Shabbona Township (part 1 of 5)

Shabbona Township

HABBONA township is named in honor o the celebrated Indian chief, Shabbona. who long made his home at the beautiful grove which also bears his name. It is a fine body of land, comprising township 38, range 3 east. Big Indian Creek enters the township on section 31, runs in a northeasterly direction through sections 32, 29, 28, 22, 21, then taking a southeasterly direction, passes through sections 23, 26 and 36, into Paw Paw Township. The Kishwaukee River heads in the northern part of the township.

The first settlers were Edmond Towne and David Smith, who arrived here in December, 1835.* The former was a man of family, while the latter was a youth of 14, and a step-son of Mr. Towne. They raised a log house on the southwest quarter of section 25, on the first day of January, 1836. The next settler was Ira Parks, who located at the west end of the grove. He was from Ohio, and resided here till 1875, when he removed to Earlville, where he still resides. Next came Nathan Olmstead, followed a little later by his brothers William and Lewis. They were from Chemung Co., N. Y., and made their settlement on sections 25 and 36. The two latter are still residents of the township. Columan Olmsted and family came along about a year later and lo- cated on section 25. He subsequently removed to Missouri, but returned to De Kalb County and died at the residence of his son, D. D. Olmsted, in Clinton Township a few years ago. Among other early settlers were William, Lyman and Jeff. Sturtevant and Darius Horton.

During the next few years quite a number of settlers came in and a village was started on the south side of the grove on section 26, known as Shabbona Grove. John Olmstead opened the first store and Mr. Adams the second. The latter soon after sold out to Warren & Marks - S. B. Warren and Wm. Marks. A postofrke was established here about 1848, Mr. Marks being the first postmaster. Mr Marks, is said to have been one of the twelve apostles of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet. The office is still continued.

Mr. Curtis opened the first drug store at the Grove, and was also for a time postmaster. He was convicted of robbing the mail and sent to the Stale prison, where he died.

The first religious services were held at the house of Nathan Olmstead in 1848 [1838] by Rev. Burton Carpenter, a Baptist minister. The first Methodist services were at the house of Coleman Olmsted in the fall of 1841. Meetings were held in the house in the winter, and in the barn in summer, of that year, Rev. Mr. Morris officiating. The Methodists erected the first house of worship in 1864 ; the first services held therein were the funeral services of Mr. M. V. Allen, Sept. 21, 1864. A union church was built about the same time, but the Methodist Episcopal church was the first dedicated. Both churches were in the village of Shabbona Grove.

The first Congregational Church of Shabbona (the old town) was organized Sept. 10, 1854. Among those in the organization were Wm. J. Noble and wife, John Campbell and Thomas Battes. Meetings were held in Center School house, District No. 3. Rev. Stephen Batten was the first pastor. The organization continued about ten years.

The first school in the township was in the winter of 1842-3, at the house of Mr. Wm. C. Olmstead. Wm. Curtis was the teacher. He received $12.50 per month and boarded himself. The school was on the subscription plan, and the Olmstead families furnished the greater number of scholars. The first school-house 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. A new school-house was built on the west side of the creek in 1846. It was a frame building, situated a quarter of a mile west of where the M. E. church was subsequently built. There are now in this township 664 persons under 21 years of age, of whom 452 are between the ages of 6 and 21. There are ten school districts, with one graded and nine ungraded schools. During the year ending June 30, 1884, there were 393 pupils enrolled in the schools. There were 22 teachers employed. The highest monthly wages paid any teacher was $65, and the lowest $20. The estimated value of school property is $9,000. The tax levy for the support of schools was $1,25 ). There are ten frame schoolhouses in the township.

The first cemetery was opened near the center of section 25. Mrs. Lyman was the first interred. She died in 1840 or 1841. A dozen bodies were probably buried here. The ground was soon abandoned.

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

The early settlers of Shabbona, like the pioneers of olher sections, believed whisky to be indispensable in house or barn raisings. When Edinond 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 furnish 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.

In the winter of 1847-8, Shabbona, the Indian chief, in company with Wyman Gates, went to Washington and there sold to the latter all of his reservation except 60 acres, which he reserved for a home. He received about $3,000 for the same, but lost it all on his return. In the spring of 1848 he went to Kansas and spent some time there and in Arkansas, but not being satisfied he returned to his old home at the grove, in 185 i, only to find it in the possession of N. I. Kettle, who purchased the same of Gates, who in some way had a claim on it. Shabbona camped with his family on one of Vanderventer's lots, but was soon driven away. He went to Kankakee, but subsequently located on a tract of 20 acres near Morris, Grundy County, which was purchased for him with money raised for the purpose at Ottawa. See biography of Shabbona on page 534.

The so-called English settlement, in the western part of Shabbona Township, was begun in the fall of 1851. Five young Englishmen - Thomas Wrigtit, Septimus Storey, William Cults, George GIossup and Joseph Bidam - came together and were the pioneers of the settlement, taking this land from the Government. The first house was built by Mr. GIossup, on the southeast quarter of section 18. Here the whole party kept " bachelor's hall " and the place was headquarters for numerous English immigrants till they could construct homes for themselves. Among the early members of the settlement were Robert Mullins, Reuben Challand, Thomas Dalton and James Hutton. Many of these early settlers and their descendants are still residents of the township. These people built a Methodist Episcopal church, in 1869, on the southeast quarter of section 18. A school-house was built in 1857 in what is now District No. 6, in which Mrs. Witherspoon taught the first school. The first religious meetings in the settlement were in the school-house in 1860, Rev. Mr. Ambrose officiating. Rev. Mr. Stoddard was subsequently the local pastor. A cemetery was established at an early day, on section 18, one acre in extent. The ground, excepting lots sold, is the property of Mr. Storey.

Shabbona Township reports 22,157 acres of improved lands, the assessed value of which is given at $318,629. The assessed value of town lots was $45,842; of personal property, $124,721. Total, $488,192. The State Board of Equalization reduced the total to $435,392. Among the items of personal \ property assessed were, horses, 634; cattle, 2,783; mules and asses, 22 ; sheep, 635 ; hogs, 2,800; me- ^ lodeons and organs, 44 ; goods and merchandise, * $13,765; pianos, 8 ; carriages and wagons, 237; watches and clocks, 90; credits, $38,503.

The first town meeting was held at the house of William Marks, April 2, 1850, at which meeting Mr. Marks was Chairman, and Richard Holmes, Clerk. There were 36 votes cast at the election which followed. The following named were elected : Richard Holmes, Supervisor; Z. W. Lam|x>rt, Clerk; Ira Park, Assessor; Harvey E. Allen, Collector; William White, Overseer of the Poor; William Marks, Justice of the Peace; H. E. Allen and Isaac F. Morse, Constables. !Q

O prettier village of its size can be found in this region of country than that of Shabbona. It was surveyed and platted in 872, on land belonging to Francis E. Hinckley, John Palen, Catherine Palen, John Ray, Elizabeth Ray, Charles Stevens and Cynthia T. Stevens. It is located on section 15, township of Shabbona.

A village had been platted at the junction of the C. & I. and C. B. & Q. Railroads, about one-half mile west, to which was given the name of Cornton. A temporary depot had been constructed, John Ray and William Husk had begun the sale of merchandise and other lines of business had either been started or were in contemplation. The site was favorable, and only one thing was required to make it the regular station of the railroad - 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 the village of Shabbona was by W. H. Ray, the present editor of the Express, in the fall of 1872. Previous to this, however, a building had been moved in from the country, by James Nutall, the one used by Mr. Alexander as a store building. William Husk then moved his store building from Cornton and opened the first mercantile establishment in the new village. He is still in business. Mr. Husk's family was the first to make this their home, moving in before Mr. Ray had completed his building.

J. M. Bean & Co. began business shortly .after Mr. Husk and were the second to represent the mercantile interests of the place. A few months later A. S. Jackson moved in from Shabbona Grove and commenced business here.

Frederick Stein removed to the village from Cornton late in the fall of 1872 and was the first shoemaker. He now resides at Lee. Aaron Vanness opened a second shop the following spring.

Isaac Ackerblade was the pioneer blacksmith, erecting and operating a shop shortly after the village was located. Dan Branscomb, a wagon-maker, in the spring of 1873, commenced business in his line, running in connection a blacksmith shop, with C. H. Carroll employed to work in that department. Stephen Branscomb was next in order.

The first grain-buyers were Smith & Pollack, who commenced business in Cornton and who removed here in the spring of 1873 and erected an elevator. Samuel Bouslough came about the same time. He had also been in business in Cornton.

Smith & Pollack were the first stock-buyers, beginning business as soon after the location of the village as arrangements could be made for handling stock.

Other branches of business followed from time to time, the village increased in number of inhabitants and in wealth until it presents its present neat and attractive appearance.

Malma postoffice was established about 1855. The first postmaster is said to have been Ira Fisher, the office being at Mr. Fisher's house, situated near the geographical center of the township. Mr. Maryott succeeded. Mr. Fisher after several years. William Husk succeeded Mr. Fisher after several years. William Husk succeeded Maryott in 1871 and the office was removed to Cornton. The name was changed to Shabbona, but subsequently changed back to Cornton and then again changed to Shabbona. William Husk is still postmaster.

