Grundy County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter 19 1882
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Book Title: History Of Grundy County IL 1882

CHAPTER XIX.*

VIENNA TOWNSHIP-PIONEERS OF THE PRAIRIE—THE CHANGES OF FIFTY YEARS—ILLINOIS 
CITY—VERONA—THE CHURCH AND SCHOOL.

IN following the arbitrary distinctions of township lines, the historian of 
the early settlement finds himself placed in an unnatural position. The events 
to which this county was indebted for its first inhabitants, recognized no 
such limitations. The broad expanse of prairie, radiant with the beauty of the 
early summer's flowers, or brown with the ripened food for a thousand herds, 
was unmarked to the pioneer, save by distant groves that indicated the water-
courses. The adventurous settler, attracted by the flattering report of 
friends, or lured on by his love of frontier life and adventure, placed his 
family and goods in a wagon, and casting off his moorings, became a wanderer, 
knowing no home but the canvas that served him as shelter by night. His choice 
of land was dictated by caprice, and generally resulted in an unfortunate 
selection, though it often took years of sickness, and even bereavement by 
death itself to convince him of his error. The points of timber were generally 
chosen, or some spring of water, both of which, experience has proven to be 
the most insalubrious locations open to choice. But here, patiently enduring 
toil and privation, the pioneer surmounted the difficulties of his situation, 
and has left an enduring monument to his memory in these fruitful fields

*By J. H. Battle.
 
and thriving towns. There seem to have been few indications in that early day 
as to the points to which subsequent growth would accrue with the greatest 
advantage. Choice was determined by the most frivolous chance; expectation was 
at a dead level. This situation was not inconsistent with an almost feverish 
excitement over the effect which the construction of the canal was expected to 
have on this whole region. The great consideration which "puzzled the will," 
was where the "bonanza's" lightning would strike. It is not strange, 
therefore, that the early settlement of this county, molded by such motives 
and influences, should be characterized by no definable method. But the later 
growth of society has long since modified these early traditions. Years of 
association in the capacity of a political precinct have given rise to a 
community of interests, out of which have sprung policies and practices 
plainly apparent even to the stranger, and township lines now bind the country 
population with as strong a tie as national boundaries.

Vienna lies just west of Mazon, and in its topography and early history is 
closely related. It is rather of a higher elevation, parts of it being 
considerably broken and all of it somewhat rotting. It is traversed diagonally 
in a northeasterly direction, by five unimportant streams, Hog and Bills' Runs 
flowing into Norman, the Waupecan and a nameless stream passing into Mazon, 
and Thunder Creek joining Johnny Run in the latter township. The character of 
these water-courses, of the soil and timber is similar to those noted in 
Mazon. The pursuit of the farmers is similar, save that Mr. Harford, who has 
given considerable attention to cattle raising, is now turning his effort to 
breeding horses of the Norman blood.

The first claim made in this township was in 1833. In that year Edwin Shaw and 
Sheldon Bartholomew came to this section with A. K. Owen, who settled in 
Mazon. These men selected farms at the point now known as "Parer's Grove," but 
beyond naming the place "Spring Grove" from a large spring found at one end or 
it, no attempt was made by them to take permanent possession of it. Not long 
after the visit of these persons an English family by the name of Grove, took 
up a claim on section 4 at Hog's Point. Here they built a cabin and cultivated 
their ground until the fall of 1836, when Jonah C. Newport, a native of 
Belmont County, Ohio, bought them out. About 1834, or perhaps a year earlier, 
George W. Armstrong settled on the northwest quarter of section 6, where he 
resided two years. He then moved to Wauponsee, from whence he subsequently 
returned, and bought the northeast quarter of section 1, township 33, range 5 
(now in La Salle County), where he built a cabin and where his modern 
residence now is. About the same season, Charles Parer, from Ottawa, came to 
this region, made a claim near the present residence of Mr. Harford at "Spring 
Grove." He cut considerable hay for his stock, and built his cabin, but 
unfortunately the fire caught in the dry prairie grass and consumed the hay, 
cabin and fixtures. It is not clear how this accident occurred. It is said, 
however, that the whole family had gone to Ottawa and in their absence the 
conflagration took place. On Mr. Parer's return, finding nothing left but 
blackened ruins, he abandoned the place, his family never coming back to the 
township. This was the extent of the population in this community until the 
coming of John Dewey in 1841.

