Grundy County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter 17 1882
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Book Title: History Of Grundy County IL 1882

CHAPTER XVII.*
 
ERIENNA TOWNSHIP, 33 NORTH, RANGE 6 EAST—CHANGES OF BOUNDARIES—EARLY 
SETTLEMENT—HORROM CITY—CLARKSON—NORMAN—SURFACE FEATURES—PIONEERS—CHURCHES AND 
SCHOOLS.

THE Congressional township 33 north, range 6 east, is divided into nearly 
equal parts by the Illinois River, which enters the township a little north of 
the middle point of its eastern boundary, and flows southwestwardly through 
its territory. The difficulty of passing the river for the purposes of 
township business, has enforced the natural division by political separation, 
and though one township by the original survey, these portions have always 
been in different precincts and borne different names.

Erienna is the elder of these twin townships, and is situated north of the 
river. The northwest corner is a high plateau, ending on the river front near 
the western boundary, in an abrupt descent of some eighty feet. From this 
point the second bottom or bench approaches nearly to the river brink, leaving 
space for barely two or three hundred acres of alluvial bottom lands. The 
margin of the plateau from the western line of the precinct follows the trend 
of the river bank, its margin being marked by the common road north of the 
railroad till it reaches the eastern line of section 10, where it curves 
northwardly out of the precinct. South of this line of the highland, with the 
exception of an oval ridge on which Mr.

*By J. H. Battle.
 
Hoge's residence is placed, the surface of Erienna is principally a flat sandy 
soil, underlaid with a coal deposit. Long Point Creek rising in the northwest 
corner of the precinct, furrows through the plateau and flows to the canal, 
the course of which it follows out of the precinct under the name of Rat Run. 
Nettle Creek—the English for Little Mazon of the Indians—rises in the lower 
ground of the eastern part of the precinct, and takes an eastern course into 
Morris, where, with a sudden turn south, it joins the Illinois. Along the 
stream the surface is considerably broken and clothed with some of the finest 
walnut timber, besides other varieties, to be found in the county. On the 
highlands the timber was of a scrubby character, a certain indication of the 
stiff clay soil found here. The greater part of the farmers devote their lands 
to the cultivation of corn, though Messrs. Hoge & Holderman, who own very 
extensive farms here, pasture large herds of cattle.

The first settler in Erienna, and one of the earliest in the county, was Isaac 
Hoge. He was a native of Fauquier County, Virginia, and shrewdly foreseeing 
that money early invested in Illinois lands would make a large and sure return 
for the investment, came here very early and bought his lands in this township 
at the first sale before there were any other settlers save Marquis, perhaps. 
He was a young unmarried man, with considerable capital and impressed with the 
general belief that the prairie would be taken up only where timber was to be 
had, entered the most of his lands in the timbered section along the Nettle 
Creek. Other members of his family settled in Nettle Creek township and for 
some time after his purchase there was no cabin in Erienna to indicate the 
presence of the white man. Soon afterward he married and moved onto his land 
here, and adding to his possessions by further purchase from time to time has 
now one of the large farms of the county. Another large farm owned by A. 
Holderman occupies the larger part of the central portion of the precinct, 
which with that of Mr. Hoge's is devoted largely to pasturage for cattle. The 
large herds owned by Mr. Holderman at an early date were as remarkable a sight 
as a herd of buffaloes, and their trails to the watering places during the 
summer were said to be as conspicuous as those of the buffaloes on the plains. 
Mr. Holderman, however, was an early settler in Kendall County and bought land 
here somewhat later.

Columbus Pinney was perhaps the first actual resident of Erienna. He was a 
native of New York State and came out by the lakes to Chicago and from thence 
to Marseilles. In the Spring of 1836, he came to section 12, where Datus Kent 
had put up a log house and barn for Kimball of Marseilles. Here Pinney kept 
the stage change and hotel which is now known as "Castle Danger." The cabin is 
destroyed but the stable still serves the purposes of a barn, though it stands 
on a new location. The origin of its later name is very obscure. After staying 
here three years Pinney removed to Aurora and the cabin was empty for awhile. 
It was subsequently inhabited for a short time when it was left untenanted 
again. It was used occasionally by wayfarers, and perhaps horse thieves and 
prairie bandits found it a convenient place to stay for a night, but no 
authentic incident can be learned in which the name could take its rise. Its 
name is well fixed, however, and generally used, and is probably the outgrowth 
of the natural respect for the mysterious.

