ILLINOIS HISTORY AND 
 
 Sncoln collections 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/storyofsavannaeaOObowe 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
Alice M. Bowen 
 
THE 
 
 STORY of SAVANNA 
 
 EARLY SETTLEMENT 
 
 1828 — 1850 
 
 ALSO 
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE 
 
 ONE HUNDREDTH YEAR 
 
 — BY — 
 ALICE M. BOWEN 
 
 " Tell ye your children of it, and let your 
 children tell their children, and their 
 children another generation. " 
 
 —Joel 1, 3. 
 
 Savanna, Illinoi 
 
 — 1928 — 
 
PRINTED BY 
 TIMES-JOUR N> L 
 
 SAVANNA, ILL. 
 1928 
 
 BOUND B' 
 H E RTZ BERG E 
 
 1 DES MOINES. 
 
 1 N D E RY 
 IA. 
 

 lory 
 
 lEbbtcaiton 
 
 ^Eo the bescenbants of iljs ^xonzzxs, tljts 
 sioru of their life anb foork ts bebtcateb- 
 
^orsfaarh 
 
 'HIS brief record of the Pioneers 
 of Savanna is written with the 
 desire that the present generation 
 and the generations yet to come, may 
 learn what manner of men and women 
 were the first to seek their homes 
 in this far West. 
 
 When it was suggested that I put 
 this story into booh form, I hesitated, 
 for it was written with an intimacy 
 and informality suitable only for our 
 own community. 
 
 However, if there are any who 
 might enjoy the story which is the 
 result of patient gleaning for a num- 
 ber of years on my part, I shall gladly 
 share the pleasure with them. 
 
 ALICE M. BOWEN 
 
Aaron Pierce 
 
*3 333 333 333 333 333 333 &&£&&&£&&&** &*&££&*<? 
 
 THE COMING OF THE PIONEERS 
 
 J|KHE city of Savanna has turned back the pages 
 ^2^ of its history one hundred years to do honor 
 and reverence to those few hardy pioneers who 
 came to the end of their journey at this uninhabit- 
 ed point one cold November day in the year 1828. 
 They at once undertook to wrest a home and a 
 living from the soil, and from the natural resources 
 surrounding them. 
 
 The story of this pilgrimage into the ♦unknown 
 wilderness begins several years before the courage- 
 ous few reached this point in their quest for a 
 place to found a home and a city. 
 
 In this simple story we shall not attempt to fol- 
 low the changes which had taken place in the pos- 
 session and control of this vast, unbroken terri- 
 tory. You are all, more or less, familiar with the 
 early explorations and settlement of the Mississippi 
 Valley. After the Revolutionary war this section 
 was organized into the County of Illinois of the 
 Indian Territory. In 1809 it was divided into two 
 counties. Another division was made which added 
 four more counties. The carving still continued and 
 in 1818 Illinois was admitted into the union as a 
 state. 
 
 In 1827 Jo Daviess county was organized and oc- 
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 cupied all this northern section of Illinois. Later 
 the counties of Lee, Ogle and Whiteside were cut 
 off but Carroll County still remained a part of Jo 
 Daviess County. In 1837 this county petitioned to 
 be set apart from Jo Daviess, but it was not until 
 1839 that it formally became a separate county, 
 with its own county officials. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1800 there lived 
 near Boston, Massachusetts, a family by the name 
 of Bellows. Among other children they had a 
 daughter, Harriett, who had been educated in the 
 schools of Boston, and especially had she received 
 a thorough musical education in one of the colleges 
 of music. Living neighbors to them was a family 
 by the name of Pierce who had a son named Aaron. 
 And it came about that young Aaron courted and 
 married the cultured and educated young Harriett 
 and they started out to seek their fortunes. Rumors 
 of the great West were gradually sifting through 
 to the East, and this young couple gathered to- 
 gether what few articles were needed and resolute- 
 ly said good bye to family and friends and turned 
 their faces toward the west. They reached the 
 western part of the state of New York about 1815, 
 having made the great distance by wagon or canal 
 boat through the unbroken and uninhabited soli- 
 tude. At this time western New York was on the 
 very outer edge of civilization, and a wild forest 
 occupied only by Indians and the native wild ani- 
 mals. 
 
 Here they halted for a period of about ten years 
 [ 10 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 and Mr. Pierce engaged in the business of getting 
 out timber from the vast forests. 
 
