South Grove Township

South Grove Township

The population of South Grove is made up of several nationalities. The majority of the present inhabitants were originally from the State of New York; a few came from New England ; and the foreigners are Scotch, English, and Irish ; there are, also, a few families of German descent.

In 1838 came the first settler, William Driscoll, from Ohio, who built him a log cabin on the east side of the grove, near the spot where is now situated the pleasant residence of his estimable widow and her son. He was followed by his father and brothers. The subsequent career of these men, and their tragic fate, will be found, described at length, in a foregoing chapter.

The second arrival was also from Ohio, - Mr. Solomon Wells, - who purchased of Driscoll the south end of the grove - a hundred acres or more - for sixty dollars. He was entitled, of course, to all the adjacent prairie he chose to claim.

In 1841 - -there were then six families of actual settlers - came Mr. James Byers, Mr. Tindall, and Mr. Benjamin Worden; and in 1843, Mr. Jonathan Adee and Mr. Matthew Thompson, - the four families, Byers, Worden, Adee, and Thompson, emigrating from the same neighborhood in "York State" ; and they and Mr. Tindall still remain on the same farms they first purchased. These early settlers, by their industry, enterprise, and good management, have given tone and character to the town. Their married sons and daughters have, with few exceptions, settled not far from the old homesteads.

In 1846 Mr. John S. Brown purchased the Beeman place, on the northwest side of the grove, and settled there with his family. He became a prominent actor in politics of the town and County, and in 1862 assisted in the raising of a company of soldiers for the Fifty-Second regiment. He was made Captain, but soon resigned his commission.

In 1845 came the Safford family, and settled in the east part of the town. Mr. Henry Safford, belonging to the dominant party in politics, has been twice elected sheriff' of the County; and a nephew, - who, with a brother, came to the town several years later, both enlisting in the One Hundred and Fifth regiment, both afterwards created Captains, and both dangerously wounded in battle, - was elected sheriff* of the County in 1868.

After that the emigration was more rapid ; the llickard and Becker families in the west part of the town ; the McLellan and Mason families in the north; E. Currier in the east; and in the south several families from New England.

The first school in South Grove was taught by Mr. James Byers, senior, who furnished a school house for his twenty-five pupils, - the second room in his double log cabin, - and boarded himself, for ten dollars per month. A dollar was a dollar in those days, for it would buy twenty pounds of coffee in Chicago; but Mr. Byers' salary was paid in potatoes "and such."

The young men and women about the grove will never forget that school, - how the kind, genial voice of the teacher, softening down its rugged Scotch, cheered them over the frightful Alps of "a, b, ab," and "two times one are two," - how the eyes were always blind to any fun, and the laugh was ever as long and loud as that of the merriest urchin. No wonder that those boys and girls, a portion of them, "played the mischief" with some of the teachers who succeeded this model one.

The first school house was erected in the grove. It was of logs, but nicely built, and considered quite a capacious one; though it was, after a time, pretty well filled with its sixty scholars. It was twenty by twenty-two feet, and well lighted,

Town Of South Grove

The second school house was built on a fine site donated to the district by Mr. James Byers, senior, in 1854, and in 1868 another, - a very pleasant and commodious one, the former having been destroyed by fire, - was erected in the same place.

There are now seven schools in the town, all furnished with comfortable school houses. The number of pupils in the districts in 1868 is 248 ; and the amount paid to teachers is $834.31. Total expenditures for school purposes for the year ending September 30, 1868, $1676.97.

During the time when a large portion of the land belonged to speculators, the people adopted a shrewd device for building their school houses with slight cost to the inhabitants. They attached the sections thus owned, successively, to every district which wished to build a school house, promising the few scattered inhabitants that the taxes levied on them should be refunded by contributions out of their own pockets. Then levying the highest possible taxes on the speculators' lands, they supplied themselves, cheaply, with school buildings, astonishing the said speculators, who could not understand how they were taxed, for several successive years, for the construction of those buildings, and yet have not one within miles of their lands.

Churches are yet to be built, - the people, sume of them at least, evidently thinking, with Horace Greeley, that it is best for a man to attend first to the business of the world he lives in.

There are now two religious bodies in town. The Methodist church was organized in 1855 by Rev. Mr. Jennings, a man of good abilities, and evidently a very sincere and devoted Christian. This church and Sabbath-school holds its religious services in No. 1 school house. The Advent church, with which is also connected a Sabbath-school, was organized

A great camp-meeting was held at the grove in 1860, at which leading ministers from abroad addressed vast audiences, and much religious interest was aroused. At a much earlier day there were occasional religious revivals, which were re markable for the great earnestness exhibited by the converts among that primitive population ; and, it may be added, by extraordinary and exciting scenes in their meetings.

