Grundy County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter 21 1882
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 4, 2006, 3:07 am

Book Title: History Of Grundy County IL 1882

CHAPTER XXI.*
 
GOODFARM TOWNSHIP—"THE LAY OF THE LAND"—EARLY SETTLEMENT—PIONEER EXPERIENCES—
SCHOOLS—CHURCHES.

GOODFARM, like most of the townships south of the river, is well supplied with 
prairie water-courses. It lies just south of Mazon township, and contributes 
to the streams which have been noted there, viz.: Murray sluice, Mazon Creek, 
Brewster and Wood sluices. The two latter are the most important here, and 
join the "West Fork of the Mazon" in the township which bears the same name. 
The direction of these streams are nearly due north, and the general aspect of 
the land is that of a rolling prairie very liberally supplied with groves. 
Much of the land is insufficiently drained and has a low wet appearance, 
though the name of the township pretty correctly characterizes its soil as a 
whole.

James McKean was the first settler, in this township. He seems to have 
delighted in the isolation of the frontier and to have moved from a 
neighborhood as soon as it became generally settled. He was here as early as 
1841. About 1844, J. M. Clover came from Indiana and bought his place, on 
section two, in the northern edge of the township. Two or three years later 
Elijah Saltmarsh came and settled on section five. He was of southern birth 
and had been a flatboatman on the Ohio River. His life on the river at a time 
when boating involved a rough, boisterous experi-

*By J. H. Battle.
 
ence, developed him into a decisive, energetic man, and he became a leading 
spirit in the township. He had a large family and made a good farm, but in his 
later years, unsatisfied with this settled country he went to Oregon where 
some of his family had preceded him. Elnathan Lewis, a native of Vermont, next 
followed into this township. He had emigrated to New York and from thence to 
McHenry County in this State, from whence he came to Goodfarm. Other settlers 
about this time were Elijah Lewis, David Gleason and E. F. Brewster.

In 1849, E. B. Stevens came from Kalamazoo County, Michigan. His route was 
across the country and his conveyance, a wagon. Michigan was then an old 
settled State, and the cheap lands of Illinois presented quite an attraction 
to those of limited means. He came to this present location on section thirty, 
and bought the claim of Henry Brown who had been here a year or two. Here 
Stevens found a log cabin, a straw barn and some Lombardy poplars set out, but 
the rest was left for him to accomplish. After buying his land, a barrel of 
flour and ten bushels of oats, he had no money left. He came in the spring, 
and making a good garden he managed to sustain his family until the ikll when 
he got his wheat threshed, and a start for another year.
 
About 1850, a tide of German emigration began to flow into the township, which 
continued until this nationality constitutes fully one-half of the population. 
The first of this German element was Leonard Fisher, a native of Bavaria, who 
came in 1851. In 1852, came Jno. L. Meier, followed by Hoffman Hoag, Pfeiffer 
and Buckhard. Most of these people came from the same section of Bavaria and 
settled near each other here. They are good farmers and thrifty both in public 
and private. The town house is one of the neatest in the county, and has near 
it a neat tool-house for the protection of the township road implements.

There was but little variety in the early experiences of the first settlers in 
the different parts of the county. Those who came later, as in Goodfarm, found 
milling facilities better but no more accessible; stores better supplied with 
frontier necessities but not much easier to purchase; more neighbors but no 
better means of communication. Their lives, like those of their predecessors, 
were a continual struggle with the stubborn, natural difficulties which 
surrounded them, and none were so completely isolated as to make a few years' 
later settlement of any appreciable advantage. Those who came after the 
completion of the canal, enjoyed the benefit of a nearer market than Chicago, 
and perhaps an increase in the value of farm products, but the roads were not 
improved and the open prairie wilderness still interposed its difficulties. 
These obstacles were perhaps the most difficult which the pioneers of this 
county were called upon to surmount. So long as the paucity of settlements 
allowed a pretty free selection of route, mud-holes could be evaded, and a 
worn track avoided. But this practice had also its disadvantages. In a country 
without continuous fences, and few landmarks save the groves, it required some 
considerable skill and an intimate knowledge of the county to successfully 
cross even a small prairie in broad daylight. Mr. Baldwin relates an incident 
of "a gentleman, fresh from New England, who was viewing the country on the 
Vermillion and proposed to take a bee line to Ottawa across the prairie on 
foot. He was advised to take the road, as being easier traveling and decidedly 
safer; that without any track he might get benighted on the prairie, for 
although the day was clear he would, for part of the distance, be out of sight 
of timber, and he might mistake his course and be lost. He foolishly rejected 
this advice with some indignation, and at noon set out on his journey of some 
six miles. About twelve o'clock that night, exhausted and nearly famished, he 
got to a settlement on the Vermillion five miles further from Ottawa than the 
place from whence he started. In the morning he was willing to follow the 
road."*