 Three children were born to them during their 
 sojourn in New York. Again the spirit of adven- 
 ture took possession of the pioneers and as news of 
 the Illinois country reached their remote settle- 
 ment, they turned their faces westward once more. 
 Loading their possessions once again into a wagon 
 and with a team of oxen started out through the 
 dense forests, following Indian trails, camping in 
 the wagon at night, but going steadily onward and 
 westward. The constant terror of lurking Indians 
 and the dread of wild animals was with them, be- 
 sides the anxiety of the father for his helpless wife 
 and children. After a journey of six weeks, they 
 reached Bond County, Illinois, the year being 1825. 
 
 The story of these pioneers is the story of thou- 
 sands who were lured from home and loved asso- 
 ciates to make a home in the far West. Just a dif- 
 ferent setting for the starting point, and just a 
 little different course across the vast area of forest 
 and prairie, and these first pioneers paved the way 
 for those who were to follow. 
 
 The southern and central sections of Illinois 
 were being settled gradually, and the settlements 
 were being extended northward through the state, 
 from the Ohio river, the waterways being the main 
 arteries for transportation. 
 
 In Bond County the Pierce family rented a farm 
 which had a house and other improvements. Here 
 they became acquainted with two other pioneer 
 
 [ U ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 families who had reached that locality, having 
 made the journey from Kentucky. These two fam- 
 ilies were George Davidson, his wife and his son, 
 Vance, William Blundell and his wife who was a 
 daughter of the Davidsons. These names all be- 
 came a part of Savanna's history. 
 
 The families farmed for about two years and in 
 February, 1827, another little daughter was born 
 to the Pierce family. This daughter was known to 
 all the older residents of Savanna as Mrs. David 
 Bowen, a much loved and respected gentlewoman. 
 
 But fever and ague and the mosquitoes proved 
 too much for these unsettled pioneers and they de- 
 cided to cast their lot together and start out once 
 more to find the haven of peace and plenty they 
 were seeking. Having heard of the lead mines in 
 Galena, which was already quite a settlement, they 
 faced northward this time, with hopeful hearts. 
 The hardships endured on this trip proved dis- 
 couraging but with dauntless perseverence they 
 pushed onward and finally reached Galena. But 
 this location did not suit them and after trying 
 mining for about six months they held a counsel 
 and decided to move on again. This time they 
 agreed upon a beautiful valley on the bank of the 
 Mississippi which Vance Davidson, who was quite 
 a soldier of fortune, had noticed and with which 
 he had been enraptured as he made a trip on horse- 
 back from Rock Island to Galena, a year previous- 
 ly. So, once again, the resolute frontiersmen now 
 loaded their few possessions and started out facing 
 the lonely trails into the unknown. 
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 This time the .Pierce family, all huddled into a 
 covered wagon drawn by oxen, took the old Indian 
 trail through the deep woods, led by Vance David- 
 son on horseback. Without sign of human life 
 other than the Indian, they pushed on, fording 
 streams and following trails. But as they reached 
 Apple River they came across two men who were 
 building a flour mill. This was later used by the 
 settlers for grinding their grain and was known as 
 "Craig's" mill. The place was afterwards called 
 "Wappello" and is now known as the town of 
 Hanover. 
 
 On the afternoon of the third day of travel they 
 came out on the bluffs above what is now Savan- 
 na, and caught their first view of the broad Missis- 
 sippi River. When they saw the beautiful valley 
 spread out below them and saw the clear water of 
 the big river slowly winding on its way to the Gulf 
 of Mexico, they felt they had reached the fairy 
 land they had been seeking. With a beautiful sun- 
 set in the west, and the stillness of the forest pri- 
 meval around them they felt this would certainly 
 become a home. But it was necessary to get from 
 the high bluffs above down to the valley below. 
 They cut down a tree and tied it to the wagon and, 
 after unloading the wife and children, slowly made 
 the steep descent with oxen and wagon. The point 
 where they came down has been cut away, but it 
 was the first ridge north of the Pinnacle. 
 
 It was late afternoon of a cold November day 
 when this brave band of pioneers reached this 
 point, and an unoccupied wigwam furnished shel- 
 
 [ 13 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 ter for the famity. This wigwam was somewhat 
 larger than the usual one and had been used as a 
 Council house by the Indians. 
 
