Dayton Comings and Goings

September 9, 2026September 4, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

Miss Fraine was a frequent passenger to Ottawa.

Miss Olive Draper of Wallace was the guest of Miss Edith Reynolds Friday.

Mr. and Mrs. E. C. McClary left Tuesday afternoon for an auto trip through the east.

Mrs. J. Damman of Ottawa called on Mrs. M. Keenan Friday afternoon.

Curtis Jerde is spending a couple of weeks with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Perry Starr in Bureau.

Passengers to Ottawa by train Saturday were Mrs. Wm. Fleming, Mrs. Jule Fraine and sons, Mrs. John Garcia, Mrs. Anna Lormis, Mrs. M. Keenan and daughter, Gertrude, Miss Emma Fraine, Mr. Tepher and Mr. Brown.

The McGrath brothers and their families of Chicago picked out their usual spot (the Meagher woods) and enjoyed a week’s vacation, camping. They returned home the first part of last week.

Mrs. Hoyland came down from Chicago Friday to spend a few days at the N. Parr home. Her daughter, Eileen, who spent the summer here, returned home with her mother Sunday.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Keenan and two daughters were dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. C. Cummings in Ottawa Sunday.

James and Emmett Gleeson and Howard Tanner will attend the Ottawa high school this year.

Louis Carr and Mrs. Edna McCloud of Batavia, Ill., spent Sunday in Dayton visiting the former’s mother, Mrs. John Garcia.

Mr. and Mrs. Jule Pitts and family of Joliet spent from Wednesday to Monday here.

Mr. and Mrs. Michael O’Brien and family of Chicago spent Tuesday with Mrs. Addie Thompson.

Mr. and Mrs. Chester Tepfer and daughter of Chicago were guests at the Andrew Tepfer home Saturday evening.

Mrs. Wm. Ryan became seriously ill Wednesday evening. She was removed to the home of her sister, Mrs. F. H. Lehr, in Grand Ridge. She is suffering an attack of hay fever.

Mr. and Mrs. Joe Springstead of Wedron called at the Fraine home Friday evening.

Andrew Tepfer is spending two weeks in Chicago with his son, Chester.

Misses Mary and Minnie Buttolph and son, Joe, spent Thursday with Mrs. Jule Fraine in Ottawa.

Wm. Ryan went to Chicago Wednesday for a few days visit.

Charles Nash of Hennepin, Ill., spent Sunday with his son, Samuel Nash.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Keenan called on Mr. and Mrs. Frank Doyle of Streator Saturday afternoon.

Mr. and Mrs. Allen Fleming and son, Marshall, of Aurora, called on the former’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Fleming, Wednesday.¹

Daily Republican Times, September 1, 1928, p. 6.

Robbery at the Dayton Postoffice

September 2, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

The Dayton post office was in a corner of this store.

ROBBERS BREAK INTO DAYTON POSTOFFICE
BLANK MONEY ORDERS, STAMPS AND MONEY TAKEN
LOOTERS LEAVE NO CLEW
Office in Dayton Seems to be a Favorite Haunt of Thieves—Postmaster Made Discovery

Thieves made a return visit to the Dayton postoffice sometime Friday night, and appropriated an amount of money, a pad of money order blanks and several sheets of stamps to themselves. The robbery was committed sometime between 8 o’clock Friday evening and 6 o’clock Saturday morning.

Postmaster Brown, who operates a general store in connection with the postoffice, went to the place yesterday morning, but soon discovered that it did not require much effort to open the building. Some one had been there before him and had pried the spring lock off the front door.

The postmaster has given up the use of a safe, following long years of experience with numerous burglars. He always left the safe open at night, and kept the valuables in a strong metal box, which he enclosed in a sheet iron mail box. Each box had a separate lock and in that way there was no need of a night prowler smashing a perfectly good steel safe.

Postmaster Brown, who is the father of Wells and Frank Brown, the founders of the Brown cafe in this city, keeps his stamps, money order blanks and money in the strong box, but the looters made their getaway with the miniature safe after prying open the mailbox.

