Genoa Township

Genoa Township

a considerable fortune by trade, by hotel-keeping, and by well managed speculation in lands. He, with Samuel Corey, Henry Preston, and Daniel T. Whittemore, were among the first comers.

Whittemore had the reputation of being a leading member of the gang of horse-thieves, counterfeiters and burglars who infested the country at this early day. Genoa was always one of the headquarters of the gang.

In the spring of 1838, Mr. Perkins' house was entered by a party of them, Avho robbed him of $300. He had good evidence that it was taken by the Brodies, of Brodies' Grove, who were understood to be confederated with Whittemore and others at Genoa, but no prosecution was made, nor was any of the money recovered.

During the year 1838 many new settlers came in, and Genoa became quite a lively little village. Dr. H. F. Page commenced the practice of medicine there, James S. Waterman opened a stock of goods, and one E. P. Gleason, who afterwards figured extensively as a leader of the banditti, came in, and bought the claim of Whittemore and Corey. He had the reputation of being a man of wealth, and began to talk about building flouring mills, starting stores, and otherwise contributing to the growth and enlargement of the business of the place. During the spring of 1838 he set out that fine row of maples that now constitute a conspicuous ornament of the village.

On the 4th of July, 1888, a great celebration was held at Genoa, at which George H. Hill delivered an oration to an audience of over a thousand people, gathered from Rockford, Aurora, St. Charles, and all the country round. Genoa was then as large and as promising a town as any of these places. Belvidere contained only two houses, and was by no means so important a place.

Gleason, in his subsequent career, acquired an unenviable notoi'iety. Not long after his arrival, while he was boarding at Perkins' log tavern, a carpet-sack well filled with counter- feit money was found in his possession, and, the fact becoming notorious, his wealth was easily accounted for. He was a man of fine appearance, agreeable manners, fair in his dealing with his neighbors, and generally liked. He never passed bad money in his ordinary business transactions, but had it manufactured, and wholesaled it to his confederates. In 1839 one of his gang, a traveling pedlar, was arrested in Chicago, and during his confinement confessed his guilt, and implicated Gleason as one of the chiefs of his gang. Gleason was arrested, but, although the testimony of this witness had been promised, when the trial came on he could not be procured, and Gleason was set at liberty.

Not long after, a message wTas again sent from Chicago, saying that if our officers would again arrest Gleason, the evidence against him should be forthcoming. Three or four deputies wTere now duly commissioned to go to Genoa, and effect his arrest. They reached his place at midnight, and after watching till dawn, had the satisfaction of seeing him come to the door of his dwelling, when they approached and captured him. But Gleason hospitably insisted that his captors should stop and get breakfast before they started away, and they consented. Meantime, he took them out into his garden to show them his fine crop of corn, of which he was justly proud. In an instant he had disappeared in the tall corn, and for several years after was not seen in this country.

Some months after, when the evidence against him had again become unattainable, Gleason came back, and started business again. He had a store, and a saw-mill, and a fine farm, all in full operation. He had married a respectable young woman of the neighborhood.

A few years after, he became ill, and a traveling doctor, named Smitch, who had boarded in his family, and was reported to be attached to his wife, attended him. He grew worse without any evident cause. After eating one day of some porridge, prepared by his wife and the doctor, he complained that it did not taste quite right, but ate heartily, and soon after died in convulsions and delirium.

Not long after his burial, the doctor and Mrs. Gleason were arrested on a charge of murdering hiui by poison. The body was exhumed, and the contents of the stomach examined. A special term was held for their trial, but the evidence of guilt was insufficient, and they were discharged.

They were soon after married, and moved to La Salle County, where the doctor died, under circumstances that led to the suspicion that he too had been poisoned. His wife soon after died very suddenly.

Such was the miserable end of one who undoubtedly was a leader in much of the crime that disturbed the early settlers of this County. He escaped the punishment of his crimes against the law, only to meet a more terrible fate.

Genoa was established as a post-office in 1836. It was named by Madison, its first settler, who was also its first postmaster. He came from Genoa, in New York, and finding here, as there, a Geneva and Batavia, he concluded to carry out the parallel by giving it this name. For many years it was decidedly the most flourishing village in the County.

