Jordan Township

Jordan Township

HIS township is situated in the northwestern part of the county, and comprises all of township 22 north, range 7, east of the fourth principal meridian. Timber is found along the banks of the principal streams, the remainder of the township being an undulating prairie. Inexhaustible stone quarries are found here.

Miles Coe* located a claim upon sections 33 and 34, and immediately commenced the erection of a log cabin, into which he moved a few days after his arrival. He broke about 20 acres of prairie, sowed oats and planted corn and vegetables.

James Talbott was the next to locate here, arriving some weeks later than Mr. Coe, but in time to do a little breaking and plant some sod corn and vegetables.

Joseph M. Wilson arrived in the township and located on Buffalo Creek, on section 4. He was a man ot fine ability, a member of the society of Friends. He died here some years ago.

The foregoing were all the settlers of 1835. In the following five years many others came in, among whom were Vernon San ford, James, Garrett, Jacob and Howard Deyo, Becker Miller, James Wood, Harry Burlingame, Capt. Manoah Hubbard, Simeon M. Coe, the father of the first settler, John Brookie, Henry Bolton, Mr. Bush, Mr. Goodchild, John, Thomas and Caleb Plummer, Jabez Gilbert, Geo. Suill, Benj. Davis, Charles H. Miles, Horace R. Mack and Chas. S. Lunt.

James Talbott was a native of Pennsylvania, and was by trade a carpenter and joiner. In 1834 he removed West to Peoria, 111., and in 1835, as stated, to Whiteside County. In this county he was a successful farmer.

Vernon Sanford was born in Delaware Co., N. Y., and located in Whiteside County in 1836, his selection being a portion of section 7, Jordan Township. In 1841 he built the first frame house in the township. The village of Sanfordville, which lies mostly in Ogle County, derives its name from him.

Simeon M. Coe, Sr., was born in Litchfield, Conn., Oct. 29, 1784, but in early life removed with his parents to New York. He married Mary Miles in that State. In 1838 he came to this county and township, and settled upon section 33, at a grove to or^ which was given the name of Coe's Grove. Here he j\ erected a saw-mill and for some years did a good business. Mr. Coe died in 1848, and Mrs. Coe in

Horace Mack was a native of Connecticut, but was reared in Pennsylvania. He came to this township in 1839, where he remained till 1847, when he moved to Sterling. He died there, many years ago.

The pioneers of Jordan, in common with all others, experienced the hardships incidental to the settlement of a new country. Wild animals were abundant in an early day, and Indians were frequent visitors to the cabins of the settlers. All this has now been changed, and to-day Jordan is one of the best townships in the county, settled with a thrifty people, with fine dwelling-houses, large barns and every convenience that could be desired. The township is now largely represented by Germans and Irish.

Joseph M. Wilson, as stated, located in" this township in 1835, making a claim on section 4. On Buffalo Creek, which runs through a part of his farm, he erected a grist-mill in the fall of 1836, and had it in running order early in the spring of 1837. It was the first and only mill in the county, and drew custom for miles around. The structure was of logs and Wilson's old log-mill was a popular place for the pioneer. At this place Col. S. M. Bowman laid out a town about the time the mill was being constructed. Several houses were built and a store opened by Mr. Wilson and also one by Mr. Brookie. A postoffice was also established here, known as Berwick postoffice, which continued in existence several years. The town plat of Berwick was never recorded, and the place has long since ceased to have a habitation and a name.

Simeon M. Coe, Sr., built his saw-mill in 1840, continuing it until his death in 1848. The mill was subsequently owned by several persons, and finally passed into the hands of Benj. Bressler, and was long known as Bressler's Mill.

have had an existence in the township. Jordan postoffice was established during the administration of James Buchanan, and continued about four years. Mr. Alexander was Postmaster An office was established at Jordan Center in 1881, under the name of Penroi?e.

Among the early births in the township was John, a son of Jabez 'Gilbert, in 1839. About the same time Mr. and Mrs. Benj. Davis and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert had each, a child born to them.

The first religious services were held in private houses. Rev. Barton H. Cartwrighl was doubtless the first to conduct the exercises. There are now three church edifices in the township, - Lutheran, in the southern part; the Friends, at Jordan Center, and a union church in the northeastern part.

The first school was held in a house erected for the purpose about one mile north of Simeon M. Coe's, some time during the first decade of the settlement of the township. The house was built by the citizens before the days of public-school funds, under the school law.

In relation to educational affairs in the township at the present time, the Superintendent of Public Schools, in his annual rqwrt for the year ending June 30, 1884, says there are seven school districts in the township, with six frame and one stone schoolhouse, the total value of which is $7,550. There are 536 persons under 21 years of age, of whom 392 are of school age, and 27 1 enrolled in the public schools. The highest wages received by any teacher was $60 per month, the lowest, $27. The tax levy for school purposes was $2,693 for the year.

Thomas Plummer, in 1839, commenced carding wool at his cabin on Sugar Creek. The house in which he did business was too small to accommodate his patrons with lodgings, and many camped out on the prairie while waiting for their wool to be carded.

Jordan Township was organized in 1852. The name was suggested from the fact that a certain citizen of the township would frequently go to Sterling and other places, and, after imbibing freely of the "flowing bowl," would sing the song of "Jordan am a hard road to travel," and in answer to the question where he lived, would invariably reply, " On the other side of Jordan."

The first town meeting was held at the house of Isaiah C. Worrell. At the election then held, the following officers were elected : James Talbott, Supervisor; James Woods, Clerk ; Lemuel Sweeney, Assessor; M. H. Snavely, Collector ; Charles Diller, S. M. Coe, Justices of the Peace. The Supervisors from that time to this are as follows : SUPERVISORS.

H. L. John opened a general store at what was called John's Corners, near the center of the township, June 23, 1874. He still continues the business and has enjoyed a good trade. On the 241)1 of March, 1881, a postoffice was established at the Corners, with H. L. John as Postmaster. The office is called Penrose, in honor of one of the pioneers of the county. A wagon and blacksmith shop was started here about 1860, by John G. Detweiler, who subsequently sold it to Elida John, who rented it till Oct. 12, 1882, when it was sold to John GroflT, who still carries on the business. The place is now known as Penrose.

A weekly indulged meeting of Friends for worship was held at the residence of Joseph M. Wilson, for a number of years prior to the regular establishment of a Friends' meeting in Whiteside County. The first regularly established or organized meeting of Frionds in the county, was held on the 151)1 day of the 6th month, 1872, at what is now Penrose, and was known as East Jordan Preparative Meeting of Friends. The first established First-Day meeting for worship was held on the following day. The first Monthly Meeting of Friends held in the county was on the igth day of the 4th month, 1873. The first Clerks of the Monthly Meeting were Edwin John and Sarah E. HufF. The first Elders were Elida John, Mark Penrose, Sarah H. John, Frances P. Wilson and Lydia K. Penrose. The ministers, whose names are on record as such, in the Monthly Meeting, are Jonathan W. Plummer and Reuben.

John. The present Clerks of the Meeting are Edwin John and Mary S. Wilson. The present Elders are Sarah H. John, Edwin John, Nathan P. Wilson, Martha A. John, Lydia K. Pen rose imd Elmira K. Worrell. A First-Day school is held, with N. P. Wilson, Superintendent; Geo. 1). |ohn, Assistant Superintendent; Maggie M. John, Secretary; Manrice D. John, Librarian.

Source changes here: from History of Whiteside County, Illinois from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908 : Illustrated, with Biographical Sketches of Some Prominent Citizens of the County, by Davis, William W, published 1908; 10,960 words in this source stream.