Mr. Brown claims that twelve dollars in cash were stolen and two sheets of two-cent stamps and thrity [sic] 25-cent stamps were also taken. Besides these, the robbers took a pad of one hundred money order blanks.

A warning is issued to the public not to accept money orders from strangers, without carefully examining the numbers. The numbers of the orders stolen from the Dayton postoffice were 2,109 to 3,200, inclusive.

The Dayton postoffice has been burglarized several times in the past few years and the village is now considered a mecca for light-handed men. Sheriff Mischke was notified of the robbery immediately after its discovery by the postmaster, and, together with Deputies William Mishke and Joe Hitter, went to Dayton to investigate the matter. No clew was left by the burglars.¹

The Free Trader, September 4, 1914, p. 11, col. 1

Death of William Lair Dunavan

August 26, 2026August 23, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

William Lair Dunavan

Dr. J. O. Harris received a letter from Denton, Texas, on Monday, announcing the death of Wm. L. Dunavan, in that city, at the age of 80 years, 5 months and 24 days, on the afternoon of the 3d inst. The deceased lived for years in Rutland township, this county, and removed to Texas in 1880. He leaves a wife and several children, among them Mrs. Cyrus Debolt and A. F. Dunavan, of Dayton, a daughter in Iowa and two sons in Denton. Mr. Dunavan was well known here. He held the office of justice of the peace in Rutland for 20 years, and during the pioneer days took part in the Black Hawk war. Was also a contractor in the building of the I. and M. canal. The last issue of the Denton Chronicle contains a lengthy notice extolling the virtues and popularity of the deceased. The funeral services were conducted by Standford Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of which he was a member.¹

William Lair Dunavan was born November 8, 1808, in Licking county, Ohio. He came west with his mother and stepfather and settled at the mouth of Cedar Creek, about a mile and a half directly south of Peru. He married Eliza Green, daughter of John and Barbara (Grove) Green on November 6, 1831. They had 9 children, one of whom died in infancy. He died in Denton, Texas, May 3, 1889, and is buried there. His wife died there October 28, 1896.

Ottawa Republican, May 10, 1889, p. 5.

Dayton School Will Reopen Next Tuesday

August 19, 2026August 17, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

Opened in 1891, this school replaced the one which burned in 1890

DAYTON SCHOOL WILL REOPEN NEXT TUESDAY
BY MRS. M. J. KEENAN
(Republican Times Staff Correspondent)

DAYTON, Ill., Sept. 1 — The Dayton school will reopen on Tuesday, Sept. 4th. The opening day will include enrollment and classification. The next day will start the regular class work. Dayton this year has secured a new teacher, Mr. Stangland, who will teach the upper grades. Miss Emma Fraine, the former lower grade teacher, will be on duty again this year and everything is in readiness for a successful school year.

Moving Week in Dayton
This week has been moving week in Dayton. Mr. and Mrs. Jule Fraine and family moved to Ottawa. Mr. and Mrs. Brian Sexton of Wallace have moved into the house made vacant by the former people. Miss Roades of Ottawa moved into the home she purchased recently from B. L. Garrow. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Jacobs moved to Ottawa and Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Parr and family of Ottawa will occupy their home.

Woman’s Club Card Party
Fifteen tables were occupied at the card party given by the Dayton Woman’s club Friday evening. The guests played euchre and bunco from 8 until 10 o’clock, at which time a lunch of sandwiches, cake and coffee was served. Mrs. Joseph Jerde and John Gregory were the winners in euchre, while Mrs. John Reynolds and Paul Ainsley won high score in bunco. Dancing took place the remainder of the evening.

Start Work on Culvert
Men started to work Monday to put a culvert in the road leading east of Dayton under the elevated railroad. The work is under the supervision of Commissioner C. E. Thompson of Wedron. No doubt this arched drain will better the condition of the road as the water will be forced under instead of over the surface.

Automobile Accident
An automobile containing four men ran into the bridge just south of the Gilbert Master’s home Monday evening. Each of the occupants was badly bruised and cut. One had thirteen stitches taken on the neck. None of them was known in this vicinity.