Crossing the uncultivated prairie at night was a very uncertain venture even 
to the most expert. If the night was clear the stars were a reliable guide and 
the pioneers became quite proficient in the simpler rudiments of astronomy. In 
a cloudy night and a snowy or foggy day their resources were less sure. A 
steady wind often proved the only guide. The traveler, getting his bearings, 
would note how the wind struck his nose, the right or left ear, and then, 
keenly alive to these sensations,

*History of La Salle County.
 
would so maintain his course as to keep the bearing of the wind always the 
same, and regardless of all other guides would generally reach his destination 
without difficulty. To do this required no little skill and a steady wind. If 
the latter changed gradually, the better the skill the wider the traveler 
diverged from home. Without these guides it was a mere accident if a person 
succeeded in crossing even a small prairie. The tendency is to move in a 
circle, and when once this is begun and observed by the traveler, the only 
resource is to camp in the most convenient place and manner and wait for 
morning. Each family had its signal light which was readily recognized by its 
members. It was a frequent practice to erect a pole by the chimney of the 
cabin and place a lighted lantern at the top. Others had a light in the 
window, which often saved a dreary night's experience on the prairie.

The history of every township is full of misadventures of this sort. A 
gentleman and his wife were belated on their return home on a cloudy night, 
and though having some clue to the way, sought in vain for some glimmer of his 
home signal. His horses seem to have become completely bewildered, and after 
having urged them forward for some time, the travelers became convinced they 
were journeying in a confused circle, and were preparing to camp out in their 
wagon, when a weak flash of light betrayed the location of a residence in the 
near distance. Getting the direction at the instant, the house was gained in a 
few minutes, and they found it to be their long sought home. The children had 
gone to bed, and carelessly removed the light from the window, but a brand 
falling out of the fire-place had flashed the signal, which saved them from an 
unpleasant predicament.

A gentleman and his wife, on another occasion, went across an eighty acre 
field to visit a neighbor. On returning, about eight o'clock in the evening, 
they lost their way, and notwithstanding there was a fence on one side of this 
field, the couple became hopelessly bewildered, and would have been obliged to 
remain out all night, had not their daughter, anxious at their staying so 
late, opened the cabin door to listen for some evidence of their coming. The 
light thus flashed out into the darkness, revealed to them their position, 
which was within calling distance of their home, and where they had been 
vainly wandering some two or three hours.

Such experiences, unpleasant in the warm weather, were too often fatal in the 
winter season. The trackless prairie, covered with a deceptive expanse of snow 
and swept by a fierce blast which pierced the most ample clothing and the 
hardiest frame, made the stoutest heart waver. Journeys upon the prairie were 
never undertaken under such circumstances, save under stress of the most 
urgent necessity. But nearly every early settler can remember some experience 
in winter season traveling, while some never reached the home they sought, or 
the end of the journey reluctantly begun.

With the settlement of the prairie, and the regular laying out of roads, 
traveling became less dangerous, though scarcely less difficult. The amount of 
labor which could be devoted by the few people in the scattered settlements, 
made but little effect upon the roads of a country which seemed particularly 
exposed by the character of the soil, and the conformation of its surface to 
the unfavorable action of rain. Even now the farming community pays a heavy 
annual tribute to muddy, impassable roads. Thirty-five years ago, a man caught 
by high water away from home, was detained for two or three weeks, and many a 
trip about the county was made more in a boat than in a wagon. Matthew 
Johnson, who came from Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1852, landed in Morris in 
April of that year. He had relatives in Felix, and started over to see them. 
He found a wagon totally inadequate for the undertaking, and had to resort to 
a boat to reach his friends' house.

