The settling of Dayton

October 21, 2026October 19, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

The following paper was prepared by Mr. Jesse Green to be read at the recent Old Settlers’ Picnic in Allen’s Grove at this city, but for want of time was not read. It contains so much of interest in regard to the early history of this county that it would be a real loss to make no use of it, and accordingly we cheerfully give it a place in our columns:

My father, in company with three others, his brother Wm, Jos. Grove and a Mr. Lambert, first visited this state during the fall of 1829 to look out a new home in this then wild and unsettled country, his object being to find a good farming country and a good water power on which to erect mills, which seemed to be a necessity at that time. He passed through Chicago, and the few inhabitants there at that time urged him very strongly to locate there: but coming on and finding what was then called the rapids of Fox river, which filled the object of his search, and, being favorably impresses with the appearance of the country, he ascertained that the mill site was on seminary land and subject to entry at Vandalia, the then seat of government. He then bought the claim and improvements of a Mr. Clark, two and one-half miles north-east of Dayton, and contracted with him to build a larger cabin that the one he occupied and to put in forty acres of fall wheat. He then went to Vandalia and entered the land on which the water-power is situated and returned home and made speedy arrangements to move that fall, but it was the latter part of October before he and those who proposed to go with him could get ready to start on their perilous journey. There were three other families, David Grove, R. DeBolt and Henry Brumbach and a half dozen single men, making twenty-four in all.

I think we were forty-six days on the road, landing in the new cabin (which, by the way, was not completed,) about the middle of December. You can imagine the kind of weather we had at that season of the year. I remember one morning, when my mother attempted to get out of the carriage in which she rode and slept, she found her clothing was frozen fast, which somewhat delayed an early breakfast that morning.

About ten miles before reaching the prairie in Indiana we were compelled to cut out a new road through a dense undergrowth of timber for that distance, and here was the last white setter on our route until we reached the trading post of Mr. Hubbard, on the Iroquois, of whom my father bought a large perogue and loaded upon it all it would carry, and detailed three men to run her down to the rapids on the Illinois (now Marseilles.)

But of the last setter (I think his name was Parish,) with whom we stayed all night. Father had sent me and my brother David ahead of the teams to engage feed and lodging if possible, and during the evening this man did all in his power to persuade my father to abandon the idea of attempting to reach his destination that winter. He was sure we would all perish; but, if he “must go, I want you to leave those two little boys with me.”

Next morning, without further knowledge of the country than his first trip gave him, he launched out on the broad prairie, and without any road for about one hundred miles he piloted us across these trackless prairies; when he sighted, one afternoon, what he thought to be Hawley’s Grove (later Holderman’s Grove), he started off alone on horseback, hoping to find some provisions, and grain for our teams, having been on short allowance for several days. One of the company had refused to eat anything, preferring to save it for the women and children: he made it a rule to walk behind a certain wagon with a feed box on, and the women would put some provisions in this box hoping he would take it on the sly, but no, he would not.

When my father started off for the grove one of our party (will not name him) thought he would console the women by telling them that my father knew he was lost and had gone off to make way with himself. Imagine our feelings and delight to see him return at about 10 o’clock at night with Robert Beresford and an old gray horse and a Democratic wagon loaded with a quarter of fresh killed beef and other edibles, and made out a load with corn. Never was there a happier company on those wild prairies than we had that night. Next day we landed all safe and sound in our new cabin, which had to accommodate the whole company until other cabins could be built: but, having a pretty good force of men, they were soon built.

The next thing in order when we finally got comfortably settled was rail splitting for the farm, and everything that could be done in the way of building a mill dam and mills (having brought irons along) was done, and as early in the spring as it was practicable, work commenced to erect first a sawmill, with the intention of putting on one end of the mill a pair of stones, to be made from two large boulders just across the river from the mill. A man by the name of Paine, brother of the Rev. Paine whose head was erected on a pole near Marseilles during the Black Hawk war, got the boulders in shape by firing and pounding, being almost as long as the rest were in building the mill. He was an eccentric genius, and used to claim that there were three brothers, all preachers; two were preachers of Christ and salvation, and he was a preacher of hell and damnation.

By the 4^th of July saw and grist mills were both running and ground our 4^th of July dinner from wheat grown on the forty acres, but not bolted.

We had been living principally on hog, hominy and potatoes, and as a dessert pound cake occasionally, as someone felt in the pounding mood. We thought Graham flour a decided improvement.

I would like to tell the boys what I did in helping along this first enterprise in mill building in the northern part of Illinois. Myself and brother David (now deceased), he being ten years old and I twelve, we scraped out the race from Dam to mill, about half a mile. Each had a yoke of oxen and old style scraper, and by the time mill and dam were completed we had finished our job. Where are there two boys today of the same ages that would undertake such a job?

I do not wish to be understood that ours was the first mill in this part of the country, but was the first to be propelled by water power. There was a kind of an ox mill at Mission Point, where the Rev. Jesse Walker had a mission to teach the young Indian’s ideas how to shoot, but this mill was but little better than a coffee mill.

Myself and uncle Samuel Grove, took a small grist up there and ground part of it, and as soon in the spring as we could cross the river here just above the mouth of the Fox, we started, that is myself and uncle Joseph Grove for another similar mill on Covel Creek with about the same result. We were ferried across the river by two of uncle David Walker’s daughters, later Mrs. Cloud and Mrs. Hickling.

