HISTORY OF PUTNAM & MARSHALL COUNTIES;
Embracing an Account of the Settlement, Early Progress, and Formation of Bureau and Stark Counties;

With an Appendix, Containing Notices of Old Settlers and of the Antiquities of Putnam and Marshall, Lists of Officers of Each County from its Organization to the Present Time, etc., etc.

By Henry A. Ford, Corresponding Member of the Chicago Historical Society

Lacon, ILL.: Published for the Author

1860

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by Henry A. Ford, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois. Printed at the Gazette Office, Lacon, ILL.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I—EUROPEAN DISCOVERY IN THE WEST.
Florida discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon—Narvaez and De Vaca—Discovery of the Mississippi—De Soto—Results of Spanish exploration—Discovery of the St. Lawrence—New France—Raymbault and Jogues in the North-west—Mesnard, Allouez, Dablon, Marquette, Perrot—Marquette's expedition to the "Land of the Great River"—His impressions of Illinois—La Salle in the West—Hennepin's expedition—Louisiana, ..... Page 1.

CHAP. II—HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 1690—1825.
French colonization—D'Iberville Governor—D'Artaguette Governor—Grant to Crozat—Company of the West—Illinois in 1750—French war—Clarke's Conquest of Illinois—Illinois County—North-west Territory—Indian troubles—Indiana Territory—Illinois Territory—Massacre at Chicago in 1812—Illinois admitted into the Union—Slavery Agitation—Legislature of 1824-5—New counties formed, ..... Page 14.

CHAP. III.—THE OLD COUNTY OF PUTNAM.
Northern Illinois in 1825—The Military Bounty Land Tract—Pike County—Division of the Military Tract into counties—Legislative proceedings—Formation of "Old Putnam," ..... Page 23.

CHAP. IV.—HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
Northern Illinois in 1831—Formation of later Putnam—Location of county seat—First, election—First Circuit Court—Incidents thereof—First County Commissioners' Court—Early poll lists—Township organization—Jails built—Putnam in 1835—The county divided—Defalcation of the County Treasurer, ..... Page 31.

CHAP. V.—THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
The Indian treaty of 1804—First invasion of Black Hawks—Campaign of 1881—Black Hawk's second invasion—Terrors of white settlers—Mustering of rangers in Putnam county—Forte and block-houses erected—Incidents of the war in Putnam—Murder of Phillips in the Bureau Settlement—Stillman's defeat—Massacre on Indian Creek—Close of the war, ..... Page 45.

CHAP. VI.—EARLY HISTORY OF BUREAU AND STARK COUNTIES
The pioneers of Bureau—Founding of Princeton—Towns of Windsor, Kin-nor-wood, Concord, Greenfield, Fairmount, Livingston, and Providence, laid off—Formation of Bureau County—The first election—Early settlement of Stark—Wyoming, Osceola, Moulton, Massillon, and Lafayette, laid off—Coffee County—Canvass for Representative—Preliminary meetings—Formation of Stark county, ..... Page 64.

CHAP. VII.—HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
Southern Putnam in 1839—Movements for division—Establishment of Marshall County—Addition of range one—Location of county seat—First election—First County Court—First Circuit Court—Court-houses built—Jails built—Township organization—Absconding of School Commissioner, ..... Page 76.

CHAP. VIII.—HISTORY OF THE TOWNS OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
Hennepin—West Hennepin—Magnolia—Granville—Mt. Palatine—Caledonia—Florid—Putnam—Snachwine, ..... Page 85.

CHAP. IX.—COUNTRY SETTLEMENTS IN PUTNAM.
Union Grove—Ox Bow Prairie—Narrative of the Strawn robbery—Snachwine Settlement, ..... Page 97.

CHAP. X.—HISTORY OF THE TOWNS OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
Columbia—Lacon—Henry—Wenona—New Rutland—Washburn—Sparland—Pattonsburg—Webster—Lyons—Dorchester Bristol—Auburn—Centreville—Troy City—Chambersburg, ..... 105.

CHAP. XI.—COUNTRY SETTLEMENTS IN MARSHALL.
Round Prairie—Shaw's Point—Roberts' Point—Belle Plaine—Half Moon Prairie—Crow Creek Settlement—Narratives of exciting events thereabouts—Henry Prairie—Narrative of the Reeves affair—High Prairie—Camping Grove—Lawn Ridge—Yankee Street, ..... Page 126.

CHAP. XII.—CONCLUSION.
Failure to receive census returns—Glance at Putnam County in 1860—Glance at Marshall County in 1860, ..... Page 143.

APPENDIX.
List of officers of Putnam County—List of officers of Marshall County—Notices of old settlers—Indians of Putnam and Marshall—Antiquities in the two counties, ..... Page 147.

PREFACE.

