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Stephenson County, Illinois Genealogy
Early White Settlers in the Region
With the passing of the Indian the coming of the settler
began. After the war Mr. Waddams' family enjoyed the distinction of being
the only citizens of Stephenson county for a period of two years. Then
began the influx of sturdy settlers that has made a community not to be
surpassed for sterling qualities anywhere on the globe. In the spring of,
'35 came James Timms who purchased the Kellogg house that had passed
successively from Kellogg to a Frenchman named LaFayette, whom the Indians
frightened away, a man named Greene and from him to Mr. Timms, who became
the second permanent settler in the county. The old house remained until
1862 when it was demolished to give place to a more modern dwelling. Thus
passed a work of human hands that was probably the scene of more
historical events than any other in northern Illinois. Besides the events
already recounted the place was witness of the first deed of violence in
the county if not the first in this part of the State. In 1833 two young
Virginians on their way to the Galena mines camped at the deserted Kellogg
house for the night. A quarrel arose that resulted in a fight in which a
blow from an iron bolt was struck with fatal effect. Giving the body a
nude burial the horrified young traveler hurried on to find some human
being to whom to unburden the awful secret within his breast. Arriving at
Galena he confessed his crime, if crime it was, and the incident passed
out of mind without further event. Around the Kellogg house, too, was
planted the first orchard in the county, possibly in the northwest, which
for years reminded the earlier settlers of the bountiful harvests of fruit
in the more comfortable homes in the east contrasting so strongly with the
deprivations of pioneer life.
About the time of Kellogg's coming William Baker and a Mr. Preston came,
but soon passed on to Wisconsin as offering a more promising field. Mr.
Baker evidently realized later the superior advantages of this locality
for in '35 he returned and settling at Winneshiek's village became the
founder of Freeport. In '36 he opened an Indian trading post, built a
hotel and became prominent in the early affairs of the city.
Late in the fall of '33 or spring of '34 Lyman Brewster with Joe Abeno
established a ferry at the site of Winslow, and Simeon Davis made a claim
in Oneco Township the latter year. The same season George Payne settled
near Brewster's Ferry and George Lott built the first shanty in what is
now Winslow. Harry and Jerry Waters and A. C. Ransom followed soon after.
Ransom anticipated many years the. . modern "boomer" of town
sites. He has the distinction of having laid out, a mile and a half below
Brewster's Ferry, the first town in the county and he did it in the most
approved latter day style. There was nothing small about it. In highly
colored maps there were shown parks and drives, fountains, statuary,
public buildings, hotels, stores, dwellings, shops and wharves and last
but not least a steamer plying the "crystal" waters of the
turbid Pecatonica bearing its precious burden of settlers to the thriving,
bustling city that existed in the proud founder's hopeful brain. It is
said some guileful representative actually did dispose of a lot to some
confiding citizen of St. Louis at a price in advance of the market rate of
lots in that village on the west banks of the great stream. Ransom did
establish a store there and for a time believed himself the founder of the
great metropolis of the west, but Fate ordained otherwise and in a few
years the site was abandoned to the grasses and flowers of the prairie and
Ransomburg became, like many others, only an unsubstantial memory of a
dream.
In the fall of '34 came Jacob Amos, and about the same time, William Robey
with a large family, and took up a claim in Lancaster Township near where
Cedarville was later to be built. His son Levi, who was married, took up a
claim in Waddams township near the river bank. Robey leased the ferry and
Brewster departed for other scenes. At Winslow occurred the first birth in
the county-a son born to the family of George Lott in the present township
of Winslow. It is claimed, however, that the birth of Amanda Waddams in
February '36 is really the first and that the Lott baby uttered its first
infantile wail in the fall of that year.
In thirty-five the tide of immigration began to rise and we find added to
the list of inhabitants the names of Goddard, Hollenbeak, Jones, Lucas,
Parriot, St. John and Trotter in Buckeye Township; Baker, Gappen, Graves,
Wait, Watson and Wills in Waddams; Denton, Eells, Kneeland and Streator in
Winslow; the Van Matres in Oneco; Kaufmann in Erin; Preston in Harlem;
Giddings, Timms and Willett in Kent, while Craine settled in Silver Creek,
and Albertson and Frankenberger became residents of Rock Grove. Dimmick,
VanBrocklyn and Love became familiar names in Florence, while Montague and
Tucker became associated with West Point.
In December of this year William Baker returned from his sojourn in
Wisconsin and, as before recounted, laid out the town of Freeport and cast
his lot with the fortunes of the city that was to be. In company with Mr.
Baker in the founding of the town were William Kirkpatrick and W. T.
Galbraith. These were soon followed by John Brown, James Burns, L. O.
Crocker, Joel Dodds, Hiram G. Eads, Jacob Goodhart, John Hinkle, Robert
Smith, Benjamin R. Wilmott and O. H. Wright. To the list of settlers in
the county we find added the names of Baker, Bennett, Blakely, Brown,
Boynton, Carnefix, Chilton, Cogshall, Denison, Dernio, Flynn, Forbes,
Fowler, Giddings, Grigsby,. Hathaway, Hawkins, Holly, Hulse, Job,
Kirkpatrick, Lee, Lloyd, Lobdel, Macomber, Malloy, Manny, Marcellus,
Mullarky, Nichols, Niles, Norris, Osborn, Ostrander, Perkey, Pile,
Phillips, Reed, Sanborn, Shunkle, Snow, Stowell, Swanson, Velie, Wait,
Waters, Welsh, Wilcoxon, Wooton and others. Thirty-six witnessed the first
marriage in the county when Dr. W. G. Bankson and Phoebe Newcomer were
united in the fall by Squire Waddams. Mr. Gage and Melinda Eels were also
married about the same time but whether in the spring of thirty-six or
seven is a matter of dispute. The first death occurred in the former year
when a son of Lemuel Streator of Winslow township, passed over to the
Great Beyond.
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