 In the pencil sketch drawn by Mrs. David 
 Bowen, and made from information given her by 
 her mother, Mrs. Aaron Pierce, this important his- 
 torical wigwam was located east of what is now 
 Main street, at the foot of the Pinnacle at what is 
 known on the charts of Savanna as Randolph street. 
 
 The other two families of the party had loaded 
 their possessions on a flat boat at Galena and had 
 just as resolutely faced the unknown on the water, 
 floating and paddling down Fever River to its 
 mouth and out into the current of the broad Missis- 
 sippi. With a few mishaps such as sticking on sand 
 bars a few times, they reached this same point not 
 long after the party which came by land. There 
 being no other wigwams handy, these people camp- 
 eel on the flat boat over night and the next day 
 built themselves a couple of wigwams out of poles 
 and covered them with the tall grass which was 
 growing so abundantly all around, and found them- 
 selves nicely sheltered from the cold. 
 
 This date is the Fourth of November, 1828. 
 
 The colony of settlers consisted of eleven per- 
 sons in all, seven adults and four children. 
 
 And, now, began in earnest the founding of a 
 frontier settlement. The men began at once the 
 building of the log cabins. From logs cut from the 
 walnut trees growing in the valley, they erected 
 their buildings. The Pierce cabin was built on the 
 
 [ 14 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 ground where the large brick house stands on up- 
 per Main street and known as the old Captain 
 John Rhodes homestead. The Davidson cabin stood 
 just north of this on the site of the Dupuis home- 
 stead, and William Blundell built his cabin south 
 of the Pierce cabin on the ground occupied by the 
 J. A. Stransky homestead. These cabins were all 
 completed and the families were under shelter be- 
 fore Christmas. It was a joyous day for the pioneers 
 when their small supply of household goods and 
 still smaller store of provisions could be moved in- 
 to the new log cabins. Then it was, 
 
 "The prairie schooner, her anchor cast, 
 
 Lay at her moorings, just before 
 
 The little log cabin's open door, 
 
 And the household goods, a meager store 
 
 Lay scattered about on the puncheon floor. 
 
 Then it was that the bright young wife 
 
 Began the work of her frontier life." 
 
 When the cabins had been completed and the 
 families moved into them, Aaron Pierce, George 
 Davidson and Vance, leaving William Blundell to 
 finish the building of the fireplaces, returned to 
 Bond County to drive back the stock they had left 
 when they moved to Galena. This stock consisted 
 of two or three cows, same number horses, and 
 a couple of yoke of oxen. These were the first do- 
 mestic animals to be brought into Carroll County. 
 As soon as this was accomplished the stock was 
 turned out in the low valley to find food for them- 
 selves. 
 
 [ 15 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 The men at once set to work clearing the ground 
 for the spring planting. The trees were felled and 
 the cordwood piled in ranks along the bank of the 
 river, ready to be sold to the steamboats in the 
 spring. This was the main object of the pioneers 
 when selecting this location for their settlement, 
 
 [ 16 ] 
 
Mrs. Aaron Pierce 
 
■p» jgg *»* *»* »»3 ggj gHMjgjgjg ftft« gfrfr Efr fr *fr fr ggg g^ 
 
 FOUNDING THE HOME 
 
 fURING the winter the fields were laid out and 
 the ground cleared for planting, occupying the 
 whole valley from the foot of the Pinnacle south- 
 ward, covering what is now the site of the city of 
 Savanna, lying along the bank of the river as far 
 south as the slough and Plum River. 
 
 It proved to be a long, hard and extremely cold 
 winter, and the snow lay piled in great drifts 
 around the cabins until spring. 
 
 The provisions were nearly exhausted and star- 
 vation was close at hand and had it not been for 
 the Indians, who were quite friendly, there would 
 have been intense suffering. At one time they were 
 reduced to a small amount of meal, which made in- 
 to gruel, sustained them. The Indians kept them 
 supplied with venison, for deer were very plenti- 
 ful around the bluffs, and with other wild game 
 and fowl, which the settlers received in exchange 
 for a few trinkets. 
 
 In a letter from Mrs. Blundell, who was a young 
 bride at that time, written many years afterward 
 from California, she tells of that winter with its 
 terrible snow storms, arid the ice in the river not 
 breaking up until the 17th of April. She also states 
 that although spending her later years in sunny 
 California amid pleasant surroundings, she looks 
 
 [ 17 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 back upon those pioneer years in Savanna as the 
 happiest in her life. 
 
