The group of 24 settlers from Licking County, Ohio, that John Green led to La Salle County, Illinois in 1829 were primarily two family groups, Green and Groves. On the Green side were John, his wife Barbara Grove, and their seven children; and Henry Brumbach, with his wife Elizabeth Pitzer, who was John Green’s niece, and their son, David.

The Groves were David (Barbara’s brother) and his wife, Anna Houser, and their daughter Elizabeth; Rezin DeBolt and his wife, Emma Grove (Barbara’s sister), and their daughter Barbara; Joseph and Samuel Grove (Barbara’s brothers).

These two families account for 20 of the 24 settlers. The other four were young unmarried men: Jacob DeBolt, Jacob Kite, Alexander McKey, and Harvey Shaver.

This marriage bond was drawn up in Rockingham County, Virginia, on December 6, 1816 between Jacob Trumbo and the father of his bride-to-be, Elizabeth Snyder. The bond was to certify that there was no impediment to the marriage, which took place on December 12, 1816. Jacob and Elizabeth continued to live in Rockingham County, where they raised a family of eleven children, eight boys and three girls. In 1853, Jacob, with five of his sons and at least one of his daughters, moved to Illinois, and purchased 160 acres in Dayton Township. He was not to enjoy his new home for long, however, dying shortly after their arrival, on November 10th, 1853. Elizabeth continued to live on the farm until she retired to a house in Dayton, leaving the farm in the hands of her son, Moab. Elizabeth died May 1, 1873 and was buried beside her husband in Buck Creek Cemetery, in Dayton Township. In 1911 their bodies were moved to the Ottawa Avenue Cemetery in Ottawa and the cemetery is now a cornfield.

State of Illinois
La Salle County

Noah Brunk Being duly Sworn, Deposes and says, he is engaged to be married to Miss Elizabeth Amanda Parr that the said Amanda Elizabeth is under the age of Eighteen Years, and that he is over the age of Twenty-one Years. that he [has] the consent of the parents of said Amanda for her marriage with him at this time.
Noah Brunk
Subscribed and sworn before me
this 19th day of September 1857
S W Raymond   Clerk

In a somewhat unusual procedure, the consent for the marriage of this under-age bride was not given by her parents, but by the prospective bridegroom, who assured the authorities that he did indeed have the consent of her parents. The marriage was solemnized on the 24th of September, as shown by the marriage license.

Amanda would have been about 16 at this time. In the 1850 census, she appears with her parents and siblings as Elizabeth A. Parr, age 9.

Noah and Amanda had three children, Thomas L., Ida Bell, and Cora B. Ida Bell died as a child and is buried in the Dayton cemetery.

At the 2008 meeting of the Dayton Cemetery Association the program was about Eliza Ann Shaw, who was married to two Civil War soldiers and is buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery. This is the transcript of the program.

            Eliza Ann Shaw was born in London, England, in 1841. Her father, James Shaw, was a greengrocer; her mother, Catherine Henessey, was born in Ireland. The family lived on Carnaby Street, less than a mile from Buckingham Palace. It is possible, even likely, that ten-year-old Eliza and her brothers and sister were among the crowds that watched Queen Victoria on her way to open the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851.

            James Shaw brought his family to the United States in 1854. I don’t know why he came to Dayton, but there were a number of English families in Dayton then. Perhaps there was some connection that brought the Shaws to La Salle County. In December of 1856, shortly before her 16^th birthday, Eliza married a young man from Dayton named Michael Klingston. Michael came to the US from Bavaria and became a US citizen in 1863. By 1864, they had three small children.

In September of that year, Michael was drafted in the 1^st Illinois Light Artillery, at a time when Sherman was fighting the battles around Atlanta. Sherman had been fighting since May and needed replacements for his army. Michael Klingston probably arrived at Atlanta just after the city surrendered on Sept. 2. He then took part in the march to the sea and arrived in Savannah, GA in December. Savannah surrendered on the 22 and Michael was probably taken ill around this time, since he did not take any further part in Sherman’s march north through the Carolinas. Instead he was transferred to David’s Island in New York suffering from chronic diarrhea. From there he was sent to Quincy, IL, where he died on April 15, 1865. His cause of death is given as consumption.