In 1840, O. Cone, a native of Jefferson County, New York, came by the lakes to 
Detroit. From that point, with his family, he came in wagons across the 
country to Marseilles, where his brother-in-law, Kimball, was engaged in 
superintending some public improvements. Cone remained here until 1840, when 
he rented a farm of Mr. Hoge, on section 6, 33, 7. He was subsequently elected 
sheriff of the county, and afterward retired to a farm which he purchased on 
section 2, 33, 6. Messrs. Kennedy and Kendrick were attracted from Ohio by the 
canal work, and on the stopping of operations, settled, in 1842, on section 7. 
About 1845 or '6, Peter Griggs settled on section 3, and about the same time 
Abram Holderman came into the precinct. In 1848, Charles Moody came in from 
Marseilles and settled near where the road crosses the canal on section 15. 
After this the settlement of the precinct rapidly increased. The completion of 
the canal brought in a large number of persons seeking a home, speculators, 
tired of holding property which did not appreciate fast enough to more than 
meet the expense of taxes and other charges, began to sell, and the settlement 
soon became general.

Horrom City was the name of an ambitious plat of ground which was staked out 
in 1836, by Dr. Horrom, who originally settled south of the river. It did not 
prove a failure, because it never had any promise of success. A short-lived 
stage route passed near it, but beyond the imagination of its projector, the 
location had no relation to it, or anything tangible. Clarkson was the 
original name of the location of Castle Danger. Kimball, who was interested in 
the stage line, hoped through the influence of this enterprise to build up a 
village which should become the county seat, but fate decided in favor of 
Morris, and Clarkson did not mature. During the construction of the canal a 
number of temporary shanties gathered about the old log cabin, but they soon 
passed away, leaving it solitary.

In ---- the precinct was extended on the east side to the corporation limits 
of the county seat. This was done through the influence of the farmers in this 
part of the county, to avoid the taxation which the extension of the city 
limits in that direction would involve. This does no injustice to Morris, as 
there is land remaining in that precinct on which the county capital may 
expand into a very considerable town.


NORMAN.

This precinct, abutting upon the south margin of the Illinois River, is 
probably the best timbered and most broken portion of Grundy County. The high 
land approaches very close to the river bank, leaving not more than five 
hundred acres of bottom lands on the whole river front. The high, broken land 
in the northwestern corner of Wauponsee extends into the eastern border of 
Norman, and forms in this precinct quite a picturesque landscape along the 
road that enters it from the northeast. A peculiar elevation on Bills' Run at 
this point is a striking freak of nature, or, as some of its peculiarities 
suggest, an important relic of the Mound Builders. It is a circular mound, 
about seventy-five feet high, and some two hundred feet diameter at the base. 
It stands at the head of a little bayou, isolated from the line of surrounding 
bluffs, save for the connection of a narrow causeway, which by a gentle 
descent and ascent bridges the intervening valley. It is entirely bare of 
trees, save an oak which grows out of the side, half way toward the summit. No 
excavation has been attempted in this mound, and it is doubtful whether its 
peculiarities would warrant any considerable expenditure of time and money 
with the hope of making valuable discoveries, but the difficulty of assigning 
a plausible theory for its natural construction, has given rise to 
considerable speculation in regard to it. This is known as "Devil's Mound," 
and others of less note have a similar nomenclature, though with what 
appropriateness is perhaps difficult to determine, unless one accepts the 
statement of the young man who suggested, "because we wonder how the devil it 
came here."

The middle portion of the river front is less broken, though the ground rises 
to the final "bench" quite abruptly, until the western third of the river 
line, where is found the roughest country in the county. Bills' Run, rising 
near the southern line, in the eastern part, flows north through this precinct 
and loses itself in the low ground which borders the river. Hog Run takes a 
westerly course from the center of Norman and flows into the Illinois; and 
further west Armstrong Run, taking its source near the southern line, flows 
nearly direct north, and empties into the Illinois a little west of Hog Run. 
These streams are little more than prairie water-courses that serve to carry 
off the surplus water of the surface, and are dry a large part of the year. 
Their names are suggestive of their own origin. The timber is oak, hackberry, 
walnut and maple. The broken character of the country naturally protected the 
timber, and the early settlers found here a good field for "foraging," which 
was largely indulged in at an early date. The soil is largely the black 
prairie mold, free from bowlders, and rather low and wet in the central parts, 
with rather strong clay lands on the high ground. The farmers are largely 
devoted to the exclusive cultivation of corn, and feed more of it to hogs than 
in other parts of the county. There is some stock-raising, Mr. E. B. James 
having given considerable attention to the breeding of horses.