Among many anecdotes still related, with great gusto, is the following: A very worthy, but previously profane, convert, rising; to his feet to urge his hearers to greater zeal and earnestness in religious duty, fell, unconsciously, into his old mode of expression, and exclaimed:

''Brethren, I like to see a man, if he pretends to be a man, to be a h-11 of a man ; and if he pretends to be a Christian, to be a h-11 of a Christian !"

The first post-office was established in 1841, called the South Grove Post-office, the postmasters of which, have been, successively, Timothy Wells, James Byers, senior, II. Safford, E. Currier, Jonathan x\dee, and Mrs. E. A. Palmer.

The second one was established in 1858, called Deerfield Prairie Post-office ; postmaster, P. Waterman, succeeded by Mr. Wiltse ; and Dustin Post-office, established in 1868, - Henry Crisman, postmaster.

Hotels are things of the past, but they Avere "institutions" in their day, when the St. Charles and Oregon State Road, running through South Grove nearly at its centre, was the great highway of the region, and traveled by teams heavily loaded with grain, even from so far west as the Mississippi river.

One of the hotels, that which stands on the farm of Mr. Masterson, and occupied by him as a dwelling house, was kept, for a while, by Mr. Beeman. It is still in a good state of preservation, especially the hall, which was dedicated to the goddess Terpsichore ; and many a resident of De Kalb County will remember, as long as he lives, the pleasant gatherings at Beeman's, when what was wanting in elegance was made up in merriment.

The other was kept by Mr. Adee, near the grove ; and it is not to be wondered at that that gentleman is now so well off in life, when it is remembered how exorbitant were his charges, - forty or forty-five cents being required for only supper, lodging, breakfast, and hay for a span of horses or a yoke of oxen.

But while the hotels were so well patronized, it was a hard time for the farmers. Again and again the teamsters who had taken the loads of grain - the product of the whole season's hard toil - over that long, weary way to Chicago, would not bring back money enough even to pay their trifling bills, - a few groceries, a little bundle of cloth, perhaps a pair or two of cheap shoes, besides food for their families, being all the avails of a year's hard stragglings. But the men and women of this region put their shoulders to the wheel, and called upon the gods ; and by-and-by Hercules came, in the form of a railroad.

And then, very speedily, the prairie fires went out; for the lands which they had swept over, in the autumn of so many years, were being crossed here and there by '"highways and hedges"; and dwelling houses, not very imposing structures many of them, but vastly superior to the log cabin, and built with reference to the addition which would soon appear, in the shape of a handsome front, with stables, and young orchards, and a variety of fruit-bearing shrubs and shade-trees, were springing up in all directions.

The log cabins of the earlier settlers had then mostly disappeared, and the dwellings were being enlarged and improved; new stables were being built, the old "Virginia rail-fence" was fast disappearing, and the town was losing its uncomfortable look of newness.

At the present time South Grove has many well-enclosed and highly cultivated farms; commodious, pleasant dwelling houses, and large and convenient stables and granaries; fine, bearing orchards, and handsome shade-trees. In 1868 about one hundred miles of hedge were set in town, and hedging is just commenced.

In 1857 it was estimated that more than 100,000 bushels of wheat were raised in this town; and in the third year after, the yield was supposed to be still greater ; though it is not thought, by the best informed farmers, that wheat-raising is a remunerative business.

Since I860 other cereals, with grass seed and flax, have been more extensively grown, and stock-raising has considerably increased, the farmers every year improving their breeds by the introduction of fine, blooded animals.

The population of South Grove in 1855 was 400; in I860, 662 ; in 1865, 789. It is credited upon the records of the State with 103 soldiers furnished for the great war. The town raised by taxation for war purposes $11,127.

Source changes here: from Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885; 1,183 words in this source stream.

South Grove Township

OUTH GROVE has the well deserved reputation of being one of the finest townships in the county. It comprises township 41, range 3, and is bounded on the north by Franklin, on the east by Mayfield, on the south by Malta, and on the west by Ogle County. It is watered by Owen's Creek, and has about 400 acres of natural timber, a portion of which has long since been known as South Grove. The other and smaller portion is known as Orput's Grove. With the exception of this timber, the township is exclusively prairie, the land being highly productive. It is said that the highest point of land between Chicago and the Mississippi River is in the southern portion of this township.

The first settler here was William Driscoll, who, with his family, located on the east side of the grove, in 1838. He was followed by his father and brothers. The grove for a time was known as Driscoll's Grove.

In 1840 came the Orput family, which settled near the smaller grove, to which was given his name. The Beeman and Hatch families arrived during the same year.