 In the spring new hope took possession of the 
 settlers, as crops were planted, and even the chil- 
 dren were drafted into service in keeping the 
 crows from the cornfields. All the land bloomed 
 with new life, and when the first steamboat came 
 up the river there was much rejoicing. Although 
 this boat carried a cargo of flour, and the men 
 rowed out to try to secure a barrel, as it was all 
 consigned to a dealer in Galena, they could not 
 secure a pound, they therefore made the trip to 
 Galena and bought a barrel for which they paid 
 twenty-five dollars. 
 
 In the spring, another little daughter was added 
 to the family of Aaron Pierce, and she was named 
 Mary Jane. She was made welcome and a hollow 
 log was made into a cradle for her comfort. She 
 afterward became the wife of Captain J. B. Rhodes, 
 and the mother of the Rhodes brothers whose 
 names have been identified with the business life 
 in Savanna for many years. She was the first 
 child born to the settlers in Carroll county. 
 
 In the fall a son was born to the Blundells and 
 he was named Jefferson. The Blundell family in 
 later years pioneered once again, this time to Cali- 
 fornia, and so were lost to the records of the set- 
 tlement. 
 
 Another addition to the settlement was the ar- 
 rival of four old bachelors, at least they were call- 
 
 [ 18 1 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 ed old. Among the arrivals was the famous Bob 
 Upton, a soldier of fortune and a carrier of mail 
 through the valley from Rock Island. They were 
 welcomed by the pioneers and urged to settle in 
 this section. John Bernard took up a claim and 
 settled on what is now the Hatfield farm north 
 of town on the river road, and other claims in 
 Washington township were taken up by a man 
 named Goss and a man named Corbin. They were 
 not such courageous frontiersmen as the first set- 
 tlers who arrived and Corbin built himself a home 
 in a tree to keep away from the snakes. 
 
 The Indians were all about the settlement, but 
 were friendly and made no trouble. Mrs. Pierce 
 learned to talk to them, partly in their own lan- 
 guage and partly by signs and when her husband, 
 who was of a fiery disposition, could not deal with 
 them, he called his wife. 
 
 This whole section seems to have been a favorite 
 camping place of the Indians, as in excavating for 
 the foundations of many of the homes in the north 
 part of town, large numbers of Indian relics have 
 been found at a depth of several feet. And on the 
 out lying farms, pieces of pottery have been found. 
 
 The three log houses stood on the rise of ground 
 on the west side of Main street facing the river, 
 and from their doors the bank of the river sloped 
 down to the water's edge where there was a beau- 
 tiful pebbly beach. 
 
 At a point just south of where the Burlington 
 station now stands was a level plat of grassy ground 
 
 [ 19 1 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 and standing solitary in the middle of it was a 
 large Cottonwood tree. This interesting and advan- 
 tageous location was nsed by the warriors as they 
 passed up or down the river in their canoes. 
 
 In a letter, Mrs. Blundell tells of a war party re- 
 turning from a successful campaign against a tribe 
 in southern Wisconsin, stopping to celebrate their 
 victory with a dance. There were more than a hun- 
 dred Indians camped between their cabin and the 
 river, and more than five hundred warriors passed 
 this point that day. 
 
 In the evening they built their bonfires and form- 
 ed themselves into a ring, with one large brave 
 standing in the center holding aloft a spear from 
 which dangled the scalps of the enemy taken in 
 battle. The other Indians, forming a circle, with 
 their spears and other implements of warfare, 
 danced around him chanting a peculiar wierd air, 
 and keeping time with their spears. With bodies 
 bent half-way over and with hideous countenances 
 they kept this dance up all night. But with the 
 break of day they loaded into their canoes and de- 
 parted, much to the relief of the dwellers in the 
 little log cabins. 
 
 The years between the founding of this frontier 
 outpost in 1828 and the breaking out of the Black 
 Hawk War were years filled with toil, combined 
 with isolation and hardships. 
 
 Each family had a large plat of ground surround- 
 ing the cabin, and the remaining ground was laid 
 out into twelve acres to each family, to clear and 
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 till as he chose and they have recorded that the first 
 years the soil yielded wondrous crops with 125 
 bushels of corn to the acre. With this corn ground 
 into meal at Craig's mill, before mentioned, whither 
 it was carried on horseback, and with the wild 
 fruits growing abundantly all about them, and with 
 nuts and honey to supply delicacies, the settlers 
 were in no danger of lack of food. 
 