In 1848 its trade supported four large dry goods stores, each of them doing a larger trade than any other in the County. They were kept by E. A. Durham, Robert Waterman, W. H. Allen, John N. Maxfield and John Ball. There were two large, well-built taverns, kept by Henry Durham and H. N. Perkins, at which a line of stages from Elgin to Galena made a stopping place.

to enable benighted travelers to keep that road on the broad, unbroken prairie, they annually plowed up a series of parallel furrows on each side of the track, and this was about all of the road work that was done.

Genoa furnished the Union army with 100 men, and at the time of the first enrollment for a draft had already sent out sixty-eight per cent, of her arms-bearing population. Of those who lost their lives in the war were :

Source changes here: from Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885; 2,535 words in this source stream.

Genoa Township

ENOA Township lies in the extreme northeastern part of the county, with Kane County formng its eastern boundary, Mc- Henry County its northern, and the townships of Sycamore and Kingston upon its south and west respectively. The township is a beautiful rolling prairie, diversified by several natural groves, and watered by the Kishwaukee River and Raccoon Creek. It is one of the best improved townships in the county.

The finest settlement in Genoa was made by Thomas Madison, a native of Ohio. He was quite an intelligent man, but a regular frontiersman, preferring the life of the pioneer, with all its privations, to the comforts secured in a well settled country. In 1837 he sold his claim, which consisted of about two sections of land, to Horatio N. Perkins, Samuel Corey, Thomas Monahan and Henry Durham. Upon part of this claim is now located the pleasant village of Genoa.

Henry Durham moved into a portion of the cabin erected by Madison when the purchase was made, and soon opened a stock of general merchandise. He was a man of energy, possessed of a determination to succeed, and success crowned his efforts. He died here many years ago.

Daniel T. Whittemore was here in 1836. He was from Rhode Island, and remained here but a few years, disposing of his claim to E. P. Gleason and removing to California.

Genoa settled quite rapidly for two or three years. Among those who came in 1837 and 1838, or soon after, were Henry Preston, E. P. Gleason, Samuel Stephens, J. L. Brown, Putney Brown, E. S. Gregory, Jesse Preston, Ephraim Hall, A. N. Hollembeak, Dr. H. F. Page.

When Madison settled here he erected a blockhouse, 62 x 1 6 feet, one story in height. This house came into possession of Mr. Perkins, who raised it another story, and for several years used it as a hotel.

The purchasers of the Madison claim each set off six acres of land on which to locate 'a village, but> no regular plat was made. As stated, during the same year the purchase was made, Henry Durham opened the first store. He continued in the business about eighteen years. James S. Waterman was the second to embark in trade at this point. Daniel Ball opened the third store, Mr. Amsden the fourth and Robert Waterman the fifth. These were not all in business at once, but covered a period of several years. A very large business was transacted by some of these dealers, Robert Waterman reporting his sales one year at $90,000.

The first religious services were held at the house of H. N. Perkins, in the winter of 1837-8. Rev. Ora Walker preached the sermon. Rev. Mr. Geddes was the second preacher in the township.

The first school was in 1838. A school-house was erected about three-fourths of a mile south of the present village of Genoa. Mary Ann Hill was the teacher. Improvements in educational facilities have been constantly going on.

From the report of the County Superintendent of Schools for the year ending June 30, 1884, the following items are gleaned in relation to educational matters in this township: There were 510 persons under twenty-one years of age, of whom 358 were of school age. Of this number 300 were enrolled in the public schools. One district had no school during the year, while seven had more than 1 10 days each. One school was graded. Twenty teachers were employed during the year, receiving an average salary of $28.41 per month, the highest being $90 and the lowest $22. The school property was valued at $7,000. A tax was levied for school purposes amounting to $3, 87 9.

1838, when Mr. Perkins provided entertainment for hundreds who assembled. Geo. H. Hill delivered the oration. There were people present from Aurora, St. Charles, Rockford and other places.

A postoffice was established here in the fall of 1837, with Horatio N. Perkins as postmaster. Mr. Madison had been endeavoring to get an office before Mr. Perkins' arrival, and had secured the promise of one. On selling, he recommended Mr. Perkins for the position. With the exception of a few months, Mr. Perkins held the office 47 years, resigning November n, 1884, when his grandson, H. A. Perkins, received the appointment.