There are a number of other thrilling incidents that I would like to give but time and your patience forbid. Jesse Green¹

Free Trader, September 1, 1894, p. 4, cols. 5-6

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.

The State of the Village in 1885

January 22, 2026Candace W Leave a comment

OLD DAYTON
Some Reminiscences of the Ancient Village on the Banks of the Fox River

A representative of The Free Trader visited the village of Dayton last Tuesday, drawn thither by the report that considerable damage had been done in that place by the remarkable rise of the Fox river during the recent freshet. Very few of the readers of this paper are not acquainted with the history of the early days of this historic village, which had it not been for the legislative blunder of William Stadden, state senator from this district during the canal agitation, the place, instead of containing 300 inhabitants, as it does today, might be a manufacturing city with a population as large as that of this city.

It was principally through Stadden’s advocacy that the canal terminus was made at La Salle, instead of Ottawa. He was a nephew of John Green, the founder of Dayton, and believed that by having the canal terminate at La Salle he was working for the interests of himself and Dayton. It was his intention to have a navigable feeder from Dayton to Ottawa, which would afford abundant water power for manufactories. Had the canal terminated at Ottawa there would, of course, be no necessity for a feeder. Had the canal ended at the latter city, as it probably should have done, there would be no La Salle or Peru today, and Ottawa would be a city of 50,000 inhabitants and Dayton a large manufacturing point. Lots that sold in that village in 1836 for $500 can now be purchased for $5. In canal days Dayton was a larger place than Ottawa. The cost of running the canal to La Salle would have improved the river to this point, making it navigable for Mississippi river steam boats; and the Illinois Central Railroad would have [illegible] here. But Stadden and those he won over to advocate his views willed all those things otherwise through a huge-sized mistake, which was practically the death-knell of Dayton.

Jesse Green, who is the oldest settler in La Salle county, came to the place with his father in the winter of 1829, from Newark, O. They brought with them mill wrights and mill-irons, and the following July had a grist and saw mill in operation, the mill stones being made form two large boulders. On the east side of the Fox river was then a lodge of the friendly Pottawattomies. At the time of the Blackhawk was, in 1832, John Green was obliged to erect a palisade fort around his dwelling. It was at this time the massacre occurred on Indian Creek by the Sacs and Foxes, in which 15 white people were tomahawked and scalped. During this period the supplies for the Green family were obtained at the store of Geo. E. Walker, located where now are the mineral springs.

At the close of the first year of its settlement Dayton had but 21 inhabitants. Resin Debolt, Henry Brumbach, uncle of the deceased county surveyor George Brumbach, and Daniel Grove, father of Samuel Grove of Utica township, had moved into the vicinity, making in all but three neighbors of the infant colony. In those days there were plenty of wild animals in this region, such as deer and wolves, but only one bear was ever seen hereabouts by the old settlers.

The fame of Green’s Mills from 1834 to 1875 was extensive throughout this region. In the early years of Dayton’s history teams traveled 100 miles to these mills. In the last ten years the flour business has greatly fallen off. John and Charley Green, the proprietors, also run a tile factory. The woolen mills were run by the Greens since 1842. A few years ago they were closed and a pressed brick factory started in the large stone building. The fitting up for this business cost $15,000. The pressed brick factory is in the hands of a stock company; capital, $50,000. One machine has already been put in which weighs 17 tons and cost $3,500, having a capacity of 25,000 brick per day. More machines will be put in during the season, making the total capacity 100,000 per day and giving employment to 50 men. The flood of Jan. 6 has delayed the starting of these works, which would have been in operation this week but for this occurrence. Considerable damage was done to the works by the freshet.

The old woolen mill was erected by J. & D. Green in ’40, and two years later manufacturing commenced. This mill had the first power loom of any in the state. The Greens did a thriving business until 1864 when they erected a new woolen mill — the building which is now the pressed brick factory. The erection of the mill far exceeded their expectations, costing them $65,000.

The next year they bought 60,000 pounds of wool, averaging a cost of $1 per pound. The next season wool dropped from 45 to 50 cents per pound and the firm lost between $30,000 and $40,000, and later on the firm met with another heavy disaster by the burning of $22,000 worth of wool stored in Chicago, and which went up in the great fire. The result of these heavy losses was that the firm was obliged to close its doors, and the woolen industry then was over.

The paper mill owned by H. B. Williams is closed for the winter, having at this time a large surplus stock on hand. It gives employment to 15 men.

The Horse-collar factory was established in 1865. In ’70 A. F. Dunavan & Son purchased the business, which employs about ten hands. It has a capacity of 12 dozen collars per day, manufacturing 25 different grades, ranging in price from $6 to $25 per dozen. The firm has, piled up in its storerooms, $8,000 worth of horse-collars awaiting shipment. The demand is principally in the spring months, and the collars manufactured here are sold throughout this and adjoining states, and in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and California. The firm buys for cash, getting inside prices on material, and by struct and honest dealings the firm sends its goods over a wide area of territory, competing in price and quality with any factory in the United States. This the Dunavans are enabled to do, as they make collars a specialty. In the summer season leather fly-nets are manufactured here. The junior member and another agent are on the road in the interest of the business. The firm have $15,000 invested in their manufactory. A. F. Dunavan, a very courteous and obliging person to met, kindly showed the Free Trader man through the building, where every person was busy as a nailer in the manufacture of that portion of the collar entrusted to him. This factory was also damaged by the high water, which flooded the basement, tearing up portions of the floor.