Jordan Township

All roads lead to Rome, or did, and three of the best highways in the county lead from Sterling to Jordan : the Freeport road, the Hoover, and the Pennington. If you go out the Freeport road, which starts from the east end of Sterling, on the left is the Catholic cemetery of ten acres, and although new, has many handsome monuments. We pass John Zigler's place with its boxes of bees and yards of chickens, each breed by itself. That frame dwelling was the home of D. 0. Coe, or Dish, as he was called, long an elder in the Presbyterian church. Over there to the west is the farm house of Mrs. George Royer, with an unfailing spring in the cellar, a good place for butter and milk. Farm after farm of families all scattered.

The Bressler farm and the Doc or Jonathan F. Coe place, now owned by D. N. Foster. The father of these Goes was Simeon M., who came to Jor- "dan in 1835 and died in 1848. His wife was Mary Miles. A large family of 13 children, mostly boys. Each son got a farm. S. M. or Sim, who lived in the southern part of Jordan, was for years town treasurer. Near the Doc Coe place was an early frame schoollwmse, called the Coe school. It was taken down, and a new stone building erected on the west of the road, called the Stone school.

Penrose is the business center of Jordan. There is a commodious general store with dwelling attached and a well kept lawn and garden on side and rear. W. D. Detweiler and wife are the accommodating proprietors. Just this side is a small Quaker graveyard containing the graves pf Elida John, who died in 1888 at seventy-seven, and Sarah, his wife, in 1890, at ninety. Also that of A. C. John, son, hospital steward of 34th 111. Infantry, who died in 1899 at 67. The little meeting house is now a dwelling. An iroli fence in front. Here is a United Brethren church. Radical, built in 1896, with 23 members, and preaching every second Sunday. A Sunday school and Y. P. society. There are three Sunday schools in Jordan.

The White church formerly, now East Jordan church, is the strongest religious organization in the,town. Originally erected as a union edifice, but now controlled by the Liberal branch of the United Brethren, with Rev.

J. A. F. King as pastor. A flourishing Sunday school of 150 pupils with Alex. Anderson as superintendent. Mrs. Lizzie Detweiler has home department and circulates lesson leaves in both English and German. The latter is Sonntagschul Lektionen, published at Mennonite Book Concern. Berne, Indiana. There are also a C. Endeavor and Junior E. Mrs. M. Kidder has the first primary of 30 scholars. Mrs. Nelson Jacobs, sister of Dr. J. C. Maxwell, Sterling, has the cradle roll of 24 tots, and has held the position for 26 years.

Now let us drive beyond Penrose two miles, and on descending a hill a little valley lies before us, and prominent in the outlook towers a large frame building, grand, gloomy and peculiar. It is Wilson's old mill, for thirty years a scene of busy traffic. Here came Joseph Wilson from Pennsylvania, and built a log mill in 1836. An enterprising man, and from time to time he installed improvements to keep his grists to date, sparing no expense. His flour put up in family sacks had a high reputation, and a generation of Sterling and Dixon people believed no bread or cake could be undertaken without Wilson's flour. "Take no other." He hauled the goods himself to the towns, and many a day has the writer seen the venerable miller perched on the top of a two-horse load on his way to market. He delivered himself from house to house. The dam was thrown across Buffalo creek, and the meadow with the race on one side and woodland on the further hill, made an ideal landscape of rural beauty.

Not long before his death he enlarged the residence, making many rooms, perhaps for the entertainment of strangers, for the place was the center of a Quaker influence. Every Sunday Friends' meeting was held for the benefit of the few disciples who assembled there. Frances was a zealous advocate for her faith, and loaned the writer Clarkson's Portraiture of the Quakers. Both Joseph and Frances are buried in the orchard at the home, the sons are gone. Mary lived alone in the spacious mansion for twenty years until a nephew lately moved in, while the huge mill, silent and tenantless, is occupied as a warehouse by a farmer.

One of the best men who ever lived in Jordan was James Talbott. who came from Westmoreland, Pa., in 1835. A carpenter in the east, but here he became a farmer. A devout Methodist. Oliver, born in 1833, is the best known of the surviving children and now resides in Polo. His wife is Mary Furry, a prominent writer and speaker in the W. C. T. U.

In form, the late Jacob Vogdes was the Saul of the township. He was from Pennsylvania, kept bachelor hall on his eighty for some years, and in

1859 started for Pike's Peak and continued his journey to California, where he died after a varied career in mining. He was seventy-two. He was six feet four, broad shouldered and massively built. Jovial and kindly, his face always wearing a smile.

About two miles from Wilson's mill was the log cabin of Charles Diller, in which he lived from 1850 to his removal to Sterling in 1878. He had been a teacher in Pennsylvania, was the most intelligent man in his neighborhood, was school director and justice of the peace, and kept open house. His wife, Ann (Thompson), was the soul of hospitality. Of four boys, Thomas was teacher in the country and Sterling for several terms, and in 1889 was appointed postmaster of Sterling by Harrison, in 1897 by McKinley and again in 1901. He purchased the Standard as a weekly from Theodore Mack, and in cooperation with J. W. Newcomer, published the paper until its appearance as a daily in 1893, Mr. Newcomer retiring.

The Diller farm of nearly 400 acres was purchased by the late W. A. Sanborn, banker, and turned into a stock ranch by the erection of extensive barns. It is now owned by Fernandus Jacobs, who, with his 1,068 acres, is easily the largest land owner in Jordan. He started without a dollar and is still under sixty. It is a little singular that another man of almost the same name, John Adam Jacob, a foreign German, coming here poor, died at 64, owning 1,000 acres in Jordan and much in Iowa.

On the crossroad from the Freeport to the Pennington is Jordan Center with its town hall erected in 1888 after a hot contest about the site with Penrose and a neat schoolhouse, both painted white. On the east side of the Pennington road stands the First Evangelical Lutheran church of Jordan with a pretty cupola and bell. Rev. Frederick William Schneider, Baden, Germany, is pastor. He was at the gymnasium of Breslun from 1881-1885, and three years at the theological school of Capitol university, Columbus, Ohio. The church was organized in 1874, remodeled in 1897, is well equipped with organ and other essentials, and is a credit to. the people. An addition to the comfortable parsonage in 1907. Henry Helms, Henry Bitters, Bernard Fulfs, are the deacons. Besides the Sunday school of 80 pupils, there are Ladies' Aid society and Luther League. Membership of two hundred. The ground for church and cemetery was given by John Wolfersperger, who was one of the large landholders in that district. At one time he had a dairy of fifty cows, sending butter to St. Louis. His son, Aaron, is now Judge Wolfersperger of Sterling. Mr. Wolfersperger came to the country in 1851.

South of the church is another landmark, the Capp schoolhouse. The first in 1856, the later one about 1867. D. N. Foster, now in Sterling, taught there before 1860. Across the Elkhorn to the east was the Hubbard Grove school, in which from 1856 onwards we find wielding the birch such tyros as W. W. Davis, John Lennon, C. W. Marston and others. Charles Diller, James Woods and John Furry were directors.

In September, 1907, occurred at the Jordan Lutheran church an event that was productive of much good and pleasure. It was the meeting of the Wartburg Synod, the session continuing several days. Seldom that the staid people of a farming community are favored with so many ministers and so much preaching. One noon the Ladies' Aid society served dinner in the Sunday school. It was a sumptuous entertainment of the richest viands that only country pantries can furnish, and in a quantity that left a surplus for another banquet.

The W. C. T. U. flourishes in Jordan. At one of their late festivals 87 guests were present, and the occasion afforded great delight and profit to the happy throng. An excellent and varied program comprising a violin solo, a duet and quartet, followed by an earnest and suggestive address by Mrs. Dunlap of Champaign on the requisites of an ideal home. Bountiful refreshments at the close.

Another admirable feature of Jordan life is the interest in the Sunday school cause. The East Jordan Loyal alumni celebrated their sixth anniversary in the winter of 1907 at the home of James Anderson with a banquet and toasts. The roll in five years grew from 23 to a membership of 55. Five years faithful attendance is the condition of membership.