Mr. Dewey was an English mechanic, and attracted by the reports from friends 
who lived at Vermillion, sent his wife and two children to his American 
relatives, to spy out the land while he kept his situation. They came in 1837, 
and sent back so favorable a report, that he came in the following year and 
decided to cast in his fortunes with this new prairie country. He came to 
Jesse Newport's in Wauponsee that year and rented the place, bringing his 
family forward the year following. Here he stayed until 1841, when he came to 
Vienna and rented the farm of Jonah Newport at Hog Point. Three years later he 
came to "Parer's Grove." About the same time with Dewey, came John B. Moore, 
and settled on the southeast corner of section 5. He came from Philadelphia 
with a young family, made a home here but moved away some years since. About 
1845, Henry Hyslop settled on section 22, and his was the pioneer cabin on the 
prairie. He was soon followed by the Wilks, Curtis and Antis families. The 
canal also made its contribution to this settlement in the person of Anthony 
Maloney, who settled on section 7, where he lived many years.

It will be noticed that that part of Grundy County not lying contiguous to the 
canal, settled very slowly during the first ten years. This is to be accounted 
for, not so much because of its less desirable character as of the action of 
speculators. Most of the earliest claims were made on the margin of the river, 
and the claimants were on the ground to purchase their land at the public sale 
in 1830. After this sale, speculators bought large tracts in the interior of 
the county, especially the timbered portion. The price was at once raised 
above government prices and of course found but little sale. There were here 
and there sections which were supposed to be less desirable or had been 
overlooked by general land buyers, and these were gradually picked up. As soon 
as the settlement grew large enough (and the legal requirements were not 
severe) a township or precinct organization was effected and after the five 
years of release, taxes were laid as to force non-resident land owners to pay 
at least their full share. Their timber was considered free plunder and so 
little sympathy was felt in any settlement for this class of property holders, 
that it became unpopular for any one to assist in locating lands for them. 
This policy, maintained for several years, soon convinced capitalists that the 
land was not a good investment, and becoming tired of paying comparatively 
exorbitant taxes, and getting very little protection for what they did pay, 
they were glad to put the land in the market, getting merely enough to 
reimburse them for their outlay, and not always getting off so well as that. 
The result was that up to about 1850, the county was only sparsely settled, 
but subsequently filled up with remarkable rapidity.

Another feature of the settlement here in contrast with the experience of 
pioneers of Ohio and the Middle States, may be noted: there seems to have been 
far less demand here for that invention which is the offspring of necessity. 
Machinery for mills, though transported over long distances, could be secured; 
in the older States they were rudely manufactured on the spot. Here the larger 
part of personal apparel was purchased at stores twenty or thirty miles 
distant; there everything, from the hat to the shoe, was manufactured at home. 
Here, though timber was scarce and the country sparsely settled, glass windows 
were the rule, house hardware not difficult to obtain, and "frame" dwellings 
early appeared; there these things were the mark of wealth and distinction, 
and appeared only after the settlement had considerably grown. But history, in 
early settlements, does not exactly repeat itself. Experience must be taken 
into the account, and what one generation achieves must accrue to the 
advantage of its successor. The pioneer experience of the Pilgrims was unique 
and could not be reproduced in a later day; that of the Middle States modified 
the early settlement of this western land, and the far West of to-day 
resembles more the "royal road to fortune" than the "hard road to travel," 
which the pioneers of other generations found.

But with all this modification of the stern experience of pioneer life, the 
trials of the first settlers were anything but easy to be borne. The community 
settled here found the only accessible mills at Vermillionville, Wilmington 
and Dayton. Here the soil was found to yield fine crops of winter wheat, and 
flour was not so great a luxury. Fruit did finely, especially peaches, and 
there was no dearth of orchards, though apples, taking longer to mature, did 
not yield early, and the change of late years has never made apples so 
prominent in the county. The severe winter of 1853 or 1854 killed the larger 
part of the peach trees, and fruit interests have languished here ever since. 
The ready tact of the pioneer housewives and the unpampered tastes of that 
early day found a good substitute for fruit in the pumpkin. When frozen they 
were prepared and stewed down to a syrup, which furnished the sweetening for 
most of the culinary purposes of the cabin, and mixed with fresh stewed 
pumpkin formed the coveted sweetmeat. They were planted in large numbers and 
stored in a vault constructed underneath the hay-stacks to be fed to the 
cattle during the winter. Well may this "fruit loved of boyhood," be 
apostrophized by the poet and be honorably placed in a State's coat-of-arms. 
There was but little weaving done by the women of this township, not a single 
loom to be found here and only one field of flax. Mrs. Dewey did try to raise 
silk-worms, and succeeded in securing some return for her efforts, but it was 
pursued more as a pastime than a means of profit and was soon abandoned. In 
her early efforts to assist her husband she learned, in Vermillionville, the 
tailor's trade, and became quite noted in a small circle. In this way she 
acquired considerable stock. Cattle were cheap, and when a settler was able to 
have Sunday clothes he was glad to trade off a heifer or yearling for the 
making of a coat. The other parts of the suit could be made at home, but the 
outer garment required more skill, and Mrs. Dewey turned her ability to good 
account.