Dayton has a neat, two-story public school, presided over by Ottawa ladies — Miss Jennie Crane in the higher department, with Miss Mary Miller in the primary. About 70 pupils are in attendance.

A Sabbath school of 75 members is one of the worganizations of the viallage. The superintendent, Basil Green, being absent, his place is supplied by Jas. A. Green.

Itis the proud boast of the little village that it never had a saloon within its borders.

Chas. Miller, Jesse Green, O. W. Trumbo and Geo. W. Makinson are the only names on the roster of postmasters of this place. The latter is probably the oldest postmaster in this state, having been appointed by President Buchanan in ’54. Thirty years of continuous service as postmaster at Dayton will, unquestionably, give him a reappointment under the new administration. The office is a little structure — 2×4 feet, in the only store the village possesses.

Jas. Timmons runs the Dayton Hotel and has a monopoly of that business, and he fears no rival.

In the first few months of its existence Dayton had more inhabitants than the Chicago of those past days. Yet it is pleasantly and very romantically situated, and will always from its traditional and historic associations be an object of much curiosity and interest to the tourist. In the summer weather it is a popular fishing resort and the stamping ground of many a picnic party.

Tuesday night, Jan 6, the Fox river at Dayton reached its highest point in the memory of the oldest inhabitants. Within 50 years, with one notable exception — the rise of ’59 — the river had not reached such a height. In a few hours, by the gorging of the ice at Howland’s Rapids, about a mile from its mouth, the river at Dayton rose 30 feet about high water mark, reaching to the second floor of the old woolen mills. The chimney of the pressed brick works was demolished and a large lot of lumber swept away. The river banks on both sides were strewn with ice, thousands of tons being piled up by the flood. Tuesday last there were fears entertained of another freshet, as the ice was beginning to gorge as it had done the night of the 6th.

One of the oldest roads laid out by the state was the one which crossed the Fox river at Dayton. Ten years ago the bridge was carried away by the ice, and since that time no means has been provided to cross the river at that point. The county agreed some time ago to pay half the expense, leaving to the township of Dayton and Rutland one-fourth of the cost each. It is not at all probable that this bridge will be rebuilt for some years, unless the townships named take a more active interest in the agitation of the project.

The representative of the Free Trader is indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Green for courtesies while in the village, for which he thanks them kindly. Mr. Green’s father, the original settler of the place, once owned 1,000 acres of land in that vicinity.¹

The Ottawa Free Trader, January 17, 1885, p. 5.

Support of a Family Burying Ground

August 6, 2025August 4, 2025Candace W Leave a comment

The red circle indicates the location of the Trumbo burying ground

When Mathias Trumbo wrote his will in 1865 he had thought carefully of how his estate was to be divided and had left explicit instructions. However, in 1874, just a year before his death, he realized that there was something else he wanted done at his death. In order to accomplish this, he created a codicil to his will stipulating that out of the proceeds of his estate, one hundred dollars should be invested for ornamenting and keeping in good order the grave yard located in Section Twenty Seven, Township Thirty four North in Range Four East in the Town of Rutland LaSalle County, Illinois.

An overhead view of the burying ground in 2025.

It appears that when Mathias wrote this codicil no trustees for the grave yard had yet been appointed. He directed that at his demise, if no trustees had yet been appointed, his executors should invest the one hundred dollars and hold it in trust until trustees were appointed, at which time the money would be paid to them. He further stipulated that the trustees were to spend only the interest on the investment and that the said principal of one hundred dollars was to be held by the said trustees and their succession forever.¹

Mathias’s care for the burying ground did not end there. When he conveyed the land around it to his daughter in 1870 in return for her care of him for his lifetime, he stipulated that she must grant a right of way 2 rods wide from the Chicago road to the burying ground.

In 1988 when my father took me to see this tiny cemetery, we had to walk through a field to reach it (so much for the 2 rods right-of-way). It was totally overgrown and it was difficult to see the stones, although I was able to photograph the one I had come to see. Unfortunately, I did not know of Mathias Trumbo at that time, so I missed seeing his stone. Now the cemetery is being cared for, as you can see in the photograph above. I don’t have any information though as to whether the interest on that hundred dollars is still accumulating somewhere.

Thanks to the folks at the La Salle County Genealogy Guild (lscgg.org) for this picture of Mathias Trumbo’s tombstone. They have a wealth of information on La Salle County families and are wonderful at sharing it.

You can see the complete text of Mathias’s will and codicil here.

The Old Plank Road Needs to be Upgraded

December 11, 2024December 12, 2024Candace W Leave a comment

An example of a plank road

The old plank road, which ran north out of Ottawa, was built in 1847; a direct line from Earlville to Ottawa, by way of Harding. It was in such poor shape by the 1890s that farmers in the north of the county were doing their trading in Earlville rather than in Ottawa. It was clear that something needed to be done. By 1895 the road from Earlville to Harding had been improved and Freedom township had graveled the road to the Dayton township line but the six miles through Dayton remained unimproved.

Ottawa Republican Times, 26 Sep 1895, p2

It was to the advantage of Ottawa to get this portion of the road completed and plans were made to share the work. The portion of the road to be graveled is shown below.

Residents of Dayton, Ottawa, Troy Grove and Wallace were asked to contribute money or labor to finish the final six miles of the road. The merchants of Ottawa contributed significantly in view of the increased trade they would see.