The Loyal Sunday School Army Alumni is an adjunct of the East Jordan Sunday school. The organization is composed of persons who have passed a grade of seventy-five per cent, perfect in attendance, lesson study and contribution for four consecutive quarters in each year for five years. The class at present numbers fifty-two. A banquet is held annually at which officers are elected for the ensuing year. The officers for the year 1908 are as follow- : President, Mrs. Emily C. Coats; secretary, Miss Myrtle Sivits; treasurer, Mr. Clarence Parks.

The W. C. T. U. was organized about twenty years ago with a membership of one hundred. The present officers are: Mrs. Ida Anderson, president; Mrs. Jennie Jacob, treasurer; Mrs. Martha Dick, secretary. Parlor meetings are held at the different homes, one a month.

The Royal Neighbors were organized Aug. 24, 1898, and the present membership is 58. The number of the camp is 1103. Of the nine officer.-. Mrs. Ruth Sivits is oracle; Miss Margaret Coats, recorder, Miss Sarah Hocker, receiver; and Dr. Jane Keefer, physician. Jordan is a progressive community and takes hold of every movement that promises benefit to the general welfare.

An amusing incident, happened about 1894 in connection with a mission fest or service held in the woods near the John Kratz farm. Tt was in autumn and was under the auspices of the Jordan Lutheran church. The preaching was mostly in German. One of the speakers in an exciting flight of eloquence and fancy, exclaimed. "I see a fire!" at the same time, 'to give force to his remark, pointing in the direction of the house of a simple hearer who sat on a front bench. He took the orator at his word, and as his dwelling was in that direction, seized his hat and darted off like a deer to quench the flames. The scare almost broke up the meeting. After the service was over,

The Kauffman Murder

A mile south of the Jordan Lutheran church a mysterious murder occurred on the night of May 31, 1897. After a careful examination of all the circumstances connected with the affair, Walter Stager, states attorney, made an official report to the board of supervisors, filling six columns of the Sterling Standard, from which we glean the following outline:

Tobias Kauffman at one time lived on his farm, six miles north of Sterling, on the west side of the Pennington road. In 1894 he moved into a house on the east side of the road, farther north, on the George Kapp farm, whose wife, Hattie, he had married. After moving, he continued to keep some stock and grain on the old place, where remained the usual sheds, pens, cribs and granary. George was the only son left at home, the other brothers have gone. He was twenty-one in January, 1898. In April, 1897, some little pigs were missing on the old farm, and on examination it was believed that grain was also stolen. Suspecting that the thief might return for further plunder, George decided to sleep in the vacant dwelling. On Monday evening, May 31, 1897, between seven and eight, George, armed with a big navy revolver, left home to spend the night at the lonely house. This was his last appearance alive. The next morning, as he did not come to breakfast, his father started to look for the boy. Now a few words of explanation about the scene of the catastrophe. Southwest of the vacant dwelling was a strawstack. Half way between the strawstack and granary was a corn crib and pig pen. On approaching the spot, the father saw smoke, and then the strawstack on fire. He ran around the stack and into the house where he found George's shoes. Mr. Kauffman then ran towards his home, calling for help. His daughter Jessie, the hired man Schroeder and a boy soon came, and presently, just in front of the granary, George's cap and a piece of his shirt sleeve were found. Inside the granary door a stick of wood was found which may have been used to knock the boy down. The next move as to the burning straw pile. Using a long wire to rake off the blazing top, the body of George was discovered and brought to the ground. The corpse was naked, black and badly burned. The forehead was smashed, the skull cracked and a bullet had passed through the head. Afterwards George's revolver, watch and much blood were discovered on the spot where the body had lain.

This, then, is the result of the investigation : George had taken off his shoes on going to bed, and hearing a noise, rushed out in his stocking feet, and at the granary received the blow that smashed his skull. The body was placed on the stack, shot, and the stack set on fire. The only motive for his murder must have been to prevent his informing on the thieves whom he had surprised.

As may be supposed this horrible affair created intense excitement, and for weeks the scene of blood was visited by hundreds of people, far and near. No clue was ever found, and the murder of George Kauffman will remain among the dread mysteries of crime.

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued. against The deep damnation of his taking off.

Scotch Settlers

In 1853 Archibald Maxwell came over, and in 1854 James, William and John, settling on land west of Wilson's mill. About the same time, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Crichton opened a place in the woods south of Hnbbard's Grove school. They died several years ago, and none of their numerous family remain in the neighborhood. When Mr. Crichton arrived he had barely money enough to buy a cookstove, but at his death had a well improved farm. They all came from the vicinity of Glasgow and brought with them the ancient Gaelic virtues of thrift and sobriety.

There were also the Andersons. James came to America in 1851, and in 1853 returned for his wife. After living awhile at Buffalo Grove. Ogle county, then in Clyde township, they finally cast their lot in Jordan, where they engaged in fanning until their removal to Sterling, nearly twenty years ago. David Anderson came in 1850. James is dead, but his widow, Mrs. Agnes, or Aunt Nanny, makes her home with David, and on New Year's, 1908, celebrated her 90th birthday. Alexander Anderson, a Sunday school leader in Jordan, belongs to this family. Dr. J. C. Maxwell, of Sterling, is a scientific adherent of the Maxwell clan. All are Presbyterians.

German Settlers

Most of the farms in West Jordan are occupied by Germans who settled here before and after the Civil war. They came poor, bringing their earthly goods in a sack, but with stout hearts and strong hands they went to work, laboring at first by the day. and in time owning excellent farms, sometimes several. Much of the land, of course, was secured cheap. Some of the railroad land was bought for ten dollars per acre. Among these families are such familiar names as Muns. Wolber. Dieterle. Giffrow. Arnold. Wolf. Helms, Dusing. Fulfs.

Passing south from the Kanffman place, we come to the large pstate, JMUIjF 800 acres, of the late John Wolfersperger. and then the combined woodland, quarry, orchard, and meadow, of the late Dr. L. S. Pennington, whose dwelling set off by evergreens commands the landscape for miles. The useful career of both these pioneers is fully detailed in the second volume of this history. This Pennington road leads into Sterling at the house of the late Gen. W. S. Kilgour, who was justly proud of the deadly conflicts of his military record, and to perpetuate the valor of at least one battle, he kept for years a board nailed to the fence bearing the storied name, Chickamauga.

Various Items

About 1868 Alfred Pillsbury taught a term in the Pennington district. He was from Massachusetts, a cousin of the Dinsmoors, had a cultivated voice, and fond of reciting passages from Dickens. On returning to the east, he studied law, and rose to be attorney general of his native state.

Charles And Ann Diller, Jordan Pioneers

Few persons now living were reared in a log cabin. They were born too late, and do not know what they have missed. To waken in the morning and find your pillow covered with the snow storm of the night is a luxury which the delicate dwellers in our city residences never experience. The log cabin makes strong men and women. Witness Webster, Lincoln, Garfield, Nancy Hanks, and think what weaklings they might have been but for the endurance given by these primitive dwellings.

It was the writer's good fortune to spend the winter of 1856-7 in a genuine cabin. It was bought by Charles Diller, and moved from Wilson's mill, according to Oliver Talbott. There was one large room below for the family, which at night by a wire and curtain could be made into two sleeping apartments. In the loft above were three or four beds for six or eight persons, who had plenty of fresh air through the loose shingles. A shed attached to the cabin answered for the big cook stove and also a dining room.

Charles Diller belonged to the numerous Diller family of Lancaster county, and learned the trade of cooper, taught school, after his marriage lived a while in New Holland, and in 1850 sought his fortunes in Whiteside, buying a farm along the Elkhorn near Wilson's mill. It was a beautiful tract of upland prairie, and so high you could see for miles in every direction. He put up a stable, planted an orchard, and began to improve the land.