The educational interests of the village are well attended to. In 1876 the present school building was erected and occupied Nov. 6, with S. B. Hallock, principal, and Miss Viola Thomas, assistant. For the school year of 1877-8, F. L. Ruggles was employed as principal, with Miss Thomas, assistant. In 1878-9, Mr. Ruggles was continued as principal, with Miss Loraney Smith, assistant. In 1879-80, E. M. Whitney was principal and Jessie C. Morse, assistant. In 1880-1, George I. Talbot, the present County Superintendent of Schools, was principal, with Miss Morse, assistant. The two were continued the following year. The school-house becoming too small to accommodate the increased number of pupils in the district, an addition was built. For the year 1882-3, Mr. Talbot was again chosen as principal, with Miss Morse teacher in the intermediate and Miss Mary Streeter in the primary department. In January, 1883, Mr. Talbot resigned, having been elected County Superintendent. G. N.

Maxwell was elected to fill the vacancy and served out the year. In 1883-4, Mr. Maxwell was continued as principal, with Miss Ella Quinn in the intermediate and Miss Emma Challand in the primary department. On the 22d of February, 1884, Miss Quinn resigned and Miss Morse was engaged to fill out the unexpired term. In 1884-5, Mr. Maxwell was again principal, with Miss Challand in the intermediate and Miss Mary Andrews in the primary department. In January, 1885, there were 121 pupils enrolled.

Religious

The cemetry near the village, known as Ray's Cemetery, was platted by John Ray in 1874. It is near the northwest corner of section 15. All unsold lots are yet the private property of Mr. Ray. There are about five acres included in the plat. RELIGIOUS.

The Baptist Church of Shabbona was organized July 26, 1874. The constituent members were Rev. William F. Stable, Barbara Stable, John Ray, Elizabeth Ray, Frederick Stein, Catherine Stein, Conrad Heeg, Henrietta Heeg, Carl Burger, Emily Burger, Emma Burger, Christian Heeg, Elizabeth Buck. The first trustees were John Ray, J. W. Stevens, Isaac Davis, Charles Stevens and William Husk. These trustees were made a building committee. Steps were taken at once for the erection of a house of worship, which was completed and dedicated Nov. 28, 1874, Rev. John Young preaching the sermon on the occasion. The Church was recognized on this occasion. The cost of the building was $4,500. Its seating capacity is 250. Revs. D. B. Gunn and L. H. Holt were the first ministers employed by the Church. The first regular pastor was Rev. E. L. Clouse, who was installed March 7, 1875. He served until Dec. i, 1878, and was succeeded by Rev. D. W. Hicks, who served over four years. The church was then supplied by students from Morgan Park Theological Seminary, until Nov. i, 1884, when Rev. A. M. Hunt assumed the pastorate. The present membership of the Church is 45. Its officers are John Ray, W. Dunham, Deacons ; Cyrenius Bailey, Clerk; John Ray, Treasurer; John Ray, Cyrenius Bailey, Christian Heeg, William H. Ray, C. H. Hubbell, Trustees.

A meeting for the purpose of considering the propriety of organizing a Congregational or Presbyterian Church in Shabbona, was held March 26, 1876. It was then determined to organize a Congregational Church. Rev. J. E. Roy, of Chicago, was invited to attend a meeting for that purpose. Accordingly, on the 3d of April, 1876, he came and preached, morning and evening, in the Baptist Church. The following named then agreed to become members of the organization: Mrs. J. L. Greenfield, Marietta Alexander, Lillian Greenfield^ Charles Stevens and wife Thomas Padgett and wife, Robert Langford and wife, Isaac Davis and wife, William Deacon and wife, Samuel Bouslough and wife, Gertrude G. Bouslough, Mary C. Bouslough, James Shanks, Hattie Stevens, Cora Stevens, Alexander McKinnie and wife. A council was held for perfecting the organization and reorganizing it as a Congregational body April 6, 1876. Rev. J. E. Roy acted as Moderator, and Rev. N. A. Prentiss delivered a discourse. The following officers were elected : Charles Ste.vens, Isaac Davi?, Deacons ; William Deacon, Treasurer; Robert Langford, James Shanks, J. L. Greenfield, Trustees. The society in 1879 erected a neat church edifice which was dedicated Nov. 6, 1879.

others. The charter located the lodge at Shabbona Grove. A dispensation for its removal to Shabbona Station was granted November 3, 1874, and its removal was accomplished soon after. A hall for lodge purposes had been erected by the lodge and individual members. This was burned March 23, 1877. There was no insurance. Another building was at once erected. The lodge room is large, wellfurnished and with suitable ante-rooms. The first meeting in the new hall was held Aug. 7, 1877. The present officers are M. V. Allen, W. M.; William Husk, S. W.; F. A. Frost, J. W.; P. V. Quilhot, Treas.; J.-W. Middleton, Sec.; J. M. Baird, S. D.; Charles Hutchins, J. D.; T. W. Stimpson, Tyler.

T. S. Terry Post, No. 463, G. A. R., was organized June 14, 1884. The following named were the first officers : A. L. Wells, C.; M. V. Allen, S. V. C.; Robert Boston, J. V. C.; William Deacon, Adj.; John McCormick, Q. M.; D. W. Wesson, Surg.; Albion Patta, Chap.; T. B. Lucas, O. D.; Sidney Norton, O. G.; I. Hardy, Serg. Maj.; F. A. Frost, Q. M. S. The present officers are the same, with the exception of that of F. M. Hinds, J. V. C., and F. O. Stevens, O. G. The post has a membership of 33 and meets on the first and third Saturday evening of each month.

In 1866 a lodge of I. O. O. F. was organized at Shabbona Grove, under the name of Fertile Lodge. It gained a membership of 30 in four years, but, on account of a want of harmony among its members, surrendered its charter. John Belden was the first N. G. and I. F. Morse the last.

EE, a pleasant little village, lies upon the line between the counties of Lee and De Kalb. It lies mostly in Lee County, a portion equal to about 30 acres being in Shabbona Township, De Kalb County. It was commenced in 1871, Christopher Jorgens opening the first business house. C. Christopher and Ole J. Jorgens, proprietors of the grain elevator, were grain, coal and lumber dealers. Their office was situated just west of the railroad track, a little north of where the depot now stands, in Shabbona Township. They opened the first general store at the same time. This was before there was any plat of the village. A Mr. White started the second store on the Lee side of the county line. Hugh Boyle owned the plat on the east and John Kennedy on the west.

Ed. Bacon opened the first hotel, on the De Kalb County side. During the years 1872 and 1873 the village built up rapidly. At the present time it has a population of 500, does a large business and compares favorably with any station on the line north of Aurora. There are two churches - Catholic and Methodist Episcopal. There are also two elevators, one a horse-power, the other steam, both in Shabbona Township. The steam elevator is owned and operated by Christopher & Jorgens, and has a capacity of 18,000' bushels. The other elevator has a capacity of 8,000 bushels. A lumber and coal yard completes the business on the DeKalb side of the line.

Source changes here: from Past and Present of DeKalb County, Illinois, by Gross, Lewis M, published 1907; 62,896 words in this source stream.

Shabbona Township

"THIS ME POKENOQUAY" ' (meaning hia squaw), and then he pointed to Siboquay as his pappoose and pointing to her three children, "THESE ARE MY PAPPOOSE'S PAPPOOSES." The introduction over my father made known his business, but the old chief thought it beneath his dignity to sell trees to a Shemokaman, and would not let him have a single tree. Consequently, he bought the trees of Peter Miller, and we had a shanty to cover our heads made from them in which we lived five years.

Shabbona was generous with the white people and he would bring a quarter of a vension to his neighbors frequently, and once in a great while a wild goose and a duck. Often he would go from house to house and eat with any one that would ask him. One Saturday he came to our house and father asked him to sit up to the table and have some breakfast. He looked around the table and made the remark, "ME NO SEE UM ME NO EAT UM." We had eaten every bit of bread that there was in the house for our breakfast and were going to bake that morning, but that did nor help us out for the meal. He had asked Shabbona to eat, so I frowningly said in a whisper, "We have not a particle of bread in the house." The keen eyed old fellow saw the maneuvering and said, "LAZY SQUAW." He thought I did not want the trouble of getting his breakfast, but father said "Bake him some pancakes." So I did and ir proved to be the very thing he liked best, and I retained my good name in his opinion, which I have valued highly - being only about sixteen years old.

The Indians in those days would not work. They would hunt and the squaws did all of the drudgery, such as cutting the wood and hauling it by hand, and they had to keep the fires in the wigwam and they cooked the succotash to eat, and the corn and beans were some of their own planting and harvesting the summer before. The Indians furnished the meat for them.

each of Shabbona's children a pony and they never went on foot anywhere. They never provided anything for the ponies to eat during the winter, so the ponies had to steal what they ate. As none of us had barns we had to stack the hay outdoors. The ponies used to eat nights. The boys of the neighborhood would catch them and ride them down as far as Somonauk creek, ten miles away. They would drive all they did not ride and leave them in the woods and would keen about three ponies and then get on their backs and come home. In about three days old Shabbona would come along and ask, "YOU NO SEE UM PONIES ?" Then we would innocently ask,

"How long they been gone, Shabbona?" and ht would say "MAYBE SNEE DAYS. ITE KNOW KNOW"; but they always managed to find their way back in a few days and then there would be more fun for the boys.

