Grundy County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter 3 1882
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Book Title: History Of Grundy County IL

CHAPTER III.*
 
EARLY FRENCH SETTLEMENTS—FRONTIER SETTLEMENTS IN LA SALLE AND GRUNDY COUNTIES—
CIVILIZED LIFE IN A NEW COUNTRY—POLITICAL ORGANIZATION—FORMATION OF GRUNDY—
COUNTY BUILDINGS

IN southern Illinois near the Mississippi, a hundred miles or more above the 
mouth of the Ohio, is situated the ancient village of Kaskaskia, supposed to 
be the oldest permanent European settlement in the valley of the Father of 
Waters,"** but while thus attaining an unparalleled eminence in one 
particular, it must not be supposed that the whole State permanently shared in 
this distinction. Though thus promised with an early dawn of civilization in 
the latter part of the 17th century, the promise proved illusive before the 
march of greater events, and the bright flush of a hoped-for day paled into 
the darker obscurity of a more savage barbarism.

In 1700, the settlement of the French and Indians at old Kaskaskia was removed 
to the spot where the village of that name now stands; two years later 
followed the abandonment of Fort St. Louis on the Illinois; and in 1718, the 
erection of Fort Chartres on the Mississippi, sixteen miles above the former 
village, confirmed the tendency of the white population to concentrate in the 
southern part of the State. About the fort, rapidly sprang up a village

*By J. H. Battle.
**Paper read before Chicago Hist. Soc., by Edward G. Mason, 1879.
 
which was subsequently called New Chartres; five miles away the village of 
Prairie du Rocher became a growing settlement, while all along the river 
between Kaskaskia and the fort a strong chain of settlements was formed within 
a year after the fort was finished. The erection of Fort Chartres, at this 
point, however, was dictated by national considerations rather than by fear of 
the savages. The colonization of Louisiana consequent upon the exploration of 
the Mississippi and the influx of colonists who found a home at Cahokia and 
Kaskaskia, made this section the key to the French possessions in America, the 
connecting link between Canada and Louisiana. Here the French settlers, but 
little disturbed by the forays of the Sacs and Foxes, pushed their 
improvements up to the Illinois, while lands were granted, though perhaps 
never occupied, some distance up this stream. The military force found 
occupation in supporting the friendly Illinois tribes against the Iroquois and 
Sacs and Foxes, and in unsatisfactory or disastrous campaigns against the 
Chickasaws. In the meantime this "neck of the woods" was rapidly becoming a 
spot of national importance. From the southwest the Spaniards were jealously 
watching the French colonists, while the British gradually pushing westward 
were building forts near the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The European war of 
1741-6, in which France and England were opposed, was echoed in these Western 
wilds, and it was found that the fort must be strengthened or abandoned. The 
former coarse prevailed, and in 1750 the old fortress of wood was transformed 
into one of stone, and garrisoned by a full regiment of French grenadiers. It 
was from this point that an important contingent went out to the capture of 
George Washington and his forces at Fort Necessity, July 4, 1754, and thus 
furnished to George II one of the causes for a declaration of hostilities and 
a beginning of the "Old French War." In the ensuing war a detachment burned 
Fort Granville, sixty miles from Philadelphia; another party routed Major 
Grant near Fort Duquesne, but compelled to abandon that fortress, set it on 
fire and floated down the river in the light of its destroying flames; again a 
large detachment augmented by a considerable number of friendly Indians, 
assisted in the vain attempt to raise the British siege of Niagara, leaving 
dead upon the field, the flower of the garrison. The fort was no longer in 
condition to maintain the offensive, and learning that the British were 
preparing at Pittsburgh to make a hostile descent upon him, the commandant 
writes to the Governor-General: "I have made all arrangements, according to my 
strength, to receive the enemy." The victory on the Plains of Abraham decided 
the contest, but the little backwoods citadel, knowing but little of the 
nature of the struggle, dreamed that it might be the means of regaining, on 
more successful fields, the possessions thus lost to the French crown. The 
news that this fort, with all territory east of the river, had been 
surrendered without so much as a sight of the enemy, came like a thunder-chip 
upon this patriotic colony. Many of the settlers with Laclede, who had just 
arrived at the head of a new colony, expressed their disgust by going to the 
site of St. Louis, which they supposed to be still French ground.

