Month: February 2022

Charles Hayward – Dayton Landowner

Candace W Leave a comment

Charles Hayward was born April 8, 1808 and grew up in Lebanon, Connecticut. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1818, and in 1835 or 36 he moved to La Salle County, one of its oldest settlers. He bought farmland, some of which was in Dayton township (highlighted above). In addition to farmland he also owned lots in Ottawa, Peru, Marseilles, and La Salle.

He served as School Commissioner of the county. He also built the Fox River House in Ottawa, which he kept for a few years being also interested in merchandising. His business affairs met with well deserved success. In 1847, Charles sold his business interests in Ottawa and moved to the Dayton farm. He had carried on farming the whole time they lived in Ottawa. By the time of his death, July 20, 1849, he was a wealthy landowner, his land being valued at more than $17,000.

His wife was Miss Julia Ann Mason, who was born in Cortland County, New York, on July 22, 1819, the daughter of Oliver and Sarah (Thayer) Mason. Charles and Julia were married in Ottawa on October 8, 1838. They had three children:

Estelle J, born December 11, 1839 on the farm in Dayton township, died October 1,1918 in Ottawa. She never married. When she died her estate was valued at $113,000, with $94,000 in real estate.

George, born April 18, 1843, died March 1, 1906 in Ottawa. He married Nettie Strickland on June 17, 1875. They had 3 children: Edith, married George Gleim; Mabel; De Alton

Emma/Emily Julia, born Nov. 5, 1846, died August 4,1920, married David Lafayette Grove [d 1897] on October 21, 1880. They had two children: Louise; Chester

After Charles’ death, Julia married Henry J. Reed on December 18, 1851. They had one son, Charles.

The interesting thing about all this for me is that some of Charles Hayward’s land, the land later owned by Emma Grove, is right next to our family farm, the original John Green property, which my sister and I still own. Also, David Grove is my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

Which just goes to prove my contention that everyone connected with early Dayton is related to everyone else.

Sorghum Making in Dayton

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sorghum making

REVIVE MAKING OF SORGHUM IN LA SALLE CO.

Back in the days when pa and ma were young and grandpa and grandma ran the farm, making sorghum was an annual fall task, and nearly everybody who lived on the farm had sorghum for their winter pancakes.

George Gleim, Ottawa attorney, was one of those who came to manhood in the days when sorghum making was a regular part of farm work.

A few years ago Gleim made a trip to southern Illinois, commonly known as Egypt. There he found that sorghum making was not a lost art, as it had nearly become in this part of Illinois.

That gave him the idea that sorghum making might be revived in La Salle county. Last spring, Gleim induced seven farmers, in Dayton township to plant an acre of cane on their farms. Some of them were from southern Illinois and they readily agreed to raise the cane.

Last week these seven men cut their cane, preparatory to the making of sorghum. Then Gleim produced an old fashioned sorghum mill, operated by a tread mill, with a horse as motive power. He also brought a big pan, fifteen feet long and four feet wide, which he had obtained in “Egypt.”

Four men from the same district who knew how to cook sorghum were also imported into the county. A shed was erected in a woodlot on the farm of Mrs. George Gleim, in Dayton township.

After experimenting with their outfit and getting it in working order, the production of sorghum, at the rate of 70 gallons a day was started last week.

The mill will be in operation for the next ten days, keeping a crew of men busy from early morning till late at night.

William Rexroat is chief cooker. Two men skim off the scum which forms on the top of the sorghum as it is cooked in the huge vat, after being crushed in the old fashioned mill.

James Dixon, Vincent Smith, Arthur Crosiar are among the men who raised the cane, and they are helping to crush and cook it.

The sorghum is being sold at the mill, either in containers on hand there, or in containers which the buyers bring with them.1

  1. The Times (Streator, Illinois), 16 Sep 1931, p. 6

A 1917 Valentine’s Party

Candace W 1 Comment

DAYTON CLUB AT SCHMIDT HOME

Valentine Party Held at Residence of Prominent Couple – Many Novel Features Introduced.

            Mr. and Mrs. Henry Schmidt gave a valentine party Wednesday evening to the Dayton Homemakers’ Circle and their families, numbering about sixty. Their home was like a fairy bower, each room being most artistically festooned in green and white, with red hearts hanging daintily about. Each guest was presented with a festal cap, the gentlemen wearing the high-pointed tasseled ones, and the ladies turbans of many hues. They were very picturesque and added great merriment to the entire evening. All these decorations were the work of the skillful hands of Mrs. Schmidt.

            Miss Marie Schmidt played a very pretty piano solo, after which the time was devoted to merry making.

            All were requested to write a sentence, each word beginning with the successive letters in the word heart. The ladies prize was won by Miss Lillian Arentsen and the gentleman’s by Mr. Louis Belrose. Broken hearts which were mended, formed the words of some familiar songs and the holders of the fragments were required to sing the songs together. This brought to notice many voices that had never been before the footlights, conspicuously among them the rich tenor of Frank Beach as it rose and fell with feeling in “The Old Camp Ground.”

            The men’s contest in heart dice was won by Paul Schmidt, who made the entire word with one toss. His unusual skill is attributed to the military training of the Ottawa high school.

            The grab-bag created a search for the bleeding heart, which was found by Miss Olmstead, and her reward was a box of candy.

            To test the memory of the married man, the left hand of his one-time bride was held beneath a white curtain, where he might recognize the wedding ring. Only one man was equal to the task and he was quite newly wed.

            In the dining room hung the great cushioned heart covered with valentine hearts and each lady was taken before this blindfolded and given an arrow with which to pierce a heart. This bore the name of a man who came bravely forward, read the beautiful sentiment inscribed therein and claimed the lady for his Valentine, to share with him the feast which followed. Here nothing was omitted, from chicken salad to ice cream hearts. And amidst it all one heard the voice of Henry Schnidt as he softly whispered the motto on his candy heart.

            The cheer of the occasion made the old grow young, and even Charles Olmstead was heard to express the pleasure he had received from the companionship of youth.

            The Dayton Homemakers thank Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt for the royal manner in which they were entertained and the evening of February 14, 1917, will be one of the memories which never fade.

An Effective Toothache Cure

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Zada Dunavan Lyons was the granddaughter of Joseph Albert and Nancy (Green) Dunavan. In 1931 her cousin David Dunavan called on her and took notes on their conversation. He sent his handwritten notes to Mabel Greene Myers, who was collecting Green family information. When I inherited Mabel’s files from her daughter, Helen, I found the notes, which included the following story –

While grandfather J. A. D. was gone to Calif. in the gold rush the folks at home did not hear from [him] and thought he had been killed. They had heard his party had started home through Mexico and that they had been killed there.

The night he got home grandma (Nancy) had a headache as a result of a toothache cure she had applied. She had run a hot darning or knitting needle into the cavity of her tooth to stop the pain. When he got home she entirely forgot the tooth and headache and they sat up about all night talking and visiting.