Shabbona Township (part 5 of 5)

Before white people took up their westward march, what is now known as Shabbona township was a portion .of fertile land, the northern part -composed of, ,'Heautiful prairie, while the southern'division waS' covered with heavy timber. Here Chief Shabbona of the Pottawattomie tribe of Indians and about fifty of his followers, many of them members of his own family, were living a peaceful life in their wigwams, cultivating small patches of corn, beans, pumpkins, etc., making sugar from the maple trees, but depending mainly upon hunting for their living. A most elaborate sketch of Chief Shabbona appears in the history of the county proper.

In 1R40 Shabbona came back to his old reservation and lived for a time, but the series of wanderings had begun which finally broke up the band, only a few of the immediate family remaining with the old chief. Finally a few friends purchased twenty acres of timber land in Grundy county to be used as a home for Shabbona, and here, in 1859, at the age of eighty-four years, he died and was buried in the cemetery at Morris. There is now a movement on foot to erect a suitable monument over his last resting place. Nothing is now left here as a memorial of the chief and his tribe except a few relics and keepsakes among some of the oldest families, but a prettv open clearing on the farm owned by William Husk is pointed out as a spot where the old Shabbona house stood. This was a comfortable log house built by David Norton. John Palm and others under contract with Wyram Gates, better known by tin- suggestive title of "Bogus," who agreed to provide this house in the settlement with the Indians and the government when Mr. Gates bought the large tract of land claimed by the red men. It was never occupied by them as a residence, but as a storehouse, they preferring wigwams, and was accidentally burned down several years ago.

The white settlers began in the late '30s to wend their way from the east. and. bringing all they possessed in prairie schooners, located at the various parts of the t<>\\ osbip, to make i heir future hemes. 'The immi ase tract of high, rolling prairie, well watered and drained by the Big Indian creek into the Fox river at the south and the Kishwaukee at the north, was \er\ attractive t<> the early emigrants en aCCOUnt el' the excellence of the land, it- dry and healthy location, and the quality ami quantity of timber in the grove. They buill log houses and ai mice engaged in farming. N"e\i rear's day. 1836, was celebrated by the erection el' the first white man's dwelling. Edmund Town and David Smith, who had lived in the wigwams which the Indian- had temporarily abandoned, built tin' iir-i log house of the settlement, which.

in the county. Among the firsl to locati were . I, .mi- Miller, II. I-:. Allen. William White, Coleman Olmstead, Sr., Coleman Olmstead, dr.. Lewi- Olmstead, Nathan Olmstead. Mo-,- Poster, William Marks. Sr., Edmund Town. Ira Park. Dexter Horton, "Mother" Horton, Miles Horton, William Olmstead and Jefferson Sturtevant. Rev. Gammon and many others soon followed. The first effort outside of the attempt t<> produce something on their farms and thus supply their physical necessities was the desire to organize some form of town government. In pursuance of this idea. Shabbona became one of the thirteen towns of the county, and William Marks was elected to be the first supervisor in the year 1850. and the other necessary officers were soon after elected.

By the topography of the township the present site of the village of Shabbona Grove was naturally selected as an embryo town. Nestling on the southern edge of the timber, it at once afforded sngge.-tions of many cozy homes safely sheltered from the wintry blasts which swept down from across the bleak prairie. And here also was a stage station, kept first by L. P. Sanger and shortly afterward by William Marks, who was also postmaster. The stage line was owned by a stock company and was called the Chicago & Galena line. 1'. \ . Quilhot was one of the drivers, and the passengers consisted mainly of miners and those connected with the lead mines of Galena, which were in a flourishing condition. He was also a driver on a north and south line in the \ieimty of Princeton, where the travelers were office holders on the way to and from Springfield. George Shaw was also a well known stage driver of that time. Many other small branches of business began to open at this little settlement and as the wants and means of the people increased business became lively. William Marks added a small stock of general goods. Samuel Curtis opened a drug and grocery store. Reuben Thailand ran a blacksmith shop, ami a sawmill was owned and operated by Olmstead Brothers. The town had a steady growth in early years, but being late in securing a railroad lapsed into gradual decay.

The first religious services were held at the house of Nathan Olmstead. The first Methodist servile- were held at the house of Coleman Olmstead in the fall of 1841. Meetings were held in tin' house in thi winter and in the barn in the summer, Rev. Mr. Morrison officiating. The Methodists erected the first house of worship in 1864 in the village of Shabbona Grove. The first services held then in were the funeral services of Mr-. M. V. Allen. September 21, 1864. A Union church was built about the same time, but the Methodist Episcopal church was the first dedicated. The first Congregational church of Shabbona was organized September 10. 1854, anil until I si;:, held services in the school house at Shabbona Grove. Rev. Stephen Battes was the first pastor. 'flic present ( 'on g 1 1 g a i : ,, i i;i 1 church in the village of Shabbona was dedicated November 6, 1879. This church is at present the largest religious organization in the township.

