Month: August 2017

Albert Charlier

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S S Kroonland

When Albert Charlier died in Ottawa on June 5th, 1945, his obituary, reporting his burial in the Dayton cemetery, said only that “the deceased, of whom little is known, lived in a cottage near Dayton.” He has no tombstone in the cemetery. He never married. Nonetheless, it is possible to reconstruct the outline of his life and make his history known at last.

Albert was born in Fréconrupt, La Broque, Alsace, on September 26, 1879, the son of Jean Baptiste and Marie Claire (Charlier) Charlier. The Catholic Charlier family had lived in Fréconrupt for hundreds of years.

When Albert was about 15, an older friend, Josef Beller, decided to go to America. He must have written home with good news about his prospects, because at age 25 Albert also decided to emigrate.

He left Antwerp on March 18, 1905, on the S S Kroonland [photo above] where he traveled in steerage. He arrived in New York City on March 28. He was 25 years, six months old, single, a laborer, and able to read and write. He paid his own passage and had $44 with him. He had been living in Rothau, in Alsace, which had recently changed from being part of France to belonging to Germany, so he was listed on the manifest as German, although actually Albert was French. He said his final destination was Dayton, Ill, where he was going to join his friend Josef Beller.

Apparently he found work in Dayton, as in 1908 he was able to buy lots 6 and 7 in block 13 of the original town of Dayton from Elizabeth Benoit for $175.

In 1910 he was living in Dayton working at odd jobs. He owned his house and had filed his first papers for naturalization.

In 1918, when he registered for the draft, he was a mine worker for the Dayton Clay works. He was of medium height and weight, with brown hair and eyes.

In 1920, he was living in his own home in Dayton and working as a railroad section laborer. He had not yet become a citizen.

In 1921 he sold his house and lots in Dayton to John Garcia for $450. He went back to France, probably to see how his family had fared during the war.

In 1923 he returned from Europe on the S S La Lorraine, sailing from Le Havre on April 16. His nearest relative in France was his father, Mr. Charlier in Schirmeck, Alsace. He was bound for Dayton, Illinois. He was going to join a friend, Mrs. Klari Hess Green in Dayton, Illinois. This is most likely Clara Green Hess, daughter of Jesse Green and wife of C. B. Hess.

On January 14, 1938 he went to the circuit court in Ottawa and became a naturalized citizen.

In April 1940 he had been out of work for 6 months . He had worked for 6 weeks in 1939 at the power plant in Dayton for a total of $100.

By 1942, when he registered for the WWII draft, he was again employed at the Dayton power plant. He listed Lindo Corso of Dayton as someone who would always know his address.

He died of stomach cancer June 5th, 1945, in the hospital in Ottawa, and was buried in the Dayton cemetery on June 7th.

Unknown at his death, he is unknown no longer.

Another Dayton Schoolteacher

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Naomi Trent

Naomi Trent
March 2, 1902 – January 15, 1974

 Mrs. Trent was born March 2, 1902, in Norcatur, Kansas, to Charles and Mary Patanoe Pool. On Jan. 21, 1921, she married James Trent, who preceded her in death in 1963.

She was a retired school teacher and former principal of the Dayton School. She also taught at Central School. She was a member of the Ottawa and Dayton Women’s Club, the Retired Teacher’s Association, and World War I Woman’s Auxiliary.

Survivors include two daughters, Mrs. George (Dorothy) Haas of Morris and Mrs. George (Maxine) Heide of Lagos, Nig.; one son, James of Melrose Park; a brother, Clifford Pool of Clearlake Highland, Calif.; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband.1

Mrs. Trent and Santa

Mrs. Trent ruled over the upstairs room of the Dayton school, which held grades five through eight. In addition to her teaching duties, she was involved in many school activities, not the least of which was presiding at the annual Christmas pageant at the clubhouse.

When I was in Mrs. Trent’s room, there were around twenty students in the four grades. After listening to the other classes recite their lessons, by the time we reached eighth grade, we had heard them all several times over. Luckily Mrs. Trent realized this and the eighth graders, once their lessons were prepared, could work on a large jigsaw puzzle spread out on a table at the back of the room. We never did manage to complete it, as I recall.

