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TABLES FIRST WHITE SETTLER# { ..on1 RoqK RIVER.^vT”!—J ----------,^BY. HON.. ANSON S. MILLEB. -.jAtnong th.e jurors summoned to the UH§*Y Court Room in Chicago, Feb., I§7$, appeared th$’ venerable and ven-eratejd Johh Dixon, one of the oldest surviving pioneers of Illinois, and. the first white settler in the Rook River Country. Although very aged, Father Dixon retains his sound mental powers i'n a remarkable degree, and is still capable of discharging the duties of a' juror in the courts, to which eve’n in his luter years, he has often’ been called at the great city, the whole growth of which he has witnessed from the humblest beginning. His emigration west, and his experience in the frontier settlements of Illinois are striking illustrations of the advancement of our State -during^theTnanhoodof one stil 1 living in our midst.John Dixon was bom in Westchester Co., N. Y., in 1-784, and on reaching his majority, removed to the city of New York, where he remained in business until the sprihg of 1820. He was •one of the original memberB of the Young Men’s Bible Society of the City of New York, formed in 1809—the first in the United States, of which original organization he has been for years the sole surviving member.Early in 1820, he removed with his wife and children to Illinois, accompanied by his brother-in-law and sister. Leaving New York in a covered wagon drawn by a single team, the emigrants passed through the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, to Pittsburg, and then purchased a flat-boat on which they embarked with their team and effects, and floated down the Ohio river to Shwneetown, 111., then a little landing. Here they disembarked with their horses and goods, and after disposing of their boat, proceeded with their wagon north-west, through pathless prairies and unbridged rivers, to the vicinity in which is now the City of Springfield. The prairie, the present site of the State Capital, was then an open wild, ■without a human dwelling, though a few pionoers bad reared their cabins in the bordering woodlands. Near a beautiful creek in this wilderness region, Mr. D. made his home at dose of his journey of over seventy days. Sangamon county was not then set off, and nearly all of central, and northern Illinois was embraced in the county of Madison. Early in the next year— 1821—Sungumon county was formed; and the first court in the new county was held in the spring of that year, at the house of John Kelly, the earliest settler near the site of Sprinfield. John Reynolds, a judge of the Supreme Court, presided. James Turney was Prosecuting Attorney, John Taylor, Sheriff; Chas. Mutheny, Clerk ; and Messrs Starr, Lockwood, Hamilton and Caverly were among the lawyers present. John Dixon was appointed foreman of the grand jury that sat in the house of Pascal Enos. Judge Reynolds aimed to administer justice in each oase, disregarding legal technicalties when opposed to equality, and often taking what he oalled “a liberal, town-meeting view of matters.”Gov Coles having appointed Mr. D Recorder of Deeds for the county of Peoria, then just formed, he removed in the spring of 1824 to Peoria, then often called Fort Clark, situated at the outlet of the lake. Mr. D was also made clerk of the County Commissioners’ Court on the organization of Peoria county, and Clerk of the Circuit Court ■by Judge John Y. Sawyer, one of the .five Oirouit Court Judges elected at the session of the Legislature on the re organization of the Judiciary, in 1824 5, who held the first court in Peoria county in the spring of 1825, Samuel Fulton, Sheriff, and Messrs. Hamilton, Thomas, Pugh and others, members of the Bar.Northern Illinois then having no •counties set off, it became the duty of Mr. D., as clerk, to give notice of the time of elections, and the names of the inspectors thereof, at Galena, Chicago, and other little settlements, north and east of Peoria. In 1830, the Post Office Department established a mail route from Peoria to Galena, crossing the Rock River at the present Site of the city of Dixon, and going by way of Gratiot's Grove, in Wisconsin, far out of the direct coarse, to accommodate a little settlement there, mail .to be carried twice a week on horsebaok. The contract on this route was let to Mr D., and he removed with his family to Rock River, in the spring of that year. Arriving April 11th.Previous to his removal, Mr. D. caused a ferry to be established on the river, by Joseph Ogee, at the crossing of the route, and henceforth the place was known as Dixon’s Ferry. Here, on the evening of a spring day in 1831, whilo Mr. D. was tending his ferry, he was saluted by four travelers, on horsebaok,from the ^ direction of Galena..