Michael appears to have been buried at Quincy; he is not buried in the Dayton Cemetery. Eliza and the children continued to live in Dayton. In December 1865 Eliza remarried. Her second husband, John Jaka, a farm hand from the St. Louis area, had also served in the Civil War.

            John Jaka volunteered at the beginning of the war in July of 1861 and joined the 9^th Illinois Infantry, which became known as the “Bloody Ninth”. The 9^th earned its reputation by being involved in the fighting at Forts Henry and Donelson in Feb. 1862, then being sent to Pittsburg Landing, which was the site of the battle of Shiloh. At Shiloh, the 9^th was in some of the worst of the fighting, and of the 520 enlisted men that went into the battle, 324 of them were either killed or wounded. John must have had a charmed life if he escaped all this with no injuries. Between spring of 1862 and summer of 1864, the 9^th was mounted on mules and so scouted and raided through Alabama and Mississippi. It was during this time that John was injured the first time. Quoting from his application for invalid pension, he states “He was on picket-duty mounted on his mule when said mule was shot from under him by a shot from the enemy. He thought he could get the mule on his feet again and while attempting to do so, the mule in his struggles, struck John on the great toe of his left foot dislocating the said toe and otherwise greatly injuring the foot. On account of that he went to the Regimental Hospital near Atlanta, GA where he remained untreated for 24 hours, then returned to his regiment.” The 9^th took part in Sherman’s battle for Atlanta, and that was where John was injured for the second time. Quoting again, “At the battle of Atlanta, on or about the 22 day of July, 1864, while in the act of discharging his Spencer rifle at the enemy, his said gun was struck by a gun shot from the enemy which struck the stock of his rifle and threw a splinter therefrom which struck him in or near the right eye seriously injuring the same.” John probably didn’t see any more action in the war, since he was discharged in August of 1864, probably because his 3 years were up. The 9^th was one of about 16 regiments across the country that were considered “German” and John Jaka was German by birth.

            Following his discharge in August of 1864, John came to Dayton. Again, it’s not known what brought him to Dayton. He may have known someone during the war who was from this area. He worked as a farm hand for Sylvester Brown, near Wedron. In 1865, he married the young widow, Eliza Klingston. All was well for a time, but a year later Eliza’s mother, Catherine Shaw, was named guardian of the Klingston children, due to their mother’s being adjudged insane. This guardianship was probably to ensure that the pension the children were entitled to for their father’s war service would not be controlled by their mother’s second husband. The insanity appears to have been temporary, however, and Eliza soon returned home, to take up her life with John Jaka. By 1883, Eliza and John had four sons.

            When Eliza was about 46, she again became insane and was in a hospital for a short time, but then appears to have again recovered and returned home. This recovery was not permanent, either, and in 1893, at the age of 52, she was again confined to an insane asylum, first in Kankakee and later in the La Salle County asylum. In 1904, after John’s death. she entered Bartonville Asylum, near Peoria where she spent the rest of her life. Her son Otto was named her guardian. When she died, in July 1907, Otto brought her body back and she was buried in the Dayton cemetery. There is no stone marking her grave.

On January 19, 1874, John Green, of Dayton, made out his will. He was 84 years old and was to die in less than four months, on May 17. He laid out his wishes in a series of nine provisions, as follows:

First, he instructed his executors to pay all of his debts

Second, his three sons were each required to pay their mother $25 per quarter, so that she would have an annuity of $300 per year for the rest of her life. Also Barbara was to have her bed and bedding and make her home with her youngest son, Isaac.

Third, his son Jesse was to inherit 95 acres of farm land and 8 lots in the village of Dayton.