  1. From her obituary in The Daily Times [Ottawa, Illinois] Jan 16, 1974, p. 10

How to Tell A Yankee from a Buckeye

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prairie schooner

Dayton was largely settled by people from Ohio, but the eastern states also contributed settlers to the area. If you need to know how to tell the difference, these remarks, given by  P. A. Armstrong at the 1877 La Salle County Old Settlers’ Reunion will help:

“The state of Ohio, though comparatively speaking one of the younger states, contributed largely towards furnishing the first settlers of this county, among whom I will mention the Greens, Shavers, Groves, Debolts, Dunavans, Hupps, Brumbacks, Pitzers, Richeys, Strawns, Milligans, Trumbos, Armstrongs, Parrs, Hitts, Reynolds, Wallaces and Bruners, all of whom have left many descendants. New York also contributed handsomely to the first inhabitants, while Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and many of the eastern states had their representatives here at an early day. As a general rule we could distinguish whether the incoming emigrant were Yankee or from the Middle States.

The Yankee drove but one span of horses to his wagon and rode on the wagon to drive – the other drove from four to six horses to his wagon, riding the left hand wheel-horse to drive. The wagon of the Yankee was coupled longer than the other, had a flexible tongue held up by a neck yoke, and was of several inches narrower gauge and far lighter draft. The box was much lower and longer than the other’s, and of simpler construction and more easily taken apart to put on and oil.

The Buckeye or the Middle State wagon was schooner-shaped and closely coupled together. The rear wheels were some 12 inches greater in diameter than the front ones. It had a still tongue, which was ever busy pounding the legs of the wheel horses. The team was driven by a single line. Three sharp jerks to turn to the right – a steady pull to turn to the left, guided them.

The harness was both a curiosity and a monstrosity – a curiosity, how it ever came into use; a monstrosity by way of punishment to the poor horses who wore them. Great heavy blind bridles, huge collars, massive hames, broad backband and heavy trace-chains for the leaders, immense breeching that literally covered the hind-quarters of the wheel-horses, side-straps full five inches wide for tugs, and large bent-skin housings upon the wethers of each horse, were sufficient to melt anything in the shape of flesh.

The box was much higher at the ends than in the middle and was made of panel work, and so mortised together that the entire weight had to be lifted up in taking it off or putting it on the wagon. Hence it required the united effort of a whole family to handle it. These schooner wagons being about 5 inches wider than the Eastern wagon, they of course never tracked with them, and hence they made a new track, at least on one side. Being very heavy they sank to hard pan in every slough, and when planted they are “solid muldoons.”

These wagons, so dissimilar, each had their advocates for a while, but the superior advantages possessed by the Eastern wagon were so patent that the prairie schooners were abandoned and suffered, like the wonderful one-horse chaise, to tumble to pieces and were never repaired or duplicated.”1

  1. Ottawa [Illinois] Free Trader, August 18, 1877, p. 4, col. 6 – p. 5, cols. 1-5
  2. image credit: By Kevin Burkett from Philadelphia, Pa., USA (Flickr Uploaded by SunOfErat) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

116 Years Ago Today in Dayton

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tent in camp site

[NEWS FROM] DAYTON

Charles Sheppler of Wedron Sundayed at Dayton.

Some nice fish are now being caught above the dam.

Charles Clodt and son Charles, spent Sunday at Serena.

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Channel and son, of Marseilles, spent Sunday here.

Miss Marguerite Clodt is spending a few days with Mr. and Mrs. Ed Clodt.

Mrs. Stella Kelly and child are now visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Cullimore.

Miles Masters, formerly of this place, but now of Ottawa, made a flying visit here on Tuesday.

G. L. Makinson, now employed at Hess’ factory, will shortly remove his family to Ottawa.

Miss Etta Barends, of Joliet, is spending her vacation with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jos. Barends.

Miss Ruth Fleming, who has been spending the past four weeks at Earlville, returned home on Saturday.