Ottawa Republican Times, 26 Sep 1895, p1

The joint effort appears to have succeeded. There is no further mention of the state of the road north out of Ottawa in the newspapers. It is hoped that the Ottawa merchants saw the increased trade they expected.

Fact or Fiction? History or Poetry?

November 19, 2024Candace W 1 Comment

POETRY VERSUS FACT
FICTION AND HISTORY

The following letter was written by David Green in reference to the wide-spread article about his brother Joseph, which was covered here previously in “He Wasn’t the One”. Apparently a collection of poems by a Nebraska poet, which referenced this event, provoked an article in The Platte Journal attempting to correct the story. Here is David Green’s response to the inquiry, as printed in the paper.

Dayton, Ill., March 31^st, 1871
J. G. Higgins, Esq., Columbus, Neb –

Dear Sir: — Yours of the 7^th inst. asking for information was duly received, in which you give some extracts from a poem written by the Rev. Orsamus C. Dake, entitled the “Raw Hide,” which is found in a recent publication entitled “Nebraska Legends,” with the following preface:

“A certain man, of a small company moving up the great plain of the Platte, in a spirit of bravado, said he would shoot the first Indian he met; which he did, having shortly afterward found a Pawnee woman a little separated from her tribe. But a band of warriors, pursuing, demanded from his companions the surrender of that man, which being refused, the Pawnees made ready to slay the whole company of whites, whereupon the offender being given into their hands, they flayed him alive. From this circumstance the little stream, on whose banks it occurred takes the name of the ‘Raw Hide.’”

The Rev. Mr. Drake has given in the above, the substance of a report which in 1849 found its way into nearly every newspaper in the United States, and no doubt but he together with many others, in good faith and very innocently believes that such a tragedy did really take place as stated, but the whole story is a base and unmitigated falsehood from beginning to end, as there never was the least foundation for said report. The hoax was gotten up in Magnolia, Putnam county, Illinois, in a bar-room to gull a gaping crowd, without any thought of its going any further, but someone present took it to be true and communicated it to the editor of a paper published in Lacon, Marshall county, Illinois, from which it was, as stated, very extensively copied.

On receipt of yours I wrote to Hon. Wm. E. Parret now of Winona, Illinois, but at the time the hoax was gotten up he resided in Magnolia, Illinois, and in reply he says, “That two men by the name of D. P. Fyffe and David Law, of Magnolia, got up the hoax out of whole cloth. The said Mr. Fyffe of Magnolia, over his signature of the 27^th inst, says “It (referring to said hoax) originated here and was known to be a hoax.” I merely give you the above that you may know where said report originated.

My Father, two Brothers and some twenty or thirty others from this county were the company referred to, and my brother Joseph Green was the reported victim, who would have been the last man in the world to make any such threat, or be guilty of any such rash act.

The said company went out to California in the spring of 1839 – he Joseph Green returned in 1851 – went out to California again in 1852, returned in 1853, and died in this place in 1855, with the consumption. A more noble, kind-hearted and generous man never lived, and I hope you will use your best efforts to correct this infamous slander upon his fair name.

I am, very respectfully,
D. Green¹

The Platte [Nebraska] Journal, April 12, 1871, p2, col2.

A Very Fishy View of Dayton and its Industries in 1880

August 14, 2024August 13, 2024Candace W Leave a comment

Dayton Items.

Dayton, as a point where the finny tribe and fishermen do most congregate, has long been celebrated in this section of the country. People armed with hooks, and lines, buckets of bait and togged in old clothes, come daily and nightly from far and near. They arrive on foot, in buggies, in lumber wagons, and dumped off the cars, and are landed in every shape all bent on the same purpose, i. e., that of catching fish, not by the dozens, or in fifties, but by bushels, bagsfull, wagon-loads, and in other prodigious quantities.

They arrive in lofty spirits, braced up by lofty expectations of astonishing the natives. They usually depart wet, hungry, tired, disgusted and without any fish worth speaking of. To a man whose constitution requires a vast deal of rest — long continued and complete relaxation of every muscle and nerve — fishing is just the thing. Fish, as food, may be brain food, but catching them is certainly a brain softener. It does not require a very high order of intellect in a man to fish, that is, a man of very moderate brain power ought to know enough to out-wit a fish, which stands rather low in brain development. In short, fishing, to an outsider, is a very languid, sleepy sort of work. There never has been any employment so well adapted to the wants of a lazy man as that of fishing as they do it at Dayton. To see the anglers as they line the banks and cover the rocks like so many mud turtles [illegible] is a sight fit to make a person yawn.

To the man to whom any kind of exercise is a bore fishing is just about exercise enough. The fellow lands upon some sequestered spot, sits down to rest and meditate awhile, then baits his hook, summons up all his energies like a man trying to ward off sleep, gets the line in the water, and then the thing fishes itself. When a man gets too lazy to fish they accuse him of having a softening of the brain and soon after he becomes too tired to draw his breath and this ends him.

Some of the fellows we saw fishing on Friday last were half a mile from the water, under a shade tree, three of ‘em asleep and the fourth studying the sun’s altitude and position of its spots through a “pocket” telescope. Though we were ln sight of a score or more of fishers for an hour, we did not see a fish hauled out, nor even hear of one being captured, though a shoal of three or four minnows were reported to have swam up among the fishers early in the morning.

Dayton, however, has another point of view of far more importance to the business man and to the farmer. We refer to her woolen mills — as good as any in the state built some years ago at great expense, and stocked with as excellent machinery as the Union anywhere could boast. Though under a cloud for a time, but now started anew by its original owners, the Greens, it will soon be working upon a large scale, and is daily turning out great quantities of yarn of various grades, also superior cloth.