Though transferred by treaty to the English in 1763, the fort was the last 
place in North America to lower the white ensign of the Bourbon King, and it 
was not until the latter part ot 1765 that the British formally accepted the 
surrender of Fort Chartres. Pontiac, the unwavering friend of the French, took 
upon himself, unaided by his former allies, to hold back the victorious 
English. Major Loftus, Captains Pitman and Morris, Lieutenant Frazer, and 
George Crogan, some with force, some in disguise, and others with diplomacy, 
sought to reach the fort to accept its capitulation, but each one was foiled 
and turned back with his mission unaccomplished, glad to escape the fate of 
that Englishman for which Pontiac assured them, he kept a "kettle boiling over 
a large fire." Wearied out with the inactivity of the French, the Indian 
sought an audience with the commandant, and explained his attitude. "Father," 
said the chieftain, "I have long wished to see thee, to recall the battles 
which we fought together against the mis-guided Indians and the English dogs. 
I love the French, and I have come here with my warriors to avenge their 
wrongs." But assured by St. Auge that such service could no longer be 
accepted, he gave up the struggle, and the flag of St. George rose in the 
place of the fair lilies of France. Thus another nationality was projected 
into this restricted arena, a situation which was immediately afterward still 
further complicated by the secret Franco-Spanish treaty, which made the west 
bank of the Mississippi the boundary of the Spanish possessions. "It is 
significant of the different races, and the varying sovereignties in that 
portion of our country," says a writer, "that a French soldier from the 
Spanish city of St. Louis should be married to an Englishwoman by a French 
priest in the British colony of Illinois."

The effect of this political change upon the growth of the Illinois 
settlements was disastrous. At the first announcement of the treaty, the 
natural hostility of the people to the English induced large numbers of the 
colonists to prepare to follow the French flag, and a hegira followed which 
swept out of the colony fully one-third of its three thousand inhabitants. 
There was still a large number left, forming the largest colony in the west; 
but there were forces constantly at work which gradually depleted its numbers. 
Under the British rule an abnormal activity among traders and land speculators 
was developed. The natives were constantly overreached in trade by 
unscrupulous persons, protected by the dominant power, and representatives of 
land purchasing organizations were acquiring vast tracts of country from 
ignorant savages, who had little comprehension of the meaning or consequences 
of these transactions. These schemes and practices, though happily brought to 
naught by the Revolution, rendered the Indians, for a time, savagely hostile, 
and left their blighting influence long after their removal. The lack of 
proper sympathy between the governing race and the governed, the hostility of 
the savages in which they were involved with the British, induced many of the 
Old French colonists to leave their old homes as rapidly as they could make 
arrangements to do so. Unfortunately there was at this time no emigration to 
repair this depletion constantly going on; few English or Americans even 
visited this region, much less settled here.

The British garrison had hitherto occupied the old French Fort Chartres, but 
one day in 1772, the river having overflowed its banks, and swept away a 
bastion and the river wall, the occupants fled with precipitate haste to the 
high ground above Kaskaskia, where they erected a palisade fort. This was the 
principal achievement of the British forces, up to the beginning of the war 
with the colonies. In this struggle, removed from the scene of active 
operations, the commandant, resorting to the favorite means of the British 
during the entire early history on this continent, furnished supplies and 
munitions of war to the savages, and thus equipped, incited them to war upon 
the unprotected frontier settlements in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Virginia. 
So disastrous in their consequences, and distracting in their influence, were 
these attacks, that Col. George Rogers Clark early set about procuring the 
means to effectually check them. Recognizing the British post at Kaskaskia as 
the source of the Indians' supplies and inspiration, he directed his efforts 
toward the capture of this point, and enlisting the interest of Patrick Henry, 
governor of Virginia, securing such help as he could give, Clark was able on 
June 24, 1778, to start from the falls of the Ohio with one hundred and fifty-
three men for lower Illinois. So skillfully did he manage his movements that 
he caught the garrison napping, and captured on the 5th of July, both force 
and fort without the spilling of a drop of blood. Cahokia fell in like manner 
without a blow, and in the following October, the Virginia Assembly erected 
the whole country secured by Clark's several victories, into the county of 
Illinois; a territory now divided into five States.

This county thus erected was at once placed under control of civil authority, 
John Todd representing the sovereignty of Virginia as County Lieutenant. His 
instructions were broad enough to meet the whole case; he was to conciliate 
the French and Indians; to inculcate on the people the value of liberty, and 
to remove the grievances that obstruct the happiness, increase and prosperity 
of that country. These certainly were the great ends to be achieved if 
possible, but in the nature of things their accomplishment was not possible. 
The French population were easily conciliated, but the education of a life-
time, and the hereditary characteristics of the race rendered them incapable 
of appreciating the value of liberty. They had grown up under the enervating 
influence of the most arbitrary manifestations of monarchial government, and 
self-government involved too great a risk for this simple folk. The result was 
a lack of sympathy with the new order of things, more decided perhaps than 
under British rule. To this was added a business competition, to which they 
were unaccustomed; more frequent hostile incursions of the Indians in which 
the savages gradually forgot the old-time love for the French, and repeated 
losses by the inundations of the river, made up a sum of discouragement which 
gradually depleted this country of the French inhabitants. This loss was but 
imperfectly repaired by the immigration which came in from Virginia and 
Maryland. Notwithstanding the fertility of the soil had been widely published, 
and a considerable number had already found much better advantages here than 
the older colonies afforded, yet the Indian depredations that followed the 
Revolutionary war, deterred others from following until the general 
pacification at Greenville in 1795.

