenter, and known as the Prairie Democrat. Property, again, was regarded as increasing in value, new buildings were put up, both of brick and frame, commodious, substantial and appropriate to the purposes for which they were designed, was it either residence or business. In addition to these evidences of reviving prosperity, societies, both religious and secular, were organized ; associations, financial, commercial and social, were improvised and perfected. Thirteen years only had been required to accomplish what in days more remote had required, one might say, ages. In that period a wilderness had been converted into a garden. The iron age, in which man had been heated in the flames of adversity, and molded into form to combat opposition, had been converted into a golden age, when farms and factories resounded with the songs of rejoicing, when merchants were successful, and the cry of penury was silent in the land ; when schoolhouses were filled with ambitious youth, and churches with consistent worshipers. Law, science, ethics, politics and eloquence had their exponents among the inhabitants, and refinement and Christian humanity were possessions to which they held an indisputable title.

There was nothing of moment worthy of perpetuation during this year ; business remained flourishing, and enterprises born of the encouraging season were ushered into being, with some confidence in the results. Migration began to resume somewhat of its former importance, and improved facilities for marketing products more than roused business men from the apathy of a former day.

Cholera Visitations

As is intimated, this decade dawned upon the county rich in fruition and promise. They were accepted and utilized, and that at a time when the inhabitants were on the eve of a calamity, in comparison with which war and famine can scarcely be mentioned.

The Asiatic cholera made its first visitation to Stephenson County in 1850, again in 1852, and once more two years later. The first "epidemic" was limited to a few sporadic cases, and disappeared late in the season, without creating more than passing alarm. But it left its mark in the families from which members had laid down the burden of life and slept beneath the sod. When it repeated its calls in 1852, the people, immersed in business and agricultural pursuits, without taking thought of the morrow, not having been admonished by the hints dropped two years previous, were ill prepared for its advent. The health of the county was regarded as perfect, there being an exceptional freedom from the miasmatic maladies that had in early times prevailed, as singular as it was gratifying. Nature smiled upon the landscape, and all the elements combined to cultivate hope in the breasts of the people, who had for years toiled as the children of Israel, without reward or prospects. As the summer came, bringing with it the climatic excesses peculiar to the season, the disease began to manifest its presence in localities ordinarily healthful, as also subject to disease. The cases received prompt attention, but in the majority of instances terminated fatally. Remedies regarded as specifics for the malady produced no eflfect, the attack generally proving so violent that the system would become exhausted under its influence before the medicine could operate

-and induce reaction. Its origin could not be traced to any authentic cause, and its dissipation defied the efforts of physicians. Freeport was greatly rafflicted, the deaths there reaching as high as eighteen in one day. Ridott Township, in the vicinity of Nevada, suffered grievously under the calls of the scourge, as did Kirkpatrick's Mills, and other points accessible to its approach. One gentleman, who was here in those days of tribulation, stated that there was scarcely a family on the old State road in which there was not one of its members down with the disease, dying or buried. Indeed, he represents the state of affairs as deplorable in the last degree. It may be imagined that during the existence of the plague, the inhabitants, terror-stricken at its approach and subsequent presence, with one accord fled from the wrath to come or when it rapped at his neighbor's door. This was not the case. Physicians and for the sick were procurable at nearly all hours, and men and women attended to the calls of the dying and buried the dead with a tenderness and heroism which fully attested their Christian charity and spirit of self-sacrifice. Along in the fall, having run its course, the disease abated, and nothing of its visitation remained but the vacancies it had made in the home and by the fireside, and the fresh-turned graves to be seen in the village churchyard. It looked in upon the people again in 1854, but left without repeating its observations of 1852, and has since remained at an enchanting distance from this vicinity.

During the prevalence of the epidemic, business came to a standstill both in towns and the county. The streets of the former evidenced the blight that had fallen upon the surroundings, and the highways of the latter bore confirmation thereof. As a result, some who had come into the county with bright hopes and brighter prospects, died or fled before its approach ; others en route or contemplating coming, turned back or abandoned the trip and remained at home. The population thus practically diminished, and an apprehension of the return of the disease with many dismayed the coming of those who would have been here the following spring.