To Entertain Woman’s Club
Mrs. john Bowers and daughter, Mae, will entertain the members of Dayton Woman’s club Wednesday, Sept. 5, at the Dayton hall. A tea towel shower will be held on that day and each member has been requested to furnish one tea towel.

Labor Day Supper
The members of the Dayton Woman’s club have completed plans for a community supper to be held at their hall on Labor Day. Supper will be served between 7 and 8 o’clock. A program has been arranged.

Attend Institute
Misses Emma and Jennie Fraine attended the teachers institute held in Ottawa this week. Miss Jennie Fraine has secured a position in one of the schools in Marseilles, while Miss Emma will again teach in Dayton.

Sells Property
B. L. Garrow, formerly of Dayton, sold his house and lot to Miss Roades of Ottawa. She moved in the first of the week.¹

Daily Republican Times, September 1, 1928, p. 6.

Weather in Dayton: The Small Stories

August 12, 2026August 8, 2026Candace W 1 Comment

Most towns have their great weather stories — the blizzard of ’78, the flood of ’52, the tornado that took the roof off the feed mill. Dayton has those too, of course. But going through the old newspapers and township notes, you see the small weather stories: the domestic, whimsical, almost throwaway observations that never make it into the official histories but somehow tell you more about how people actually lived.

These are the scraps that make Dayton feel like a place where the weather wasn’t just endured — it was talked to, bargained with, joked about, and occasionally blamed for political outcomes.

The Weather With Opinions

In May of 1879, a late frost kept returning night after night, and someone finally gave up and described it as arriving “like the Dutch girl’s beau, efery evening, mine sweet sourcrout” — the frost as an overly persistent suitor who simply will not take a hint.

A few years later, at Ada Green’s wedding in 1881, the sun was said to have “smiled gently and lovingly down upon the young couple.” Dayton folks were not above giving the sun a personality when it suited the occasion. And in 1892, the morning sun struck the town “squarely in the face and makes her smile again,” as if Dayton were a character in the story.

During a sweltering July in 1886, the whole community was “vainly sighing for a cool Manitoba wave.” I like the idea that relief might drift down from Canada.

And in 1889, when the snow wasn’t quite deep enough for proper sleighing, a Wedron correspondent appealed directly to the heavens: “so send us down a little more snow, Old Probit.” Weather as negotiation.

The Rhythms of Winter

In 1901, one Sunday’s weather was described as being “like a raffle, very uncertain” — rain in the morning, sunshine at noon, and a “good old-fashioned snow storm” by afternoon. A whole day’s worth of seasons in twelve hours.

In December 1888, “King Winter visited us last night,” leaving enough snow to make the “sleigh bells jingle.” That’s the kind of line that makes you hear the sounds of the place.

And in November 1879, someone marked the true arrival of winter with a single, melancholy sentence: “No more we’ll hear the robin sing.”

Then there was the ice gorge of 1885, with its huge blocks “glittering in the sunlight like polished silver.” A tiny postcard of a moment.

Weather as Daily Companion

Some of the best weather notes are the ones where it intrudes on ordinary life.

In June 1879, someone pitched a tent by the river, only to discover that the moment the canvas went up, “the mercury in the thermometer begins to move toward zero.” Camping, Dayton-style.

During a drought in 1887, a correspondent joked that if anyone had influence at the “Signal office,” they might “scare up a week or two of good rains” for the mills. Weather as bureaucracy.

In the 1882 election, heavy afternoon rain “was somewhat damaging to the hopes of a few aspirants for office.” A very Midwestern way of saying the mud did someone in.

And in November 1901, the wells ran dry, forcing families to carry water “quite a distance for household use.” A small hardship, quietly noted.

My favorite, though, is the lament from Ottawa saloon keepers in 1901: the turtles they relied on for lunch-counter fare had vanished into the mud for winter — “and pulled the mud in after him.” A whole season summed up in one disappearing turtle.