Fourth, his son David was to inherit 19 acres of land and 8 acres of riverfront, along with the rights to a certain fraction of the water power of the Fox River and 8 village lots.

Fifth, his son Isaac was to inherit the land where the house stood, along with the farm land (which is now [2017] still in the family).

Sixth, his daughter Rebecca Trumbo was to inherit 5 lots in the village.

Seventh, he noted that his daughters Eliza Dunavan, Nancy Dunavan, Katharine Dunavan, and Rachael Gibson had all been provided for previously.

Eighth, if any personal property remained after settling the debts, it was to be divided equally among his three sons.

Ninth, he appointed sons Jesse and David as executors

The complete transcription of the will may be seen here.

The women who settled the Illinois frontier in the 1820s had to be hard-working, resourceful, determined, and tough. Barbara Grove Green, who, with her husband John, led a small band of pioneers from Ohio to Illinois in 1829, was surely that. She may have imagined her life to be settled,  living in Licking County, Ohio, with her husband and seven children, but at the age of forty, John decided to move west. He found a suitable place in Illinois, on the Fox river, four miles above the junction with the Illinois river and returned to announce that they would leave immediately, although it was late in the fall. Ignoring advice to wait until spring, a group of twenty-four men, women and children left for the west. John and Barbara were the senior members of the group, at 40 and 37; in addition there were three young couples in their twenties and six young unmarried men.

The first years were difficult ones. The small cabin where the group spent the first winter was replaced as soon as the saw mill was up and running. Two more children were born in Illinois: Rebecca in 1830 and Isaac in 1833. During the Indian Creek massacre scare, Barbara walked the four miles from Dayton to Ottawa with the rest of the family, carrying the baby, Rebecca, who cried if anyone else carried her.

Homemaking chores would have consumed her time. In the early days, these would have included salting and preserving the plentiful prairie chickens and quail that her sons trapped during the winter. Life became a little easier after the grist mill was in operation and she no longer had to grind wheat in a hand grinder. With yarn from the woolen mill, she knit socks and long stockings for everyone. Along with all the necessary sewing and mending, she made candles, rag carpets, and all the many other needs of a self-sufficient household.

Maud Green remembered her grandmother Barbara:
“Then in February it was carpet-rag time and we all sewed & wound carpet-rags & sent them to the weaver.  The new carpet went in the “sitting room” and the others were moved back until at last they reached the kitchen & were worn out there. I can just remember Grandma making candles for us to carry upstairs.  They were afraid to have us carry a lamp, but we had lamps as long ago as I remember. Grandma spent her time knitting socks and long stockings for all of us, out of factory yarn, and we had woolen underwear, skirts and dresses made of factory flannel.”

Barbara led a long life as the matriarch of the Green clan. When she died in Dayton, May 3, 1886, at the age of 93, she was remembered with affection in her obituary:

Granma Green, the oldest settler in the county, died Wednesday morning, at the age of 84 [sic] years. She was of a kind, benevolent disposition and was well beloved by her wide circle of relatives, friends and acquaintances by whom she will be greatly missed.¹

1. Ottawa (Illinois) Free Trader, 8 May 1886

Rev. Alfred H. Laing

Alfred H. Laing was a Universalist pastor in Earlville, Marseilles, and Joliet, and often preached in Dayton. He was born February 8, 1844, in Kosciusko, Indiana and died in Joliet, Illinois, August 31, 1923. Many members of the Green family, early settlers of Dayton, were Universalists and knew Rev. Laing well.