Another enterprise is the collar factory, under the management of Mr. Dunavan. It employs a large force of hands, turns out the premium horse collars of the United States and also a fine article of leather fly nets, the latter being its chief production during the summer months. The goods from this establishment find a ready market all over the country.

Another business, as yet young, but extensive and rapidly increasing in importance, is the Dayton tile works. When the factory was started it was not supposed that it would, in five years, reach the dimensions it has attained in a few months. The tile they manufacture is as good as any made in the west.

The large paper mill here next claimed our attention. This institution has long since become fixed and firmly established upon a substantial business basis. It runs exclusively on straw and manilla paper and consumes vast quantities of material. It has on hand an enormous stock of as good paper as is made anywhere. The recently senseless boom in prices of material used is happily subsiding, and the rather sluggish demand in this county for paper, has been rather unsatisfactory, but it runs ahead, looking for a fairer margin between its expenses for stock and the price of manufactured goods than has generally prevailed.

Besides, a good flouring mill and a local store and a “tavern” and good prices for farm products in general, all contribute to make Dayton a live business village.

Since the tile works were started in full operation a new industry has been developed, being coal mining operations, managed by Simpson & Wilke, a couple of hard-working miners, who obtain a good quality of coal which lies on the level with the banks of the feeder, and is drifted and removed on hand cars on a tramway and dumped below the woolen mills into wagon, or on the public roads as may be required.¹

Ottawa Republican, 27 May 1880, p2, col 3

An Anniversary

April 2, 2024March 17, 2024Candace W Leave a comment

Today, April 2, is the 175th anniversary of the day John, Jesse, and Joseph Green started for the gold mines.

Californians

At least fifty persons from this county, left this place during the past week for California. The company from Dayton left on Monday, on board the Timoleon, which boat we understand they chartered to take them through to St. Joseph, on the Missouri river. All Dayton precinct was down to see them off, which gave our landing altogether the most crowded and bustling appearance we have ever seen it bear. The company is composed of as good men as there are in the county, and we are sorry to lose them. May their brightest anticipations be realized!

Our Ottawa boys, although there is quite a number of them, have been leaving for a week or two, in parties of two or three. There are among them some of the best of men, and a few whose loss we shall probably be able to survive. May they all have the best of luck, and come back with gold enough to improve the river to Ottawa, and build a bridge across the Illinois!¹

1. The [Ottawa IL] Free Trader, April 6, 1849, page 2, col.2

The Time of the Big Snow

December 27, 2023December 26, 2023Candace W Leave a comment

Since there are no pictures of the 1830 deep snow, here is a newer one.

THE “TIME OF THE BIG SNOW”

Sixty five Years Ago Great Suffering Was Caused by the “Beautiful”

Old settlers who were little boys and girls in the winter of 1830-’31 tell of the “big snow” with as great emphasis as does the old time Irishman of the “big wind” that is popularly, though erroneously, supposed to have assisted St. Patrick to “shoo” the snakes and frogs off Irish soil. An old settler says of the “time of the big snow:’

“About Christmas time, 1830, and continuing at short intervals from that date until late in January following, a snow storm raged in Central and Northern Illinois which the settlers called the “Deep Snow.” No such snow had fallen before that time within the memory of the white settlers and no such snow has fallen since. It formed an epoch in the history of Illinois, and men were accustomed to refer to it as fixing the time for occurrences which took place long afterward. Old settlers even now occasionally refer to it. The snow began falling after noon on the day before Christmas. Prior to that time it had rained for a considerable time, and the ground was saturated with moisture. The corn had little of it been gathered; the cattle and hogs had until that time managed to get most of their feed in the woods. The corn meal, then the chief food of the settlers, was getting low, but not low enough to cause any particular uneasiness. Fuel was plenty in the woods but little was at the houses. The settlers, accustomed to the open winters of preceding years, saw nothing to cause alarm, either in their exposed condition, or in the lack of fuel and provisions.

“The storm continued with slight intermission until it was, on a level, about three feet deep all through this part of the country.

“After a few days of snow, the rain fell enough to wet the top of the snow, which then froze, forming a crust which was strong enough to bear up a wolf or a dog, but was not strong enough to bear up a horse, and in places was not strong enough to bear up a man. The deer were unable to run on the snow, as their sharp hoofs would cut through and the animal would then be wallowing helplessly in three feet of snow, unable to get out. The consequence was the wolves destroyed multitudes of them. The deer were almost all of them exterminated in that way. Perhaps the worst consequences were felt by the early settlers. Their corn was not much of it harvested, and it was impossible to harvest it then, or at least, not enough could be harvested to feed cattle or hogs.

“A man could by hard work gather enough to feed himself and family, but the question of supplying any fire wood, to cook or keep warm, became serious.”¹

The Ottawa Free Trader, December 27, 1895, p. 3, col. 3

The Centennial Reenactment

November 1, 2023October 31, 2023Candace W Leave a comment

The following comes from the hand-written notes of Maud Green about the Dayton exhibit in the La Salle county centennial celebration.