The first settler in this precinct was David Bunch, on the southeast quarter 
of section 21. He was a native of North Carolina, but moved to Tennessee, and 
from thence came to Illinois, coming to Norman in the winter of 1834-5. It is 
probable that he was attracted thither by the fine timber here, which had been 
bought up by the speculators. There was a good market for logs or hewn timber 
at Ottawa and other points on the river, and as there was none to protect it, 
large quantities of it were stolen by early settlers, who felt justified in 
these depredations by the fact that their holding this land prevented the 
settlement of the county. Mr. Bunch made the cutting and rafting of this 
timber to market his principal business, and for some years made no effort to 
make a home here. He afterward cleared up a good farm, on which he lived many 
years. In the same year Datus Kent joined him here and went into the timber 
business on the same basis. He had his cabin on the south fraction of section 
15, and built the log hotel across the river, which is now referred to as 
Castle Danger. Kent was from the South, and a winter or two was enough to 
satisfy him that he was out of his element, and left for Arkansas in 1837, 
leaving no farm improvements. Henry Norman was another prominent settler, and 
came in about 1839. He came from Brown County, Ohio, from where he came first 
to Braceville, about 1836, but subsequently came to Norman and put up his 
cabin on the east half of the southeast quarter of section 25. Here he stayed 
until 1842, when he removed to Morris. His son, Thomas J. Norman, remained at 
the homestead, and was the first supervisor of the precinct under the action 
of the county in 1850. It is from him that the precinct takes its name. Dr. 
Timothy Horrom was an early settler here. He was one of that large class of 
persons who became infected by the speculative mania. He settled on section 
20, and with a large family of boys began to make a home. He was a peculiar 
man; had a taste for whisky, which was not uncommon in that day, but which led 
him into a great many escapades, and gained for him quite a reputation in the 
county. His mania for speculation led him to found Horrom City, on the other 
side of the river, a paper metropolis, which passed through the common 
experience. He finally moved over to Erienna, where he died about 1860. John 
Sullivan, an Irishman, who was brought here by the work on the canal, came 
into Norman about 1841. He came here with no capital but his hands and plenty 
of pluck, and settled on the southeast quarter of section 13, and has since 
improved a line farm. In July, 1847, E. B. James came in from Kendall County. 
He was a native of Ohio, and came to Kendall County a young man. Here he 
married, and a little later came to Norman and settled on section 25. In 1848, 
the canal being finished, the lands rapidly came into market, and Norman 
shared in the tide of emigration which rapidly filled up the county.

In forming any conception of frontier life, one is apt to be influenced by 
some preconceived arbitrary standard. The pioneer of to-day goes not into an 
unknown and unexplored wilderness. The enterprising newspaper has been before 
him; the soil, the climate, the mineral resources, the agricultural advantages—
the whole situation has been exhaustively mapped out, while railroads carry 
him forward with speed and comfort to the scene of his frontier labors. Nor do 
the modern advantages cease here. Having fixed upon his field of operations, 
material ready framed to form his dwelling, improved machinery to till the 
soil, and a century's experience, unite to rob his experience of much of its 
difficulties, and to insure a speedily successful outcome of his venture. In 
ten years he has surrounded himself with more of the luxuries of civilization 
than the pioneers of Illinois possessed after twenty-five years of effort. And 
these rapid strides of progress, it should be remembered, have been 
principally made within the last twenty-five years. While the pioneers of 
Illinois profited by the momentum acquired in the advance of the previous 
century, it should not be forgotten that they have placed the weight of their 
experience and achievement with the forces that now accelerate the advance of 
the star of empire westward. The large purchases of timber lands by 
speculators in 1835 greatly retarded the settlement of this section of the 
State, and Grundy County was as undeveloped and bare of civilizing resources 
in 1847 as many parts of the State ten years earlier. When Mr. James came to 
Norman, in this year, there were but five families within its limits, and the 
general character of the country was that of an untamed wilderness. The 
completion of the canal, however, was the signal for a mighty change, and from 
that time forward the county took on a rapid change.