Why These Little Stories Matter

None of these are dramatic. None of them would make a timeline. But together they form a kind of weather‑shaped portrait of Dayton — a place where people paid attention to the small shifts, the first robin’s silence, the glitter of ice, the way a tent could summon cold, or how a frost could behave like an overly attentive beau. These tiny stories are the texture of daily life.

Copilot wrote the unruly first draft; I made it publishable.

Lightning Struck Barn

July 29, 2026July 23, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

LIGHTNING STRUCK BARN
Horses knocked down and stunned by the bolt
Big Building on John L. McGrath Farm Set Afire During the Storm Thursday

A big barn on the farm of John L. McGrath in Dayton township, was struck by lightning during Thursday afternoon’s storm, and was saved through the timely efforts of several men at the McGrath home.

The people saw the bolt hit the building and in its freak maneuvers made a circuit of the inside, knocking several of the horses to the ground and setting the place afire.

The men rushed to the building with buckets of water and wet blankets and had the blaze extinguished shortly. The barn is occupied by stock, hay and implements, and is a very large one. Mr. McGrath is the possessor of several blue blood horses, one of which was knocked down and stunned by the bolt Thursday.

It has always been the custom of the McGrath household to watch the place during electrical storms and the idea proved its worth Thursday.¹

The Free Trader, August 21, 1914, p. 5, col. 5

A Fraudulent Deed

July 22, 2026July 17, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

In the late nineteenth century, Dayton saw its share of opportunists, and one of them soon crossed paths with the Green family – specifically David Green’s widow, Mary, who now owned the Dayton mill.

In 1890 Levi K. Purky arrived from Newport, Indiana, expressing interest in buying the mill. Purky represented himself to John Green, Mary’s son who conducted all her business, as the owner of 500 acres of timber land in West Virginia. He described the land as near a railroad station and said that a natural flow of oil had lately been discovered near it. He further stated that the land was worth from $20 to $60 per acre and offered to trade the same for the mill and assume the mortgage of $2,500 on the mills. He furnished an alleged abstract of the land in West Virginia and the exchange was agreed upon

The mill was occupied at the time by one John Smeeth, and for the immediate possession of the mill Purky offered Smeeth 125 acres of the land. The exchange was made and Mrs. Green was given a deed for 375 acres of timber land in West Virginia.

It was then discovered that neither Purky nor the grantors of his deed had any interest in the property. Mary then sued to cancel the deed she had given Purky and that her property be returned to her. The Grand Jury indicted Purky for conspiracy and aiding in a fraudulent land sale. He was arrested and then released by giving a bond for $2000, with Basil Green on the bond.

Upon his arrest Purky employed lawyers to look into the matter. The investigation brought to light the fact that Purky himself was swindled in purchasing the land by the man who sold it to him. The latter gentleman, now residing in St. Louis, was visited by Mr. Purky’s attorney, When first questioned regarding the title of the land he pretended to know nothing about it. He was placed under arrest, made a clear confession of the whole transaction, and stated that he would willingly do anything to effect a compromise in this matter.

The man would undoubtedly be brought to Ottawa and the litigations commenced against Purky would undoubtedly be settled without ever coming to trial. The fact that no further items appeared in the Ottawa newspapers lends credence to this conclusion.

*Dunavan – Martell Marriage

July 15, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

Dunavan-Martell

Married. – Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 1 o’clock P.M., at the residence of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. F. Dunavan, their daughter Jennie E. to William H. Martell of Chicago.

The ceremony was performed by the Rev. W. Day of Ottawa, in the presence of about 30 of the relatives and intimate friends of the bride and groom. After congratulations and a feast at the bountiful board, the newly married couple took the 3:50 p. m. accommodation to Chicago, where they will make their home.

The bride was one of Dayton’s fairest daughters, and will be greatly missed from our society. She was organist in our Sunday school for a good many years and a prime mover in all social events. She was a graduate of the Ottawa High School of the class of ’85. The groom is a solicitor for the Gas Consumer’s Co. of Chicago.

The presents were many and fine, and evinced the love and respect in which the bride and groom are held by their numerous friends and relatives.