The Universalist society held their earliest meeting here [Earlville] in Robinson’s Hall, in the winter of 1866-7. The first pastor was Rev. W. S. Ralph, who remained from Jan. 1867 to Jan. 1870. During the year 1869, they built their house of worship, a commodious brick structure, costing nearly $1,500. During the summer of 1870, the pulpit was filled by Miss Mary H. Graves. In October, Rev. Alfred Rains was called, who remained four years, and was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. A, H. Laing, who came in Nov., 1875. There are now about two hundred attendants at this church.¹

Charles Green, son of David and Mary (Stadden) Green, wrote some reminiscenses of early Dayton Universalists, in which he included the following memories of Rev. Laing:

The Rev. A. H. Laing preached at Earlville, fifteen or twenty miles northwest of Dayton, and later on was pastor at Marseilles and at Joliet. He was a comparatively young man when he first preached at Dayton. He was well liked and preached some good sermons full of interest and gospel teachings. He used to come down from Earlville in the spring on fishing trips. Dayton at that time was a fine fishing place, and people used to come there from many miles around, camping out for a few days or a week along the banks of the Fox River. I have seen at least 200 people there at one time. The state maintained a dam across the river about a half mile above the village, and in the spring of the year when the game fish were running up stream to spawn they were very hungry and voracious and were anxious to get hold of the fisherman’s bait. On account of the dam across the river the fish could not go up stream any farther, thus making good sport for the many anglers. So our Izaak Walton lover, the Rev. A. H. Laing, soon learned where the good fishing grounds were, and came down from Earlville quite frequently to indulge in the sport, and incidentally to preach us a good sermon.

More of the early recollections of Charles Green, including other Universalist preachers in and near Dayton, may be seen here.

1. The Past and Present of La Salle County, Illinois, (Chicago: H.F. Kett & Co., 1877), 341

In 1891, Emma S. Dunavan, of Dayton, Illinois, received a patent on a new and useful improvement in the class of mailboxes intended to be placed on the door of a building, including a bell linked to the door of the mailbox which would ring when mail was deposited. The full description of this invention may be seen here.

Emma was the wife of William J. Dunavan, son of Albert F. and Emma (Cooper) Dunavan, and grandson of William Lair and Eliza (Green) Dunavan. He was the junior member of the Fox River Horse Collar Manufacturing Co. in Dayton, in partnership with his father. William traveled a great deal in connection with the factory and in October 1887, he opened a wholesale and retail store of horse collars, harnesses, buggies, etc., at Kinsley, Kansas.

                                                       DUNAVAN-SWANK
On Wednesday, January 9, 1889, W. J. Dunavan, of the firm of Dunavan & Son, this city, reported at the Swank mansion in Fort Scott, Kansas. His credentials being satisfactory, at 9 p. m. he was united in marriage to Miss Emma Swank, in accordance with the solemn but beautiful Episcopal church ritual. A brief wedding tour, embracing Kansas City and Hutchinson in the route, landed the happy couple in Kinsley, the home of the groom, where they received the congratulations of his many friends.¹

The news of her invention was well received in Fort Scott:

A WOMAN WHO THINKS
An Illinois Lady, Formerly of Fort Scott, Invents a Useful Contrivance.

Yesterday the scribe dropped into the office of Dal Burger’s Fort Scott Carriage Works on his rounds and was shown a newly patented mail box that is certainly getting near the acme of achievement in its line.

The box is the invention of Mrs. Emma S. Dunnavan, of Ottawa, Illinois, who was formerly well known here as Miss Emma Swank, and is the daughter of Mrs. Agnes Swank of this city. It consists of an ordinary wooden or metal box of the usual form and size, with a spring door near the top through which the letter or card is put. A push button extends out from an opening above the door, which is used in opening the latter. When the button is thrust in by the postman as he pushed back the door, an electric bell is set ringing which calls attention to the postman’s visit as the whistle commonly used now does, but in a surer and at the same time a more genteel manner. The ring is surer because the bell is rung inside the hall or room.

The intention is to place the box on the outside of the door, the bell being placed inside. This does not disfigure the door as the box can be made as ornamental as may be desired, and the bell is much like an ordinary door bell.