In 1787, the whole country northwest of the Ohio was erected into the 
Northwest Territory, and in February, 1789, General Arthur St. Clair arrived 
at Kaskaskia as first Territorial Governor. Among the earliest acts of his 
administration was the erection of the first county, including all of the 
present State extending north as far as the mouth of Little Mackinaw Creek 
(now in Tazewell County), and named St. Clair after the governor. May 7, 1800, 
Ohio was set off and the balance of the territory called Indiana; on February 
3, 1809, the Illinois territory was constituted, including the present State 
with the State of Wisconsin, and on April 18, 1818, the present State of 
Illinois was admitted into the union. These dates are approximate indications 
of the advance of settlements in the State. The population in 1809 was 
estimated at 9,000; in the census of the following year a total population of 
12,282 was returned. The frontiers had been steadily advanced by the 
adventurous pioneers. To the north, the settlement had extended to the Wood 
River country, in the present Madison County; eastward on Silver Creek and up 
the Kaskaskia River; south and east from Kaskaskia, some fifteen miles out on 
the Fort Massac road; a family had also located at the mouth of the 0hio, and 
at old Massac and Shawneetown were the remains of old colonies. The new 
settlements were very sparse and all feeble, and from 1810 to the close of the 
war, four years later, immigration was almost at a standstill.* With the close 
of hostilities, however, and the cessation of Indian aggressions, stimulated 
by the passage of the act granting the right of pre-emption to settle upon the 
public lands, the tide of emigration set in toward this State with unequaled 
volume.

At the time of the admission of the State, fifteen counties had been 
organized, embracing about one fourth of the territory of the State. The 
settled portions were all south of a line drawn from Alton via Carlyle to 
Palestine, on the Wabash, but within this area were large tracts of unsettled 
country, several day's journey in extent. At this time there were some 40,000 
inhabitants, of whom scarcely a twentieth part were descendants of the old 
French colonists. Nineteen-twentieths of the balance were Americans from the 
Southern states, with the exception of some from Pennsylvania. In 1820, the 
population was returned at 157,447, while the political organization 
represented fifty-six counties, though some of the northern ones were large 
and thinly settled. The territory lying between Galena and Chicago, extend¬ing 
southward to the Kaskaskia, the headwaters of the Vermillion, along the Rock 
River, and far down into the "Military

*Hist. of Ill., Davidson & Stuve, pp. 245-246.
 
Tract," was a trackless waste occupied by various Indian tribes. The results 
of emigration had been shown in the interior of the southern part of the 
State, and the country bordering the Embarrass, the Sangamon and their 
tributaries, where the hitherto unoccupied wilderness had been made to blossom 
with the harvest of the frontier farmer. The advanced settlements still clung 
to the edge of the timber lands that fringed the streams, and along the 
Illinois to Chicago—which was just then beginning to attract attention—were 
found at this time a few scattered settlements, weak in numbers and situated 
long distances apart. The tide of emigration which continued to sweep into the 
State—somewhat changed in character—coming largely from the Eastern States, 
and comprising a considerable percentage of foreigners, followed the old 
channels, and gradually spread over the northern part of the State until it 
met the tide which came latterly by way of the lake region. The rapidly 
increasing demand for the organization of new counties at this period, gave 
sure indication of this rapid development of the State.

Up to 1812, St. Clair and Randolph Counties had sufficed, but for the purposes 
of better representation in the territorial council, three more counties were 
added at this time. In 1815, two more were added; in 1816, five; in 1818, 
three; and in 1821, seven. Of the latter were Sangamon and Pike, the latter 
including all of the State north and west of the Illinois, and what is now 
Cook County. Sangamon included the territory east of the river to the boundary 
of Pike on the north. In 1825, the county of Peoria was formed of the northern 
part of Sangamon, and in 1831, Peoria was divided and La Salle formed, which 
then included what is now Grundy County, and the larger part of Kendall.

The advancing tide of emigration coming up along the river made its first 
permanent settlement on the territory of the present county of La Salle, near 
the present site of South Ottawa, in 1823-4-5. As early as 1821, Joel Hodgson 
came in the interest of several families resident in Clinton County, Ohio, to 
seek a place suitable for the founding of a colony.

