Happy New Year!!

On the last day of 2025, it may be good to look back on 11 years of Dayton posts on this site.

The first was on February 27, 2015. In my enthusiasm I thought I could post something once a week. There have been times when I regretted this schedule, but by and large I’ve kept to it. There have been 575 posts through 2025.

These are the 15 largest numbers of posts by category.
193  biography
158  social
59  history
41  school
36  Fox river
21  farming
17 businesses
13 woolen mill
12  grist mills
12  cemetery
12  medical
11  news
10  travel
10 weather
9  humor

When I started this site, I thought of it purely as a personal way to collect my Dayton information. I didn’t expect it to be of interest to anyone else, except possibly to family members. I told a few people about it but didn’t make any effort to promote it. However, thanks to Google, occasionally someone would land here, read a little more, and stick around. It may not sound like much, compared to influencers who have hundreds of thousands of followers, but I’m delighted to see that I have 48 subscribers and an unknown number of people who just drop in occasionally. The La Salle County Genealogy Guild has publicized it, for which I am very grateful. I’ve actually made contact with people who are researching someone that I have posted about, which is always a thrill.

There’s more to this web site beyond the weekly posts. As a matter of fact , they were sort of an afterthought. I was lucky to inherit a good deal of family information. As the historian of the Dayton Cemetery Association, I did a lot of research into the persons buried there and collected it all here. Plus which, most of the people of early Dayton were Greens or Green in-laws. They are all family and I’ve researched many of those who married in.

I want to thank everyone who has stopped by, especially those who have left comments. They are the best part of my day.

Dayton Residents in 1911

from the 1911 La Salle County directory, p. 55

DAYTON
Located on the C B & Q Railroad 4 miles north east of Ottawa

BUSINESS DIRECTORY
C B & Q Railroad James McBrearty agent
Hippard Charles F postmaster and general merchandise
Neola Elevator Company E C McClary manager

GENERAL DIRECTORY
* indicates head of family

*Ainsley P W janitor
*Aurnig William
*Ballau C W
*Bennett George teamster
Breese Ellis
*Breese John
*Brown W M
*Burkhart Antonio Mrs
*Charlier Albert
Cummings Kate Miss domestic
*Dallam E A
Emmons Edward
*Fraine Charles
*Green Basil farmer
Green Fred farmer
*Green L A
*Green Rush farmer
Hanzo Joseph
*Hippard Charles F general merchandise
*Hippard Samuel teamster
*Hippard Thomas
*Jacobs Joseph A laborer
*McBrearty James agent C B & Q
*McCrary E C grain
*McGrogan James laborer
*Mahar Thomas laborer
*Morrell Louis
*Ostrander Bert carpenter
*Ostrander Frank carpenter
*Peterson Ole
*Petticord J W
*Pyatt John S plasterer
*Tanner A L
Tanner Cora Miss
Tanner W H
*Tepfer Andrew
*Ward E J
*Warner J F
*Wilson A V
*Wilson Robert operator

Dayton in 1850 – Where we came from

In 1850, the first year for which we have places of birth from the census,  there were 85 people living in the village of Dayton. Of these:

22 were born in Illinois
18 were born in Ohio
5 were born in Pennsylvania
4 were born in Virginia
3 were born in New York
3 were born in Vermont
2 were born in Maine
1 was born in New Hampshire
13 were born in Norway
9 were born in England
4 were born in Ireland
1 was born in Wales

The oldest of the children born in Illinois was 16, reflecting the settlement of the area in the early 1830s. The first party of settlers came from Ohio; thus, the second largest group were born there.

Except for William Wheatland, a Methodist minister, all the people who  were born in England were connected with the wool trade and came to Dayton because of Green’s woolen mill.

The other large group, the 13 born in Norway, are a result of the work of Cleng Peerson. Cleng Peerson was a Norwegian-American pioneer who led the first group of Norwegians to emigrate to the United States. In 1834 he led a group to La Salle County, who settled on the Fox river 5 or 6 miles above Dayton. More information on Peerson can be found here.