Below the spring door for the insertion of letters is a glass through which the contents may be seen. Below that is an ordinary lock such as is used on postoffice boxes, which when unlocked allows the hinged bottom to be opened and the contents removed. The box with its bell attachment is certainly a convenient and useful contrivance and shows a good degree of practical ingenuity in its inventiveness.²

1. The Kinsley [Kansas] Graphic, January 18, 1889, p. 3, col. 2
2. The Fort Scott [Kansas] Daily Monitor, August 26, 1891, p. 4, col. 6

James and Martha (Jones) Hite

The Dayton Cemetery Association holds its annual meeting every year on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. In addition to the pot luck lunch and business meeting, each year a historical program is given on some aspect of the history of the families buried in the cemetery and of the history of Dayton.

In 1964, Maud Hite Temple was the speaker. She told of the preceding generations of her family and of their move from Virginia to Ohio and then to Illinois. The full text of her presentation can be read here.

The beginning of a new year is a good time to start any new enterprise and marriage is one of the best, especially if it comes with cake, as shown in this newspaper article:

HYMENEAL

Married – At Dayton, in this county, on the 31^st inst. (New Year’s Eve) by the Rev. David Newton, Mr. John Stadden to Miss Ann Maria Miller, both of Dayton.

Accompanying the above notice, was that which always gladdens the poor printer’s heart – a bountiful supply of Miller’s workmanship, in the shape of delicious wedding cake. The happy couple have our best wishes for their future happiness, hoping that the evening of their days will be as pleasant as the first dawn of 1841 met them agreeable and happy.¹

Ann Maria Miller was the daughter of Isaac and Esther (Gleim) Miller. She was born in Pennsylvania about 1818, one of a large family. Her brother Reuben left Pennsylvania for the west in 1836 and came to Dayton. The rest of the family soon followed, including her widowed father, Isaac, and settled in Freedom township. Ann and John did not stay long in Dayton. By 1846 they had moved to Dallas county, Texas where she died November 23, 1872 and was buried in the Stadden cemetery in Wilmer.

1. Ottawa Free Trader, January 1, 1841, p. 3, col. 3

Yesterday was the seventy-third anniversary of the birthday of Jesse Green of Dayton, and to properly celebrate that event his relations from far and near gathered to wish the old gentleman and his estimable wife a happy New Year and many pleasant returns of the day and consequent similar gatherings. Including the relations in Dayton and from abroad, the residence of Mr. Green was crowded but all present enjoyed themselves to the fullest extent. After all the guests had assembled, Thomas E. MacKinlay in behalf of the company, presented Mr. Green with a very handsome easy chair and Mrs. Green with a table. Mr. Green was taken completely by surprise, but managed to express his thanks. An elegant dinner was served, and a fine time was had by all present.

Those from abroad were Attorney General McCartney and wife of Hutchison, Kan.; Ed. Jackson, Cincinnati; Joseph Jackson, Millington; L. C. Robinson and wife, Rutland; N. M. Green and wife, Serena; Kent Green, Chicago; Mrs. Craig, Jacksonville; Mrs. John Crum, Mrs. Joseph Harris and Mrs. L. Matlock, Misses Ray Harris and Mertie Crum, Yorkville, and T. E. MacKinlay and wife, C. B. Hess and wife, H. B. Williams and wife, T. H. Green and wife, W. N. Bagley and wife, Will and Don MacKinlay, Ed. Hess and Theodore Strawn, of Ottawa.¹

1. The above unidentified clipping, found among other Green papers, can be dated to 22 Dec 1890, as Jesse Green was born 21 Dec 1817. Assuming it came from an Ottawa newspaper, it probably appeared in the Ottawa Free Trader or the Republican-Times, as the Fair Dealer did not begin publication until 1892. The Free Trader microfilm is missing the issues for this period, so the paper cannot be firmly identified. There is no Republican-Times issue for 22 Dec 1890 on the microfilm. The next issue, 25 Dec, was checked, but nothing found.