Crossing Indiana, he entered the State of Illinois near the present site of 
Danville, and guided only by his compass and an occasional Indian trail, he 
reached the Illinois, near the mouth of the Kankakee, and following the larger 
stream down to the mouth of the Fox River, he, for the first time since he 
entered the State, recognized his position on the map with which he was 
provided. He carefully explored the land along the Illinois and its 
tributaries in this region, making his way finally to the settlement at 
Dillon's Grove, where he met the first white men after leaving Danville. It is 
not a flattering consideration to those who now rejoice in pleasant homes and 
fruitful farms in this section, to recall that this explorer returned to his 
principals only to report that there was no land here suitable for the 
purposes of the proposed colony. But there were not lacking those who could 
see beyond the present forbidding aspect, and who had the courage to dare and 
do. In 1827, there were some fifteen or eighteen families within the present 
territory of La Salle, situated some distances apart on both sides of the 
river. The colony located south of the river, included a considerable part of 
this number, and when the news of the Winnebago outbreak reached them, 
although the scene of action was a long distance off, they realized that they 
were on the frontier, and at the mercy of a horde of savages whose motives and 
impulses could not safely be conjectured, and they at once set about building 
a fort which served as a rallying point for the pioneers in this section. The 
speck of war, however, soon vanished, and emigration, temporarily stayed, 
began again to push its way up the Illinois. In 1828, the first settler on the 
present territory of Grundy County made his appearance in the person of 
William Marquis. He came untrammeled by contingencies, and upon no uncertain 
mission; he came here to stay, and settling on the banks of the Illinois, 
above the mouth of Mazon Creek, he reared his cabin and was found here by 
those who reached this country after the Black Hawk War. During these 
hostilities, the brunt of which fell upon the settlements of La Salle County, 
Marquis, although a trader and on the best of terms with the natives, found 
greater security in the protection of the fort at Ottawa than in the friendly 
disposition of his patrons, and spent the interval at the settlement. He did 
not return to his place on the Mazon, but settled further north in the county, 
and later left for the more unsettled parts, where trading with the Indians 
was more profitable.

The second family in the county was that of William Hoge, who settled north of 
the river in what is now Nettle Creek township, in the fall of 1831. Here the 
first white child of the county, James B. Hoge, was born, May 6, 1834. In 1833 
a number of families came in and settled on both sides of the river; John 
Beard, Sr., and his son-in-law, James McKeen, settled near the Kankakee north 
of the river, the latter building the first house in Morris, a log structure, 
for John P. Chapin, in May, 1834. Col. Sayers built a cabin in Wauponsee, 
which was occupied in the following year by W. A. Holloway; W. H. Perkins 
built his cabin in Au Sable; Zachariah Walley settled in the same township, 
and A. K. Owen in Mazon. The latter in a published autobiography says: "At the 
close of the war (Black Hawk) I sold my claim on Corille Creek to a man by the 
name of Moore, and in the following spring Edwin Shaw, Dr. S. S. Bobbins, 
Sheldon Bartholomew, John Hogoboom and myself fitted out an exploring 
expedition, and on the second day arrived safe and sound at the celebrated 
Sulphur Spring on Mazon Creek, and proceeded to make claims as follows, to 
wit: Dr. Bobbins at the Sulphur Spring, John Hogoboom at John Grove, Shaw and 
Bartholomew at Parers' Groves, and myself on the south branch of the Mazon, 
one mile below Mazon Town.

"While we were exploring we made headquarters at Johnny Grove, and on leaving 
we organized a meeting for the purpose of naming the different points 
selected. Dr. Bobbins proposed that from its location, it should be called 
Center Grove, but I proposed that it should be called John Grove, in honor of 
John Hogoboom, the wealthy proprietor, and my name was adopted, so the name is 
John Grove in place of Johnny Grove. Wauponsee—tradition had it that the old 
chief had, in a drunken fit, taken his butcher knife and killed six wives in 
one day, so from this and the fact that he had lived here during the Black 
Hawk War, we gave the name of Wauponsee Grove. Parer's Grove was christened 
Spring Grove, in honor of a big spring I found just at the foot of the grove, 
but as these claimants failed to put in an appearance, it was subsequently 
claimed by an Englishman by the name of Parer, hence the name.

Sulphur Spring was called Bobbins' Sulphur Spring, and my claim Owen's Spring, 
with reference to a spring at the top of the bank and a small point of timber 
running into the prairie, which I subsequently cleared off. I think this was 
in the spring of 1833." In the following year Bobbins alone moved onto his 
claim. Early in the same spring also came James McCarty, an old bachelor, who 
took two or three acres in Wauponsee Grove. He built him a little camp and 
raised a crop of corn which he put in with a hoe. In the fall he erected a 
shelter out of the stalks, in which he passed the winter. About this time came 
also the families of Claypool, Collins, Cryder, Tabler, Chapin, Cragg, 
Hollands, Kent, Millers, Griggs, Ewing, Adkins, Newport, Taylor, Bobbs, 
Eubanks, Snowhill, Samuel and Isaac Hoge and others. These were the principal 
families here before the government land sale of June 15, 1835.