Game was found here in the usual abundance. Deer passing from one point to 
another have been counted traveling in single file to the number of one or two 
hundred, while lynxes and wolves, especially the latter, were "too numerous to 
mention." An incident is related of the latter animal which, though it 
occurred outside of the limits of this township, is vouched for by present 
residents as having happened "just across the river." A country dance had 
called a knight of the bow some distance from his home and detained him till 
the early hours of the morning. On his return he heard the hungry howling of 
the wolves, which seemed to be following on his trail and coming unpleasantly 
nearer him. Soon convinced that he was in danger, he scrambled, fiddle box in 
hand, into a tree which stood near by, and was soon surrounded by those 
miscreants of the prairie. Safe, but annoyed at his detention, the weary 
musician whiled away the time and "soothed the savage breast" with strains 
that had served a pleasanter occasion earlier in the night. The dawn released 
him. If this be true, it is not less strongly authenticated that this was the 
only case of such boldness on the part of the prairie wolves of this region. 
They were found troublesome in the destruction of young stock, but otherwise 
quite harmless. Prairie chickens were found in great abundance, and furnished 
rare sport as well as a generous supply for the larder. But these, with the 
deer, have pretty generally disappeared. Many believe the latter left the 
country about 1845, when it is said vast herds migrated across the Mississippi.

Vienna was rather out of the principal line of through travel, and had little 
in the circumstances of her business activity or location to encourage the 
growth of a village, but the mania for founding cities seized a Mr. Bullock, 
and in 1836 he laid out Illinois City, north of the Waupecan, with a great 
public square, and streets enough to satisfy a very thriving village. Its only 
remains is the worn-out plat in records of the county. Verona was an outgrowth 
of the Pekin, Chicago and St. Louis railroad. It was laid out near the center 
of section 26, by Martin Finch and Ambrose Kinley. The ground was platted in 
February, 1877, and in about a year grew to its present dignity. There is 
really no demand for a large village here, and even now has the appearance of 
being overgrown. Three or four stores are now doing more or less business, 
which, with the usual blacksmith and wagon shop, two churches, and some 
hundred dwelling houses, constitute the village of Verona. Its name may have 
found its suggestion in the title of the play, as its founders may not 
inappropriately now be called the "two gentlemen of Verona."

Schools played an early part in this township. Mrs. Dewey was a woman of 
considerable education, and anxious to turn her various accomplishments to a 
money account in aid of her husband, began teaching school during her 
temporary stay at Vermillionville. On coming into Vienna, she opened up in her 
cabin the first boarding sehool in the county. She had but a few pupils, and 
proposed only to teach the rudiments, but children were then so few that they 
came from five miles away. They stayed during the week, going home Saturday to 
stay over the Sunday and holiday. This school was not long maintained. The 
first school-house was soon built near Hog Run, and the pioneer school taught 
by A. Warnock.

The efforts of the church on the frontier were generally almost as early as 
the first pioneer. The Methodist church had a station on the Fox River, and no 
sooner were two or three families gathered in each other's vicinity than a 
missionary itinerant discovered and preached to them. The size of the audience 
did not seem to detract from the interest of the occasion, and many an 
effective sermon has been delivered in a little cabin before two or three 
auditors. The earliest of these preachers were many times quite illiterate, 
and others, though scarcely less so, were remarkably successful. The Mormons 
were here early, but found the people possessed of an independent judgment 
which was not to be swayed by a latter day revelation. The earliest 
organization effected, however, was by the Baptist denomination, in 1850. The 
Fellingham family were among the settlers of this time, and were earnest 
members of this church. Mr. W. M. Fellingham was a minister, and served the 
Ebenezer Baptist Society in this capacity until his death, his brothers, 
George and John, acting as deacons. Until about 1862, services were held in 
the school-house, but at this time a modest frame building was erected on the 
northwest corner of section 25, at a cost of about eight hundred dollars. The 
membership does not now exceed ten members, and services are held only once a 
month.
 
The Presbyterian Church of Vienna was organized February 27, 1858, by the Rev. 
S. H. Loss, a missionary agent of this church, with some fourteen members. For 
some years they held their services in a school-house, but in 1870 a good 
frame building was erected as a place of worship. The edifice cost about 
$3,300, and was placed on the northwest corner of section 36. In 1877, when 
the town of Verona sprang up, the building was removed to the village, where 
it now stands. The church has suffered severely from removals, so that it now 
numbers only some fifteen or sixteen members.

The only other church in Vienna is the Methodist Episcopal. This was organized 
in 1876, and in the following year erected their present place of worship at a 
cost of about $2,800. The leading spirits of this church were I. C. Tilden, M. 
Dix, and J. Kendall. Its membership now reaches about fifty.

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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