The following guests were present: Mrs. Dunavan of Fairbury, Ill., sister of the bride’s mother; Mrs. Behm of Syracuse, N. Y., aunt of the groom; Miss Clark of Chicago, and Mrs. A. E. Butters of Ottawa, of the High School class of ’85; Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Hess, Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. David Hall and Will Rising, of Ottawa; Misses Cora Moore, Maud Green, Mae Trumbo, Ella Green, Eva Channel, and Jessie Trumbo; Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Green; Messrs. A. W. Ladd, W. Van Etten, John Green, James Green, Harry Green, Joseph Green. A large number of regrets were received from those who were unable to be present. A number of fine presents were received by express.

Mr. Wm. Dunavan, the eldest brother of the bride, was unable to attend the ceremony as he has just opened a wholesale and retail store of horse collars, harnesses, buggies, &c., at Kinsley, Kansas.

Occasional¹

Jennie Edith Dunavan was the daughter of Albert F. and Emma (Cooper) Dunavan. She was born May 29, 1866.

Ottawa Free Trader, October 1, 1887, p. 1, col. 4

The Elm Tree Isaac Planted

July 8, 2026July 3, 2026Candace W 1 Comment

The tall tree behind the house is surely the elm Isaac planted the same year the house was built

Every so often, while rummaging through old posts on my website, I stumble across a detail that meant nothing when I first wrote it — and suddenly means everything now. This week’s discovery came from a piece I wrote years ago about the paper toys my great‑aunt used to make for us. I wasn’t looking for anything important; I was just checking whether I’d already written about them. But tucked into that post was a memory I had completely forgotten.

My great‑aunt was describing the afternoon she and I spent measuring the elm tree in their backyard. I remember the day: the tape measure, the rough bark, the way she insisted we “do it properly.” The tree was enormous — thirty feet around at the base. Even then, I knew it was old. What I didn’t know was its origin.

She wrote, almost casually, that the elm had been planted by her father, Isaac, in 1853.

At the time I first read that, the date didn’t register. It was just a number, one more scrap of family lore. But now — after months of reconstructing land chains, aligning plats, and tracing the early settlement along the ridge — that date rings like a bell.

Because 1853 was the year John, Jesse, and David Green all built their solid frame houses along the shelf of land overlooking the river. The identical houses with the hipped roofs and the row of windows across the front. The houses that marked the moment the family shifted from older buildings to new shiny homes. The year the family cluster became the center of the Green settlement.

And while those houses were going up, Isaac planted an elm.

That tree grew alongside the houses — literally. It stood there through every change: the farm years, the dairy years, the years when the town was busy and the years when it was quiet. By the time my great‑aunt and I wrapped a tape measure around it, the elm had lived through the entire arc of the family’s Dayton history.

It wasn’t just a tree. It was a witness.

I didn’t know that when I wrote the original post. I didn’t know it when I measured the tree as a child. But now, with the whole 1853 landscape finally coming into focus, that little detail — buried in a paragraph about paper toys — suddenly feels like a thread that ties everything together.

Sometimes the past doesn’t reveal itself all at once. Sometimes it waits patiently in an old remark until you’re finally ready to understand it.

From Bright Eyes to Greenacres: A Century of Cattle

July 1, 2026June 29, 2026Candace W 1 Comment

A Shorthorn Matriarch

If you stand in the old barn long enough, you can almost hear them: the soft shifting of hooves, the creak of stanchions, the low, steady breath of cows who lived a century apart yet shared the same worn floorboards. The Green farm in Dayton held cattle for nearly a hundred years, and in that time the herd changed as surely as the world around it.

It began with Isaac Green in the 1850s, a man with an eye for Shorthorns and the patience to build a herd one careful breeding at a time. His cows had names like Bright Eyes, Lilac, and Jenny Lind — Victorian names for Victorian cattle — and their daughters and granddaughters shaped the farm for decades. Isaac’s herd was a breeder’s herd, full of ambition and pedigree, the kind of cattle meant to improve a breed, not just fill a milk pail.