The early settlers here found the public lands in a very unsatisfactory shape. 
Congress, in 1827, had granted to the State in aid of a proposed canal, the 
alternate sections found in the space of five miles on each side of the 
proposed line of its construction. These lands were resurveyed by the State in 
1829; the "odd sections" selected, Chicago and Ottawa laid off, and in 1830, 
some lots brought into market. Under this sale, the only property bought in 
Grundy County, was the purchase of Mr. William Hoge on Nettle Creek. Up to 
1834, the Congress lands were subject to pre-emption, and those who came prior 
to that date found no difficulty in securing the property upon which they had 
made improvements. The larger number of Grundy County's pioneers, however, 
came subsequent to 1833 hoping that the privilege of pre-emption would be 
extended. This, the government did not do, but ordered a sale of the lands. In 
the meanwhile, considerable improvements had been made; each man striving to 
include all the land that the old pre-emption law would allow. In February, 
1835, the lands were advertised to be sold; Ranges 1, 2 and 3 east, and all 
west of them from the southern line of township 13, to the northern boundary 
of the State, at Galena; and from range 3, to the eastern border of the State, 
at Chicago. The sale began at Chicago, on June 15, the land being offered at 
auction, and sold to the highest bidder above $1.25 per acre. The sale at the 
latter place was the one in which the settlers of this county were interested, 
and they soon found their worst fears realized. The town of Chicago was full 
of land speculators, who were ready to bid against the settlers for lands upon 
which they had "squatted" and improved. The sale was made by ranges, and 
matters went quietly forward until a spirited contest arose over some land at 
Marseilles, on which Ephraim Sprague had erected a sawmill. That night there 
was a meeting of settlers and speculators, and finding that the land-holders 
were bound to assert their prior claim by force if need be, the speculators 
made a virtue of necessity, and agreed that the actual settlers should have 
the privilege of purchasing a quarter-section without competition. To carry 
out this arrangement, a committee of three from each township was appointed, 
who should certify to the actual settlers, and appoint a man who should bid 
off the property. Instead of several persons, Dr. Goddard was chosen to bid 
off the property in the region covering La Salle County, as then constituted. 
This arrangement greatly discouraged the foreign land speculators, and it is 
said $500,000 left the town on the following morning. Thus weakened and 
discouraged, the speculators conceded to the settlers the privilege of 
peaceably bidding off more than a quarter-section, provided their improvements 
covered more land, and on reaching range 8, Salmon Rutherford claimed the 
right to bid off in this way, all he had money to buy, and this being 
conceded, became the rule of the sale. This land auction, which continued for 
upwards of two weeks, was held for a day or two on the steps of a store wrhich 
stood where 121 Lake street now is, this spot proving to be too muddy for 
comfort, the sale was adjourned to Garrett's new auction rooms near South 
Water street, where the weight of the crowd, breaking down some part of the 
structure, the sale was finished in a store room on South Water street. On the 
second of August following, the books were opened for entries and then the 
speculators, having little opposition, bought every available piece of timber 
in the northeast part of the State. As this section of the country gradually 
became settled and less dependent upon the older settlements, the county seat 
at Ottawa was felt to be at too great distance from the northern limits of the 
county. The demands of a frontier farm rendered the loss of several days on 
the occasion of every necessary visit to the county capital a serious burden, 
while the tedious character of traveling facilities aggravated the burden by 
the discomfort of the journey. In addition to this it was felt that those 
portions of the county which had readier access to the county seat had an 
undue influence, which acted to the prejudice of the less represented limits. 
These motives, whatever else may have entered into the movement, were 
sufficient to create a desire for a division of the county. Jacob Claypool, in 
settling in Wauponsee, with shrewd forecast, had satisfied his mind that the 
distance between Ottawa and Joliet—the latter not then a county seat, but of 
such growing importance that he believed it could not be ignored in the 
formation of a county—left space for another county with its center near the 
present location of Morris. The natural discontent of this section of the 
county was therefore first crystallized by the efforts of Mr. Claypool and G. 
W. Armstrong, who, though not so far distant from Ottawa, became interested in 
the movement. It was a year or two before the idea secured supporters enough 
to challenge the serious attention of the lower part of the county, but when 
it did there was considerable opposition manifested. However, the unwieldy 
size of La Salle was manifest, and the opposition finally addressed itself to 
the effort to confine the surrender to as small a territory as possible. The 
supporters of the proposition for a new county, while united against those who 
opposed the division, were by no means united as to the line of division. The 
friends of the Grundy County plan were surrounded by those who desired a 
different division with reference to other interests, giving rise to a 
conflict of interests that afforded scope for diplomatic management and 
rendered the issue by no means certain. The supporters of the Kendall County 
division, having "pooled their issues" with those of Grundy, the prospects of 
success visibly brightened. In the fall of 1840, Wm. E. Armstrong, a man of 
energy and ability, seeing that the formation of Grundy might be turned to 
speculative account, interested himself in the project, and securing in 
addition to others a numerously signed petition for the two counties, 
presented it to the General Assembly in the winter of 1840-41; by which bills 
erecting the counties of Kendall and Grundy were passed, the latter being 
approved by the Governor Feb. 17, 1841, and the Kendall bill two days later.