^: They wero Richard-1$. Ybung,Circuit, Judge, Thomas Ford, Prosecuting Attorney, Benj. Mills and James M.' Strode, members of the-Bar-rall subsequently distinguished publio men of the State. They informed hub that they were going to Fort Dearborn to hold the first Circuit Court’ for the, county of Cook, then recently Organized, and requested him to pilot them through the pathless space from the Ferry to the .Fort. None but Indians had made this journey. Some of the Pottawatamies living at Paw Paw Grove, thirty miles eaBt of the Ferry, had visited Mr. D., and invited him to their home, describing the way. Mr. D., consented to go with the men to Paw Paw, where he thought an Indian guide could be procured.Accepting the cordial hospitality of Mr. JX-they-took- supper withMiim and staid till morning, when Mrs. D. gave them an early breakfast, and supplied their portmanteaus with provision^ for the way. v -Leaving the Ferry at the opening of a pleasant day, the party took, the course for Paw Paw Grove, Mr. D. accompanying them, ancL'carrying his pocket compass, and oarefnlly observing all the directions given him by the Indians, when, after an interesting ride of thirty miles through the prairies and groves, then glowing in all their natural wealth and beauty of verdure and bloom, they arrived at Paw Paw, but saw no Indians; nothing but the standing poles of their lodges appeared, the dwellers being temporarily absent.Camping at the Indian quarters for the night, the court party concluded in the morning that as Mr. D.’s business at home would permit him to accompany them no farther, they wonld venture with the aid of his compass, to enter upon the remainder of their journey alone; and after three days’ travel, sometimes without a path, and anon on Indian trails, they reached Fort Dearborn—Chicago,—and in due time held the first court in what is now the grand metropolis of the northwest, having its dozen courts of record—State and Federal,—simultaneously in session.ANTI SLAVERY REUNION.At a meeting of old anti-slavery men, assembled by invitation at Chicago, on the 15th day of January last, it was resolved to hold a general reunion of abolitionists or anti-slavery men. The committee, hereby give notice that the said reunion, of ao.tislavery friends will take place in Chicago, HI., on the 9th day of June, 1874, and continue three days—the first meeting being at one o’cloek p m of the 9tb, when those who have couie together will be received by an address of welcome from one of the citizens of ChicagoAll persons who were active abolitionists at any time when the cause of the slave needed friends, are especially invited to this Reunion, and to take part therein in bonds of sympathy. The publio at large, and particularly the younger people, who have grown up under or since the period of that agitation for national reform, are invited to attend, and all are made welcome The proceedings will embrace a review of the past; the period of sacrifice with faith, and hope and congratulations with gratitude, for the final success which they have been permitted to realize; and wjll consist of addresses from persons who were formerly prominent as speakers or writers for the cause of the slave; in biographical notices of persons who were distinguished in that field of labor in the West, or who have become the men of the nation, and are now dead; in the reoital ot reminiscences and historical sketches of the past; and in singing the songs of liberty which were once effective in this reform, by members of the ohoirB, or those who join with them, in the music of the old Liberty Minstrel; and probably in a concert of distinguished singers appropriate to the occasion Meetings will be held in the forenoons, afternoons and evenings; and programmes will be published in advance of each day’s proceedings. To this end—the making of this gathering together of the friends of those who were once slaves but now free, both interesting and profitable, we solioit the co-operation of all the people, ^nd invite them to join with us in the congratulations of a national jubilee.R. P. Derickson, Chairman. Philo Carpenter, Allan Pinkerton, David L. Hough, John Jones, J. W. Freer, A. G. Downs, Calvin De Wolf, J. F. Temple. Z. Eastman, Seoretary of the Committee of Reunion.
Newspaper Details
Sterling Standard
Sterling, Illinois, US
Thu, Apr 16, 1874
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 24 Jun 2024
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