The first school in the township was taught in the winter of 1842-3, at the house of William C Olmstead. William Curtis was the teacher. Me received twelve dollars and fifty cents a month and hoarded himself. The school was on the- subscription plan and the Olmstead families furnished the greater number of pupils. The first schoolhouse was built on the west side of Indian creek on the north side of the road. It was used for religious purposes as well until the church buildings were erected. The house was of logs and erected in the fall of 1843. Eliza Horton was the first teacher in this house.

The first cemetery was located near the center of section 25. Mrs. Lyman was the first interred. She died in 1840 or 1841. A dozen bodies were probably buried there. The ground was soon abandoned. The first regular cemetery was established on the farm of David Smith on section 27. The first decoration of soldiers' graves was conducted by Rev. Fletcher Pomeroy, in June, 1877.

In its best days Shabbona Grove contained three general stores, a tin shop, a boot and shoe shop, two hotels and two churches. A large business was transacted.

The early settlers of Shabbona, like the pioneers of other sections, believed whisky to be indispensable in house or barn raisings. When Edmond Towne's house was raised a flask of whisky was found secreted near by, supposed to have been the property of the Indians. It was confiscated and added zest to the occasion. For the next few years it was the custom to have a good supply at such gatherings. This practice was continued until the raising of Coleman Olmstead's barn (the first frame barn in the township) in the spring of 1842. Mr. Olmstead refused to furnish whisky, at which innovation there was a bitter protest. He substituted a warm supper, with good coffee, which was voted satisfactory. From that time a warm meal, with coffee, took the place of whisky at such gatherings. About two miles west of the town of Shabbona is what is known as the English settlement. It was begun in the fall of 1851, when five young Englishmen, Septimus Storey, Thomas Wright, William Cutts, George Glossop and Joseph Dillans took up government land. The first house was built by Mr. Glossop, and here the entire party kept bachelors* hall until they could build homes of their own. The place was headquartei-s for the subsequent immigrants from England and soon quite a colony of their fellow countrymen had collected, among the first being Robert Mullin, Reuben Challand, John Kennedy, Thomas Dalton, James Hutton, the descendants of many of whom live on the homestead farms. The first schoolhouse was built in 1851 ami was taught by .Mis. Witherspoon. They built a Methodist Episcopal church in the year 1869 and later a cemetery was established directly east of it.

The village of Shabbona was surveyed and platted in 1S72 on section 15. A village had been platted at the junction of the C. & I. and C, B. & 0- roads, about a half mile west, tu which was given the name of Cornton. A temporary depot had been constructed, John Ray and William Husk had opened a mercantile business, and others had been started or were in contemplation. The site was favorable and the only thing that was required to make it the regular station of the railroad was - a donation of some of the land to interested railroad men. This some of the proprietors refused to do; therefore a. removal was determined upon and Cornton was doomed. The first building erected in tin? present village of Shabbona was by W. H. Ray. the present editor of the Shabbona Express. William Husk then removed his store building from Cornton and opened the first mercantile establishment in the village. A. S. Jackson removed here from Shabbona Grove and commenced business. In 1873 M. V. Allen opened a drug store. Thomas Padget and J. M. Bean began business and were the second to represent tlie mercantile interests of the place. W. F. Heeg in the winter of 1872-3 opened a stock of furniture and is still in business. The first exclusive hardware store was started in 1873 by Crapser, Coleman & Company. Other branches of business followed from time to time until at, present Shabbona has a population of nearly nine hundred. It has more miles of cement walks than any other town of its size in flie county, there being but a half mile of board walk in the town. The presenf school building was erected in 1876 and occupied in the fall of that year. S. B. Hallock was principal and Miss Viola Thomas assistant.

The land claimed by the early settlers came into the market in 1843, at Dixon. Illinois. Main had saved just enough to pay for the claim on which they had settled. Fearing thai land speculators would be present, they went to Dixon one hundred and fifty strong, armed with clubs and pistols, to prevent others from bidding on the land aside from the two men selected, who were William Marks and Reuben Allen. Arriving at Dixon, they found men prepared to purchase their lands and they arranged to seize any such bidder and drown him in the Rock river. The resolute set ni' this body of men overawed all opposition, and tiny secured their lands at a dollar ami a quarter an acre.