The natural outgrowth of a low, wet country, with the "breaking" of a rank 
soil, was miasmatic disease. During the first forty years of the settlement in 
Grundy County, the fever and ague reigned supreme, and seemed to mock at 
quinine and infusions of barks. Doctors were scarce, and the settlers, brought 
up with a profound belief in the medicinal virtues of sassafras and boneset, 
preferred to save the expense of a professional visit. Nor did they suffer 
greatly by this practice. But in the case of accident, the lack of talented 
surgeons proved a terrible misfortune, resulting in many a misshapen limb, or 
the loss of it altogether. An incident is related of an early settler, who was 
accidentally shot by another in handling a gun. A heavy load of shot shattered 
the bone just below the shoulder. The artery fortunately escaped injury, and 
the wound was done up to await the arrival of the only two doctors in the 
county. On coming to the wounded man the doctors disagreed. One declared 
amputation necessary, but the other refused to consent to an operation, and in 
the utter lack of any proper instrument for the purpose, the arm was allowed 
to hang. In this way the wound was left to nature and the simple care of the 
women folks. A number of pieces of bone were taken out in the process of 
dressing the wound, but one large piece remained obstinate, and kept the wound 
unhealed for a year. In the meantime the wounded man, with his arm in a sling, 
handled his team alone, hauling timber, lumber and farm product. Finally, 
taken with a throat disease in Chicago, he consulted a physician in the 
Medical College, when his arm came under observation, and was subsequently 
gratuitously treated before a class in the college. Similar cases were by no 
means rare, and serve to indicate some of the unwritten hardships of pioneer 
life.

The happy commingling of grove and plain marked by numberless streams, made 
this township a favorite resort of game. The buffalo had left this region 
before the advent of the settler, but the high prairie bore abundant evidence 
of his former presence here. Here and there, all over the plain were found 
skeletons of this animal lying where the hunter's missile had overtaken him 
or, if Indian tradition is to be believed, where a heavy snow had imprisoned 
and starved him. There are found in frequent numbers upon the prairie, rings 
of especially thrifty grass which are explained upon various theories. The 
Indians represented that in a certain winter long ago, a great fall of snow 
found the buffaloes scattered about on the prairie. These animals, unwilling 
to venture out into the untracked deep, kept up an incessant tramp in a 
limited circle until starvation and death ended the march. Whatever truth 
there may be in this tradition, it may be said that the position of many of 
these skeletons favor it very strongly. Deer were found here in great 
abundance, and to the skillful hunter fell an easy prey. During the wet season 
when water was to be found in abundance upon the open country, the deer were 
found here. Getting on the windward side of the animal the hunter found ample 
shelter in the long grass to approach within easy shot. In the dry hot season 
the deer frequented the groves. Then the hunter, proceeding against the wind, 
followed up or down the course of one of the water-courses along which the 
groves were located. The deer are troubled by a fly at this time of year which 
attracts so much of their attention that they are easily approached from the 
proper side. The animal stands feeding for a few minutes until, driven to fury 
by the insect, it suddenly drops close to the ground to elude its tormentor. 
Then suddenly rising again it feeds a short time and again as suddenly-sinks 
to the ground. This action gives the hunter peculiar advantages which were 
never thrown away upon the pioneers. Wild turkeys, wolves, wild bees, and the 
smaller game that still throng the timber, not only supplied the table and 
furnished rare sport to the hunter, but often proved a valuable source from 
which to eke out the meager income derived from the farm crops. One farmer 
sold wild turkeys and deer-skins enough in Chicago to buy his wife a good 
winter cloak, at a time when his crops had proved an utter failure. After the 
first few years the pioneer had time to plan for something more permanent than 
present necessities, and the school-house with its molding influences became 
an institution in every community. In Goodfarm the first school-house was 
erected in 1850, on the east half of the northeast quarter of section 18. It 
was built by subscription, some giving lumber, others giving work, and six 
persons giving one dollar each. The lumber was drawn from Horse Creek in Will 
County, and with the six dollars was bought all that the country and the labor 
did not furnish. Elvira Lewis was the first teacher here. About 1856 a second 
school-house was built near the German cemetery, and the first session of 
school taught by Philip Gauzert.

The first church organization was of the Free Will Baptist denomination. This 
society was formed at the cabin of David Gleason, February 5, 1850, with David 
Gleason, Elnathan Lewis, and their wives, Addison Gleason and Lavinia Brown as 
members. The church held its meetings in the school-house until about 1868, 
when the organization was finally abandoned. The Methodist Episcopal church 
has an appointment here now.

About 1859, the Lutheran church was organized and erected a parsonage on 
section 27, to which was subsequently added the present church building. Salem 
Evangelical church was organized about 1857, with Buckhardt and Hoag, Pfeiffer 
and Hoffman as leading members. In 1877 they built a new place of worship on 
section 22, at a cost of about $2,400.

The "Church of God," is a recent organization which has a place of worship on 
the northern line of the township.

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.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/grundy/history/1882/historyo/chapter269nms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/

File size: 17.1 Kb