The 24 people who came from Licking County, Ohio in 1829 to La Salle County, Illinois

John Green
Barbara Grove Green
Eliza Green (m Wm Dunavan)
Nancy Green (m Albert Dunavan)
Jesse Green
David Green
Katherine Green (m Geo. Dunavan)
Joseph Green d. 1854
Rachel Green (m Geo W. Gibson)
David Grove
Anna Howser Grove d. 1849
Elizabeth Grove (m. David Conard)
Henry Brumbach
Elizabeth Pitzer Brumbach
David Brumbach
Rezin DeBolt
Emma Grove DeBolt d. 1843
Barbara DeBolt d. 1851 (m David Conard)
Jacob Grove [Grove crossed out in pencil and DeBolt written in]
Samuel Grove
Joseph Grove d. 1858
Jacob Kite
Alex. McKey
Harvey Shaver

Of these 24 – two returned to Ohio. Of the 22 who remained, only seven died in 41 years.
“Jacob Kite never married. A sort of Nimrod, he lived by hunting and went West.” (Baldwin) He is the man who refused to eat when the provisions ran short on the way from Ohio, as he was afraid the women and children would not get enough food. Thinking to tempt him, they put eatables in a box on the back of the wagon where he was in the habit of walking, but they were untouched.

List of people who represented the 1929 party and rode in a covered wagon drawn by oxen in the Dayton exhibit at the La Salle Co centennial in 1931.

John Green                  40        Lyle Green
Barbara Green             37 Mabel Myers
Eliza                            15 Ruth Mary Green
Nancy                          14        Helen Myers
Jesse                            12        Lewis Myers
David                          10        Kenneth Green
Katie                           7          Ruth Van Etten
Rachel                         3          Ann Van Etten
Joseph                         1          John Van Etten
Rezin DeBolt             23        Floyd Smith
Emma Grove DeBolt 19        Lona DeBolt
Barbara                        3 months
David Grove               25        Henry Grove
Anna Grove                24        Nellie Grove Geen
Elizabeth                     1 & Louise Geen
Henry Brumbach Howard Smith
Eliz. Pitzer Brumbach             Myrna McMichael
David Brumbach Boy baby
Young men
Joseph Grove                         Billy Grove
Samuel Grove                         Elias Trumbo
Jacob Kite Donald Gardner
Alex McKey Donald Ainsley
Harvey Shaver                        Howard Shaver
Jacob Grove                            Leon Maynard

Planning for the Old Settlers’ Annual Reunion in 1876

July 19, 2023Candace W Leave a comment

Old Settlers

The Old Settlers’ Association met at the Court House on last Saturday afternoon to elect officers, set a day for the Annual Reunion, and general business. Not a very large number were present.

The meeting was called to order by the President, Mr. Jno. Miller, of Freedom, and the minutes of previous meetings were read and approved.

Mr. Munson moved that the old officers be re-elected, which was carried; and Messrs. Elmer Baldwin, Philip Watts and Jesse Green were added as vice-presidents. Following is the list of officers: John Miller, President; Ransom Pulmer, W. Bushnell, John Hoxie, E. S. Leland, I. H Fredenburg, D. F. Hitt, E. Baldwin, P. Watts, Jesse Green, Vice Presidents; A. M Ebersol, Secretary and Treasurer, J. H. Pickens, General Superintendent.

On motion it was decided to hold the Annual Pic-Nic in Hoes’ grove on the 21^st of August next.

Messrs. J. Bachellor, J. Pembrook and S. H. Miller were appointed a committee to secure the grove and make arrangements for freeing the Illinois River bridge on that day.

Messrs. E. Baldwin, R. Palmer, and Jno. Miller were appointed a committee on speakers.

The committee appointed at the last meeting on History reported no action.

A resolution was presented and adopted as follows:

Resolved, That the Hon. Elmer Baldwin be elected to procure from the most reliable sources the statistics of the earliest settlers of the several towns of La Salle county, including all matters of general interest, with a view of the publication of a history of the early settlement of the county, this society to have the first claim to the copyright by paying a reasonable amount for the same.

Jesse Green, Cyrus Shaver, O. O. Wakefield, S. R. Lewis and Wm. Munson were appointed as committee on Finance.

After considerable discussion it was decided instead of increasing the number of committees, to appoint one committee of J. H. Pickens, J. Bachellor, and J. R. Shaver with full power to act on questions of privileges, seats, stands, refreshments, etc.

J. Miller was appointed a committee of one on policy and A. M. Ebersol on concert, programme, etc.

Adjourned to meet at call of Secretary.¹

It’s interesting to note that some good plans do, indeed, come to fruition. Elmer Baldwin’s book, History of La Salle County, Illinois, was published in 1877 and has long been the source of information on the early days of the county. It appears, however, that Baldwin retained the copyright to his work.

The Ottawa [IL] Free Trader, June 10, 1876, p8, col 2

Dayton’s Industries in 1879

June 14, 2023June 11, 2023Candace W Leave a comment

DAYTON
One of La Salle County’s Flourishing Manufacturing Centers

Dayton, as some of your readers may not know, is located four miles from Ottawa, on the Fox River branch of the C., B. & Q. R. R. Its most solid attraction is one of the best water powers to be found in the West. The dam that supplies the power is owned and kept in repair by the state, so that lessees of power feel assured that if the dams or locks should ever be impaired by the ravages of time or floods, the damages will be speedily repaired, without tax or expense to them.

The paper mill of Williams & Co., situated at the lower end of the manufacturing portion of the town, is one of the best in the state. Their products are so favorably known that running night and day the year round they are unable to supply the demand.