Shabbona furnished one hundred ami thirty fin- the preservation of the Union during the Civil war. and she raised in taxes and bounties twelve thousand two hundred and ninety-one dollars. A large number <>f the soldiers from Shabbona enlisted under the valiant Captain G. W. Kittell, of the Fifty-eighth Illinois, ami Captain Thomas Terry, of the I Ine Eundred and Fifth. Captain Terry had served as a member of the legislature, had been for years supervisor of the town and had served in the Mexican war. Captain Terry died in Earlville in the later "60s. Captain .Martin V. Allen, who succeeded him, losl an arm in the service. Upon his return to the county he was i l© b to the office of count] superintended of schools. Sergeanl Thomas E. Ta of thr same company, a native of Scotland, Losl his life in the servio , al the age "1' forty-one. D. \\ . Jackson, of thr same company, died at Bowling Green, aged twenty. Sergeant J. M. Dobbin, of the Thirteenth Illinois, died of woundceived at the assault of Vicksburg Sergeant George C. Harper served honorably I'm- three years in the One Hundred and Fifth and subsequently lost his life at Fort Harper, while in the Seventh Regulars, at the age of twenty-three. John M<- Farland. of the One Hundred and Fifth, died at Frankfort, Kentucky. Henry Davis, of the Tenth Infantry, died at St. Louis. Oliver Pattee, of the Fifty-second, died at St. Joseph. Lyman Kilboura, of the One Hundred and Fifth, dud at Resaca. Corporal Philip Howe, of the One Hundred and Fifth, died of wounds received at Etesai .1 W. E. Grover. of the One Hundred and Fifth, was killed at Dallas. Georgia, while carrying off a wounded comrade from the skirmish line James M. Round, of the Fifty-eighth Illinois. William T. Williams, of the Fifty-eighth Illinois. George Flick. John A. Muzzy. Byron Nichols. Nelson Filkins.

The supervisors of Shabbona were William Mark-. Isaac Comstock, Thomas S. King. H. E. Allen. D. D. Stevens, 0. Norton, P. V. Quilhot. Frederick Ball. Benjamin S. White. Giles M. Alexander. John II. Woodbury, Septimus Storey. Henry Clapsaddle, R. Youngren, L. C. Burke, Lewis Olmstead and John Middleton.

Mi Lax

Milan, the infant township of the county, came into existence in 1857. Previous to this time it had heen a part of Malta and Shabbona. There are no natural groves within its border and consequently it was one of the latest to he settled. Lewis McFwen was the first settler of the town. He came from New York state originally, had been to California in search of gold, and came to Milan township, where he resided until 18G9. Being the pioneer of the township, coming there in 1852, he saw the growth of the town. He did not long remain as the only white inhabitant, for other claimant- came for settlement - Benjamin Banfield, Reuben Dodd and Gurdon Hewitt. The latter hail purchased land warrants for eighty cents an acre and entered nine sections in one day. This land he afterward sold at from eight to thirteen dollars an acre, which made his investment a most profitable om-. The firs! -dioolhouse was built in 1855 in the .enter of the town, but previous to this the educational mean-: of the children had been supplied at improvised schoolrooms in private houses. The township felt the need of a public building for public meetings and in the summer of 1868 a two-story frame building was erected, known as the Milan Town House. The lower storj is u-r,} for a school room, while the upper story is used as a town hall and a place of worship. There are at present nine districts in the township. Milan did not become thicklv populated because there are no villages within its borders and no railroads nearer than the Xorthwestern. There are no postoffices in the township. Milan in the early part of its history possessed much wet land, which was unsuitable for farming purpose-. About twelve years ago a drainage district was organized and the wet portion of the township was made tillable. Thousands upon thousands of rods of tile have been laid in this

In 1854 Theodore Berg and Ira Oleson came into this town, and being of Norwegian birth, others of that nationality followed, until at present they form the larger part of the population of Milan. Others who followed the two first mentioned gentlemen in Milan were the Sandersons, Oaklands, Grovers, Eames and Kettlesons. The Norwegian element of Milan is prosperous, thrifty, generally adherents of the Lutheran faith. They make a splendid addition to the citizenship of the county. At the breaking out of the Civil war Milan, out of a population of two hundred and fifty, gave thirty-eight soldiers to the Union army and raised several thousand dollars in taxation and bounties. Among the men of prominence who have resided in Milan is Lewis McEwen, godfather of the town. Captain A. L. AVells. Captain Howard, George Cox, who served as county clerk, and S. P. Armstrong, who served his county for fourteen years in the office of circuit clerk and recorder and twenty years as county surveyor. Those who have served the town as supervisors are: Lewis McEwen, who served eleven years; John Banfield, A. L. Wells, E. E. Colby, Captain L. A. Howard, and S. M. Sanderson, who has served thirteeen years and is still a member of th board in that township.