Farmers are getting along nicely with their threshing, and will soon be through if the weather holds good.

Miss Nellie McGraw, of Streator, who has been visiting the Misses Coleman, returned home on Sunday evening.

Frank Corell was stung on the hand by a large bumble bee on last Saturday. He quoted scripture in French for a few moments.

There are just fifty houses in Dayton, fourteen of which are vacant. The tile, brick and grist mills, also the electric light plant, are all idle.

Last Thursday, Miss Mary Coleman, on entering the barn, discovered a huge snake about four feet long. A neighbor was called, and his snakeship was killed.

The camp just north of the ice house above the dam, is certainly an ideal spot. There are about a dozen glass blowers from Streator at the camp, and sometimes as many as fifty visitors can be seen enjoying camp life at one time. Good boating, turtle soup and fresh fish always on hand, and no one who ever visited there ever went away without leaving sweet memories behind. On Saturday, August 17th, will be “Ladies’ Day” at the camp, when the wives and lady friends of the members will be present and a most enjoyable day is expected by all. Good music and dancing will be one of the features of the day.

Twenty-nine boys ranging in age from five to ten years of the “Fresh Air Fund” arrived over the Q. R. R. at 11:17 A. M. on Tuesday. A number of ladies and gentlemen from Ottawa met them at the train and escorted them to their camping ground, just west of Basil Green’s residence. The camp presents a very pretty appearance, everything about it being very neat and tidy. Eight tents comprise the sleeping apartments, while one dining, two commissary and one kitchen tent make up for the rest. Felix Mader of Ottawa presides over the culinary department, while Charles Caton acts as his assistant. Through the courtesy of Mr. Basil Green a dam has been built just south of the camp, where the boys may bathe and enjoy a fresh water bath, unlike that of the Chicago river. Judging from the first day or two, the visitors next week will be very numerous, and will no doubt wake up this old burg, which has so long been sleeping.1

  1. Ottawa Free Trader, 9 Aug 1901, p12, col 1

Hezekiah Bacon – Weaver

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         Bacon, Hezekiah Hezekiah and Sarah (Davey) Bacon

The Dayton woolen mill had a number of employees from England. Some worked there for many years; others for only a few. One such was Hezekiah Bacon, who was only in Dayton for a few years. He appears in the 1870 census of Dayton, living with the William Lancaster family. No other record has been found of him in La Salle county. However, a good bit is known of his life both before and after his stop in Dayton.

Hezekiah was born in 1833 in Halstead, a silkweaving town in Essex, England. His father and mother, older brother, and younger sisters were all silkweavers, as was Hezekiah. The town was dominated by the silkweaving trade and when, in 1860, the tariff on imported silks was removed, competition from the French caused the trade to collapse in England.

Hezekiah had married Sarah Ann Davey in 1852 and they had four children, so the poor opportunities for him in England decided him to emigrate to America. He came by himself, to test the possibilities before bringing the rest of his family. He arrived in New York City in December of 1867. How he came to Dayton is unknown, but one plausible explanation is that he went from New York to the mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts, and found work in the mills there. Hezekiah may very well have met William Lancaster, who was also working there, and come with him when he headed west. Both William and Hezekiah were working in the Dayton woolen mill in 1870.

In 1872 he sent for his wife. Sarah Ann arrived in New York in October of 1872, accompanied by their youngest child, Emily, aged 4. Two older children, Sarah Ann and Hezekiah Charles, immigrated later, while one daughter remained in England.

In 1873 the Dayton factory went out of business and Hezekiah had to find another workplace. J. Capps & Sons’ woolen mill was a major manufacturer in Jacksonville, Illinois, and both Hezekiah and William Lancaster were soon working there.

Hezekiah died September 17, 1887, in Jacksonville and was buried in Diamond Grove Cemetery. After his death, Sarah Ann lived for a time with her daughter Emily Nichols. Sarah died in 1915 and is also buried in Diamond Grove Cemetery.

Additional information about Hezekiah Bacon may be found here.