An excellent set of people, all different. John Adam Jacob was a foreign German, James Woods from Ohio who married a German wife, Henry Brown and wife both from old England, Joseph and Frances Wilson of the famous mill, Quakers, who held meeting, Charles Crichton and the Maxwells from bonnie Scotland, Joe Stary from Maryland, then a mixed lot of Warners, Deyos, Plummers, John Furry must not be forgotten, father of Marv Talbott, of the W. C. T. U.

For thirty years Charles Diller was one of Jordan's most valuable members. He never shrank from a responsibility. Whether justice, assessor, trustee, he was always ready and efficient. His cabin was a center of influence, a bureau of information, as he was more intelligent than his neighbors, and they came there for counsel. He was cordial, and ever ready to do what he could to enlighten the inquirer.

Generous to a fault. A warm friend of education, and when the first school was opened in the district, he boarded the teacher a year as a free will offering, asking no recompense. A close reader and thinker, he drew inspiration from the New York Tribune, a welcome weekly visitor at the home. Of good stock. His uncle, Roland Diller, was the solon of his town in the east, and another uncle, Solomon, was in the Pennsylvania legislature.

His wife was Miss Ann E. Thompson, and they were married in 1840 at Newville, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, her home. There was a large Presbyterian church here, to which Rev. E. Erskine was called soon after he left the church in Sterling, and here he died. She often recalled the Cumberland valley, so lovely and picturesque to her childhood, and which became so memorable in army movements during the civil war.

No more generous soul ever lived. She would divide her last crust. No beggar was ever turned empty from her door. Her table was the most bountiful in Jordan. Friends on leaving after a visit were rewarded with a roll of butter. The neighbors who did not fare so well at home were eager to accept an invitation for a quilting bee, knowing that their labors would be rewarded by a supper of satisfying abundance.

Nothing was left undone. Although the cabin was small, the family was large. To feed the numerous mouths, keep the wardrobes in order, and look after the various needs, occupied her time. Always busy. Sometimes no help, and after working beyond her strength, for she was a delicate woman, the next day found her in bed. A cheerful spirit, every ready to look on the bright side.

There was no church in the neighborhood, and when an occasional minister preached in the school house, he was sure of a welcome at the Diller cabin. She came to Sterling now and then, staying over night to attend services on Sunday. After Sunday dinner was over at the cabin, the writer recalls her taking the big family Bible to enjoy her only leisure time of the week. She and Frances Wilson, wife of the Quaker miller, were congenial friend?, both refined, earnest, kindly.

In 1878, after nearly thirty years of toil and sacrifice, they removed to Sterling, leaving the farm in charge of a son. Charles began to fail, dying in 1883, and Ann, after ten years of infirmity, borne with Christian resig- nation, followed to the silent land in 1893. They were buried in Riverside cemetery. Their children, Laura, wife of H. L. John, and three sons, Thomas, Samuel, and Will, survive, Roland having died in California.

Just above Dr. Pennington's old home was one of the longest hills in Jordan. Although partly lowered from time to time, it was the bug-bear of all wagoners coming from town' with heavy loads of lumber. In the fall of 1907 Commissioner Charles Bort, like Napoleon who decided there should be no Alps, determined to overcome the grade and earn the gratitude of the driving public. He gathered a force of men with plows and scrapers, and by moving away four feet of earth from the top and filling up below and at sides, 'transformed the rugged descent into a gentle incline. The totaj expense was only a few hundred dollars, and it will avoid an endless amount of horse power and human profanity.

John Furry was a familiar figure in Jordan. Somewhat lame, yet he managed to circulate. Took a hearty interest in school matters. His daughter, Mary, married to Oliver Talbott, son of the pioneer James, has for thirty years been a conspicuous worker in W. C. T. U., a good speaker and writer, and in regular attendance at the conventions.

John Guinther of Jordan celebrated his eighty-ninth birthday Thursday, Jan. 30, 1908, and is doubtless the oldest man in the township. He is still hale and hearty, and although entering upon his ninetieth year still drives to town regularly and attends to all of his own business affairs. He came to this slate in 1868 and has made his home here since that time. Mr. Guinther has always led a temperate life, and although he worked in the fields as hard as any other farmer he always made it a rule to take one hour's rest at noon regardless of the amount of work to be done. To, this, largely, he attributes his long life and health. He says his aim is to reach the hundred mark.

Call From Oliver Talbott

Of all the early inhabitants of Jordan, Oliver Talbott is the only one alive. Although born in 1833, his hair is not gray, his eye not dim, his natural force not abated. He is the only man living who can write a history of Jordan without referring to books. He has all the original information within himself. He did the writer the honor to call at his home, and relate many incidents not generally known and never recorded. He spoke of the Scotch delegation. Archy Maxwell who came to Jordan in 1849, David and Sandy in 1851, of John and William. Charles Crichton, and the Andersons. Mr. and Mrs. David Anderson now reside in Sterling. Oliver's father, James Talbott. was a mechanic, who could do anything with wood, and he built Joseph Wilson's log mill in 1835. It was afterwards made of frame in 1849. For years this mill did an immense business, as it was the only one within a circle of many miles. When Nathan and Sikes, the sons, took charge later, to run it for their father on shares, their one-half profit in a year was $4.400. Joseph had great pride in his product. "People may say I twist the wheat, but cannot say I do not make good flour." Near the early mill .was a store kept by John Brookie. So farmers coming for flour also laid in supplies of groceries. His father moved the whole family from Peoria with an ox team in 1835.

James Talbott also built the mill on Rock river at Sterling for Wyatt Cantrall in 1837 or '38. Jordan had several mills at an early day. Besides Wilson's on Buffalo creek, there was the Hubbard mill further west, built by Manoah Hubbard in 1839. It was a saw mill; burned down, rebuilt in 1851. Becker and Henry Miller were here for a while. Further down on the Elkhorn was the mill known latterly as the Bressler mill, but built by .the elder Coe in 1839-40. A flour mill and saw mill. John Wolfersperger occupied it afterwards. There was also a Hillyer's saw mill, 1839. The log cabin in which Charles Diller lived was built by Joseph Wilson near the mill, and moved to Diller's farm. It is still in existence. When Sanborn bought the farm, he moved the old structure to one side, and made some improvement.

In regard to crops, Oliver says that winter wheat was raised from 1835 to 1845, both winter and spring wheat from 1845 to 1855, spring entirely from 1855 until the bug and rust have completely destroyed all hope of a crop. No wheat was hauled to Chicago at an early day, as it was all needed for flour and seed. Little corn was raised, as there was no market for it, and few hogs to fatten or sell.

Burials were made on farms. Joseph and Francis Wilson, some of their family, and others, were interred in their orchard. Oliver knows numerous cases of this kind, and many of these private enclosures have already disappeared, because as property changes hands, strangers have no sentiment for forgotten dead.

The Coe Family Of Jordan

Of all the Jordan settlers, Simeon M. Coe was most like Jacob of Bible times, for he had thirteen children, one more than the patriarch. But it was not an unlucky number, and I don't suppose in his day there was any foolish superstition connected with the figure. At any rate, they all turned out well. The father settled in Jordan in 1835, and died in 1848. He waborn in Connecticut, but the family moved to New York.

Simeon had the name of his father. He was the oldest of the boys, born in 1810. My first acquaintance with him was in 1856, when as teacher I called at his farm in Jordan to get my hard earned monthly wages. Like all the early settlers, plain in speech, frank in uttering his convictions, cordial in manner. In five minutes you were as much at home as after five years. He was treasurer of Jordan.

When the great celebration was held in Sterling on the completion of the railroad to this point, 1855, a barbecue was arranged for one feature, and Sim furnished a three-year-old steer. That was the Coe style. Nothing small or mean. Their nature was large and generous. His old family carriage was familiar on our streets as long as he continued to drive to town. Dark as all the Goes were.