 In one of the letters I have read, the writer as- 
 serts that when a rarity of any food happened to 
 reach them, if it was not enough to be divided, one 
 housewife cooked it and they all ate it together. 
 Also the sale of cordwood to the passing steamboats 
 supplied them with a little money and they settled 
 down into peace and plenty 
 
 In the present day when pictures form such a 
 part of our everyday life it is almost impossible to 
 visualize a time when the art of picture taking was 
 unknown. But photography had not yet been dis- 
 covered or invented, and it was not until 1839 that 
 DaGuerre, in France, had perfected his first pic- 
 tures, the old Daguerreotypes. 
 
 The pioneers had nothing with which to light 
 their cabins, except candles or coon oil in saucers 
 with ragwicks, for kerosene had not been discover- 
 ed. There was no way to cook the food except over 
 the fireplaces as stoves were unknown at that date 
 in remote frontier settlements. 
 
 There were no matches with which to light the 
 fire, the only way being to start it with a spark 
 from a flint, or to borrow some fire from a neigh- 
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 bor who had kept his burning. Matches were crude- 
 ly made about 1830, and, for those who are fond of 
 statistics, it is said that civilization uses 3,000,000 
 a minute and that Americans use as many matches 
 as all the rest of the world put together. 
 
 The water used by the settlers was dipped from 
 two bubbly springs nearby and a spring house was 
 built in which to keep the milk and butter sweet 
 and cool. This spring house stood over the large 
 spring just south of the Pierce cabin. 
 
 The old wigwam or council house was never 
 used again after the first few weeks while the men 
 were building the three log cabins. There is no 
 record that it was other than a small wigwam, as 
 on their arrival that November night in 1828, only 
 one family could occupy it, the other two families, 
 arriving a few hours later, had to sleep on the 
 flat boat that night until they could build two 
 wigwams the following day. 
 
 It was never used as a tavern or for any other 
 purpose as stated in an early Carroll history, and 
 certainly could not have held one thousand people. 
 It was not the birthplace of the first white child 
 born in the settlement, as the log cabins were com- 
 pleted, and all were safely and comfortably housed 
 before Christmas, and the baby girl was born to 
 the Pierce family the following spring. 
 
 These statements are made to clear some of the 
 misleading and contradictory accounts given in the 
 early histories, and are all verified in letters from 
 Mrs. Blundell who was a daughter of George David- 
 
 [ 22 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 son, a sister of Vance Davidson and the young- 
 bride of William Blundell at the time of the set- 
 tlement. 
 
 At the close of the first period of the story of 
 Savanna, it is necessary to clear the picture of all 
 improvements, and have in mind only a strip of 
 ground lying along the bank of the Mississippi 
 River, at the foot of the high bluff we call the 
 Pinnacle. On this ground stood three log cabins of 
 the most primitive type, with their faces turned 
 toward the river and the vast uninhabited prairies 
 stretching beyond the western hills. 
 
 There was no way of communicating with the 
 outside world, as there were no railroads, or tele- 
 phones or telegraph and mail had to be carried 
 from fort to fort by men on horseback or on foot, 
 over distances of many miles. It took from two to 
 four weeks or even longer for mail to reach this 
 point from the eastern part of the country. 
 
 [ 23 ] 
 
*9 393 ^** *** saa **■* 993 9*9 6t* »** *** *** ftftftfe 
 
 THE BLACK HAWK WAR 
 
 'HE next period of vital importance to the set- 
 tlers of this section was the breaking out of 
 the Black Hawk War. This was the last stand of 
 the Indian tribes to retain their hold upon the vast 
 hunting grounds east of the Mississippi. 
 
 Chief Black Hawk (Ma-Ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak) 
 of the united tribes of the Sacs and Foxes claimed 
 and held all the territory in western Illinois and 
 Wisconsin, from the mouth of the Wisconsin River 
 on the north, to the Portage des Sioux, near the 
 mouth of the Missouri, on the south. 
 
 He claimed this entire area under a treaty of 
 1804, and when white settlements were being made, 
 and claims filed within this territory, he was loath 
 to give up such a fruitful hunting ground. He was 
 ordered to move his tribes across the Mississippi 
 into Iowa, but he refused to do so. 
 
 The village of Black Hawk was situated on the 
 north bank of Rock River, near its mouth below 
 Rock Island, and included about eight hundred 
 acres under cultivation. 
 