Shabbona understood the geography of the United States and Canada to perfection. Just give him a piece of chalk and start him on some stream or lake, say Lake Superior, and he would mark every bit of water and tell you what it was named and what the Indians called it. In fact, he would mark over a whole floor and tell us just where the different bodies of water were located. One time he told us he was Tecumseh's aid and saw Johnson kill him with a little gun that went "PING." My brother, Harvey Allen, was there when he was telling it and he said, "Why didn't you rush in between them and kill Johnson?" "OH," said Shabbona, "TWO BIG MEN, LET UM EIGHT." Then he shook his sides with silent laughter as though he always liked the white man best. He had the faculty of going through gestures in all his talk which made it doubly interesting to his hearers.

The Indians made maple sugar in the spring of the year, and old Pokenoquay superintended the making of it. She would sit down flat on the ground near the boiling kettle and when the boiled syrup was near sugar it had a tendency to run over into the fire, and to prevent such a catastrophe the old squaw chewed fat pork and would spit the grease into the boiling liquid, and it would go down and keep so until old Pokenoquay had time to get another mouthful to deposit, and she would keep it up until the sugar was done.

For a few years the w hite man came I the east, so man) in aumber and all wanted a few ai res of timber to fence their farms and get woo i for their fires that Mr. Warham Gates, of Paw Paw, bought the grove of Shabbona and he pi suaded Uncle Sam to sell it at one dollar and a quarter an acre. Then poor old Shabbona felt as

:\i this grove was no longer his. Ee << would live in the log house thai Mr. Gates had built for him. Be wanted to go away (his old place is uow owned by William Eusk), and m; brother took them to Chicago in a double wagon and when one half way there the) stopped and camped out all night. They had brought a hop with them and proceeded to kill and dress it Indian fashion. They buill a big fire made rails which the) took Erom the farmers and killed the hog and four of the [m a particle of Main having been on them until 1 1 1 1 \ were in the kettle over the fire and thai was all thej had for their supper. Thi d my which he did, and after taking off the skin and broiling it on the end of a sharpened stick he took some of the butter off his bis uits and spread it on the meat. Be called it is. You know the Indians never eat salt on an) occasion. When Shabbona and his family ram.- back to their | my father had passed away. I had married and I had never seen any of the Indians since their return. I met the old chief just turning in at ou. bai '-. gate. Hi and sat there like si statue. 1 hurried up to him and held out mj hand and said. "How do you do Shabbona"; and he said, "SHOW-IN" (which meant no) "ME NO SB \l'l'n\A." "Yes, you are Shabbona," 1 said. "I know you.*' Tie still kept, his face straight and kept saying "SHOW-IN" for five minutes and then he gave in and said I was right.

ed li i in to comi into the house where my mother was. Ee shook hands with her and said. "ME NO SET- UM BIG INJUN." We told him In was dead, hut he would not believe it and wanted to go upstairs to see if we were fooling him, so we gratified him and at last convinced him of the truth, tie seemed to feel bad and kept saying, "DEAD, DEAD." We had a good visit with him, but he wanted to bee my Indian ami I told him he had gone east. Then he laughed and said, "ITE OTOW KNOW MAYBE, [TE KNOW. ME NO SEE I M."

changed. Ee felt as though the white man didn't want him here an) more, and he went to Morri-j, Grund) county, and died. 1 do not know any of the date- of In- going awa) or the death of him - squaw, Pokenoquay.

The Stone Age

homes and it is probable thai fo] oni generation after another they lived in wigwams about the same as they occupied when our forefathers appeared on the scene \~ Ear back a> it is known tli men hunted and fished and protei ted thi ir ronger I ribes. ' lenerat ions of this life seemed to make them naturally what they were, expert marksmen, rigilant in chase and skilled defenders of then- wigwams. It was natural that the drudgery of the camp was left to the squaws, who tilled the crops, carri d the water, and did all the manual labor of the camp. The generations of occupancy will never be known. Archaeologists tell of a battlefield that was recently discovered in where some 20,000 persons were killed in a hand to band conflict. The skulls were broken in with stone axes and chipped arrows and ra pierced the hones. Great deposits of earth covered the scene and from top of which great had grown. Ti seeme to dem< that

The number of chipped implements found yearly in De Kalb county adds evidence to this contention. For seventy-five years thousands and thousands of leadened balls have been scattered over the fields of De Kalb county, yet it is only a few times in a life time that a person finds one. On a southern battlefield where a million shots were exchanged it is possible to pick up a hand full of bullets, but scarcely easier than to find the same number of relics of the stone age in De Kalb county.

The implements found here consist, in the main of chipped arrow and spear points, knives, scrapers, drills, picked stone axes, cells, hoe points, scrapers, band ground, carved pipes, gorgets, ceremonial stones, sinkers, beads, and a few specimens of broken crockery.

While the greatest number are found along streams yet frequently far out in the prairie many specimens are found. Probably the most highly prized specimen found in De Kail) county is an arrow point piercing a deer rib. found by Levi Erwin near Sandwich. Mention was made of this specimen in the Smithsonian reports of 1897. In 1900 Harry Congdon unearthed a bone five inches long, in which was embedded a chert arrow. It was found along the banks of the Kishwaukee, near Normal Park, De Kalb. Prof. Dorsey of the Field Columbian Museum pronounced the bone the tibia of a buffalo. The same year a finely chipped hook was found near Kapas' fishing grounds, near Coltonville. These valued specimens are a part of the exhibit at the De Kalb Normal Museum. This collection consists of 2,000 chipped implements and as many more parts of implements and' chips. The largest collection in the county is owned by Mark W. Cole of Kingston, and contains between ft, 000 and 10,000 pieces, representing about every state or tribe in the county.

Arrow In Buffalo Bone, Found At Le Kalb

of the industry. Generations ago perhaps thousands of years, hunters in their efforts to secure a thin, hard, sharp point for the arrows, discovered that stone that breaks with chonchoidal fracture (as glass chips) was best suited for the purpose. A fracture out of the flat side of a piece of glass will make a chip about as broad as it is deep. They then seemed to learn that a fracture on a corner would make a long thin piece. The ridge along the back of the piece seems to keep it from breaking out, giving a piece longer than it is wide.

This is called a flake and is the raw material from which arrows are made. It usually has two or more fractures on one side and one on the other. They are seldom found and while thousands of arrow points are picked up there will be but a few flakes and some of them discards.

The next element of arrow manufacture is the chips. They are of the same form as the flakes, but are smaller. Ordinarily they are the pieces broken from a flake in making an arrow. A typical chip is a thin piece of stone with from Ihree to six fractures on one side and but one on I he other.

from hundreds of different textures of stone and comparatively no evidence of the production of the flakes in the prairie country, and while at the various chert quarries there is abundant evidence of flake making and little evidence of arrow making it is reasonable to conclude thai pert flake makers frequented the quarries and undoubtedly exchanged arrow Hakes with the tribes Erom De Kalb county for meat, game, Blrins and other products of the prairies.

K. is certain that the chert spades, some of them from 6 to 1 l inches long, came from the quarries of Union county, 111., below St. Louis. Tons of iv 1 1 1 -e and discard material is found al tins place, mstrating that flakes for main larger as well as smaller implements were got out. Chips of chert by the thousand ound all over the

In the same waj i nips of colored Bin! chalcedony, obsidian, agate, smokj topaz and quartzite, less frequently found her'-, come from ,ii the Ro a! ither dist.iin places. Nbl oni in one hundred of the arrows found here appear to be made of native stone. At about anj i or a hunmd ii" two -'"in i" come from tli. Bame rock, demonstrating thai considerable time has elapsed Bince the chips were made, or thai they were very dilif v where v has washed the soil away, leaving the stones on the surface. Ton abrupl a washing is not the bi i condition. Visit after rains imps when

By this method of observation Indian eai have been located in TV Kalb township as follows: At Ooltonville. the high clay bank on Ellwood farm. J. S. Cusson'^ garden, the street along the Kishwaukee west of the shoe factory, the I ard vineyard, the Foster farm and the Normal rampus. Tt is rarely that one could make a tour of these places when the conditions were right without picking up from ten to fifty relics of the stone age. The same conditions appear in the other townships, especially Sycamore and Kingston.

The most noted Indian of this locality of later days was Shabbona, the great friend of the white man. He had his wigwam at Shabbona drove. II;- council had i'reat weight in preventing wartare between the two races.

field where Kapas bad In- Eorty tents was a wards made famous by tin- conference of Lincoln, I or and Davis at the time of the Black Hawkwar and was the site of the first court house of 1 1> K.ii iiity.

Kapas9 followers were sturdy types of the race, cultivating fields of corn, maintained a maple sugar bush and had quite a trade in furs. They carried on an extensive exchange of commodities with tin- trading posts of Chicago and in oonsece were well clothed, had abundance of ammunition and seem' and happy people.

nf Kapas and Shabbona and they were constantly associated together in hunting expeditions. Shabbona, who had a greal reputation for wisdom and fairnrs-. was constantly called upon as an arbitrator of contentions thai arose in the Kapas followers, and his decisions wen- considered final.

