This article was one
of a series of articles
published during the year 1879, in
The Lake
County Star called “Progress In
Lake County.”
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Appeared in: The Lake County Star
Date Published: March 20, 1879
Volume: VI Number: XLVII Page: 1
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Progress in Lake County.
[Under this title we give a
series of short sketches, descriptive of the time of immigration of each settler
in the county, with amount of improvement, present and future prospects; crops raised in 1878; grain sown last
Fall, &c. Also, sketches of
manufacturing and business interests.
Correspondence is solicited from all interested in the growth and prosperity
of our county. We would suggest to
our readers that they cut out and preserve,in scrap
books these sketches; as they will doubtless find them of more interest in the
future than at this time].
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James C. Brown—Settled, by homestead
entry, on the northwest quarter section 34, Cherry Valley township, in the
Spring of 1874. The soil is plains;
30
acres
improved. Has a frame house; frame
barn. For fruit, has
about 35 apple trees, 2 crabs (Siberian), currants and gooseberries. Has a span of horses, 1 ox, 5 cows, 2
hogs, poultry.
In 1878, raised 13 acres wheat, 2 acres corn, 2 acres oats, 2 acres buckwheat, ½ acre potatoes, 3 acres millet. Sowed 10 acres wheat, last Fall. Water, from well 22 feet deep. Is satisfied with prospects on plains.
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John Watson—Settled, in Fall of 1876, on the southwest quarter of section 8,
Pleasant Plains township. The soil
is plains; about 15 acres improved.
Has water from a well 31 feet deep. House, frame. The
fruit is currant, gooseberry, strawberry; and this Spring,
intends to set out 25 apple trees. Has a cow, 1 yearling, 2 hogs, poultry, and 7 fine swarms of
bees. Last year he had 1 acre wheat, 3 acres buckwheat, and ½ acre potatoes, and a good
garden. Lack of a team is a serious
drawback to Mr. W.
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L. C. Danberry—Settled, in Spring of 1871, on east half of the southeast
quarter section 28, Yates township.
The soil is sand (plains and stump land). Plenty of good water
from a well 30 feet deep.
Buildings, log house and barn.
Small fruits. Mr. D. has 4 horses, 2 cows, and
poultry. In 1878, he had 8 acres wheat (89 bushels), 7 acres corn (240 bushels ears), 3 acres oats, 4 acres buckwheat (48 bushels), 2 ¼ acres potatoes, 2 acres timothy, 7 acres millet, ½ acre rutabagas. Sowed 8 acres wheat and 3 acres rye, last Fall. The estimate of pine
still remaining on place—150,000 feet. In the Spring
of 1878, Mr. D. seeded 2 ¾ acres to clover. One acre of it, he sowed with oats;
first plowing, then sowed seed, dragging once, with furrow. He then gave it a good top-dressing with
coarse manure, and rolled well. The
acre and three quarters was sown on the growing wheat and harrowed under. Mr. D. says he obtained a fine catch on
all of it, and especially where he applied top-dressing.
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VILLAGE OF BALDWIN.
The first building
erected was the mill now run by K. T. Sleeper, which was put up by Jas.
Kennedy, in 1872. The boarding
house was also, built. In same Summer, H. A. Bray and M. O’Rourk
erected a small building near the mill, and put in a stock of groceries and
hardware. They also, erected the
building on the northeast corner of Michigan avenue and 8th street. John
Stump erected a hotel (now occupied by E. Coon & Co. as store and dwelling)
during the Summer of 1872. John O’Brien rented the house for
awhile, and it was afterwards purchased by Wm. Remington, who finally sold to
E. Coon; the latter engaging in mercantile business here in the Fall of 1873; and has since enlarged and improved the
building. During the Summer of 1872, Alex. DeLong
commenced the erection of the Baldwin House, which was run by himself, then by
Wm. Wood; and at last passing into the hands of F. Indermill
who has finished it off and fitted it up in a style second to no hotel in this
locality. DeLong
& Rudd erected blacksmith shop.