Among the others who came in soon after were Henry Saflford, W. H. Stebbins, Mr. Deyo, the Rickards, Beckers, Masons and Curriers. Many of the families of the early settlers yet remain in the township.

Dexter Beeman was also from Ohio. For some years he ran a tavern at the grove, but finally sold out, moved, to Oregon, Ogle Co., where he was living at last accounts.

Jesse Tindall was a native of New Jersey, but came to the county from Michigan in January, 1842. He became a prosperous farmer, served as a member of the Board of Supervisors, and had many friends. He removed to Sycamore, where he died.

William P. Deyo came from Michigan, though not a native of that State. After some years, in which he had his ups and downs, he returned to Michigan.

James Byers was from New York, though of Scottish birth, coming to America from his native land in 1818. He was universally esteemed by all who knew him. His wife died on the old homestead, but he died at Polo.

Benjamin Worden was from New York. Few men in the north part of the county were better known. He was a jolly, free-hearted man, a man everybody liked. In the summer of 1884 he died, on the old homestead.

The first religious services that were continued from time to time were held by Rev. Isaac Norton, a Free-Will Baptist. For the sum of $35 Mr. Norton agreed to hold services twice a month for one year, commencing in the fall of 1842. It must not be considered by those favorable to high-priced ministry, that because the pay was poor the preaching must be of the same quality, for Mr. Norton had the reputation of being a very fair preacher. He subsequently organized a congregation which continued in existence some years, but finally disbanded, many of its members moving to other parts.

Levi Lee, a local preacher, was the first of the Methodist Episcopal faith to preach in South Grove. Rev. M. Sherman was of like faith and was i. umbered among the early preachers. A class was organized at an early day, which still meets at the school-house in the grove.

A great camp-meeting was held at the grove in 1860, at which leading ministers from abroad addressed vast audiences, ,and much interest was awakened.

A local writer thus speaks of educational matters : " The first school in South Grove was taught by James Byers, Sr., who furnished a school-house for his t \venty -five pupils - the second room in his double log cabin - and boarded himself, for $10 per month. The young men and women about the grove will never forget that school - how the kind, genial voice of the teacher, softening down its rugged Scotch, cheered them over the frightful Alps of ' a, b, ab, and ' two times one are two ' - how the eyes were always blind to any fun, and the laugh was ever as long and loud as that of the merriest urchin. No wonder those boys and girls - a portion of them - ' played the mischief ' with some of the teachers who succeeded this model one. The first school-house was erected in the grove. It was of logs, but nicely built, and considered quite a capacious one, though it was, after a time, pretty well filled with its sixty scholars. It was 20 x 22 feet, and well lighted, having a window five or six panes in width and two in height at each end of the building. H. C. Beard and T. K. Waite were among the successful teachers in the log schoolhouse. The second school-house was built on a fine site donated to the district by James Byers, Sr., in 1854, and in 1868 another - a very pleasant and commodious one - the former having been destroyed by fire - was erected in the same place."

In relation to the present status of the public schools in South Grove, the following items are gleaned from the report of the County Superintendent of Schools for the year ending June 30, 1884 : There were in the township six districts, each having a frame school-house, the total value being estimated at $4,900. School was held in each district more than no days during the year. There were 326 persons under 21 years of age, of whom 258 were over six years. Of this number 205 were enrolled in the public schools. Twelve teachers had been employed, the highest wages paid any being $50 per month, while the lowest was $30, an average of $34.05 . The tax levy was $2,639.

Before the construction of railroads, when all travel was by team, thetavern or wayside inn was numbered among the institutions of the day. South Grove was on the Oregon and St. Charles State Road, and here at an early day Mr. Beeman and Mr. Adee each ran a tavern for some years. A York shilling - twelveand-a-half cents - was the customary price for a meal or a night's lodging.

South Grove postoffice was established in 1841, with Timothy Wells as postmaster. He was succeeded, in turn, by James Byers, Henry Saffbrd, E. Currier, Jonathan Adee and Mrs. E. A. Palmer, the latter being the incumbent.

Deerfield Prairie postoffice was established in 1858, P. Waterman being the first postmaster. He was succeeded by Mr. Wiltse. James Richards is the present postmaster.

improved land, 21,853 acres, on which the assessor placed a total valuation of $317,480. Of personal property was reported $76,709; a total of $394,189. This was reduced by the State Board of Equalization to $349,743. Among the items assessed as personal property were the following: Horses, 798; cattle, 2,897; mules and asses, 15; sheep, 1,572; hogs, 3,220; carriages and wagons, 238; watches and clocks, 141; sewing and knitting machines, 81 ; pianos, 6; melodeons and organs, 31.