Library

Although an Indian of great force of character and influence, Chief Kapas had his weakness. Although he had three squaws and grown-up children, he was sometimes found lavishing his attentions upon the favorite squaws of his brave followers. One night a young hunter after passing the day in chase returned to camp and found his chief occupying his wigwam and that his bride was unfaithful to the marriage vows. Without waiting for an explanation, he drew his gun and sent a bullet into Kapas' brain. The assassin made no attempt to escape and on the following day presented himself to meet his fate. In the presence of the entire board he was shot through the heart by the son of the chief. Kapas was buried with great pomp and ceremony. His body was placed in a sitting position, and around him were placed his rifle, bow and flint tipped arrows, stone axe, pipe and tobacco, blankets, and other articles of use and decoration. Around him was built, a stockade consisting of logs built after the fashion of a log house of the primitive fathers. It was about 3x5 feet and about 5 feet high In this burial place the body remained after the Indian tribe moved west of the Mississippi river. It was on the Colton farm, north of the Sycamore road and east of the road that leads north to :the_ Five Corners, and was seen by many of the citizens of De Kalb county of the present time.

In 1846 the skeleton was removed by Dr. George Richards of St. Charles and placed in the museum of his medical school. For many of the facts in regard to Kapas we are indebted to Matson, author of life of Shabbona.

There were other Indian tribes located in the groves in other towns (if the county, but their chiefs seem to have escaped the distinction of having their names perpetuated.

Neighboring Indian Incidents

Through the research of John F. Steward the lost battleground, where three hundred Fox Indian warriors, with women and children, were besieged by 1,300 French and Indian allies, 1730, and killed, was located on Fox river near Piano. Mr. Steward made trips to Europe, examined the maps mi record, and believes that he has positively located the scene of this eventful affair. The grounds answer the description as to surroundings by streams, elevation and traces of a stockade and earthen works are still visible. The French records tell of the besieged party going down to the stream for water under cover of a row of evergreen trees, and a few of these trees still form a line from the hill to the river. In 1900 Mr. Steward erected a boulder, upon which is carved the leading facts of the event.

Just south, Paw Paw township, on Indian creek, on March 20, 1832, the Indians killed fifteen persons, and made captive Rachael and Sylvia Hall, aged 17 and 15 years, respectively. They were taken to Wisconsin, but were released after several days of anxiety. Rachael afterwards married William Munson, and two of her sons and grandchildren now reside at De Kalb. Sylvia married W. S. Horn, and for many years lived m Nebraska. A monument lias been erected in Freedom township to mark the burial place of the fifteen persons killed.

About the same distance from the Kingston line occurred the Stillman valley battle with Black Hawk's warriors, in which eleven men were killed. ftye wounded, with a loss of thirty-four to the Indians. In 1892 the state erected a monument upon this battlefield.

Three Presidents .Meet

At the time of the Black Hawk war, in which Abraham Lincoln participated, there was a notable conference at Coltonville. At the meeting there was present General Zachariah Taylor, afterwards president; Abraham Lincoln, afterwards president, and Jefferson Davis, later secretary of war and president of the confederacy. According to Ida Tarbell's history Lincoln at this time made two tri] s across De Kalb county.

An Historic Place

It ii lis my soul with thoughts of yore, With thoughts of men who've gone before. It lies just west of Sycamore. T'was here in eighteen thirty-two, A band of warriors brave and true, A council held i<> plan anew, To save the - ttlers from a fate Thai otherwise might overtal i re he took the cause of wrong [nstilled bj Calhoun ami 1ns throng. II, n. tun. was John, surnamed Dement, And Lincoln in his blue jean- wenl

It is generally stated in the public histories of Wisconsin and Illinois that the defeat of Black Hawk opened to settlement northern Illinois and the southern portion of what is now Wisconsin. Unqualified, this statement is misleading; indirectly, it is true that the war proved a powerful agent in the development of this region. The Indian.- in themselves were no obstacle to legitimate settlement, frontiers of which were far removed Erom Black Hawk's village, and need not to have crowded it for several years to come. Of course, it was necessary in time to clear the path for civilization. What this war had accomplished in the rritorial development was to call national attention in a marked manner to the attractions ami resources of tins pari of the great northwest. The troops acted as explorers of this tract, concerning which nothing has been known definitely among the white men. It is also stated that the Sauk Indians had not inhabited the part of Illinois north of the mouth of the Kishwaukee, and when the war was fought and they were followed unfamiliar with that country and employed Winnebago guides. Immediately after the war the i of the eastern and older settled middle filled with descriptions more or fess full of the scenes and possibilities and prospective in the Rock River valley, of the proves and i on every hand ami el the dense for-

!.. the historian, bu1 it is true that they did advertise the country and set flowing thither the tide of emigration. There necessarily followed in dm- time the opi n -ale of the public lands hitherto reserved and the properties of what territory remained among the Indian tribes of the district. The Winnebagoes, hitherto unfriendly, were humbled and the spirit, of miscbiefmaking d. This will be noticed was the last Indian uprising in the northern states easl of the Mississippi river. This incidental subduing of the Winnebagoes and the broad liberal advertisement given to the theater of disturbance were therefore the two practical and immediate results of the Black Hawk war. the consequences of which was

County

This part of Illinois now known as De Kalb county was unknown to civilization previous to L832, unless it was an occasional hunter or trapper. The home of Shabbona after the defeat of the British and Indians at the battle of the Thames in October, 1813, was in the grove that still retains his name, and to a few hunters and trappers only, who sought his protection, this portion of our country was known.

The army under General Whiteside marched from Dixon after Stillman's defeat on May 14 1S32. to the scene of battle, buried Captain Adams and his brave men, who alone stood their ground while the army fled utterly routed to Dixon. From Stillman's field the army, hearing of the massacre at Big Indian creek in what is now La Salle county, marched to the mouth of Sycamore creek - now Kishwaukee - followed the course of that stream to what is now Coltonville on section 1, De Kalb township, having passed through what is now Franklin, Kingston, Mayfield, Sycamore and De Kalb townships. Here a council of war was held at which General Whiteside presided. The slight elevation just east of the Coltonville crossing of the Kishwaukee is given as the particular spot where this famous council was held. General Zachary Taylor, then colonel of a regiment of regular troops, had a seat in the council. On his staff were Jefferson Davis and Albert Sidney Johnston, the lientenants. Here, too, was Abraham Lincoln, then captain of Illinois volunteers; General Bobert Anderson, later of Ft. Sumpter fame ; General Harney ; Governor Carlin, William Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton; and Governor Eeynolds.

Zachary Taylor with his characteristic energy, courage and a desire to strike the enemy until victory or defeat resulted urged relentless pursuit of the Indians, and he was thoroughly disgusted when the deliberations resulted in a tie vote to pursue the Indians under Black Hawk. The army marched to Shabbona Grove, committed some depredations on friendly Indians, for which they were compelled to make restitution, then marched to Ottawa and were disbanded. The conduct of the volunteers during this war reflects no credit on American arms, and in many cases, notably at the Battle of Bad Axe, fired upon helpless women and children, killing and wounding many. The soldiers from southern Illinois saw this countrv north of the Illinois river for the first time and resolved to make their homes here on the conclusion of hostilities.

Near the village of Stillman Valley the state has erected a monument costing $5,000 to the memory of Captain Adams and his ten comrades who alone of the well equipped force of Stillman stood their ground and in the twilight of that eventful evening of May 14, 1832, added new luster to American arms and sealed their devotion to home and country with their lives.

At the dedication of this monument Lieutenant Governor L. Y. Sherman was orator of the day and F. E. Stevens, the historian of the Black Hawk war, gave an account of the battle. The monument was unveiled by a grand niece of Captain Adams and a survivor of that battle honored the occasion with his presence.

It is held by many that an army under General Scott passed through the north part of our couniv. and as proof mention the fact of a corduroy bridge that was in 1836 still in existence across a little stream that enters the Kishwaukee just west of the business portion of Kingston. That is explained to our satisfaction in this way : The army of General Whiteside in their march from Stillman's field kept on the south side of the Kishwaukee and of course would be compelled to bridge streams entering the Kishwaukee if they were too deep to ford, and that spring was wet and the streams were high.

General Scott in his autobiography outlines his march as follows : From Fort Dearborn to Naperville, from Naperville across the Fox river at a point near the site of Aurora, from Aurora to Somonauk creek at a point near the present United Presbyterian church in Somonauk township, thence to the present Boss Grove,' Paw Paw Grove to Dixon's Ferr}', now Dixon. There may have been many a detachment of his army in this vicinity, for a cannon ball was found on the bank of the Fox river just north of St. Charles at i point given by settlers of 1834 and 1835 as the Scott crossing.

well tiffined marks of an encampment seen by our early settlers near the mouth of Deer creek in Genoa township. And finally the grave of a soldier under a lonely burr oak smith of Shattuck's Grove in Boone county and only a few rods south of the present Davis church.

It has been told us by early settlers that the army fearing surprise in the woods marched north in the point mentioned and encamped, and here the soldier died and was buried, but this could only have been a small portion of Scott's army in any event, and it is certain that the Scott trail became known later as the Galena roarJ, ovor which the Dixon mail route was established before there were any permanent settlers in our county.

The year following the Black Hawk war was one of quiet so far as settlers were concerned and none came to remain, although hunters entered from settlements along the Illinois river and no doubt adventurous prospectors came to look over the land, but finding the Indians not friendly and still -ore over their defeat and loss of land by the treaty of Prairie du Chien, which compelled their removal to the west of the Father of Waters, they concluded not to remain among them and soughi safety hi the settlement in the vicinity of ( >ttawa.