Jas. Kennedy also, erected a store building, in 1872; which building was
purchased and occupied by C. F. Basom, and was
destroyed by fire, in 1877. The
saloon building, now owned and occupied by J. B. Taylor, as a boarding house,
was erected by C. H. Chick, in 1872; also, a dwelling. In 1873, Wm. A. Deuress
built store and dwelling combined; W. A Burnam, same;
M. D. O’Brien built saloon; Robt. Stewart, a
dwelling house; John O’Brien, boarding house; McCaffery
& Sweet, saloon; Thos. Morris, shoe shop; Thos. Sweeney, restaurant; M. D.
O’Brien, store building; I. Grant moved store building from
“Hannibal;” N. Stratton built the McNichol
dwelling; John C. Hicks, a dwelling; John Thomas, a dwelling; a tailoring firm,
Evart, a store building (now used as dwelling); M. O’Rourk,
a dwelling; Geo. S. Pool. a dwelling, Wm. A. Deuress
first engaged in boot and shoe business, and W. A. Burnam,
drugs. The dwelling erected by Mr.
Hicks was destroyed by fire, in Winter of
1873-74. The dwelling of Geo. S.
Pool was the first to receive plaster and a chimney. The dwelling now owned by F. L. Allen
was also built, that year. In 1873, a postoffice was established,
and C. F. Basom appointed postmaster. The position was subsequently held by
Wm. A. Deuress, A. B. Kinne,
and at present, by E. Campbell.
In Winter
of 1873-74, Phillips & Dyer erected their hardware store, and in the Spring
following, the second story was occupied by the Lake
County Star office for nearly a year; when it removed to the building
owned by A. B. Kinne; after two years, to its present
location. Jones & Hollister
erected store and dwelling combined, in Spring of
1874, and during that year, Dr. Mott erected a dwelling, as also, F. Drilling
and –– Sprague.
In Fall
and Winter of 1874, Benj. Tripp erected a dwelling; which caught fire, in some
unaccountable manner, just before daylight, March 8th, 1875, and was destroyed. Dennis Robinson, stopping over night
with Mr. Tripp, was unable to escape from the building, and was burned to
death. Mr. Tripp’s family
barely escaped with their lives.
The work of laying
iron on the F. & P. M. Railway was completed to Baldwin in Fall of 1874, and the depot and water tank
were built immediately after the first trains began running.
In 1875, dwellings
were erected by M. D. and P. O’Brien; a shoe shop and dwelling, by J.D.
Garland; a store building, by Geo. Shane; a store building by F. L. Allen; and
a restaurant by Wm. Wood.
In the Fall
of 1874, the Board of Supervisors designated Baldwin, as county seat, and at the Spring election of 1875, the proposition
carried; and the present county building was erected and rented to the county
by C. H. Chick. In 1875, Wm. A. Deuress and Geo. H. Broeffle
erected dwellings; and in 1876, the latter built another one. The same year, G. W. Helms built
dwelling, and Wm. Wood commenced the “Occidental House,” afterwards
selling to C. W. Fuller, the present proprietor. The “Townsend House” was
also, built, during this year, and Broeffle built two
more dwellings. E. Campbell erected dwelling; also, H. Isbell.
In Winter
of 1876-77, a jail
was erected by the county; and in 1877, E. L. Harger
put up a dwelling, as, also, John Carpenter. In 1878, L. A. Carpenter built a gun shop, and Henry Rudd a
blacksmith shop.
There are at present
about 70 buildings; and the business of the place includes two variety stores,
one drug store, one grocery and drug store, postoffice,
(money order office), express office, 2 boot and shoe shops, 3 hotels, printing
office, gun shop, wagon shop, blacksmith shop, meat market, telegraph office,
lumber and shingle mill, and two billiard and liquor saloons. There are prospects of a grist mill, the
coming season.
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C. W. Fuller—Came to Lake
county in Fall of 1872, and homesteaded, in the Spring
of 1873, the southeast quarter of section 24, Webber township. The soil is plains, with some pine. There are about 14 acres under improvement, with small board house. There are 40 acres fenced. Has a few apple trees and small fruits; and has started some
walnut trees. Water for culinary
uses is had from a well 12 feet deep; and a spring stream affords water for
stock. Mr. F. has been for a year
or two past, and now is engaged keeping hotel in Baldwin, but has been making some improvements on his place. He has about 40 acres of marsh, and last season, ditched and drained it;
seeding 10 acres to timothy.