The early settlers brought nothing with them but what the necessities of the 
situation demanded. One wagon generally sufficed to bring the family, 
household furniture, farming implements, and frequently one or two months' 
supplies. It requires no great amount of consideration to believe that 
luxuries, or even comforts, could find no place in such an outfit, and so the 
pioneer, after constructing a shelter for his family, found his skill and 
ingenuity taxed to their utmost to supply this deficiency. It was necessary to 
manufacture tables, chairs and bedsteads before they could be used, and some 
of the most striking incidents of frontier cabin life are founded upon this 
universal dearth of ordinary comforts. The early years of a new settlement 
were occupied in supplying these wants and in subjecting the land to the 
payment of its annual tribute. This accomplished, the pioneer, ever mindful of 
the prosperity of his children and the conservation of society, summoned the 
church and school to his aid.

The Fox River settlement was early made a base of operations by the Methodist 
church, and from a missionary plant established here, sent out its itinerants 
throughout the settlements on the upper part of the Illinois River. The first 
church organization in Norman was a Protestant Methodist Church, which was 
built up under the administration of a Rev. Mr. Fowler. John Piatt and E. B. 
James, with three or four others, constituted the membership, which held its 
meetings in the different cabins about the neighborhood. About 1854, a 
Methodist Episcopal church was organized here, which gradually displaced the 
older society and held its meetings in a school-house which had been erected 
in the meantime. The church subsequently held its meetings in the Baptist 
church building until 1870, when it erected a place of worship on the 
southeast corner of section 35. This is a neat frame structure erected at a 
cost of about $2,800, and reflects credit upon efforts of the church and the 
management, Rev. J. W. Odell and Mr. E. B. James, who were prominent in 
securing it.

The Baptist church was organized here about 1854, and found its main support 
in the families of Messrs. Haymond, Winters and Manley. This church used the 
one school-house in the precinct, alternating its services with those of the 
Protestant Methodist and the Methodist Episcopal churches, until about 1862. 
Mr. Thos. Haymond, Lewis Winters and the Rev. Mr. Fosket, were prominent in 
securing a church building at this time, and the frame building, thirty by 
fifty feet, situated on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of 
section 26, is due to their labors. It was erected at a cost of about $2,700.

The first school-house was a log structure, built in 1853, at Bills' Point. 
The spot thus designated is a "point of timber" near the center of section 25, 
the name of which, it is said, originated with Jacob Claypool. Mr. Haymond 
relates a characteristic story of those times to the effect, that going to Mr. 
Claypool's on business one day he was accompanied by a friend from the East 
who was here on a visit. His friend naturally wore his "store clothes," and a 
linen shirt and collar. This was a remarkable innovation upon the custom of 
Grundy County at that time and made a decided impression upon Mr. Claypool's 
mind. Business took the three persons to Bills' Run, when, Mr. Haymond being a 
new comer to Norman, inquired the origin of the name of the run. His reply 
was, that some years before a Mr. Bills who had been there, created such a 
sensation by his civilized attire, that his advent had been commemorated by 
giving his name to a ford, a stream, and this point of timber. In describing 
this hero, Mr. Claypool, pointing at Mr. Haymond's friend, said: "He wore a 
white shirt and collar, and was just such a dandy as he." It may therefore be 
accepted that the name of Bills' Run and Bills' Point is a frontier compliment 
to a white shirt and collar. It is certainly appropriate, if not significant, 
that the first school-house was erected at this point. Here Miss Reniff taught 
the first school and was succeeded by Mrs. Stoutemyer. This primitive building 
has been succeeded by a modern structure and the number multiplied, so that 
whether through the increase of education or the breaking down of frontier 
isolation, white shirts and collars are now by no means a rarity in Norman 
Precinct.

Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY ILLINOIS; Containing a History from the earliest 
settlement to the present time, embracing its topographical, geological, 
physical and climatic features; its agricultural, railroad interests, etc.; 
giving an account of its aboriginal inhabitants, early settlement by the 
whites, pioneer incidents, its growth, its improvements, organization of the 
County, the judicial history, the business and industries, churches, schools, 
etc.; Biographical Sketches; Portraits of some of the Early Settlers, 
Prominent Men, etc.; ILLUSTRATED. CHICAGO: O. L. BASKIN & CO., HISTORICAL 
PUBLISHERS, Lakeside Building. 1882.


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