The Tile and Brick Works of D. Green & Sons are yet in their infancy, yet the perseverance of its proprietors, and the excellence of the material close at hand, is sufficient evidence that the surrounding country can soon be supplied with the very best tile and brick to be found anywhere.

The grist and merchant mill of D. Green & Sons is presided over by Mr. Stover, widely known for many years as one of the best millers in the state,

The Fox River Horse Collar Manufacturing Co. is an incorporated company, composed of a body of modest and unassuming men, their modesty being only equaled by the superior quality of their goods, which are widely known from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia on the east, to Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri on the west, to be the best in the world. They use about forty tons of rye straw yearly for filling horse-collars, and the hides of about 2,000 head of cattle are required yearly to supply them with leather.

The elegant massive building known as the Dayton Woolen Mill is now owned and run by J. Green & Sons. They are so well known for the excellence of their goods and their honorable dealing that the simple announcement that they are again in business is sufficient to flood them with orders.

Adjoining the town is the splendid grain and stock farm of Isaac Green. Mr. Green makes a specialty of raising Norman and Clydesdale horses and thoroughbred cattle, and can show some of the finest in either class to be found in the state. Among the minor attractions are many fine driving teams, single and double. I would like to give you the names of the owners, but their objections to seeing their names in print forbid it.

And last, though not least, we have the nicest girls, the most dashing beaux and the most enchanting Groves to be found anywhere. Go a fishing and come and see us.

Full Stop¹

The Ottawa [IL] Free Trader, July 12, 1879, p. 8, col. 1

Settling the Prairies

March 8, 2023March 6, 2023Candace W Leave a comment

Township 34 North Range 4 East of the 3rd Principal Meridian

The map above is the original survey of the area around Dayton (starred) and indicates by the green lines the extent of the timber in the area. In his memoir, Jesse Green wrote of the impact of the open prairies on settlers from the east: –

The first settlers all came from heavily timbered country and as a consequence did not think it possible that those broad prairies would be settled in their day but expected to have unlimited range for all the stock they might desire to keep. The first settlers secured as much of the best timber as they possibly could, through pre-emptions and floats (as they were called) which were subject to transfer and sale by their holders. In the course of time they expected to have neighbors skirting the timber belts of the country but did not have the remotest idea the prairies would be occupied, however, it was not long until coal was discovered and thought to be almost inexhaustable. Lumber began to be brought across the lakes, and the problem of the feasibility of settling up the prairies was solved, and only a few years later the prairies in this section were nearly bought up, largely by eastern land speculators which retarded the settlement of the country considerably for a number of years, driving immigrants still farther west,

The Great Flood of 1855

December 21, 2022December 10, 2022Candace W Leave a comment

The Fox River has seen ice jams many times over the years.

The last of January, 1855, witnessed a great storm and flood, extending over several States and doing vast damage everywhere, this county not excepted. At Ottawa the principal loss was the destruction of the Illinois River bridge, then but about two years old. Up to the evening of Saturday, Jan. 31, and as long as the ice from the Illinois River came square upon the piers, they bore the pressure without sign of giving way; but on that evening, when the ice came out of Fox River, borne on a drifting current of six or seven miles an hour, and striking the piers from a quartering direction, they could resist the shock no longer, and before midnight an ominous crashing heard in that direction above the roar of the ice showed that the noble bridge had shared the fate of so many others and gone down before the flood.

Daylight on Sunday morning revealed the extent of the ruin. The trestle-work and the second pier from the north shore had entirely disappeared, taking down with them the entire bridge to the third pier, leaving the two south spans still resting on the piers so shattered as to be barely able to carry their weight. The woodwork of the bridge lodged on an island near Utica, and a portion of it was recovered.

The cost, however, of repairing the damage exceeded half the original coat of the bridge. At the time of this disaster the water rose a foot above the highest point touched since the county was settled, the point mentioned being reached in 1849.

Some damage was done to the Fox River bridge. Considerable property was injured and carried off from the low ground on the east side of Fox River. Messrs. Fredenburgh, Smeaton and Van Gaebeck, living next to the bridge, were obliged to emigrate, and lost in fences, hay, wagons, etc., seriously. Persons living on the south side of Main street, east of Fox River, who had their stables on low ground, all lost something. Below the hydraulic basin, south of the main part of the city, some damage was done. On the low ground in Ottawa Center about a dozen houses, generally small and occupied by poor people, were submerged to the roof and the contents ruined where not carried off.

The chief disaster at Dayton was the destruction of the fine bridge erected by the people four or five years before at an expense of some $4,000, It was taken off bodily, leaving nothing but the naked abutment The feeder was so injured that mills could not run for a month or so. Some sixty or seventy rods of the bank were swept away and the lock was seriously damaged.

At Peru and La Salle the damage was pretty heavy. At the latter place all the lower stories of the buildings on the canal basin were submerged, and much fear was entertained with reference to the fleet of loaded canal boats in the basin, but they appear not to have suffered much. At Peru the fine stone freight house of the Rock Island Railroad had its whole east side knocked out Several loaded canal-boats were sunk, and some warehouses and other buildings damaged in various ways.¹

History of La Salle County, Illinois, 2 vols. (Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co., 1886), 1, 451-452.

The Missing Marker

November 30, 2022November 19, 2022Candace W 1 Comment

It has long been known, from memories and newspaper accounts, that a marker was erected on the east side of the river at Dayton during the centennial celebration in 1929, commemorating the arrival of the Green party. However, the brass marker disappeared years ago and no one remembered exactly what it said.