Doc was really Jonathan F., born in 1819, the seventh son in succession, and the superstitious belief was that this fact conferred a healing power in scrofula, and so the boy lived and died as Doc Coe. His house was on the Freeport road, about four miles north of Sterling, and for years was the best, two stories, painted white, and a contrast to many of the weather beaten shacks. Jimmy Woods was the carpenter. The old part was behind, and used for a kitchen. D. N. Foster now has the property.

His first wife was bitten by a mad dog while walking along the road and eventually died from the poison. A son, Frank, was bright, and able to read in Sanders' Fourth Eeader at an early age. Doc's second wife was Sarah Murray. He was not adhesive, for he first moved to Milledgeville or near there, and then to Missouri, where he died. Stout, as the Goes all were, jovial, fond of driving and much liked by his neighbors.

There were ten boys, and all had nicknames. Decius O. was born in 1820, and a Presbyterian as he grew to manhood. His place was also on the Freeport road, a mile north of Sterling, but in later years he bought the Dr. Hunt property on the Hoover road, where he died. Two children, son and daughter, died young. Mark, who married Julia Gait, was a farmer, and died a few years ago. Like Doc, Dish also married the second time, Miss Addie Ward.

Dish was no reculse, and liked to be in a crowd, and see what was going on. Although a Calvinist, he thought it no sin to watch the horses trot on the race track, and throw up his hat for the winning nag. On circus days, too, he was always an observer of the- procession, and in the menagerie tent looking at the animals, and sometimes in the other tent laughing at the jokes of the clowns.

Of thirteen children, ten brothers and three sisters, Mrs. Stevens, living on Eighth avenue, Sterling, with her daughter Helen, is the sole survivor. A cataract appeared a few years ago, which refused to submit to treatment, and she is now blind. Her general health is good, she takes a hearty interest in current affairs, loves to meet friends, and is full of incidents of the olden time.

She told the writer of going to school when seventeen, about 1843, to a teacher, Major Winn, in a little building near Broadway, who got provoked at the big girls for singing Whig songs. She boarded with General Kilgour's father, Ezekiel, whose cabin was on the site of Walter HaskelPs residence, Bellevue place. Mrs. Stevens and George Brewer are the only pioneers living here before 1849.

Poll Book Of 1844

Miss Libbie Bush placed in the Whiteside Historical Society a stained record of an election held in Sterling precinct, Aug. 5, 1844. It is not a printed blank, but four foolscap sheets are pasted together, end to end, and lines drawn for the names. The writing is in blue ink. There are ninety-six voters. Below the tally columns is this declaration : "At an election held at the house erected for a court house in Sterling in the county of Whiteside, and state of Illinois, on the fifth day of August in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, the following named persons received the number of votes annexed to their names for the following described offices, to wit: For congress, Joseph P. Hoge had 45 votes, Martin P. Sweet 47, John Cross 1. For representative, Winfield S. Wilkinson had 45 votes, Oliver Everett 46. For sheriff, James W. Noble had 47 votes, James A. Sweet 44, Daniel F. Millikan 1. For county commissioner, Ebenezer Seeley had 8, Bacchus Besse 72, Chdrles S. Deming 1. For coroner, Gilbert Buckingham had 57, Jacob Baker 1. Certified by us, Luther Bush, E. B. Worthington, Jacob Whipple, judges of election. Attest, Robert C. Andrews, Luther B. Wetherbee, clerks of election."

The old document is well preserved, carefully written, and as legible as though prepared yesterday. It may be added as a political reminder that in 1844 Henry Clay and James K. Polk were the candidates for the presidency.

If you have not seen Albany, you have a treat in store. It is the most picturesque spot in the county. It is like the Psalmist's "Beautiful for situation is Mt. Zion, the joy of the whole earth." Whether you approach by rail from Fulton or Rock Island, or by boat on river, there is the high terrace running to the water's edge, and in the rear, the rounded hills, not a long ridge, with the cottages nestling among the groves on the summits.

As you walk towards the town from the station, you will notice a low brick house with a hall running through, and an entrance, front and back. This was the residence of Samuel Happer, who came from Washington county, Pa., in 1841, and formed a partnership with John D. Mcllvaine, carrying on a store and doing a forwarding business for many years. Their old brick warehouse along the river bank disappeared long ago. Mr. Happer was married to Miss Sarah Curry, of Allegheny county, Pa., who was born in July, 1816. She is the oldest survivor of the Albany pioneers, and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. E. W. Payne, in Morrison. Except a partial cleafness, Mrs. Happer is in fair health. This low brick dwelling was built in 1848, and Dean S. Efner, a mason, laid the brick.

While we are on the river bank or levee, as St. Louis would say. lot us go down the river, and take a look at what remains of the Eagle hotel built by William S. Barnes, who settled in lower Albany in 1839, and soon afterwards erected the hotel. It was a welcome hostelry for stage and river passengers, and was a commodious inn for those days. The fearful tornado of 1860 wrecked the larger part, leaving the section still standing. This is about 25 feet long with four windows upstairs, and is now a boarding house. Mr. Barnes was the first supervisor of the township, an active Mason, and held

Mcllvaine, Happer & Co. were hustlers, as the saying is, doing a large business in various lines. From an advertisement in a Sterling Times of 1854, they carry a full stock of dry goods, groceries, clothing, hardware, glass, paints, and lumber at the steam saw mill. In another paragraph appears this notice: Wanted - 173,000 bushels of grain. Mcllvaine, Happer & Co., grocers, general merchants, and produce dealers. Half a mile up the river is a tall chimney stack, and rubbish near it, the ruins, as the writer was told, of a steam saw mill. It is along the railroad coming from Fulton. One is reminded of the obelisk at On, near Cairo, which also stands alone on the sand, once a center of Egyptian civilization.

In this ancient Barnes hostelry we met a grizzled veteran who with his family has made a cheerful home that belies the desolate exterior. An inviting dinner was smoking on the table at our noon call. Perry Langford. born in 1835 in Fulton county, came to Albany in 1849, and enlisted in Company F, 93d Illinois infantry. He was three years in the service, was at the Grand Review in Washington in 1865, and saw Grant tip his hat, but refuse to shake hands with Halleck. He has two framed relics which he prizes. A commission to his father, Asa Langford, by Gov. John Reynolds, as captain in Black Hawk war, 1832, and one to Thomas Langford, as second lieutenant, 1833. Both signed at Vandalia, the early capital of the state.

An agreeable call upon Miss Frances D. Barnes, the oldest of the eight children of W. S. Barnes. Her brothers, Henry and Charles, were veterans, Henry in 93d Illinois, Charles in 147th Illinois. Three of the children are dead. Mr. Barnes was a schoolmate of the famous sculptor, Hiram Powers, who was three years older. In fact, they sat on the same seat. It was the Greek Slave in 1843, that gave Powers his world-wide reputation. Singular to say. they died almost in the same year, Barnes in 1872, Powers in 1873, in Florence, Italy. Mr. Barnes was an invalid six years before he died, and he remarked one day when the sculptor was on a visit to America, "If Hiram knew how sick I am, he would come to see me." Indeed, W. S. Barnes must have been more than an ordinary pioneer with qualities of mind and heart to commend him to the friendship of eminent men. He was one of Whiteside's representative citizens. When Gov. Oglesby was in Morrison, he was invited to take dinner with him. He was on intimate terms with E. B. Washburne. He was sent to Springfield when the removal of the county seat from Sterling was in consideration. Very energetic in business, he opened the first general store in Albany, and the Eagle hotel was the headquarters for travel between Chicago, Galena, Rock Island and Peoria. Those were the golden days of the Frink and Walker stage line, lightning express, four lines a day of four-horse coaches. A horse ferry was in operation across the Mississippi. When there was a strong adverse wind in March the ferry could not run. Frances Barnes says she was a schoolmate of the late Mrs. John AVhallon. formerly Martha Millikan, and a pioneer teacher. Although in her seventy-seventh year, Miss Barnes talks as fluently and correctly as a Vassar girl of twenty.