At this time the public interest was centered in the building of the Illinois 
and Michigan Canal, the construction of which was being delayed by lack of 
funds, and all public measures were made more or less subsidiary to this 
object. It was therefore required in the act erecting Grundy County, that 
the "Seat of Justice" should be located "on the line of the Illinois and 
Michigan Canal, on canal lands," of which territory, not to exceed ten acres, 
was to be laid off "as a town site, embracing lots, streets, alleys and a 
public square;" the lots thus formed to be assigned one half to the State and 
one half to the county," in alternate lots of equal value." For the lots 
assigned to the State, the county was to pay ten dollars an acre, and this 
revenue devoted by the Canal Commissioners to the purposes of the canal. A 
board to carry out these provisions of the act was constituted, to be composed 
of the Canal Commissioners, Hon. Newton Cloud and Gens. Thornton and Fry, and 
William E. Armstrong, E. S. Duryea and Gen. W. B. Burnett, the latter an 
engineer on the canal. A glance at the situation demonstrated the fact that to 
secure anything near a central location, the county seat would necessarily be 
placed on section 7 or 9, in township 33, range 7. Section 9, was 
objectionable to the Canal Commissioners, as there was but a fraction of its 
northeast corner north of the river, and this was the only portion suitable 
for a town site. Section 7 was objectionable to the local members of the 
board, principally because their lands were located in the vicinity of the 
other position, and that the approach to the site from the south, would be 
over the low bottoms which would oblige travel to make a considerable detour. 
Such a conflict of interests left no room for compromise, and the result of a 
vote was a dead-lock," Gen. Burnett voting with the local members. Under the 
organizing act an election was held at the cabin of Columbus Pinney, May 24, 
1841, with Perry A. Claypool, Robert Walker and John Beard, Sr., as judges of 
election. One hundred and forty-eight votes were cast, which, as there was a 
spirited contest over these first offices, represented the entire population. 
It should be noted, however, that about one third of these votes represented 
an Irish element brought here by the work on the canal, and stayed here but a 
short time. In this election, Henry Cryder, Jacob Claypool and James McKeen 
were made county commissioners; James Nagle, clerk; L. W. Claypool, recorder; 
Isaac Hoge, sheriff,*

*Mr. Hoge refused to qualify, and at a special election held Sept. 25, 1841, 
William E. Armstrong was elected.
 
Joshua Collins, probate justice;** and J. L. Pickering, treasurer.*** On June 
14, 1841, the commissioners elect with James Nagle as clerk, met at the house 
of William E. Armstrong, and after attending to the preliminary duties in 
relation to oaths and bonds, proceeded to organize the county. On the 
organization of La Salle County ranges 1 and 2 constituted Vermillion 
Precinct; ranges 3 and 4 Ottawa Precinct, and ranges 5, 6, 7 and 8 the Eastern 
Precinct. In June, 1834, a "Northern Precinct" was erected including Au Sable 
Grove and vicinity, and a year later, in June, 1835, Wauponsee was erected, 
embracing the whole of what is now Grundy County. In the following December 
that part of Wauponsee and the county north of the river was divided into two 
precincts, the dividing line starting at the river on the line between 
sections 3 and 4, township 33, R. 7, and going to section 21, 36, 7. The 
territory east of this line was known as Franklin, and west of this line as 
Grafton. The newly formed county was in this shape when the first Board of 
Commissioners sat down to arrange its political divisions. At their first 
session they formed the first precinct, composed of all of township 34, in 
range 8, north of the Illinois and Desplaines Rivers, and called it Dresden; 
the second, composed of all territory north of the river in ranges 6 and 7, 
they called Jefferson; the third composed of all territory comprised in range 
6, and the west half of range 7 south of the river, they called Wauponsee; and 
the fourth, composed of all territory south of the river, and east of the 
middle line of