This little work makes no pretension to a thorough and exhaustive treatment of any one of its topics. The limits of the volume, the difficulty of procuring accurate information upon a great variety of subjects, and the brief time allotted the author for preparation and publication, alike forbade this. The utmost claimed for the present work is that it marks the first movement in the right direction — namely, a full development and permanent record of our local annals. The author trusts that, by newspaper contributions, public correspondence and meetings of old settlers, the formation of historical societies, and future issues in pamphlet or book form, the errors of this preliminary essay may be corrected, and its deficiencies supplied. He believes that the history of localities, however meagre or brief it may be, is richly worth preserving, and will attain in time a value far transcending its apparent and present importance. Under this conviction the work now offered has been projected and executed.

Endeavor has been made to base every statement herein upon reliable authority. To this end, libraries have been ransacked, rare works consulted, many files of serial publications and official records carefully examined, a wide correspondence carried on, and numerous conversations held with those who are personally cognizant of facts stated. It would be too much, however, to presume that no errors have escaped notice; though it is believed that the work will be found in the main correct.

It was expected that several local views and portraits of old settlers should embellish the work. But its probable limited circulation, and the cost of engraving, induced the reluctant abandonment of this intention. Should another and enlarged edition ever be called for, they may be added. It has been found advisable to depart in some particulars from the announcements of the prospectus, and also to prefix chapters on European discovery and Illinois history.

In the prosecution of his researches, the author has been placed under obligations to a large number of individuals, for their incidental or direct assistance; and he desires to make public acknowledgment of their several favors to the officers of the Chicago Historical Society, especially to the accomplished Secretary, Dr. Wm. Barry; to the clerks of the Treasury Department, at Washington; to the librarians of the Eureka College, Peoria City, Henry Public, and Magnolia Public Libraries; to Judges Bangs and Ramsey, of Lacon; to the veteran editor, Hooper Warren, Esq., of Henry; to Dr. B. Clarke Lundy, of Magnolia, Rev. J. P. Hayes, of Hennepin, David Walker, Esq., of Ottawa, the editors of the local papers, the county officers of Putnam and Marshall, and many officers.

With these explanations and acknowledgments, this humble effort is submitted to the public.

Gazette Office, Lacon, August, 1860.

ERRATA.

On page 17, 7th line from top, read "French" for "English." The fort was rebuilt a few years before the English became masters of the country.

On page 40, 6th line from top, read "1855" for "1854." The first Board of Supervisors, however, does not appear to have been elected until 1857.

On page 47, 10th line from top, read "2d" for "3d."

On page 57, 15th line from top, read "of" for "off."

On page 87, 9th line from top, read "1833" for "1838."

In the note to page 112, read "so named" for "done." The town was not laid off at the suggestion of Mr. Warren, as might be inferred from the language of the note.

CHAPTER III.

THE OLD COUNTY OF PUTNAM.

The opening of the year 1825 saw Illinois a State of less than a hundred thousand inhabitants, and the whole of its northern half still a wilderness, without an organized county, a post-road, or a considerable settlement. Chicago was little more than "a village in Pike County, situated on Lake Michigan, at the mouth of Chicago creek, containing twelve or fifteen houses, and about sixty or seventy inhabitants."*— Peoria was "a small settlement in Pike Countv, situated on the west bank of the Illinois river, about 200 miles above its junction with the Mississippi."** A few miners had clustered about the lead mines in the vicinity of Galena, which had been opened in 1823; but a road through the unbroken wilderness

*Beck's Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri. p. 199.
**Ibid, 143.

eastward or southward was not made until late this year, when "Kellogg's Trail" pointed the devious way from Peoria to Galena.* Not a white man's habitation, nor a ferry, was to be seen along its entire route. Northern Illinois was still the roving-ground of the Winnebago and the Pottawatamie.

The "Military Bounty Land Tract" was the first to be settled when the tide of American emigration began to flow with some rapidity to Illinois; and at a very early day pioneers had located at various points on its broad prairies.** This Tract was surveyed by order of the Government in 1815 and 1816, and the greater part subsequently appropriated in bounties to the soldiers of the regular army in service during the last war with Great Britain. It was located between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and extended due north 169 miles from the mouth of the Illinois river, to a line drawn from the great bend of the stream below Peru to the Mississippi, which it strikes about fifteen miles above New Boston being ninety miles between the two points. The whole comprises 207 full and 61 fractional townships—altogether 5,360,000 acres, of which about 3,500,000 were appropriated for soldiers' bounties. After satisfying the military claims, the remainder was made subject to entry and purchase, like other Congress lands; and it was rapidly disposed of.

*History of Ogle County, p. 30.
**Reynolds' Own Times.