Also, sowed 4 acres wheat, last Fall. Intends to work the
place the coming season.
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Errata—In making the statements relative to location of O. A. Lincoln
and A. Reynolds, we should have stated that the former had 55 acres on section 36 instead of 28; and that the
latter’s location was east half of northwest quarter section 22.
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Ephraim Page—Settled in Fall of
1877; purchasing of Geo. W. Clark the southwest quarter section 26, Town 18-14
(Elk). The soil is sand plains and
pine; about 300,000 feet of the latter now standing. There are 12 acres improved.
The house is of log, and water from a well 34 feet deep. Mr.
P. has about 50 apple trees, 70 seedling peaches and small fruits. Original oaks were left for shade. Not having a team, Mr. P. was not able
to make much progress, last year; but raised 3 acres corn, 2 acres buckwheat, and ¾ acre potatoes.
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H. S. Jenks—Settled, in the Spring of 1873, on the east half of southeast and the east
half of the northeast quarter section 24, Lake
township. The soil is sand, (plains
and pine). Has cut about 100,000 feet of pine, and has about as much more still
standing. Has good water from a
spring. Has a frame house, 16x16
feet, with an L, 15x50 feet, and log stable. Has set out maples, tamarack and pines
for shade and ornament, and has also, left original oaks. Has 2 horses, 1
cow, 2 young cattle, and poultry.
In 1878, he had 5 acres corn, 1 ½ acres buckwheat,
1
acre potatoes, 2 acres millet, 1 acre rutabagas, and a good garden. Sowed an acre of wheat last Fall. There is
some marsh hay, which will doubtless be converted into tame meadow, in course
of time.
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J. J. Hanese—(Recently deceased) Settled on the
northeast quarter section 24, Town 18-14 (Elk), in Spring of 1872. The soil is sand plains, with water from
a well 93 feet
deep. The buildings are log house,
frame barn. There are some apple, with small fruits. For shade, left
original oaks. Mrs. H. is
residing on and improving the place.
There are 80 acres under cultivation, and 30 acres were cleared, last year; to be broken up, this Spring. The
stock consists of 4 oxen, 2 cows, 1 yearling, 1
hog. Keeps
poultry. In 1878, there were
13
acres wheat, 3 acres buckwheat (on Willson’s)
1
acre potatoes, 30 acres rye, and 4 acres millet (on Willson’s). Sowed 30 acres wheat, and 10 acres rye, last Fall.
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Scott Voorheis—Settled on the southwest quarter section 32, Ellsworth, in
Summer of 1872. The soil is plains;
40
acres
improved. Has soft water from a
well 10 feet in
depth. Also, owns the northeast
quarter of southeast quarter of 32, which is swamp land. Has commenced to
improve for meadow. The
buildings are board house and log stable.
Has some young peach trees started, and left
original oaks for shade. Keeps 2 horses, 2 cows and poultry. Had ¼ acre potatoes (40 bushels),
10
acres rye, and
½ acre millet, last year, and sowed 5 acres rye, in Fall. Expects to build log
barn, the coming season.
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Geo. L. Willson, Jr.—Settled in the Fall of
1873, on the northeast quarter section 26, Town 18-14 (Elk). The soil is sand (plains and pine). Estimates about 400,000
feet of pine still standing. Has about
15
acres improved,
and log house and barn, and frame workshop. There is a small lake. For shade, has left groves of original
oaks. Mr. W. became somewhat
discouraged two years ago, and removed to the southern part of the State; but
returned last Fall, and says he intends to stick to his sand, satisfied he can
do as well here as need be.
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[Note—Should any of our readers find an error in any of the
above sketches, they would confer a favor by sending us the proper correction].
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permanently for free access.
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Page Notes:
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All of these sketches are typed as they appeared in the newspaper
(spelling and so on).
Errata means that the item is a correction to a previous article or
an addition.
- - - = Is missing some lines.
I will be making another trip to be able to get the missing items of
this article, image for this name became blurry in sections.
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another is established. If you
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mistress and she will add your name to the list with the appropriate
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