The Hanks Brothers Lincoln

On the hill live two brothers, David Hanks, born in 1826, who came in 1844, and further along, the older, Stephen, born in 1821. They were born in Kentucky in a county not far from Lincoln's early home. Stephen looks venerable but in talk and motion, brisk as most men at fifty. He was full of reminiscence, and enjoyed going back. It will be remembered that Thomas Lincoln in 1806 married Nancy Hanks, a bright young woman of twenty-three, and in 1816 removed to Indiana. They had three children: the first a daughter who grew up, married, but left no issue, the third a son who died in infancy, the second the immortal Abraham. Stephen recalls the fact of his father and mother once making a visit to Thomas Lincoln after he moved to Indiana, and taking a younger brother along. It seems to be the impression of the family that this Nancy Hanks was their father's sister. The Hanks clan was small, and not widely scattered. Stephen has had a career of varied activity. He came in 1836 with Alfred Slocumb, and made himself generally useful, worked in the timber, was pilot on the river to St. Paul, drove team in building a projected state road to Springfield to be built by the people, hauling the posts and bringing the surveyors home at night. A difficult undertaking was a causeway from Albany to Morrison over the Cat-tails by laying timbers to make a corduroy passage, early AVestern fashion. One hundred men were employed. Mr. Hanks is in excellent trim for an octogenarian of 87, able to sleep, eat three meals, saw wood, dig garden, and all the minor chores of the household. Kathryn Hanks, teacher in grammar department of the Albany school, is a daughter of David the younger brother.

Another sprightly member of this family is Mrs. James H. Slaymaker, daughter of David Hanks. It seems it was her uncle, Sam Hanks, Princeton, Iowa, who was the child taken by the father and mother on the visit to Thomas Lincoln in Indiana, Abraham's father, who married Nancy Hanks. At the convention in Chicago in 1880 when Garfield was nominated, Robert Lincoln showed Samuel much attention, and secured a seat for him in the political circus. The Slaymakers were an influential family in Newton township, and James H. is a cousin of Thomas and Robert, who lived in Sterling over forty years ago, and removed to Kansas.

A Mother'S Experience In The Tornado

It was the privilege of the writer to hear the experience of a mother who passed unharmed through this dreadful visitation. At the foot of the hill below the Presbyterian church is the low brick dwelling in which Mrs. Chamberlain has lived since 1848. She was born at Carmi, White county, October. 1828, came to Albany in 1845, was married to Wilson Nevitt who died in 1849, and in 1851 was married to W. A. Chamberlain. It was Sunday evening, June 3, 1860, a very sultry day. Her father. Dr. Riley, who had lived in the South, noticed the ominous appearance of the sky. remarked that it looked like a hurricane, and left the dwelling to secure the windows in a new cement building not far away. A pane of glass was broken in the room, and she told her husband to stuff a pillow in the opening, but it was twice blown out with tremendous force. Now thoroughly alarmed, Mrs. Chamberlain picked up her baby girl and two little boys, and rushed for the cellar, followed by her husband. They had barely descended the stairs* when the whole roof and upper briok walls of the house fell with a crash upon the floor above them. As it was made of heavy joists and boards, it was sufficiently strong to sustain the weight, and thus save them from destruction. Meantime the work of ruin was complete. Most of the young town was leveled. Her father was so terribly crushed by a falling timber that he lingered in agony for a few days till he died. Knowing her helpless condition with her babes and dying father, neighbors and mechanics at once made a gratuitous offer of their services, renewing the walls and putting on a roof. Across the street still stands a deserted frame store, built of the pieces gathered from the debris, and bearing above the name, "W. A. Chamberlain, druggist." Before this was erected, a temporary counter was placed in their sitting room, and the drugs dispensed. Mrs. C. is also a registered pharmacist. Prof. Pepper, principal of the school, married her granddaughter, who is a natural artist.

Wilson Nevitt, first husband of Mrs. Chamberlain, was one of eleven children of William Nevitt, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1779, moved to Kentucky, then to White county, Illinois, in 1818, then to Knoxville, and finally to Albany in August, 1837. He was justice of the peace, and his commission was signed by Shadrach Bond, first governor of Illinois. He was also school commissioner of the county. Mr. Nevitt died in 1848. His best known son, Hon. Edward H., was educated at Knox college, and filled several public positions, assessor, supervisor, and in 1877 was elected representative to the legislature from the Eleventh district. The Nevitts have always held an honorable place in the affections of the people of Albany.

The Cemetery

The old Egyptians had a skull at their feasts to assure them of the end of all festivity. The bright shining monuments on the hill are a daily reminder in full view of the world to come. Albany people have a daily funeral sermon. There are few very ancient graves. Some of the early settlers were buried elsewhere or their bodies removed to other places. There is a family memorial block for the Nevitts, containing the names of several members of the once numerous circle. Also a family memorifll of the Slocumbs, in honor of numerous members. Alfred Slocximb put up a log house in 1837. On one tomb is the name, Warren Olds, 1818-1888. Phebe, his wife, 1819-1897. Cheney Olds and family came to Albany in 1838. Here is Rev. Samuel Slocumb, 1783-1850. On one humble stone:

Jordan Brock, 1841. Francis Buckingham, 1845. One of the mast imposing monuments bears the name Rosenkranz. It is of gray granite, which seems to be the favorite stone. James Hewlett, England, 1843.

Among the soldiers resting here are Eugene Barney, C. G. Slocumb, 1899, Co. B, 147 111. In a row with small headstones are buried T. M. Perkins, Co. G, 8th 111. cavalry; Peter Huguenin, Co. F, 52nd 111. infantry; Jacob McDonald, Co. M, 1st Iowa cavalry; Thomas Jackson, U. S. navy; Abner McMahan, U. S. navy. In the cemetery is also the tomb of Samuel Happer, one of the first of the early settlers to pass away.

"West of the cemetery is the Albany school, a brick building in two sections. There are 160 pupils. Hettie Slaymaker, primary, 5'8. Ella Galvin, intermediate, 43. Kathryn Hanks, grammar, 36. High school, three years' course, 25. H. \V. Pepper, principal, has had careful preparation at Rockford Business College and three years at De Kalb Normal. In his fourth year, and with the confidence of pupils and parents, is doing successful work.

The Churches

On the edge of a hill in full view of the Mississippi is the white frame Presbyterian edifice with its little cupola, The society was organized at the house of David Mitchell, December, 1839, by Rev. Mr. Prentiss, of Fulton. The members were Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Kilgour, Mr. and Mrs. David Mitchell. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Miller, Mr. and Mrs. John S. Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Duty Buck, Mrs. Ivy Buck, and Mrs. Buckingham. The first elders were Samuel Kilgour and 'David Mitchell. No regular pastors for a while. In 1843, Rev. Silas Sears began . regular service, and among his successors were Oscar Park, W. C. Mason, Louis Gano, A. H. Lackey, Jacob Coon, J. Giffin, Josiah Leonard, N. D. Graves. The former church of brick, dedicated in 1858, was swept away by the tornado in I860, and the present structure was placed upon its site.

A congregational church was organized in 1842 by some members who had withdrawn from the Presbyterian. The certificate was signed by James B.othwell, Erastus Allen, Duty Buck, William Efner, William Bothwell, G. Buckingham, Mrs. Ruth Bothwell, Mrs. Hannah Allen, Mrs. Fanny Buckingham, Mrs. Dinah Bothwell. Duty Buck and Wm. Bothwell were chosen deacons. Rev. A. J. Copeland began his labors in October, 1847. at $400 per year, followed by Revs. J. J. Hill, Hancock, Cady. Hamilton. Ostrander, Emerson, Macnab. In the meantime, both churches finding the support of separate pastors a burden, agreed to harmonize their doctrinal differences, and unite in a call for a minister, and in July, 1875, Rev. N. D. Graves entered upon his duties. The recent pastor of the Presbyterian church was W. Bryson Smith, who resigned in April. He was student at Lake Forest academy and McCormick theological seminary. Of the seventy-two members, many are Pennsylvanians, and the Slaymaker family is largely represented.