**L. S. Robbins was elected subsequently, in place of Mr. Collins who failed 
to qualify.
***Sidney Dunton was elected first treasurer but failed to qualify.
 
range 7, they called Kankakee. Subsequently, on December 6, 1841, Grundy 
Precinct was erected out of the east side of Jefferson, and comprised all of 
range 7, north of the river. On September 8, 1847, Mazon Precinct was erected 
out of the Territory of Kankakee, lying south of an east and west line drawn 
through the middle of sections 25 and 30, in township 33, range 8, and 
continued through sections 25 and 27, in township 33, range 7. There were no 
further changes until March 2, 1850, when under the new Constitution, the 
Board of Supervisors through George H. Kiersted, Phillip Collins and Robert 
Gibison acting as commissioners, made the precinct lines to coincide with the 
township lines, save where the rivers made a deviation necessary. The present 
names and lines are those fixed at that time save in the case of the 
boundaries of Felix which was attached to Wauponsee, and was named and given a 
separate existence Nov. 22, 1854. The present boundaries between the two 
townships were arranged on petition of their citizens, September 9, 1856. The 
original names of Fairview, Addison and Dover were changed by the request of 
the State auditor, respectively to "Arianna," Braceville and Goodfarm.

One of the first duties imposed upon the County Commissioners by the act 
creating Grundy County, was to "prepare a place for holding courts in said 
county." The county at this time possessed neither buildings nor land, and it 
was ordered that the house of Wm. E. Armstrong be used for the court. This 
seemed to be the most available place for the purpose, and continued to be so 
used, notwithstanding a formal protest by Mr. Cryder, until the May term in 
1843, when Mr. Armstrong, having erected a frame wooden building 20 by 40 feet 
and two stories high, on the northwest corner of the present court house lot, 
the court was transferred to this new temple of justice. In the meanwhile 
the "dead-lock" on the question of locating had been broken, and the matter 
decided in favor of its present location. The commissioners, therefore, 
finding this building suitably located, bought the building which, after 
having it "lathed and plastered," cost a total of $485.36. The county offices 
were in the upper story, the east room being assigned to the Clerk, and the 
southwest room to the Recorder. As the court room was the most available hall 
in the town, it found considerable demand for this object other than that to 
which it had been devoted, and its use was finally restricted to religious, 
political and court purposes. This modest edifice survived until the erection 
of the present court house which cost $22,760, and was accepted April 26, 
1858. The "Commissioners' Court," as it was called, rivaled the Circuit Court 
in importance. It provided for court and jury, for prisoner and pauper; it 
ordered roads and licensed ferries, regulated the early tavern's bill of fare 
and laid its paternal hand on trade; it was in that day the sole arbiter of 
the county's destiny. The difficulties under which this executive board of the 
county labored have been long forgotten and now find expression only in the 
musty records of that time. The oft recurrence of the same names in the list 
of juries, the claims made for "guarding prisoners," and sums paid for the 
care of paupers, suggest a lack of resources in both means and men, which was 
characteristic of pioneer days. An incident, published by Mr. Perry 
Armstrong, "points the moral." Michael D. Prendegast, a man of fair scholastic 
acquirements, but of inordinate self-esteem, in August, 1847, was elected 
Probate Justice of the Peace by the large Irish vote which was then an 
important element in county politics. His success stimulated his vanity, which 
he betrayed by signing his name "Michel De Prendegast," and adorning his 
person with a Catalonian cloak, stove-pipe hat and a fancy ivory headed cane. 
His wife expressed the family pride by remarking to a friend: "My husband is 
none of your common justices like Pat Hynds; he is the reprobate justice of 
the peace."

The greatness thus thrust upon him could not satisfy all the demands of his 
earlier tastes, and the "De Prendegast" was found, one Sunday evening, wending 
his way to one of the saloons with his judicial cloak about him. His entrance 
was greeted by a numerous and noisy crowd, and as he produced a bottle from 
the folds of his cloak, ordering it filled with port wine, Owen Lamb, noted no 
less for his strength and size than for his love of fun and adventure, stepped 
up to the justice, saying: "Judge, we will all drink with you, and I'll have 
the best in the house; give me some brandy." This was too much for the self-
complacent dignity of the "judge," and he burst out with: "The likes of you, 
Owen Lamb, insulting me! Why, I'll blow your brains out on the spot;" and 
carried away with his anger, he instantly presented an old horse pistol to 
carry out his threat. The weapon was instantly knocked to the other side of 
the room, when the judge precipitately left the field.