I was looking through some old family stuff recently and I came across this snapshot. If blown up, it’s possible to read the text, which says:

1829        1929
ERECTED BY THE DESCENDANTS OF
JOHN GREEN
WHO ARRIVED HERE
WITH THE FOLLOWING PARTY ON
DECEMBER 6, 1829
JOHN GREEN AND FAMILY
REZIN DEBOLT AND FAMILY
DAVID GROVE AND FAMILY
HENRY BRUMBACH AND FAMILY
JACOB KITE     ALEXANDER MCKAY
HARVEY SHAVER   SAMUEL, JOSEPH
AND JACOB GROVE
THEY IMMEDIATELY BEGAN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF A DAM, SAW AND
FLOURING MILL WHICH WERE THE
FIRST IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS
THE GREENS ERECTED THE FIRST
WOOLEN MILL IN ILLINOIS ON THE
OPPOSITE BANK OF THE RIVER IN
1840

This picture was taken at the 1929 dedication. From information on the back , these people are-
Back row: Harold Dunavan, Herberta Schabes holding her daughter Dolores, Harold’s wife Marie, Clara “Coe” Dunavan, Herbert L. Dunavan
Front: Muriel, Marion and Buddie

An Unexplained Explosion

December 1, 2021November 29, 2021Candace W Leave a comment

SHACK NEAR DAYTON IS DESTROYED
Charge of Dynamite Resulted in Injury to Two

Two men were injured, and the lives of two others endangered when the three room shack of William Hibbard located along the banks of the old feeder and just outside of Dayton, was dynamited by an unknown assailant early Tuesday morning. The injured, William Hibbard and Albert Charlery are now confined to the Hibbard home and are being attended by an Ottawa physician. Neither of the other two men, Frank Davis and Arthur Gosney, were badly injured and they did not need medical attention.

The matter has not been reported to the authorities, but it was learned that Hibbard and his three friends who are employed at the James Funk coal beds near Dayton had entered the house, a little three room shack, located on the trestle road from Dayton and the north bank of the feeder late in the evening. According to their own story, it is said they became engaged in a card game and did not hear or see anyone about the place.

Shortly after midnight there came a deafening crash that could be heard for some distance from the house. Every one of the quartet was knocked from his chair and onto the floor, Hibbard being rendered unconscious while his three companions were dazed.

So great was the force of the explosion that every bit of glass in the house was shattered. The stove was blown clear across the room, pictures were knocked from the wall and all of the furniture damaged as well as the exterior of the house.

The alleged charge of dynamite from all appearances was dropped along the side of the house where Albert Charlery was sitting. When the explosion came he was hurled clear across the room.

While the explosion occurred between midnight Sunday and 1 o’clock Monday authorities have not received any notification of the mysterious occurrence. Residents of Dayton are unable to throw any light on the affair and all they can tell is of the mute evidence of the happenings of the night and the roar of the explosion.

The Hibbard shack was built by Hibbard after his other house had been destroyed by fire and was used as a kind of hang-out by men working in the coal beds and clay pits near Dayton. Why anyone would attempt to blow up the house and murder or injure the occupants is a question that the residents of Dayton are asking one another.

from the Streator Times, 22 November 1923

[It’s frustrating that there is never a follow-up to stories like these. Who blew up William Hibbard’s shack? and why?]

Mail to California

September 8, 2021September 1, 2021Candace W Leave a comment

In April, 1850, David Green wrote to his father and brothers in the gold fields near Sacramento. The postage to California and Oregon was 40 cents and it was paid by the sender. This letter was folded and sealed to create its own envelope. Note the red blob of sealing wax still adhering to the paper. The postmark reads “Ottawa Ill. APR 28”. How did this letter get to California?

Mail to California began in November, 1848, when Postmaster General Cave Johnson dispatched a special agent to California to establish Post Offices. By Christmas, steamships were carrying mail from New York to California via the Isthmus of Panama. This was before the construction of the canal. When the ships reached Panama, the mail was taken off and transported in canoes or on pack animals – and later by railroad – about 50 miles to the Pacific coast. Another steamship collected the mail on the Pacific side and headed north. The total journey took about three weeks. See here for map.

Since the first overland mail service to California was not until the spring of 1851, this letter likely went by boat from Ottawa to St. Louis and then by steamboat to New Orleans. From there it joined the main mail route from New York, crossing Panama and continuing up the coast to San Francisco.

This second letter came in its own (hand-made) envelope. Note that in this case the sender paid only 10 cents, leaving 30 cents to be collected upon arrival. Was David thinking the miners would have plenty of gold to pay the amount due?

Mail to and from California was eagerly awaited and all the letters stressed the fact that they had not heard from the other in a long time. Then a batch of letters would appear all at once and news was relayed to everyone for miles around, in hopes that their people would be mentioned. Many of the letters from La Salle county people were published in the Ottawa Free Trader.

Mail from home was not only eagerly awaited, it was treasured. These two letters, mailed to California and received there, were put away safely and brought home with them. The fragile originals are now treasured as evidence of how important the mail was to the adventurers.

1829 home of the Green party

June 23, 2021June 21, 2021Candace W Leave a comment

When the Green party arrived in Illinois in December 1829, they moved into the cabin that William Clark had built for them. It was 18 feet by 24 feet, and in that single room, fourteen adults and ten children (four of them under two years of age) spent the first winter. In the picture above, the small extension on the back of the house is the original cabin.

Dayton and the Greens

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

History