The Methodists began to hold services in Albany in 1840 as part of the Savanna circuit, preaching before that time in dwellings'. In 1840 Rev. Philo Judson was minister, and in 1842 Albany was placed on the Union Grove circuit. In 1845 a small frame building was erected, with Rev. Isaac Searles in charge followed by McKean, Babcock, Haney, Hanna, Applebee. In 1853 Albany, Erie and Newton formed the Albany circuit, with a membership in Albany of 172. In 1854 the parsonage was built. In 1860 both church and parsonage were ruined by the tornado. The present Urick edifice was erected in 1861 by funds given by the Methodist churches in the East. In 1868 Rev. Barton Cartwright was pastor, and loaned the church $600 to replace the parsonage. Among the later ministers was Rev. Zechariah D. Paddock, who in 1857 preached at Broadway church, Sterling, dying in Albany at 64 in 1883. Two of his children, Mrs. Slocumb and Charles, live in Albany. Mr. Slocumb in the mercantile business and Charles cultivating some land. Both unusually intelligent people.

The minister in the Methodist pulpit now is Rudolph C. Doenges, who studied at Iowa Wesleyan University and at Garrett Biblical Institute. His boyhood was spent in Nebraska. There are 180 members, and 100 pupils in the Sunday school. A ladies' aid and a missionary society. As the church is too small, it is proposed to enlarge by adding a concrete front at a cost of $3,000. Before entering the ministry, Mr. Doenges served his country six years in the army, and was at San Juan hill in the Spanish-American war. He is a strong, muscular young man, with abundant hope and vigor. He left the army in 1900. He also preaches at Zion church, eight miles distant, to a small congregation.

The Indian Mounds

A few miles below Albany, down the river, is the largest collection of mounds in the county. They have not all been explored. The Davenport Academy of Sciences have opened some of them, and found skeletons, beads, copper, iron, and mica. The land on which they are situated belongs to farmers, and at the solicitation 'of Mr. McCartney of the Review, and others, it has been enclosed, and all trespassing by strangers forbidden. This historical enclosure is for sale, and should be carefully preserved by the county or state as relics of aboriginal activity. What treasures may be here for future antiquarians! Mr. McCartney has a skull in his office taken from a mound. There are seventy acres in the enclosed land.

Albany'S Oldest Mother

In a neat cottage on the outskirts -of the town, the writer found Mrs. Hoobler and her venerable mother, Mrs. Stagg, who was born April 15, 1817. She was thrice married, her last husband dying 22 years ago. She was reared in Tennessee, and after several changes her father moved to Illinois, and from White county came to Whiteside in 1835. For a nonagenarian. Mrs. Stage's vigor is wonderful. Last summer she pieced four quilts, this winter two. looks after the family mending, and can run the sewing machine three hours at a time. Eats and sleeps as well as most persons of sixty. No tremor in voice, no sign of feebleness in her frame. She is a Methodist, her father being a Methodist preacher. She sees no reason for the Lord's permitting her to stay here so long.

An Albany Settler In Florida

In a letter from I. P. Allen, St. Petersburg, Florida, he relates some very interesting reminiscences of his early years. In the winter of 1837 his father moved from Ottawa to Lyndon, leaving himself and sister to live with Deacon Hamilton, while he built the first house in Albany. In a few weeks he moved us over, and I was the first bo'y in the place. My sister was called the belle. His father was Erastus Allen, and his brothers, George and Isaac. C. R. Rood was the surveyor, and afterwards the county surveyor. He settled in Garden Plain. Mr. Rood taught the first school in Albany, and I want to him when I was but five years old. There was some discussion in regard to the name of the town. As there were several Aliens, they preferred Allentown, but then, as all came from New York state, Albany was selected. A man named Corbin had built a cabin, ten by twelve, at the lower end of what was called the Eddy. Aside from that my father's house was the first real dwelling. It was eighteen by twenty-two. The first presidential election, 1840, was held there. Soon after came Ivy Buck, justice for years, and then his brother, Duty Buck. Also, Cheney Olds with his six boys and three girls. The most of these people came from New York, Cattaraugus county. Then came Capt. Barnes and Uncle Sam Slocumb with a lot of boys.

On Main Street

The Albany Review, a weekly of six folio columns, is published every Friday by G. S. McCartney, nephew of the late David McCartney, of Sterling, so long states attorney of Whiteside. It is non-partisan. It was established in 1899, and is the seventh journal started in the town. The others rose, flourished, and fell. Above his desk, Mr. McCartney has an assortment of curios, skull and ax from the mounds, wooden cutting bar of an early McCormick Reaper, ancient pistols, lanterns, ox yoke, hames, candle molds, horns. The circulation of the Review is 1,252 copies, and the home merchants evidently make good use of its columns.

First National Bank has a capital of $25,000, and deposits of $132,828, August, 1907. S. B. Dimond is president, and C. E. Peck cashier. Among the directors are James Beach, Louise W. Olds, C. E. Peck, John Woodburn. Four per cent is allowed on savings accounts, compounded semi-annually. Banking hours from 8 to 4.

Albany State Bank, established in 1889, incorporated in 1904, has Charles George for president, and Charles A. Olds, cashier. Four per cent paid on savings and on six months' certificates. Capital is $25,000. Among the stockholders are A. J. Beardsworth, W. W. Blean, E. H. Olds. E. L. Bigelow. One dollar opens an account. Drafts sold on principal cities, and loans made on real estate.

Here is the brick block erected in 1900 conjointly by the Masons and Knights of Pythias, each society having rooms on the second floor. There are seventy-seven members in the Masonic lodge. It dates from 1867. Albert W. Lewis is master; AV. H. Smith, senior warden, Frank Phillips, junior warden. The Knights of Pythias have seventy-four members, and the chancellor commander is E. A. Huggins. The lower story of the block is occupied by James Beach with a stock of general merchandise. His residence, lately erected of concrete, is the first of the kind in the town, and a model of good taste.

Beicklaykr And Statesman

No man in Albany has had a more strenuous career than Dean S. Efner. He came from New York, crossed Eock river at Sterling on the ice in February, 1841, on his way to Albany, his home ever since. He has seen and done much, and likes to relate his adventures. A mason, like Eobert Collyer, he built the Happer house in 1848, and the one in which he lives. He studied law, and went to Springfield for examination, where he met Lincoln in 1859. He was in the legislature from 1871 to 1874. Born in 1822, and now in his 87th year, has never spent a dollar on the doctor. Mr. Efner is a man of positive convictions, and is ready to express them.

First People And First Things

Ivy Buck, who came in 1837, was the first justice, serving eighteen years. A mason by trade, he built several houses, kept a store, and ran a ferry. Duty Buck was killed in the tornado.

In 1838 Uriah Cook erected the first frame building, and the first brick was erected in 1840 by W. H. Efner. Ivy Buck opened the first grocery in 1837, and Mcllvaine and Happer the first dry goods store in 1840 in a building near the river.

In December, 1839, the village was surveyed for Nevitt, Buckingham, Slocumb, and the other proprietors, by C. E. Eood, county surveyor, and the plot recorded in the Eecorder's office in 1840.

Charles S. Dorsey built the first saw mill in 1837, but after four years it burned down. In 1853 Walker, Happer & Co. built a steam saw mill on the river in Upper Albany/and it was destroyed in 1860 by the tornado.