 It was here Black Hawk was born in the year 
 1767, and here the Sac village had stood for more 
 than one hundred years, and here were the graves 
 of their forefathers. 
 
 [ 24 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 The Chief once again refused to move his tribes 
 across the river and there followed a year (1831) 
 of uneasy and futile bickering between Black 
 Hawk and the government officers and the settlers 
 all through the valley were warned to provide 
 places of safety. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1832, the few pioneers who 
 were settled here, erected a block house on the 
 ground between the Davidson log cabin and the 
 Pierce cabin. There they stored provisions and 
 ammunition and prepared it as a place of refuge 
 for the women and children in case of an outbreak 
 of the Indians. Hardly had these preparations been 
 made when a soldier came riding on horseback 
 from Fort Armstrong at Rock Island, warning all 
 settlers throughout the valley that Black Hawk 
 was on the war path, and they should seek safety 
 in a fort. 
 
 Like Paul Revere, he delivered his warning and 
 departed on his flying steed, leaving fright and 
 despair in the hearts of the pioneers. Making a 
 hurried decision the men loaded the women and 
 children into the wagon once again and started for 
 Galena. The children were huddled into the bottom 
 of the wagon box and covered over with quilts and 
 hardly dared raise their little heads to breathe. 
 
 By this time, the summer of 1832, a few new 
 names appear among the settlers, and we find a 
 man named Hays, and Mrs. Goss, wife of Leonard 
 Goss is mentioned as one of those making the trip 
 to the Fort at Galena. 
 
 [ 25 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 The residents of Galena had held a meeting in 
 May of that year and studied ways and means of 
 providing protection for their settlement, and de- 
 cided to build two block houses and a stockade. 
 By July these were ready and the stockade gar- 
 risoned with 150 men. 
 
 The trip of the fleeing settlers from here to Ga- 
 lena was made without accidents or adventures of 
 any kind and they arrived safely in the town and 
 secured houses in which the families could live and 
 be within reach of the stockade for better protec- 
 tion. After providing for their welfare, the men 
 returned to their homes here, to look after their 
 crops and stock. They found plenty of work await- 
 ing them, so the time passed quietly away, until 
 they began to lo*se their fear and dread of the In- 
 dians, and to relax into peaceful, every day pioneer 
 life. 
 
 It was a beautiful afternoon in midsummer with 
 a "Sunday quiet over all/' The men were resting 
 lazily about the settlement. Vance Davidson had 
 gone out over the hills looking for a horse which 
 the Indians had stolen from him. William Blun- 
 dell had gone to Galena to see how the families 
 were getting along, and Bob Upton was up on the 
 hills towards Apple River, hunting. Aaron Pierce 
 was the lookout at the time and was in the block 
 house shaving. Suddenly the dogs began to bark, 
 and, looking out, he saw an Indian head rising 
 slowly above the rank of cordwood standing along 
 the bank of the river. He gave the alarm and Hays 
 and Goss, who were the only other men left in the 
 
 [ 26 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 place, ran for the block house. Hays ran for the 
 door and in his excitement fell just as he reached 
 it. Two Indians fired on him, the bullets striking 
 the door on each side of him. Gross wasted no time, 
 but climbed down the chimney and reaching Hays 
 pulled him inside and fastened the door. 
 
 This was in the afternoon, and the Indians kept 
 up an intermittent firing from behind the pile of 
 wood, while the men fired away through the port 
 holes in the block house, but neither side accom- 
 plished very much. 
 
 Finally toward night the Indians crept around 
 and got up on the hill back of the block house and 
 tried to fire into the roof. This maneuver was not 
 successful as they were too far away, so they satis- 
 fied this savageness by going down into the fields, 
 destroying the crops and killing the stock. 
 
 They also took revenge in cutting loose two 
 skiffs belonging to the settlers, so they would float 
 away down the river, but fortunately for the men 
 a kindly Providence in the form of a strong wind, 
 blew them back inshore where they lodged. 
 
 All the stock was killed with the exception of 
 one old white horse, which was so frightened it 
 ran past the block house and took refuge in the 
 river. When the men saw the intelligence of the 
 animal, they decided to take to the river also. 
 