During the year llv'vi Lee, Ogle. Kendall. Du Page, La Salle and Carroll counties had permanent settlements mid it was ontj a question of a few mi mhs later that plans were made by the roving frontiersman for the occupancy of the land wa now know as De Kalb county.

In 1834 a number of prospectors began to explore tin- section, then a pari of La Salle county since 1831 and previous to 1831 pari of Peoria countj . Those who came to look over the land with a view to location were Hon. Frederick Love, an honored citizen, prominent in the early days our county. lie took up a temporary abode on the banks of the Fox river and returned the next year and located' permanently on the farm nov owned by his grandson, Frederick Love. "Hollenbeak. wdio had been driven from his home near Newark during the Black Hawk war. ci to this section, passed through SomonauV and Lost Grove, as far as the cBig Woods in Sycamore, and on his return ma im in settler's fashion to a portion of the fine grove since known as Squaw Grove, and to which he gave the name of Squaw Grove because of the large number of squaws that were encamped then. the male Indians being off on a hunting expedition."

Marshall Stark was here in 1834, but returned and settled the next year. Hiram Buell passed through this section to the present site of Bockford. Beuben Boot also looked over the possible sites for future home in the vicinity of Freehand Corners. The Dixon mail route was established and followed the trail of Scott's army from Ft. Dearborn to Dixon. Along this route on section 4. Somonauk township, was built the first hou-e in De Kalb county. This was used as a station along the mail route and during the fall of 1831 was occupied by a man named Bobinson, who was the first white temporary occupant of a cabin in De Kalb county. His subsequent history is unknown, but from men who passed along the IHxon state route we learn that he lived alone and led an existence much as the Indians around him. In 1835 Reuben Rooi kept tavern in this cabin and a few years later the Beveridge family, afterward prominent in county and state affairs, purchased Hie land on which it stood from a man named ( laptain William Davis.

John Sebree was the lir-t permanent settler of the county. He was by birth a Virginian. He lirought hi- family and considerable stock and in September, 1834, took up In- claim on section 15, Squaw Grove township. Here for a time he lived in a deserted Indian wigwam and later built a log house which sheltered not only his own. but the families of many settlers who came later until homes could be provided. It served as a hostelry, and even at this distant day some remain who shared the hospitality of "Jack" Sebree.

Here he left his wife and children during the winter and returned to his former home for sunplies, with neighbors no nearer than Millington, teen miles away, unless we mention the red men who apparently were not hostile to this hardy pioneer woman and her small children.

over ami again took up their course to the westward. In these wagons were the families and all their earthly possessions. In them they cooked their meals, ate and slept during the inclement weather, but in pleasant weather they often slept under the trees and cooked the meals outside. In every wagon you would find a flitch of bacon, some smoked ham and corn meal flour for the "Johnny Cake." In many instances the settlers drove their cattle and an occasional porker, not too fat for travel like the modern improved swine, hut a "razor hack" that could travel as fast as any animal in the procession. Those who came and remained during the winter of 1835 were Lysander Darling, Dr. Norbo, a Norwegian, after whom the grove northeast id' Sycamore was named. Mr. Charters, Dr. Lee, Peter Lamois, the Walrods. Woods and Marshall Stark: while in Squaw Grove following John Sebree came his brother William and his family. Samuel Miller, Jacob Lee, John Easterbrook and Daniel Legget.

At Somonauk were Reuben Root, David and William Sly and Dr. Arnold. In what is now Kingston were William Miller. Earmon Miller, Judge George H. Hill. Robert Robb, Isaiah Fairelo. Captain Collier, who was in 1835, with Stephen Mow rv. elected justice of the Kishwaukee district of La Salle county, John Aurner, Hon. Levi I.ee. Jonas Haight and James Dibble. In Genoa were Emery Moore. Samuel Cory and Thomas Munnahan. At Shahbona wen' Edwin and David Town, who occupied a deserted Indian wigwam until January 1. 1836, when they raised the first house in what is now Shabbona. Jesse C. Kellogg raised a cabin north of Sycamore and at once became a prominent factor in the county. In Dc Kalb, Frederick Love, Captain Eli Barnes. John B. Collins and Norman Moore, also James Paisley settled.

Ira Douglass, John Nichols, John Thorn took up claims in Mayfield. South Grove was settled by William Driscoll, and at best perhaps three hundred souls wintered at different groves, hut many retired upon approach of winter to eastern homes or more thickly settled parts of the country.

Many took up claims and a great deal of trouble followed. As the claims of European countries overlapped each other, so the indefinite lines drawn by many squatters took in the other fellow's property. Some took a claim for themselves, for a brother, a sister and different members of his family, until a few different individuals in some cases controlled several thousand acres. Considerable trouble followed. Fights were of too frequent occurrence. Some "swinish claim jumpers" were whipped and driven away.

Life

A true picture of the settlers' condition is given f\ Deacon Je.-se C. Kellogg in a series of letters published in The Sentinel in 1855 and dedicated to the settlers id' 1835. In every history of De Kalb county these articles have furnished the basis of the material, so we give the article here in total :

De Kalb Twenty Years Ago

(To the -old Settlers" of the County of De Kalb, a few of whom still survive to rejoice with me iii the present and prospective prosperity of our long cherished and growing county, these hasty |ieneilings of the past arc most affectionately dedicated by your old friend and fellow citizen.)

De Kalb, one of the hundred counties of the Prairie state, contains eighteen townships, six hundred and forty-eight square miles, being more than half as large as the whole state of Rhode Island. The territory now embraced in this county prior to thi' spring of 1835 was in the possession of the

Father Hennepin or La Salle ever visited any portion of this county or not is quite uncertain. In all probability, however, very few, if any, white men had ever looked upon the unsurpassing beauty of its island groves and fertile prairies until about the time of the defeat of General Stillman's army by the Indians on the Kishwaukee, near the norttiwest corner of this county in 1832. Volunteers from the central and southern portions of this state and others engaged in the Black Hawk war. returning to their friends after the "fuss." were the first, no doubt, to portray in glowing colors "the right smart chances for making claims*' in this charming region. But the "fullness of times* had not as yet come. True, some adventurous, interloping borderer with "desire may have desired" to "extend the area of civilization over some of the big trees and rich acres," here and there "lying and being" on the banks of the "roaring Kishwaukee," but then he knew that he was sure to be driven off by the ever watchful Indian agent. Thomas J. V. Owen, backed by two companies of United States troops from Fort Dearborn.

There were several Indian villages under subordinate chiefs within the limits of this county. One was near the residence of George H. Hill in Kingston, one near John Waterman's in Pampas, one near Calvin S. Colton in De Kalb, one near the old farm of John Eastabrooks, deceased, in Squaw Grove, and near the grove in the town cf Shabbona was the village of Shabbona. one of the head chiefs of the Pottawattomie nation.

From this place, after the surrender of General Hull. Fort Mackinaw and the Chicago massacre; Shabbona and his braves, accompanied by Wabansia and his warriors, sallied forth to join the forces of Teeumseh and the Prophet, in aid of the British arms against, the United States in the war of 1812.

Poor Shabbona! Warned by the Prophet of the Great Spirit of the encroachment of "Young America" no wonder that he should have sought to avert the calamity and crush the young giant before his sacrilegious foot should trample over his venerated dead, or before overawed by superior power and overcome by "fire water" in a moment of weakness, he should give the homes and hunting grounds of his fathers to satisfy the all-grasping avarice of "Che-mo-ko-manu."

It having been noised abroad in the spring cf 1835 that the Indians had agreed to remove west of the Mississippi the ensuing autumn, farther restraint was entirely out of the question. Although the monotonous song of the surveyor, "stake stuck and tally" had not yet broken the solitude of nature in those regions, nevertheless the impetuous "Sons of Japheth," like hounds "straining in the slips" were all in a tip toe to

"dwell in the tents of Shem." Having learnel that "delays are dangerous" in "claim making and pre-emption fixins" in making their first debut into Chicago, where it is said that they were severally charged one shilling for the privilege cf leaning up against a sign post over night and two shillings for the "soft side of a white oak puncheon"; down came the settlers upon the newly acquired purchase like a 'thousand brick." each carving out and appropriating to his own special use and benefit a most bountiful slice of very fat prairie with an abundance of good timber with which to cook it.

Soon after the Indians had done their sugarmaking, when the groves began to grow leafy and the prairies grassy, as the sun sank low in the west and the prairie wolves began to howl and the sandhill crane to scream and poke along the ponds and "sloughs" for their evening meal of crawfish; a close observer might have espied afar off on an Indian trail suspicious looking canvas, supposed to be the sail of a "settler's" wagon, evidently nearing some grove and in a strait to get "somewhar" before nightfall. Presently emerging from the dusky prairie, the settler's wagon, propelled by some four or five yoke of oxen, canopied with sundry bolts of sheeting: within containing th family bedding, clothing and provisions; without, implements of cooking and husbandry, chickens in coop and pigs in pen, backed by a drove of cows, calves, colts and other young stock on foot, would loom up plainly to view, "fetching in" near some point, bay or plum thicket, where in after days "Bonnv chiels and clever hizzies" were to lift thj latch and force the way to a happy cabin home. It was no uncommon thing in those days for the mistress of the wagon to "pail the keows" in the morning and place the milk where, by the incessant motion of the wagon during the day, it would churn itself. In this way the family were provided with a constant supply of good, fresh butter ; and old chanticleer and his dames in the coop behind, never caught napping when hens should be awake, would keep up the laying process, so that with other supplies from the wagon a settler's wife could usually "scare up" a pretty good meal on short notice. In this hitherto neglectsd spot, where "full many a flower" was "born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert air," the wean*, yet blithe and happy groups might have been seen to alight, strike a fire, prepare, ani! after craving God's blessing, eat their frugal meal; -when guarded by a watchful dog and a still more Providence they would retire for needed repose into the inmost recesses of the wagon home. And at early peep of dawn one might have seen the anxious settler reconnoitering. with hurried steps, grove and prairie, when after being '"detached here" - "countermanded there" - bothered alt i lost to death for fear that among so many good -chances he should fail to secure the best, at last he -would bring himself to the ''sticking point." seize "the axe and "blaze" the line in the "timber" and anon, hitch the team to the prairie plough and ""mark out the furrow on the prairie."