When Isaac died in 1904, the Shorthorn era slowly faded. The cows aged out, the bulls were sold, and the farm shifted into a quieter rhythm as a new chapter began. By 1916, Isaac’s son, Lyle, was buying registered Jersey bulls; by 1918 he appeared in the Jersey Herd Register with more than seventy animals. The farm had changed breeds, changed purpose, and even gained a name — Greenacres — though the land beneath it was the same.

By the 1930s, Lyle’s Jerseys were a full, accredited dairy herd: sleek, golden cows tested and certified tuberculosis‑free by the USDA. Their birth certificates were ornate, their pedigrees carefully kept, and their milk rich with the butterfat Jerseys are famous for. This was the farm at its modern peak.

And then, in time, the herd shrank again. By the years I remember, there were maybe twelve or fifteen cows left. My father would walk across the bridge to the far pasture to bring them home in the evening, the river sliding by quietly as the cows came up the road in that unhurried way cattle have. They were the last generation — the final echo of a story that began with Isaac’s Bright Eyes almost a century before.

The Barns on the Green Farm

June 24, 2026June 18, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

The old barn on the left was probably the second Green barn, likely built sometime around 1855. It was already old by the time the new gambrel‑roof dairy barn went up in the 1910s. By the time I came along, the two barns stood side by side — one from the pioneer era, one from the dairy boom — like an accidental before‑and‑after picture.

This is the only picture I have that shows both barns. It was taken from the northeast, before the hillside was covered with trees. The old barn suffered a fire sometime before the 1940s, as Dayton children in my youth played a great game of tag/hide in the remnants of the interior. It was finally torn down in 1955. The new barn also died by fire in 1989, but the cows were long gone by then.

A Large and Brilliant Meteor

June 17, 2026June 10, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

Last Saturday evening about 8 o’clock a large and brilliant meteor was seen by a few fortunate ones who chanced to be “‘neath the starry heavens.” It started nearly overhead and “struck a bee line” for the northeast, leaving a tail of fire after it resembling a comet. Just before it reached the horizon it exploded, throwing out particles in all directions. The sight was magnificent. By the Chicago Times of Monday, we notice it was seen in Chicago and in Battle Creek, Michigan. At the latter place the light from the meteor was so brilliant as to dim the gaslight.¹

It was seen well beyond Dayton. Chicago papers called it a fireball of extraordinary brilliance. Some Michigan observers thought stones might have fallen, while others insisted the explosion was strong enough to shake buildings. No confirmed meteorites were ever found, but the speculation gives a sense of how powerful the detonation must have been.

In Dayton, the meteor left no physical trace, but it was remembered. It shows up in the same breath as the great floods and the deep snows — one of those moments when something unusual crossed the sky and the correspondent thought it worth noting.

Ottawa Free Trader, January 8, 1881, p. 8, col. 3

Ralph Green – Postal Clerk

June 3, 2026May 22, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

Ralph Green was a Railway Post Office clerk around the beginning of the 20th century. He worked on the train, sorting mail for delivery to all the small towns along the route. He made $75/month, $900/year.

Railway Post Office clerks were considered the elite of the postal service’s employees. Their jobs were exhausting and dangerous, their entrance tests demanding—a passing grade was considered 97%. They were required to sort 600 pieces of mail an hour. To ensure that the clerks’ skills didn’t rust, they were tested from time to time to ensure they could maintain that pace.

Ralph served the US in the Postal Service for only a short time. He was studying to be a lawyer and when he passed the bar exam, the Postal Service was left far behind.

His daughter said that when she was small, her father would amuse them by reciting all the stops on his route between Ottawa and Peoria. I can hear him chanting now: Ottawa… Naplate… La Salle… Peru… Oglesby… Tonica… Lostant… Troy Grove… Mendota… Bureau… Tiskilwa… Wyanet… Buda… Bradford… Princeville… Alta… Peoria.

A Transplanted Workforce: Dayton’s Woolen Mill in 1850

May 27, 2026May 22, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

The Dayton woolen mill, shown here in its formal portrait

The 1850 census of Dayton provides a detailed snapshot of the town’s early industrial life, and it reveals a pattern that does not appear in the later county histories. Every skilled worker employed in the woolen mill that year—spinners, carders, finishers, and clothiers—came from regions with established textile traditions. None were born in Illinois, and none were drawn from the surrounding farming community.