Balls were quite common in the early days, and Perkins' Hotel, at Genoa, was a popular place for them to be held. The young men and young ladies would come for miles around, and dance till the " wee sma" hours o' morn." Mr. Perkins has taken in as" much as $225 in one night.

Some of the early settlers of Genoa were no credit to the community in which they lived, and brought upon it an unsavory name. Whittemore had the reputation of being a leading member of the gang of horse-thieves, counterfeiters and burglars who infested the country. In 1838 Mr. Perkins had his house broken open, and was robbed of $300. While he felt morally certain as to who were the guilty parties, he could not prove it, and never recovered his money or had the satisfaction of seeing the robbers punished.

Gleason was thought to be one of the gang of counterfeiters. He was known to have counterfeit money in his possession, but never used it in the community in which he lived. He was arrested once, his case called in court, but no witnesses could be had to testify against him, and he was set at liberty. He was again arrested, but made his escape from the officers. Returning, after the evidence of his guilt was thought unattainable, he started in business again. He married here. A few years after, he became ill, and a traveling doctor, who was said to be attached to his wife, attended him, but he soon died. Soon after, the doctor and Mrs. Gleason were arrested for causing his death, but no evidence was directly obtainable, and they were discharged. Not long after, they were married and moved to La Salle County, where the doctor died under circumstances that led people to believe that he, too, was poisoned. His wife soon after died very suddenly.

Genoa Township, according to the report of the local assessor, in 1884, had 22.862 acres of improved land, valued at $336,998. The town lots were valued at $48,5 1 6 ; personal property, $r 15,45 i . A total of $500,965. The State Board of Equalization reduced this amount to $444,080. Among the items of personal property assessed were the following: Horses, 899; cattle, 3,121; sheep, 75; hogs, 2,107; steam engines, 3; safes, 2; carriages and wagons, 324; watches and clocks, 311 ; sewing and knitting machines, 176; pianos, 6; melodeons and organs, 59. With the exception of Paw Paw, Genoa had a larger number of cattle than any township in the county.

L. P. Kellogg contributes the following as his experience of pioneer life : He came to Illinois in the fall of 1844 and spent the first winter in the town of Harmony, McHenry County, moving on his farm in Genoa Township in the spring of 1845, where he broke enough land for temporary use, spending the remainder of his time in teaming. He used to make the trip to Chicago with' anything he could procure, returning with merchandise and immigrants. His hotel was where night overtook him on the way. He generally did his teaming with horses, but at times drove from three to five yoke of oxen. He was married Jan. 20, 1847. The week after his marriage he went to move a family from near Belvidere to Ottawa and came near losing his life. He started with four horses but only got home with two. After reaching Ottawa, he concluded to take back with him a load of coal. There was no well-defined wagon road, but only an Indian trail to follow. In crossing a slough on his return, the wagon broke through the ice and settled in the water and earth up to the hub. He could not get out without unloading, and had to carry the entire load by hand a distance of ten rods. His fingers were all bleeding and he suffered intensely from the cold, but there was no help for it : the work had to be done, and there was no house within twenty miles. He left the coal and drove hard to make some house to shelter himself and team, but too late. One of those winter blizzards came on, with hail and rain. His team could not follow the trail and it was soon so dark that it was impossible to see anything. There was no cover on his wagon to shelter himself, nothing for his team to eat, the winds howling like demons and he lost in the wilderness. He concluded his best course was to unhitch his team, tie each horse to a wagon-wheel and wait till the coming of the morn. His team was tired out, the trail was lost, and it would have been folly to attempt traveling any more that night. Covering the horses as best he could, he then took the end gate out of his wagon, and holding it before him to break the force of the wind he walked around the wagon the entire night. The night was a long and hard one, but hope was kept alive within him by thinking of his newlywedded wife at home. Two of his horses -died before morning, chilled to death.

On this trip he passed near the old log house on Indian Creek where 2 1 white women and children were massacred by the Indians. This trip was only one out of many hard ones that he experienced while following teaming. He lost five horses in the first four years. Once, when the thermometer registered 40 degrees below zero, he lay out, wandering on the open prairie the entire night, having lost his way in one of those blizzards. He did not dare to stop walking, nor give way to the desire for sleep, for he well knew that death would follow.

Thinking a good dog would be some comfort to his wife when he was away, he bought a young pup, took him home ; but one night the wolves came up to his house, carried him off and killed him.