April .->. 1855. "In those days there being no king in Israel -every man did that which seemed right in his own eyes." The size of claims, therefore, varied from two eighty's of prairie and one of timber in a half section of timber and a tract of prairie two miles square. Some assumed the right to make and hold claims by proxy, being thereunto duly authorized by some brother, sister, uncle, cousin, aunt or friend. Meanwhile new settlers poured, in apace astonished to find the choice timber*antl prairie "blazed" and "furrowed" into claims, whose ample acres the claimant with all his children, uncles, aunts and cousins to the '-third and fourthgeneration" would never be able to till or occupy. The new settler, perplexed, baffled and becomingmoreandmore desperate onfinding"God's green earth" thus monopolized, would approach his more fortunate neighbor with the spirit of Abraham to Lot - "Now I have come a great way to get some of this timber and prairie and one thing is certain. I am going to have some. There is enough for you and me and our boys. Now, don't let us quarrel. You turn to the right and I will turn to the left, or vice versa." Some times this good Scripture and consequently good common sense logic would win. but in other cases the grasping spirit of the borderer would stave off all kind of division oi- compromise, and laying his hand upon his rifle he would bluster and threaten in "great, swelling words" and drive away the stranger from his right. Hereupon arose innumerable disputes and wrangles concerning the size, tenure and boundaries of claims. The more reflecting among -the settlers saw a dark cloud. bi<r with the elements of strife and social disorder, gathering in the not very distant horizon, whose tornado blasts threatened soon to lay waste all that was of valuj in the rising community. There was no municipal law reaching these eases and if there had been the settlers probably would have been none the better for it, for it is believed that at this period there was neither a justice nor a statute book north of the Illinois river and west of Fort Dearborn, unless we except Ottawa and Chicago. Wrongs and outrages for which there was no known legal redress were being multiplied. Blackened eyes, bloody noses and chewed ears were living realities, while the dirk, pistol, rifle with something like "cold lead" were significantly talked of as likely to bring about some "realities" which might not be "living." What could be done to insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare and secure to each settler his right? Evidently but one thing. Happily some had seen something in the New Testament about those who are without law being a law unto themselves and settlers found themselves in this fix exactly. It was, therefore* apparent both from scripture and reason that the settlers must become "a law unto themselves" and "Where there was a will there was a way." "A settlers' meeting" at a given time and place therefore came to be the watchword from shanty to wagon until all were alarmed. Pursuant to this proclamation a heap of law and order loving American citizens convened on September 5, 183-"">. at the shanty of Harmon Miller standing on the east bank of the Kishwaukee, nearly opjtosite the present residence of William A. Miller in the town ot Kingston. Happily the best possible spirit prevailed. The Hoosier from the Wabash, the.Buckeye from Ohio, the hunter from Kentucky, the calculating Yankee, brother Jonathan's "first born" and the "beginning of his strength." impelled by a sense of mutual danger, hereby sat down in grave council to dictate laws to Kishwaukee "and the region lying around about through all the coasts thereof." Hon. Levi Lee, now chairman of a committee to report on petitions for the "'Maine Law" in the legislature of Wisconsin, was chosen to preside over this august assemblage, where the three great departments of free governments, the executive, the legislative and the judicial, were most happily united and Caplain Eli Barnes was appointed secretary. Gently glided the sometimes turbid waters of that "ancient river," the sonorous Kishwaukee, as speech after speech setting forth the woes and wants of the settlers, the kind of legislation demanded by the crisis, went the rounds. Even those who were not "used to talkin' much afore folks" evinced their cordial approbation and readiness to cooperate by doing up an amount of encoring which, no doubt, really did "astonish the natives." At last, ripe for immediate action, a committee was selected to draft and present to the meeting a constitution and by-laws by which the "settlers upon the public lands" should be governed. Aft'?! some little deliberation back of the shanty, around the stump of a big white oak, which served as a writing desk, said committee reported a preamble, constitution and by-laws, which for simplicity and brevity and adaptation to necessity it would be hard for any modern legislation to beat, The selfevident truths proclaimed by -Tefferson in the immortal declaration, it is believed, were for the first time reiterated on the banks of the Kishwaukee and had there been a little more time for reflection and preparation the top of some settlers' wagons would have been converted into the "Star Spangled Banner"' and thrown to the breezes of heaven from the tallest tree-top in the grove. The common sense, law and logic, as well as patriotism, contained in this constitution and by-laws were instantaneously recognized to be the very things demanded by the crisis and were adopted witn unparalleled enthusiasm, each subscribing his name thereto with his own hand, thereby pledging his "life," "fortune" and "sacred honor" to carry out the provisions of the code. It is not known that a copy of this singular, unique document is now extant, and still there may be. If any antiquarian can produce it, or anything like it, he will confer a special favor on his humble servant by leaving it at the office of the Republican Sentinel. It shall absolutely be deposited with the archives of some antiquarian or historical association and preserved as a "sacred relic."' As nearly as can be recollected its provisions were somewhat a9 follows: A prudential committee were to be then and there chosen, whose duty it should be "to examine into, hear and finally determine all disputes and differences then existing or which thereafter might arise between settlers in relation to their claims," and whose decisions with certain salutary cheeks were to be binding upon all parties and to be carried out at all hazards by the three departments of government consolidated in aid of the executive, in what jurists sometimes dominate the "posse comitatus." Each settler was solemnly pledged to protect every other settler in the association in the peaceable enjoyment of "his or her claim as aforesaid," and further who ever throughout all Kishwaukee or the suburbs or coasts thereof should refuse to recognize the authority of the aforesaid association and render due obedience to the laws enacted by the same from time to time "to promote the general welfare" should be deemed a heathen, a publican and an outlaw with whom they were pledged to have no communion or fellowship. Thus was a wall affording protection to honest settlers built in troublous times. Hon. Levi Lee, our present worthy county judge, George H. Hill. Captain Eli Barnes, James Green and Jesse C. Kellogg were chosen to be the settlers committee, and who, as may well be supposed, had business on hand for some time in order to restore and "ensure domestic tranquility"' and "promote the general welfare." The thing worked like a charm and the value of these associations in northern Illinois to the infant settlements has never been overestimated. Similar associations were formed and maintained in Somonauk and other portions of the county, until the lands came into the market. This event took place in Chicago in 1843, when all De Kalb county, except the north tier of townships, was sold to the highest bidder; that is. so far as "terra firma" is concerned. The moral as well as physical power of "Settlers associations" was so great that if a speculator presumed to bid on a settler's claim be was certain to find himself "knocked down and dragged out," and had the land officers shown the least sympathy or favor to the "rascal" there can be no doubt but what an indignant and outraged yeomanry would have literally torn the land office to fragments "in less than no time."

After a long period of unexampled peace and prosperity it was found that this living in a "state of nature" was liable to evils for which the "late session" of the legislature in "Miller's Shanty" had no adequate remedy. The case was this: A had a promissory note against B and A wanted his pay. B was not exactly prepared to "fork over" and beins nettled that he should be dunned had the audacity to imitate to A that it might "trouble him to get it anyhow."' Kishwaukee was then, as well as other portions of the county "attached to La Salle for civil purposes." This was a "real poser."' "Claim jumping" had been provided for. but this appeared to be a novel case. Finally the settlers concluded that if they had come to share the inheritance with the "Suckers"' they must do as the Suckers did and have someone who knew something about the "Justinian code," the "Commentaries of Blackstone and the Statutes of Illinois." So in the summer of 1835 the exigency of the case having been duly made known the county commissioners court of La Salle laid off by proper metes and bounds "Kishwaukee precinct," wherein Joseph Collier and Stephen Morey were duly elected "justices of the peace," who in due time were inducted into office before Joseph Cloud, clerk of the county commissioners court in Ottawa. Here may be traced the first introduction of civil government into the county of De Kalb. Whether these worthy "squares" ever "got to see a copy" of the Illinois statutes is much to be doubted; it may be supposed, however, with morj certainty that they were very clever men and withal "right smart" and "calculated" to do "bout what's right." The best of all is that Mr. B on hearing that the "squares" had got back from Ottawa put over to Mr. A's in a giffin', laid down the "spelter" and "took up his note'" to save cost.