Several workers were English, part of the long‑standing movement of textile specialists who carried technical knowledge from Yorkshire and Lancashire to American mills. Others came from New England, especially Connecticut and Massachusetts, where woolen manufacturing had been well developed for decades. Additional workers arrived from Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, all states with earlier industrial centers than Illinois.

This pattern indicates that the Dayton mill did not grow out of local labor or local experience. It was a transplanted enterprise, staffed by people who had already worked in textile settings elsewhere. Even the mill owners, the Green family, had migrated from Licking County, Ohio in the 1830s, bringing with them the capital, skills, and connections needed to establish the business.

The county histories written later in the nineteenth century focus on the mill’s proprietors and on the township’s pioneer farmers, but they rarely mention the mill hands themselves. The census, however, preserves a different picture: in 1850, Dayton’s woolen mill operated entirely through the labor of migrants from older industrial regions. The mill was an industrial island on the prairie, shaped by people whose experience had been formed far from Illinois.

The Cannon Incident

May 20, 2026May 19, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

If you ever think politics today is dramatic, let me take you back to 1841, when a defeated President of the United States came to Dayton — for a fishing trip.

Martin Van Buren had just lost the election to William Henry Harrison, and apparently the cure for political heartbreak was ten days of rest in Ottawa with his nephew, the very dignified Judge John V. A. Hoes. (Yes, the same Hoes who later bought up half the Dayton lots without ever living here. Dayton has always attracted interesting people.)

Anyway, after a few days in Ottawa, someone had the bright idea to take the former President down to Dayton for a little fishing and fresh air. And because this was frontier Illinois, the “escort” was not a carriage or a quiet ride.

It was a procession of 150 men on horseback.

Picture it: a long line of riders, dust rising, horses snorting, the whole countryside turning out to watch. And at the head of the Dayton welcoming committee stood John Green, founder of the town, prominent Democrat, and the sort of man who would absolutely organize a crowd for a visiting President.

And then — because Dayton never missed a chance for a little spectacle — someone decided to fire a cannon.

Not a big cannon. Not a military cannon. A little cannon. A sort of “frontier noisemaker” cannon.

It was perched on a hill, ready to give the President a rousing salute.

What happened next is the reason this story has survived for 180 years.

The cannon went off. The horses panicked. And the Secretary of the Navy — James K. Paulding, a blunt, plain‑spoken man — nearly lost his mind.

His horse bolted. He started shouting. And according to the newspaper account, he threatened that if someone didn’t stop that “infernal idiot” firing the gun, he would “get down and lick him himself.”

This is, without question, the only time in American history that a Secretary of the Navy threatened to fistfight a man with a toy cannon in a town of a few hundred people.

The fishing trip, by the way, was a complete failure. Not a single fish. The locals blamed the Secretary’s swearing for scaring them off.

Dayton Homemakers’ Programs Over the Years

May 13, 2026May 12, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

Rita Poole cutting the cake at the 100th anniversary of the Dayton Homemakers

The Dayton Homemakers’ 100th anniversary celebration marked a full century of meetings, programs, and community events. Looking back through the old programs, you can see the range of activities that kept the club going year after year.

Practical Talks & Demonstration

These were the backbone of the meetings — the Homemakers prided themselves on being both cultured and useful.

“Poultry Raising and House Cleaning” — discussion at Mrs. Frank Trumbo’s
Question Box sessions — open‑floor problem solving
Corn Varieties & Seed Selection — talk by Frank Beach, president of the La Salle County Farmers’ Institute
“Country Community Life in Illinois” — lecture by Miss Mabel Carney of Normal
California Travelogue — Miss Molly Strait’s winter trips out west
Sewing Bee — practical work session at Mrs. John McGrath’s, featuring “fancy things”

These programs were half education, half community support.

Musical Programs

The Homemakers loved music — and they had a deep bench of local talent.