Completion Of The C. & G. U. R. R.

The building of the railroads was continued, however, notwithstanding these afflictions, and rapid progress was made on the lines having Freeport for their objective point. Early in the following year (1853) the Galena & Chicago Union had made such headway that contractors began laying the rails, and the people anticipated the whistle of the locomotive as an event of the near future. On the 23d of August a construction train crossed the Pecatonica and arrived in Freeport. This was the signal for enthusiastic rejoicings among merchants, farmers, and all, for all were interested in its success. These manifestations oi rejoicings but prefaced those evinced by th« people when, on September 1 following, passenger and freight trains were placed on the road, and the public were afforded means of communication they had longed for, prayed for, and extorted from soulless corporations and municipalities.

The fight had been fought, the victory won, but not without the employment of every available means and every accessible aid that could be invoked. The people saw everything that was made ; and behold, it was good. Those who had been instrumental in its procuration and completion, saw that it was good, and rejoiced also. A new era in the history of the county was born indeed. Thenceforward her career was upward and onward, without one interposing obstacle or one element that would prevail to prevent its advance.

The benefits which accrued by the completion of this improvement were not altogether gradual nor insubstantial, but rather instant and permanent. The road was made the channel for an influx of emigration, in comparison with which the number who had come previously were as visitors. Lands increased in value beyond all precedent, and no one could escape the conclusion that Stephenson County, both from its geographical position and physical resources, would become one of the most populous and wealthy counties in the State. It is an interesting fact, and one beyond dispute, that no inland county in the State increased in population in a larger ratio during the ten years previous to the census taken in 1850. This was due to the causes cited; i. e., the superior qualities of the soil for agricultural purposes, the abundance of timber, beautiful rolling prairies, excellent water, abundant water-power for manufacturing purposes, and, general good health ; and, when the county and its towns became intimately connected with the rest of mankind, it was an event of no ordinary importance.

For many years the citizens had been subjected to all the inconveniences of an imperfect business connection with the East, and had borne them patiently. The merchants had been compelled to transport their purchases made from farmers a distance of 120 miles over imperfect roads, and often met with loss in the sales eflfected. The farmers submitted to the same trials, intensified in some cases by the poverty of the victim. This state of things was now over, and the merchant and farmer were placed on an equal footing with contemporaries at the East.

With increased facilities for business, men of capital visited the county, who invested and expended money in opening to the world and utilizing the almost inexhaustible resources that had remained undeveloped. This great agent of civilization and reform bound together distant portions of the country, made neighbors of those who would otherwise have remained strangers, harmonizing and mutualizing conflicting interests, and blending into one universal and harmonious effort, the desire and action of countries and communities for the realization of their highest and noblest hopes and aspirations.

The Illinois Central was completed to Freeport early in September, and extended three miles beyond within a month. This was an additional incentive for rejoicing, and the people made much of it. As the county was benefited, 80 were the towns, and particularly the county seat. Freeport had been keeping pace with the time, growing with its growth, and strengthening with its strength. With no false excitement, calculated to throw her prosperity into the hands of speculators, the town had kept steadily on from a half a dozen houses, a few business men and a " gang of loafers," until her population at this period had increased from 1,036, in 1849, and 1,500, in 1850, to 3,000. This growth was not confined to an increase of inhabitants, but affected business and business accommodations. Instead of small store-rooms, with a peddler's pack of notions for stock, the town contained between thirty and forty large stores, some of them doing a business of between $30,000 and $40,000 per annum. In addition, there were churches and schools, not to mention saloons and kindred resorts, which, if they failed to testify to the quality of civilization encouraged, at least indicated its existence.

Since the scream of the iron horse was first heard in the land, treasures of wealth and industry have been poured into the county, pointing out a present of usefulness and a future of greatness and prosperity.