The Indians were still lingering among tbe settlers, rather loth to leave anyhow and some taking advantage of their "spiritual informities" were mean enough to filch away his pony, rifle and even the last blanket in exchange for whiskey or "good-ne-tosh." As Nebuchadnezzar, after being turned out to grass awhile, "came to himself again," so a poor Indian after a drunken debauch will sometimes come to himself again and recoil upon those who let out the serpent to bite him. In many things shrewd and discriminating they know when, where and how to render tit for tat and "quid pro quo." One instance in illustration where they "came it" over "che-mo-ko-man" will be given.

A half Yankeefied Frenchman, who will be called Peter, had made a claim on the east side of the Kishwaukee, near where Dr. Harrington e?w resides, and had engaged a half civilized Indian bov called Shaw-ne-neese, who had lived some three or four years with the late Hon. James Walker of Walker's Grove, now Plainfield, in Will county, to drive his breaking team. Now, as ill luck would have it, or "somehownother," it came into their heads that for just about one barrel oc "good-ne-tosh" each on their return to Walker's Grove might astonish the settlers with a nice Indian pony. The temptation to play on the "Anglo- Saxon" was too strong. Shaw-na-neese, who had a mother, sisters, etc., living in the Big Woods, near where Aurora now stands, was supposed to be well acquainted with the Indians and could talk either Indian or English. So off goes Peter for the whiskey, never once 'tinking' of the foolish settler, who for fun set a fire on the prairie that burnt up his own stacks. In due time the barrel of good-ne-tash was regularly set up in the cabin of the settler, and "where the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together.'' Shaw-naneese talks, Indians talk - ponies plenty-good-netosh plenty-so much pony so much good-netosh. Yes. Humph! The doping begins; the che-mo-ko-man adding "Kishwaukee" at the bung by night to supply the deficit made by the faucet by day, until there was a moral certainty of perfecting the contract as to measurement. After the barrel was pretty much delivered of its contents and the sharpshooters begun to hint that it was time for them "to walk up," that is, if they could, to the captain's office and settle, the Indians being really drunk or appearing to be, began to grumble about Peter cheating them, selling no good good-ne-tosh, etc. Explanation was attempted, but the thing could not explained, expostulation was used, but in vain. "You cheat poor Indian," and they grew madder and madder. Peter and his comrade began to have fears for their personal safety. There were no white men near, and if there had been they could not have expected that they would be sustained in such an enterprise, when all of a sudden the terrific war whoop burst from the whole group, and drawing their long knives they rushed upon the liquor dealers like so many fiends from the pit. Just at this moment an old Indian snatched Shaw-naneese on to a pony behind him and galloped off at the top of his speed, for what has since been called Charters Grove. But alas and a well a-day for unfortunate Peter, when he cried there was "none to deliver." He had a good pair of legs and it came into his heart that "jess now," if ever. was the time to use them, and bounding somewhar' about a rod at a jump he "cut for the bush" and the Indians after him pell mell. As good luck would have it. however, he managed to conceal himself in the thick brush and elude their grasp, until at last, giving up further i hase, they returned to Peter's shanty. Here they soon made a finish of the remainder of the "poor whisk}" and appropriating for their "own special use and benefits"' Peter's bag of flour, fry pan and new blue broadcloth coat they vamoosed, cutting up those dreadful antics which savages, thirsting for blood, alone know how to perform. Peter's predicament was by ii" mean- enviable. He knew that lie was in the wrong, for "a guilty conscience needs no r." lie had time to think and he did "tink." He had time fur thought and he "tought" "if he ever Livi to I oul of ti~ scrape he sure to quite tarn liquor business anyhow." Afar off from the bosom of the thicket lie had beheld the plunder of his shanty and the subsequent withdrawal of his onenii' - Me had no doubt but that they had gone for reinforcements and would soon return and murder him. Perhaps they were still laying in ambush to "let the lite nut of him." "finking" discretion to tter part of vale:.

he kept still until it began to grow dark, when what should he hear but the friendly voice of his old comrade "Shaw-ne-neese" cautiously calling to him from the plundered shanty and saying to him that he had "i< -i" g I away from the Indians, who were intending to come and kill him as soon as it was dark and he was advised further by the redskin nut t" make hi- whereabouts very public - was assured that he would get up the oxen, gather up the fragments that remained, hitch on t.> the "truckle truckles" and join him with all possible dispatch in flu? grove. Peter and his comrade were at last under cover of night, p ding their way over old logs, sloughs and brush to tin west side of the grove, from whence in a iin and Peter in his shirt - bich they had the good fortune to reach the next day drenched with mud and water, and where Peter. - hungry, was prepared to do up any quantity of muttering and swearing about the "tarn Injuns." Here, among the simple children of nature, behold the faint dawnings of a more perfect day. We are not onlv indebted to them for the knowledge of "suckertash" and "hominy" but for what they taught us in getting "shut" of the liquor dealer.

April 19, f 855. In 1836 the county of Kane, embracing the entire territory now included in De Kalb, was organized, and Captain Eli Barnes, representing the interests of the "Kishwaukee country." was reelei ted one of tin- county commissioners. But the settlers in the Kishwaukee country still felt that they were "too far from Canada'' - that is. from a county seat. It needed not the old "Illinois Statutes." one of whose "Acts" commenced by saying, "Whereas, there is much prairie in this -late" to convince them of the fact. Timber was abundant: it was supposed that the Kishwaukee and its tributaries on a more intimate acquaintance would be found to be abundant in "mill sites." A companj of capitalists, known afterward as the New York Company, had already laid out a town on the east fork of the south branch of the Kishwaukee as the "Rapids" between Norwegian and Big Grove. The agents of this company were already on the ground building a dam and erecting a sawmill. A cabinet and chairmaker by the name of Crawford had erected a large factory en route of the proposed "race," the turning lathe of which was to be propelled by water taken therefrom. Flouring mills, carding mills, etc., were soon to go up. Similar preparations were being made by Uri Osgood, Levi Jenk- & Company from Joliet on the "Eapids" on the west fork of the south branch, above Coltonville. Again it was obvious that the great thoroughfare from Chicago to Galena would pass directly through villages and a "State Eoad': from Ottawa to the state line would firing all the north and south travel from Yandalia to Lake Superior directly through the Kishwaukee valley. But what should be the name of the new county? Illinois had then her Greene. Schuyler and Putnam counties, and why should she not remember the brave De Kalb ? In the winter of 1836-1 the legislature being in session at Yandalia. therefore the Hon. Henrv Madden, representing the interests of the settler* of La Salle. Kane and sundry other counties not then "hatched." caused a bill to be passed to "create the county of I '- Kail." from the west half of the count; of Kane, provided that the majority of the legal voters of Kane should on a given dav vote for such new county. The Geneva influence being then, as since, perhaps, the controlling one in relation to the county seat question in Kane of course, favored the measure, lest their county seat should be drawn from the "river," and it carried. Therefore, in pursuance of organic law the commissioners' clerk of Kane ordered an election to be held at the house of Frederick Love for the election of county officers in the new county of Do Kalb, July 3. 183T. The day of the election of county officers at last arrived. The settlers £Cby the grace of God," "free and independent" "from Norcutt's to DriscolTs," were seen "flocking to the house of Frederick Love" and certain big trees thereunto belonging, for it soon became apparent that all could not begin to get in at once. Let it not be understood, however, that there is any design to speak disparagingly of the old cabin of "Judge Love," for it was a very respectable looking shanty for those days and within and without betokened more than usual thrift, means and hospitality. There were some - alas ! the truth may as well be told - too many for the security of well disposed and honest settlers, who affected utter contempt for all "claim associations." calling them "land monopolies," declaring that one settler had just as good a right to cut down "Uncle Sam's timber" and fence up his prairie as another. This might have been true in the abstract and yet the first claimant and occupant entitled to the preference to just so much as was needful for him and no more. All pre-emption laws are based on tlrs principle: "First come, first served." It was clearly seen by the more reflecting that if the contrary doctrine should prevail that all security 1.; property in claims would be at an end; "domestic tranquility could not be insured, nor could the "general welfare be promoted." Claim associations must therefore lie maintained and theii authority respected or society would be dissolved into original chaos, each defending himself and his by his own right arm, that is if he was able. la what way can the reasonable claim of the settler be best secured until the lands shall be surveyed and brought into market was then the all-absorbing question. Compared with this the quodtion whether the "hero of Tippecanoe" or the "Foxy Dutchman of Kinderhook" should come to the presidential chair was of "no account." As to a "tariff for revenue" or a "tariff for protection" the settlers were in for one that should insure both. In a word, they found themselves divided into two parties, denominated "Claim jumppers" and "Anti-claim jumpers." After the whittling, log-rolling, caucusing and liquoring the respective parties rally their hosts at the polls and quietly await the issue. On counting the votes it was found that the Jumpers" ticket was elected by a very handsome majority. Levi Lee. Eufus Colton and Bobert Sterrett were elected county commissioners; Joseph C. Lander, sheriff; Jesse C. Kellogg, recorder; and thereupon the county commissioners, elect, immediately retired to the house of Eufus Colton, where "each administered the oath of office to the other," as authorized in "The act to create the county of De Kalb, appointed Jesse C. Kellogg, clerk of the county commissioners' court; Eli Barnes, county surveyor; and Lysander Darling, county treasurer; ordered a special term to be held in a few days at the same place to lay off the county into "justices' districts and election precincts" and before the guns of the glorious Fourth came booming over the "land of the free and the home of the brave" De Kalb was a "Sis" in the sisterhood of counties in the Prairie state. Of the county commissioners Hon. Levi Lee, now a citizen of "Walworth county, Wisconsin, and as before stated a member of the legislature, alone survives. That kind hearted, worthy old settler, Lysander Darling, county treasurer, ami it is believed Joseph C. Lander, the first sheriff, have gone down to the grave. Eufus Colton, the county commissioner in the central part of the county, was a native of New England and the son of a Congregational minister. Much of his early life was spent in a printing office, where he acquired the business tact and readiness of pen fo? which he was so justly celebrated. For several years he conducted a weekly journal called the Woodstock Observer i n Windsor county, Vermont, was the first probate justice, the first cleric of the circuit court of DeKalb county; a warm hearted friend, and if from local causes ever an enemy, still a generous one. During the last wars of his life a member of the Congregational church in Sycamore and sympathizing deeply with the "down trodden and oppressed" he has gone down to the grave and his remains repose in hope in the Methodist burial ground in Sycamore. Bobert

Sterrett, the county commissioner from Somonauk, was by birth a Pennsylvanian, a man of uncompromising integrity, and one always knew where to find him ; he was shrewd and discriminating, in politics a democrat : in religion a Calvinist Baptist, in claim matters, as true a man as "ever broKe bread." Ee lived respected, and died lamented. His remains sleep quietly in bis own loved Somonauk. Of the first county clerk and county surveyor, nothing need be said as they are "still living characters, known and read by all men."