Instrumental

Piano solos by Miss Dwyer, Miss Barrett, Irene Barrett, Lucile Bultman, Gertrude Beach
Violin selections by Miss Charity Sage
Mandolin & piano duets by Mr. and Mrs. Louis Belrose

Vocal

Solos by Mrs. Frank Beach
Solos by Mr. Louis Chally
Solos by Miss Josephine Trumbo

Music was the social glue — and the newspapers always noted who performed.

Literary & Dramatic Features

Dayton loved a good reading.

Readings by Mrs. Frank Funk
Readings by Mrs. Fannie Tucker
Dramatic dialogue by the Misses Erickson
“Corn Conundrums” by Frank Beach (a comic highlight at the Corn Party)

These were the moments when the Homemakers showed off their flair.

Social Events & Special Programs

These were the showpieces — the events that made the Ottawa papers perk up.

The Corn Party

Held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Beach

Corn‑themed decorations
Corned beef, corn bread, popcorn
Corn games, corn riddles, corn everything
Open to both ladies and gentlemen

Fourth of July Picnic

At Henry Schmidt’s farm

Formal program
Sports
A massive dinner
A crowd large enough to impress even Ottawa

Fundraising Programs

Raffle of a sofa pillow made by members, proceeds to the school treasury

Red Cross Work (1940s)

Sewing
Knitting
War‑effort support

This was the Homemakers at their most civic‑minded.

Conclusion

The Dayton Homemakers were practical, musical, literary, dramatic, social, and charitable. They accomplished a lot in their first hundred years.

Cows, Cows, Cows

May 6, 2026May 3, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

Green farm – old barn on left

The Greens were Dayton’s cattle people. If there was a cow to be bought, a bull to be shown, or a dairy improvement to be tried, a Green was probably involved.

John Green is where the whole thing starts on paper, but the newspapers only tell part of it. When he died in 1874, the executor’s sale listed more cattle than some townships had: thoroughbred short‑horns, high‑grade cows, bulls with pedigrees. He was building something substantial.

But the person who kept that operation running was his son Isaac. Isaac had been doing the work on the home farm since he was old enough to hold a pitchfork. By the time John died, Isaac was already the one managing the herd, the breeding, the daily grind. John built the foundation; Isaac kept the whole thing moving.

Then came Isaac’s son, Lyle, who took the farm into the modern era. Lyle imported cattle from the Channel Islands, bought expensive bulls from Buffalo, and eventually won Grand Champion at the La Salle County Fair. He was serious about dairying — not just keeping cows alive, but improving them. If Isaac kept the herd going, Lyle made it shine.

After Lyle, the farm went to the care of his brother Ralph — my grandfather. Ralph kept things steady. Not flashy, not experimental, just dependable. Every farm needs someone like that, the one who holds the line between the ambitious generation and whatever comes next.

And then “whatever comes next” turned out to be Charles, who married Ralph’s daughter and inherited the cows along with the farm. He worked with them for fourteen years, which was long enough to be polite about it, but the truth is he didn’t like dairy farming. At all. So the first real chance he got, he sold the cows. That was the end of the Green cattle era.

It didn’t end in disaster or drama. It just ended because the person who had to get up at 4 am didn’t want to do that anymore. And that’s as much a part of the story as the prize bulls and the imported heifers ever were.

“A Useful School House”

April 29, 2026April 28, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

In the spring of 1895, this Dayton school was only a few years old. Dayton had gone without a school building for a year when the old school burned in November1892 and this building filled a definite need. It became the center of Dayton life, although, as shown here, that was not to everyone’s liking.

A Dayton correspondent sends us a complaint about the economical methods adopted by some of its citizens. He says they are making use of the public school building for a dancing hall and club room. He says the young men are backed up by the directors and others. The same building is used for an opera house, and that the directors and their families get free tickets for the dances and shows, but that they and their families are not very largely represented when the school is used on Sunday for Sabbath School. The correspondent is a tax payer, he claims, and does not get in under the canvas.¹

Ottawa Republican, March 21, 1895, p. 3,

Dayton and the Greens

John Green and the history of Dayton, La Salle County, Illinois

Author: Candace W