The first ferry between Albany and Camanche was run by David and Samuel Mitchell, 1840. Horse power was used until 1850, when a steam ferry boat was put into operation. The tornado of 1860, Albany's destroying angel, put an end to its usefulness.

In 1854 McAuliffe started the Herald, which soon passed into the hands of Charles Boynton. He continued the publication until December, 1854, when he removed to Sterling.

winter of 1837-38, and Willis Osborne appointed postmaster. In 1839 the name of the office was changed to Albany, with Gilbert Buckingham postmaster.

The popular Frink & Walker line of stages opened their route in 1844 from Chicago directly to Albany, having previously conveyed passengers from Galena by the river. The increased travel led W. S. Barnes to erect the Eagle hotel.

Mrs. Chamberlain says Dr. A. T. Hudson lived for a time in the second story of her brick cottage, 1848. He was a brother of Dr. A. S. Hudson of Sterling.

That ragged shack west of the old Eagle hotel, one report says, was built by a certain Darrow, and that grout house on Main street by Cheney Olds, who came in 1838.

Living Heroes Of The G. A. K.

The post is small, about sixteen, and scattered in town and country. Col. Peter Ege, who is a veteran enthusiast, has given the writer from hi.? records of about seven hundred, living and dead, the names of the old soldiers residing in the neighborhood: W. D. Yopst, 8th 111. cavalry. Nnthan Sypes, 75 years -old, Co. B, 13th 111. Four years and three months in service, pension increased; George A. Hill, Co. A, 34th 111.; W. R. Slocumb, Co. F , 52nd 111. ; Wm. Mitchell, 75, 75th 111., pension increased to $20 per month; J. C. Snyder and John Miller, 93rd 111. Infantry; Thomas Turner, Iowa Regiment; Wm. Tucker, 75 years old, Indiana Regiment; John Wolsenholm, 86, 111. Infantry; P. Perrigo, Wisconsin Regiment; George D. Quick, 140th 111. Perry Langford, 93rd 111. ; Sergeant W. S. Barnes, son of the late W. S., 93rd 111.; James H. Ege, 93rd 111., is now at Minneapolis; Robert A. Rouse, Co. A , 34th 111., is in Minnesota; J. High Woodin, Robt. C. Markee, 34th 111., are at Quincy; Col. C. Peter Ege himself, 34th 111., in the service four years and four months; W. R. Lewis, commander of the post, still active at 71, was in a Pennsylvania battalion, fighting bushwhackers in Virginia. The writer met also C. L. Brinker, four years in the signal .service.

Albany A Port Of Entry

No strangers and few of our Whiteside people, as they tread the sandy slope along the river, ever dream that this 'quiet spot was once gay with life and busy with traffic. No memorial to recall the past but a few weatherbeaten tenements that look so sad and forlorn in their desolation. In imagination one can see La Salle and the French explorers in their frail barks rowing up and down the mighty river.

But it is of Albany's palmy days between 1840 and 1860 that we desire now to speak. It was a prominent point on the Mississippi, and stage lines brought their passengers from the east to catch steamers up and down the river. The ferry transported emigrants to Iowa and the territories towards the opening west. The packets on the river made their regular stops to discharge and receive freight, as well as their quota of travelers. Farmers hauled their grain and produce to the warehouses on the shore, and returned with lumber from the saw mills to build their houses and barns. Stores were opened aiid business was booming.

According to the Albany Herald of 1854, the town had then 1,000 inhabitants, with four forwarding and commission houses, six dry goods and grocery stores, two drug stores, two steam saw mills, one sash factory, and several other business houses. Dean Efner says in 1841 Albany polled more votes than any other place in the county and had much political influence. It was the center of trade from all directions.

To many emigrants for Whiteside from the east, Albany was the natural port of entry. The people from New England and New York came either overland or by the lakes to Chicago, and thence by team across the prairies. But those from Pennsylvania and Ohio embarked on the rivers, and landed at Albany. There they engaged teams to transport them to the other parts of the county. So John Wolfersperger and others came in 1851. Indeed, until the railroad was completed to Sterling in 1855, and then onward to the Mississippi, Albany was the most convenient port through which to enter Whiteside. But the tornado of 1860 with its wide-spread ruin, and the diversion of travel and traffic by railroads, have robbed Albany of much of its early prestige. The same sky and lovely landscape, but the hum of busy barter is no longer heard.

The completion of the Western Union in 1865 gave Albany railroad communication. It is now the Milwaukee and St. Paul, giving direct connection with the lakes and the north and Rock Island and Kansas City to the south.

An electric lighting plant is proposed for streets, residences and business. The scheme contemplates municipal ownership. The cost is estimated at $7,000.

The little ferry boat that plies in the summer season between Albany and Clinton is a great convenience for travelers who wish to meet trains on the Northwestern. Besides 'it is a delightful sail of six miles on the big river. Two trips every afternoon.

The expenses of the town would make a New York or Chicago alderman smile. At a meeting of the village trustees in October, 1907, after the treasurer's report was read, a resolution was adopted to the effect that on account of some extraordinary expenditures on streets, the president and clerk were instructed to borrow not to exceed $100 at legal rate of interest/, and to execute notes for six months. The village board consists of five trustees and a president.

The following list is given of settlers in 1837: C. R. Rood, Erastus Allen, Isaac C. Allen, R. C. Niblack, S. Searle, C. Lusk, A. Bergen, P. B. Vannest, G. McMahan, 0. McMahan, J. Davis, S. Mitchell, T. Wilcoxson, Ivy Buck, Duty Buck, Jeremiah Rice, Wm. Nevitt, G. Buckingham, S. B. Slocumb, Thomas Finch, John Slocumb, Uriah Cork. In 1838 were Cheney Olds, Dr. Eernheisel, D. Mitchell, Isaiah Marshall, E. Ewers, G. Reid, R. Kennedy, D. Bliss, L. Spurlock, A. Nichols, J. Nichols, B. Spurlock, G. Garrett. In 1839 came B. S. Quick, W. S. Barnes, Dr. Clark, James Hewlett, C. C. Alvord.

For a time Upper Albany was Van Buren and the lower town Albany, but the folly of two names was soon apparent and the common name adopted. The towns were platted in 1836.

Very few are aware that Abraham Lincoln's service as surveyor were in demand in the immediate vicinity of Rock Island county. He surveyed and platted New Boston in Mercer county in 1834.

Mr. Lincoln's services as surveyor were required in Whiteside county two years later, for he surveyed and platted the original town of Albany, which consisted of seven blocks of eight lots each, 62x124 feet, and in addition one block which was designated as "Public Square." In numbering the blocks from one to seven Mr. Lincoln omitted to number block 5, so that one block of the original plat has no number. The surveyor's certificate is dated June 16, 1836, and the plat was filed for record in the recorder's office of Whiteside county June 21, 1836.

Mr. Lincoln evidently went up the Mississippi from some point near the mouth of the Illinois river, and the boat in which he was a passenger must have made stops at Rock Island, then Stephenson, and while the boat was unloading its cargo Mr. Lincoln may have taken a little stroll in the village.

In his journey up the Mississippi he passed the mouth of Rock river, where four years before he had been in camp preparatory to the march up Rock river, and he, no doubt, was an interested observer of the country from which Black Hawk had been driven, and in passing the island and entering the rapids .he had an opportunity ~of seeing the place where the Rock Island bridge was first built.

In his argument to the jury in -the United States court at Chicago in September, 1857, as to the effect of the rapids on navigation in the vicinity of the bridge, he pictured the rapids as he had seen them a score of years before. Any one reading his argument before the jury in the famous "bridge case" will notice that his knowledge was not gained from the testimony of witnesses alone.

Albany, 111., was the farthest point north in the state in which Abraham Lincoln's services as surveyor were required. No doubt there are many people now living in Albany who are not aware that Abraham Lincoln surveyed the original town.