Mr. Kellogg took up his claim on section 3, Genoa Township, in 1845, where he still lives. He says that although he has had a hard time in life, he has the satisfaction of knowing that he was never sued nor ever sued a man in his life. He has tried to live in peace with his neighbors, enjoying their respect and esteem. In 1855 he experienced religion, since which time he has tried to live a consistent Christian life, although connected with no religious society

: OTWITHSTANDING a small village had sprung up at this point many years before, fll^S^' "* '*- was no^ unt'l '853 triat a plat was made ^g)?' and filed. In March, 1853, E. P. Gleason, who had purchased the interest of Whittemore & Corey in the claim made by Madison, platted the east half of the southwest quarter of section 19. For a time the village flourished, but the building of railroads in proximity to it cut off its trade, and, for a time, it seemed that one more village was to be a thing of the past. The building of the railroad through the county, in 1875, revived the place. At that time there were here one hotel ; a general store, by Henry N. Perkins ; a grocery store, by R. S. V. Burrington ; a postoffice ; two blacksmith shops, owned by J. A. Risden and William H. Laird; shoe shop, by L. Williams. There were about 20 dwelling-houses within the present village limits.

The railroad reached this place Jan. 2, 1875, and in honor of the event the ladies of the village provided the railroad employees with a grand free dinner. During the year 1875 but little improvement was made, though a building was erected by J. E. Stott, who, in connection with a brother, opened a general merchandise store, and one by Walter Dickerman, for a grocery store. The three following years many improvements were made, more than at any other like period of time.

The village was incorporated under the general law in 1876, and the first meeting of the Board of Trustees was held April 24. The following named comprises the Trustees and Clerks since that date:

1883 - A. C. Senska, President ; John Patterson, Gurdin' Rowen, D, S. Brown, James E. Stott, William E. Hill, Trustees ; H. A. Perkins, Clerk.

Genoa is in School District No. i, which was organized at an early day. The present large and convenient school-house was erected in r877, at which time the school was thoroughly graded and placed in charge of Professor D. M. Gibbs. The building was erected at a cost of $4,000, and has four rooms, in addition to cloak rooms and halls. Since 1877 Professor Gibbs has been in charge of the schools, with Mrs. J. A. Gibbs, his wife, as first assistant. Under his administration the school has taken rank with the best in the county. One class of seven were graduated in 1881. The graduates were M. E. Sanvall, Herman Patterson, Charles Brown, W. L. Pond, M. Harned, Allie Cole, Mary Gwinup. Of these graduates, M. E. Sanvall is now book-keeper in a large establishment in Chicago; Herman Patterson is an engineer in Humboldt, Iowa, and married to Mary Gwinup ; Charles Brown is a banker in Genoa ; William L. Pond is a lawyer in De Kalb; M. Harned is a dentist in Oregon, 111.; Allie Cole is a teacher at Kingston. A second class graduated in 1883. The graduates were Mary Patterson and Belle Holroyd, both of whom have been teaching since graduation. The teachers in the school here since 1877, in addition to Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs, are Lottie Brown, Allie Cole, Addie White, Myra Smith, Lydia Richardson and Mary Silvious. In the past year there were enrolled 142 pupils, 42 of whom were from outside the district.

Resaca Post, No. 478, G. A. R., was organized Aug. 22, 1884, with the following named charter members : Almon M. Hill, Com. ; Alex. B. Ross, S. V. C. ; George W. Johnson, J. V. C. ; A. S. Hollembeak, Adj. ; James M. Allen, Chap. ; W. E. Hill, Serg. ; George H. Ide, O. D. ; Henry W. Slater, Q. ; George G. DeWolf, O. G. ; John F. Graver, S. M. ; Frank McQuarie, G. ; Geo. W. Baldwin, Q. S. ; Ezra G. Pike, Francis D. Bridge, Wm. R. White. The first officers continue. The present membership is 24.

A. B. Green, J. W. ; M. Carr, Wm. Peters, P. Carr, A. E. Carr, J. Chase. The P. W. M.'s are Thurston Carr, Thomas E. Lawrence, L. P. Wood, A. C. Senska, Geo. E. Wood, A. N. Hollembeak, E. S. Wilcox, Dr. John McLean. The lodge is in a flourishing condition.