The wits saw fun in this incident, and at the suggestion of Wm. Armstrong and 
George Kiersted, Lamb brought action against Prendegast for assault. The 
instigators of the action represented the prosecution, and the defendant, 
aided by the only lawyers in the place, E. H. Little and C. M. Lee, appeared 
on the part of the defense. The proofs in behalf of the prosecution were 
positive, clear and unquestioned, hence the defendant confined his efforts to 
prove his good character. Among other witnesses, L. W. Claypool, deposed 
substantially that he had known the defendant a long time; his reputation as a 
law abiding citizen was good; he did not consider him a willful or malicious 
man; not half so dangerous as a little black dog the judge owned. Dr. Curtis 
testified that he had never considered the judge a malicious or dangerous man, 
but rather as a d—d fool. This was the tenor of the testimony for the defense.

In the meanwhile, news of the trial had come to the ears of the devoted wife 
as she was engaged in "wiping the dishes." Her impetuosity knew no method, but 
rushing out with a cup and towel in her hand, she entered the court room, just 
as Kiersted was addressing the court Without a word of parley or protest she 
rushed up to him saying: "So you have turned lawyer, Mr. Kiersted, take that!" 
at the same time accompanying her words with a blow of the teacup on his 
breast, which shivered her missile to atoms. Utterly surprised by the attack 
he drew back his fist to strike, when he recognized his assailant and 
gallantly apologized for threatening a woman.

During the progress of the trial, the defendant was pelted with eggs and 
subjected to other personal indignities. As he rose to "sum up" the evidence, 
an egg struck him squarely in the ear. Throwing his hand up to the smitten 
organ, he exclaimed: "I'm kilt! I'm kilt!" and instantly feeling the soft 
material oozing out of his stunned ear, he displayed his hand covered with the 
meat of the egg, and with a horrified ejaculation, "See me brains!" broke with 
the speed of a quarter horse for his residence, declaring as the hope of a 
longer existence dawned upon his mind, "I'll demand protection from the 
Governor and his posse comitatus." Esquire Barber, before whom the trial was 
had, discovered the whole matter was intended for a joke, and discharged the 
defendant.

The first jail was built on or near the site of the old brick structure south 
of the court house. There is no record of this, but tradition has it that it 
was a two-story log house with a square excavation in the ground, with an 
entrance in the center of the lower apartment. The prisoner was dropped in and 
secured by an iron grate over the opening and shielded from the bare earth 
walls by hemlock logs. From the numerous "claims for guarding prisoners" it is 
surmised that this jail was not much used. Indeed the early sheriffs declared 
it unfit for human beings, and occasionally employed the prisoners in the 
business affairs of the jailor. It is said, but not fully credited, that Wm. 
Armstrong fastened one Cottrell, arrested for numerous thefts, with a chain 
and padlock; to a whisky barrel. At any rate, the prisoner served the sheriff 
as bartender and ferryman for some time, and served himself so good a turn 
that on coming to trial the jury acquitted him in the face of the most 
explicit evidence of his guilt. So marked was this action of the jury that it 
was for some time afterward sufficient to show that a man had been on the 
Cottrell jury to exclude him from the jury box.

The old jail was subsequently sold for fourteen dollars, when the brick was 
erected. This was built at a cost of $3,237.13, and accepted April 17, 1855. 
On July 14, 1875, after the brick jail had been officially and repeatedly 
called a nuisance the Board of Supervisors decided to build a new one, the 
result of which decision is the present stone structure, erected at a cost of 
$16,190.60, and accepted Sept. 14, 1876.

The last, and perhaps the least satisfactory of the county institutions is 
the "Poor Farm." The first farm consisted of 160 acres (the N. E. quarter 
section No. 24, 33, 6), in Norman township. This land cost $2,400; was high 
land, and while not presenting its greatest attractions to the road, was 
considered well adapted to the purposes for which it was bought. It was found 
to be too large for practical purposes, and portions of the farm were sold. 
Later it was thought a smaller farm could be made nearer self-supporting, and 
another farm was finally bought October 27, 1879; eighty acres (the south half 
of S. W. quarter, section No. 33, 7) in Wauponsee were bought at forty-five 
dollars an acre. This selection was very much opposed, and a special committee 
appointed by the Board after examining the property reported as follows: "It 
is too low and flat, with no building place above level of prairie, and no 
drainage suitable for such a cellar as the wants of a poor-house require—
wholly unfit for the erection of such buildings as this county will require in 
after years." The purchase was persevered in, however, and subsequently a 
brick building erected at a cost of $3,800. What remained of the old farm was 
sold for $2,510.

Under the statute of 1849 the probate business was transferred to the county 
judge, while that of the commissioners was transferred to a county court 
composed of a county judge and two associates. At the election in April of the 
following year the township organization was adopted by a vote of the people, 
and under this arrangement the first Board of Supervisors organized June 12, 
1850.

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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