April 26th, 1855. The day for holding the special term of the county commissioners' court of De Kalb county, having at length fully come, self-made and constituted attorneys, men having business at court, boys and loungers, curious to see the "elephant" and how the thing worked, were seen pouring into the village of Coltonville from all directions. This village, being a common center between Levi Lee and Robert Sterrett. really in advance of most of the prospective paper towns of those days, the powerful competitor with Centerville, Brush Point, Genterville and Sycamore, or "Orange" as Sycamore was first called for the county seat, then consisted of a neat hewed "log cabin" with "linters" and fixtures, standing on the bluff, southeast of the present residence of C. S. Colton, overlooking the "Eapids" on the west fork of the south branch of the Kidiwaukee, on, or near the site of the old "Indian Town"' and containing under one roof, a dwelling house for a large family, a store, a postoffice, a tavern, a justice, a physician and attorneys' offices. In addition to the ordinary business it so happened that on this memorable day some two or three sharply contested lawsuits were pending before "Justice Colton," and attorneys, parties, constables, jurors, witnesses, men wanting license to keep a "quiet and orderly house" where they could get their neighbors drunk in "pursuance of law" were soon seen in patient "waiting upon court." anxious to have their business done up. The county commissioners, from the "north and from the south country" had arrived. The county commissioners of the interior, as may be well supposed, had an unusual "press of business." The clerk, having the records of the former court, in the top of his hat, half a quire of fools cap, sundry articled of stationery, and some of Rogers' best cutlery in his (lockets, was already seen standing at the door

It was readily perceived that if the good landlady was to get dinner for seventy-five or a hundred "hands" that she would need what little elbow room could well be spared in the kitchen, and how she did it must ever be to some an incomprehensible mystery, and yet she did, and behold it was very good. One thing is quite certain in those palmy days the prairie grass did not grow under the feet of that landlady. Business being urgent, however, it was thought best to locate a spare table in the shade on the north end of the house and open court out of doors. Sheriff Lander with the assistance of the bystanders, having set the table, and given it a business-like aspect and the Hon. Levi Lee having produced and laid thereon a the old accounts torn out, the best that could be produced, it was proclaimed in stentorian tones at last that "the county commissioners' court of DeKalb county was in session and ready for business." The court having taken a recess for dinner and again resumed business, applications for merchant and tavern licenses were presented and granted, of course, on the condition that the applicant file a bond, pay a certain sum into the treasury together with the sum of one dollar for the use of the clerk, agreeably to "the statute in such case made and provided." The court also proceeded to divide the county into justice districts and election precincts and to determine the place of holding elections in each election precinct. It may here be necessary to explain that "justice districts" and "election precincts" though not necessarily, yet for the sake of convenience, were made in DeKalb to include the same territory, it being the object of the first to supply the people with the necessary justices and constables, and it being the object of the second exercise of the elective franchise in all elections for county and state officers. This mode of transacting local business with such amendments and alterations as circumstances from time to time required, was kept up until superseded by township organization, under the new constitution, the lines, determining the bounds of these sub- divisions - there being "no survey line" in the county - of course, were sometimes quite uncertain. One would think the line to be "hur" another "thar," but it was universally conceded that the east line of the county began "somcwhar near the Big Slough Bridge, east of Winslow Norcutt's or where Homer Roberts now lives,'' consequently quite a portion of Kane county., sometimes called "Upper Canada" and sometimes the "Arab Settlement" were "bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh."

In relation to the names of groves - Somonauk takes its name from the creek bearing the same name, and in old times could be safely spelt in any way that first came to hand. "Squaw" Grove has its name thus because it was much frequented by the squaws when the men were gone on their hunting excursions and "Pappoose Grove" because Pappoose may be a little squaw. "Ross Grove" from Joseph Ross, the first settler; "Johnson's" from Johnson, the first settler, "Paw-Paw" from Paw-Paw in Michigan or some other place ; "Lost Grove," because it seemed to have strayed away from all the rest of the groves and to have got lost and there stopped. The chains of groves southwest of Sycamore, united by isthmuses, and perhaps by a common sympathy, of course, would be called "Union Grove." Most of the early settlers in the grove southeast of Sycamore, having come from Ohio, what more natural than that it should receive the name of "Ohio Grove"? The beautiful little grove a little northeast from Sycamore was so named because a Norwegian doctor by the name of Norbeau, first settled there. The grove furthev northeast "Charters" because a Frenchman by that name was its first settler, and the grove northwest of Sycamore "Big Grove," because when compared with other groves it was big. "Hickory Grove" north of Genoa is so called because hickory is su abundant there, and last of all DriseolPs Grove took its name from the far-famed Driscolls, one of whom had settled here, from whence he was kidnapped and taken to a little grove in Ogle county, by a company of lynchers, where he, with hid father, after undergoing the mock forms of a trial and conviction, were shot, dowTn like dogs and tumbled into a common grave. Humanity shudders, at the thought of this bloody transaction. It truth it might be said, however, that the hort<e stealing, robberies and murders of the "banditti" of the prairie, had become, it was thought, intolerable. Yet it cannot be safely argued that the end "justified the means." None of the old neighbors of the Driscoll, shot from this grove, believed him to be connected in any of these enormities, though his father and relations might have been. The old scripture principle that "the son should not bear the iniquity of the father" it seemed, was of no avail to him. After the massacre of the Driscolls, this grove took the name of "South Grove," because it lies south of the main body of timber on the Kishwaukee, which name it still retains.

The pioneers located on the southern sides of groves in sunny exposures beside streams and springs, and fenced only as much land as would suffice for a little corn and gave themselves up generally to the pleasures of the chase, game being abundant. They were hardy people, fond of pioneer life, regardless of the forms and ceremonial restraints of advanced civilization, but noted for their neighborly kindness and hospitality.

Many of them moved farther west when too many settlers crowded around them and hunted game on "their preserves." Thus many who came in 1835 left no record of their stay here, and we can only record the names of those who settled permanently, and even many of those who were permanent settlers have been forgotten.

In 1836 the spring did not open propitiously for the new settlers in the Kishwaukee district. All the timber land had been claimed and big prices were demanded by claimants for portions of the timber not already occupied. Every item of food except fish and game was scarce, and there was no mill nearer than Green's mills at Ottawa. Many settlers this year pounded their corn in Indian mortars with pestles and no wheat flour was obtainable for months at a time. The decaying sod and sluggish streams and standing pools caused nearly every one to shake with ague. "Poverty, rags, a scarcity diet and the shakes were the fashion of the times," and medical attendance was in some cases of "fever and ague" out of the question, and what they did have was of a primitive character. Some of the people who could get no medical attention, had Indian medicine men

Those who died were buried in coffins made by coopers or carpenters, for in those days there were many pioneers who had served as apprentices and had learned trades. Few of the early graves are marked, but in some instances the first burials Mere the beginning of some of our cemeteries. The burial of -Mrs. Peyton Russell in Kingston in 1S3G marked the beginning of the pretty Kingston cemetery; thai of David Hall in the Genoa cemetery.

In the fall of 1836 an election was held and Orange precinct with "Syckamore," then north of the creek, as the voting place, and Somonauk precinct then included all of what is now the south half of the county, were parts of LaSalle county. Van Buren had two hundred and thirty-five and Harrison ninety-three rotes. Dr. Henn Madden. the democratic candidate from Orange precinct, defeated his whig opponent by a vote of one hundred and eighty-nine to one hundred and fortyi. August 1. 1836, the Orange precind elected Mark Daniels justice of th< and Joel Jenks constable.

Henry Madden, of Brush Point, uow Mayfield, was a man of education, intelligence and shrewdie--, and represented a district comprising all the territory north of Iroquois county to the -rate line, and it> western boundary was the Rock river and the eastern boundary. Cools county. When time came for him to leave Vandalia he started on horseback, rode to Ottawa, stayed all night.. passed through Bloomington, Decatur, following nearly the line now marked by the Illinois Central Eailroad after he left Bloomington, traveling over two hundred miles.