The necessity of a county organization on the Military Tract, for judicial and other purposes, was early apparent. In 1821, Pike county was laid off by the Legislature, including all that part of the State north and west of the Illinois river from its junction with the Mississippi to the Kankakee, and north of the latter to the Indiana line, covering a vast extent of territory. It was described in 1823 as containing between 700 and 800 inhabitants.* It sent one member to the House of Representatives, and, with Greene county, one member to the Senate. The county seat at first was Atlas, and afterwards Colesgrove, mentioned two years after the county was created as "very little improved," but "bids fair to be a place of some importance."**

Ten counties were organized within three years after the State government was formed; but only three were created within the next two years, showing that emigration had received a check, or that the previous grants of the Legislature were nearly equal to the demand for new counties. A considerable number were set off at the session of 1824-5. During the years since the State organization, the Military Tract had increased its population more, perhaps, than any other section of the State;*** and land could be procured there cheaper than Congress price. It was now thought advisable to divide it into counties.

*Beck's Gazetteer. §2.
**Ibid, 101.
***Reynolds' Own Times, 238.

On the 6th of December, 1824, in the House of Representatives, Nicholas Hansen, the member for Pike county, presented a petition for its division into sundry counties. It was referred to a select committee, of which Hansen was Chairman, who reported "an act forming a new county out of Pike and the attached portion thereof." On the second reading, it was referred back, with directions to inquire if it would not be expedient to lay off the whole Military Tract into counties, and if so, to report by bill. A new Committee was soon after appointed, with definite instructions to divide the Military Tract into counties, under such regulations as they should deem expedient. Accordingly they reported "An act forming a new county in the vicinity of Fort Clark," (Peoria county,) and "An act forming new counties out of the counties of Fulton* and Pike, and the attached portions thereof." The bills passed their several readings without difficulty; and on the 30th December were carried through the House. In Senate shortly after, both were passed and sent back with amendments. The House concurred in an amendment to the first bill, but refused to concur in the amendments to the second. Subsequently, however, its action was re-considered, the amendments passed, and the bill became a law Jan. 13th, 1825.**

*Fulton had just been created at the same session.
**See House Journal for 1824-5.

This act provided for the formation of Schuyler, Adams, Hancock, Warren, Mercer, Henry, Knox, and Putnam counties.* The provisions for the erection of each were substantially the same. Putnam county occupies but a single section:

Sec. 7. Be it further enacted, That all that tract of country within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the point where the township line between Townships 11 and 12 north touches the Illinois river, thence up the said river to the south fork thereof, thence up the said fork to the line dividing this State from Indiana, thence up the said line to the north-east corner of this State, thence west on the north boundary line thereof to the range line between ranges 4 and 5 east, and thence south on said range line to the line between Townships 11 and 12 north, thence east to the place of beginning, shall constitute a County, to be called the County of Putnam.**

These boundaries, stretching from the present northern limit of Peoria county along the Illinois and Kankakee rivers, the Indiana line, lake shore, and Wisconsin boundary to a point only 35 miles from the Mississippi, and thence due southward 105 miles, included nearly 11,000 square miles, being the tract now covered by Bureau, Stark, Kendall, Lee, Ogle, DeKalb, Kane, Boone, Lake, DuPage, McHenry, Stephenson, Winnebago, and Cook counties, and portions of later Putnam, Marshall, Henry, La Salle,

*It will be observed that all these counties are named from Revolutionary heroes.
**Revised Laws 1824-5, p. 94.

Grundy, Will, Kankakee, Carroll, Whiteside, and Jo Daviess. Chicago was the only town in this great wilderness county.

As soon as the county had 350 inhabitants, they were authorized to organize and elect county officers, for which the Judge of the Circuit Court was directed to issue an order. In 1830, Putnam and Peoria counties (whose census returns were united) contained 1,310 whites;* and Putnam has been estimated to have had at that time a population of about 700.** It was never organized, however, as its people were too widely scattered to make organization convenient or necessary. Whatever judicial business there was appears to have been transacted at Peoria. The county was ignored by subsequent Legislatures, in the formation of other counties upon its territory; and it was not recognized even in the act of 1831, creating the present county of that name. Nevertheless, it has usually been considered by writers on Illinois as the original of the present Putnam, and is so mentioned in their works.***

*U. S. Census Rep. 1830, 149.
**Peoria Register, June 30, '38.
***See Peck's New Guide for Emigrants, Peck's Gazetteer of Illinois (both editions), Ellsworth's Illinois in 1837, etc., etc.

Source: Extracted from History of Putnam & Marshall Counties; Embracing an Account of the Settlement, Early Progress, and Formation of Bureau and Stark Counties; With an Appendix, Containing Notices of Old Settlers and of the Antiquities of Putnam and Marshall, Lists of Officers of Each County from its Organization to the Present Time, etc., etc.; By Henry A. Ford, Corresponding Member of the Chicago Historical Society; Lacon, ILL.: Published for the Author; 1860.