Whiteside County IL Archives Biographies.....Fellows, Henry C 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 January 31, 2008, 2:28 am

Author: Portrait/Bio Album, Whiteside County IL 1885

Henry C. Fellows, capitalist at Fulton City, was one of the first party of 
pioneers at that place, and also one of the proprietors of the first town 
plat. He is a native of New York, and was born in the town of New Lebanon, 
Columbia County, March 10, 1813, and is the son of Joshua and Juliet (Darling) 
Fellows. His early life was passed on his father's farm, till he became 
ambitious of being his own master. He learned the carpenter and joiner's 
trade, and in the fall of 1835 started for the West, arriving at Joliet, Ill., 
in November of that year. He worked at his trade in Joliet till the spring of 
1837, when he started out in search of an opening for business. He was joined 
by a party of land-seekers; and, after fording swollen streams of ice-cold 
water and spending two nights on the open prairie without shelter, they 
reached the banks of the Mississippi at the present site of Fulton, on the 
first of March, 1837. Here they found a deserted shanty that had been built by 
John Baker, who had erected a better house to the eastward, over the hill, 
where he was then living. They took possession of the old shanty and for a 
considerable time it was headquarters, or bachelor's hall, for themselves and 
others who soon after joined them. In May of that year their party consisted 
of H. C. Fellows, James McCoy, John B. Jenkins, Geo. W. Kellog. A bargain was 
made with Mr. John Baker, who claimed the town site, and who had made a rude 
survey of a plat, by which the old plat was abandoned and a new survey made, 
with the new-comers as joint proprietors. The survey was made by McCoy, 
Fellows, Jenkins and Kellog. The principal proprietors of the town site were 
H. C. Fellows, James McCoy, George W. Kellog, John B. Jenkins, Alvin 
Humphries, R. J. Jenks, Lyman Blake, John Baker and Jeremiah Humphries. It was 
some time before the land came into market and real titles could be obtained. 
In the meantime other emigrants joined them, and the town of Fulton soon 
became an established fact. The founders of the young town had many privations 
to endure. The low prices of produce and great distance from market made 
incomes necessarily small. Had mosquitoes and malaria been marketable, the 
young colony would have been rich. However, the pleasure peculiar to a 
frontier life partially compensated for the lack of the comforts of more 
mature civilization. Mr. Fellows took an active part in encouraging the 
improvement and development of the town, and soon became prominent in public 
affairs. He was appointed Deputy Sheriff under John W. LeMore in 1844, for two 
years. He was elected Justice of the Peace in the early days of the town, was 
re­elected and held that office 14 years. Litigation was more common in early 
times than in later years, as the machinery of society could not be expected 
to run smoothly at first, where there were many conflicting interests and 
numerous turbulent spirits that , naturally gravitate to the frontier. 'Squire 
Fellows' Court was kept in active operation and justice was meted out with a 
view to equity as well as law. His decisions were deemed so just and fair that 
an appeal was seldom made from them. He was elected Supervisor of Fulton 
Township in 1857, and again in 1860-3-4-70, and was appointed in 1871 to fill 
a vacancy, and re-elected again in 1872. He was one of the first Aldermen of 
the city and has held other local offices. In April, 1850, he joined a party 
of his fellow townsmen in a trip to California, going across the plains. He 
spent two years in the gold regions, and returned well satisfied with his 
experience. In 1859 he formed a partnership with Mr. Irving G. Gates, under 
the firm name of Fellows & Gates, lumber merchants, and carried on an 
extensive business from 1859 to 1862, when they sold out. In 1864 he removed 
to Union Grove, to one of his farms, where he was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits until 1868, when he returned to Fulton. In 1871 he went into the 
livery business, which he conducted till 1876. Mr. Fellows is a man of keen 
business sagacity, of unquestioned integrity, whose word is as good as his 
bond. By strict attention to business and judicious investment, he has 
acquired a large and valuable property. He has several well improved farms, 
aggregating 1,500 acres, besides valuable city property and securities. He was 
married in Union Grove Township, Nov. 9, 1843, to Miss Lydia Baker, daughter 
of Jacob and Elizabeth Baker. Mrs. Fellows was born in Trumbull Co., Ohio, and 
came to Fulton with her parents in 1839. Mr. and Mrs. Fellows have had seven 
children,—four daughters and three sons. The eldest, Robert J., married Hattie 
Burns, and resides at Union Grove, Ill. They have three children, all girls, —
Augusta E., Lola M. and Mabel E. The second child, Augusta E., died aged 18 
years. The third, Ella H., died aged 17 years. Florence A. resides with her 
parents. Mary died aged two years. William H., a lawyer, and Fred A. are in 
business in Northern Dakota. In all matters of public enterprise calculated to 
benefit his town or county, Mr. Fellows has acted with his characteristic 
earnestness and decision, rendering wise counsel and material aid. When the 
project of constructing a railroad as an outlet from Fulton to the East was 
under consideration, he was one of those whose earnest efforts secured its 
accomplishment. The portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Fellows are presented in this 
volume with much satisfaction, as the subjects are inseparably connected with 
the earliest history of Fulton and the county of Whiteside. Time has dealt 
kindly with them, as they deserve from their lives of thrift and usefulness.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois, Containing Full-
page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens of the County. Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1885.

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