Educational Facilities

The year 1855 marked the turning point in the history of common-school education in the State. The first school established in the county had been commenced nearly twenty years previous, when a very small class assembled at Ransomburg, and Miss Jane Goodhue sought the instruction of its members in a knowledge of the alphabet and words of two syllables. During the intervening period, labors in the cause of education had been constant and profitable. From this solitary class as a beginning, schools had been established all over the county, and were doing the work allotted them, as civilizers, effectively. The influence created by their existence and efforts had been of the most beneficent and extended character, and was enlisted without regard to minor details. But this was not brought about save by the indefatigable labors of zealous men. The schools in Stephenson County were at first supported by private subscription, and so continued for many years, or until the expenses incident thereto were provided for by legislative enactment. The Legislature of 1844 made some imperfect provision for maintaining the schools, which were supplemented by amendments in 1847, again in 1849, once more in 1851, and finally in 1855, when a law embracing all the essential principles of previous enactments was adopted. Among these was the sovereign right of the State to levy and collect a sufficient tax from the real and personal property within its jurisdiction, to be expended in furnishing its youth a common-school education. The tax, however, proved oppressive to some counties, and this portion of the law was sought to be repealed, without results, for it remains the vital principle of that law to-day. As a consequence of this course, there is not a township in the county but what is supplied with one or more schools, in which scholars between the ages of six and twenty-one years can avail themselves of the privileges therein proffered.

There were many causes, at first, to retard the progress of the present system, which, however, proceeding, as a rule, from a class of persons who are never found in the van of reform and are always opposed to experiment, because experiment involves change, was neither pronounced nor prolonged. An unfriendly disposition was manifested by some, who apprehended that the system was prematurely inaugurated, and the ability of the people too limited to provide for its support. The fear of an annual assessment operated to restrain others from its enthusiastic support - the tax would be onerous and oppressive ; other opposition, it is said, existed, proceeding from caste; and the rebellion added materially to attracting from the system which, nevertheless, has obtained in Stephenson County not more satisfactorily than elsewhere. It has not accomplished everything that could be desired, yet, in view of the hindrances with which it has been beset, it has accomplished much, and as a public agency for the dissemination of knowledge, intelligence and virtue, it has commended its merit to opponents and supporters indiscriminately.

The support of the schools, according to the act of 1855, and subsequent amendments, is derived, first, from the State fund created and maintained by the levy of certain assessments for educational purposes, upon the real and personal property listed in the State, which is paid out to schools pro rata, according to the number of children in each district less than twenty-one years old ; second, by a distribution of the interest of a township fund, derived from the sale of the sixteenth section in the township, the proceeds of which have been invested for this purpose. The amount necessary to the support of the schools, over and above that provided as above set forth, is made up by the Directors of the school district to be benefited, by whom it is certified ta the Township Treasurer, thence to the County Clerk, by whom the amount certified is levied upon the real and personal property of the district.

Receipts

No course of study for the schools has been adopted, but much attention iias been given to proper classification. While the schools are by no means graded, yet there is a tendency on the part of teachers to systematize their work. There is almost a uniformity in text-books used in the different schools, which does much toward taking the place of a course of study.

Instruction in most of the schools is confined to the common-school branches. Teachers are becoming more skilled in the use of text-books, and have abandoned that slavish system which consists in memorizing the text-books -only. The aim in all work done is to make the pupil master of the elements of an education that will benefit him the most, and prepare him for the duties of after life. In these efforts the teacher is yearly becoming more successful.

During the past twenty years, county institutes have been held in various parts of the country. These have been faithfully conducted, and are among the most useful means employed for the teachers' improvement. They have ordinarily continued one week, and the ablest talent to be found in the State has been usually called in to assist, and, though the attendance of teachers has never been made compulsory, the number present has varied from 100 to 160 at each session.

This system was not deemed sufficient, and, in 1879, a Normal Institute was established, holding one term of four weeks, from July 14 of each year. The enrollment reached 128, and was attended with the most satisfactory results to all concerned. Township institutes have been conducted in a number of places in the county, all tending toward one great object - better teachers, and with them better schools.