 So under cover of darkness the men reached the 
 river unobserved and getting into a skiff started 
 for Galena. When they had rowed up the river a 
 
 [ 27 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 short distance they heard a call from the shore. 
 Fearing it might be Indians, they hesitated about 
 going nearer, but a second and louder call con- 
 vinced them that it was Bob Upton, as it was 
 known he had gone hunting in the morning. As 
 they neared the shore, the men urged Bob to jump, 
 but as the distance was about forty feet, he pre- 
 ferred to wade and swim to the boat, where the 
 men assisted him in getting aboard. 
 
 Bob Upton delighted to tell of his marvelous ad- 
 venture and escape, and the tale lost none of its 
 thrills in the telling. He said that as he Avas near- 
 ing home that afternoon, he heard firing in the 
 vicinity of the blockhouse. He turned about won- 
 dering which way he should go, when suddenly 
 seven Indians appeared from nowhere and started 
 in pursuit of him. He ran down the side of the 
 bluff and hid in the crevice of the rock, thus evad- 
 ing his enemies. This cave has since been known 
 as Bob Upton's Cave, and has been a favorite ren- 
 dezvous of every school boy. He remained hidden 
 until after dark, and when he heard the dip, dip 
 of the oars of the escaping men, at first he could 
 not tell whether it was friends or enemies, but he 
 concluded it was a skiff and not a canoe of the 
 Indians, and so he joyously joined the party bound 
 for Galena. The men rowed all night and by nine 
 o'clock the next morning they had reached Galena 
 and their families. 
 
 The day following the attack on the block house, 
 Vance Davidson and John Bernard started for 
 home from up on Apple River. When they reach- 
 
 [ 28 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 ed the block house and saw the bullet holes and 
 found such a scene of devastation, the burned 
 fields and the dead stock, they were horrified, but 
 on investigation they found no signs of the men 
 and there was silence everywhere. They could not 
 tell whether the men had been killed and carried 
 off, or whether they had fled for their lives. How- 
 ever, they started for Galena, and on arriving there 
 were greatly relieved and overjoyed to find them 
 all safe and sound. The others had been equally 
 anxious about them so there was good reason for 
 all rejoicing over their good fortune in making 
 their escape, and being united once again in a safer 
 place. 
 
 The attack on the settlers at Savanna was not 
 a part of the war waged by Black Hawk. He had 
 taken his warriors north and east from their vil- 
 lage near Rock Island and the fiercest battle was 
 fought at Stillman Valley. The attack on this 
 settlement was made by a wandering tribe, esti- 
 mated at about twenty in number, who had taken 
 advantage of the general uprising to do some mar- 
 auding of their own. 
 
 Now for a time our little frontier settlement in 
 the beautiful valley on the bank of the broad Missis- 
 sippi was abandoned. The men enlisted their ser- 
 vices with the government and the families remain- 
 ed in Galena. Vance Davidson served throughout 
 the war and was in all the engagements with the 
 Indians under Black Hawk. Aaron Pierce offered 
 his services and was engaged in hauling provisions 
 for the soldiers. The three older Pierce children, 
 
 [ 29 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Marshall, Lorenzo Dow, and Harriet attended 
 school. During this time an epidemic of cholera 
 broke ont in Galena and the families experienced 
 much sickness. 
 
 [ 30 ] 
 
?>»33*33*3*3 jjj 33* ggiagjtftgfc^g Egg ggg ggjMk 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT 
 
 'HE year 1833 saw the end of the struggle be- 
 tween the Indians and the white settlers for 
 the possession of the fertile valley. Before the 
 treaty of peace was actually signed our plucky 
 pioneers were back in their devastated homes. All 
 joined in the work of repairing cabins and fences, 
 and in getting their fields once more in readiness 
 for planting. 
 
 Vance Davidson and Aaron Pierce each built a 
 new log house of hewed logs, two stories high, 
 with cellars and each with a porch fronting the 
 river. They each had a fireplace, also a stairway 
 with good stairs. The cabins each had one room 
 below and one room upstairs and all the rooms 
 had good pine floors. The old log cabins, standing 
 nearby, were used for kitchens and sleeping rooms, 
 and the families were very comfortable in such 
 luxurious quarters. 
 
 There were still many Indians on this side of 
 the river, passing up and down in small parties, 
 both on the land and on the river. The frontier 
 wife in her lonely cabin could not get used to 
 their friendly way of pressing their faces against 
 the window panes and looking into the room, and 
 the mother's heart would almost stop beating as 
 she gathered her children behind her. But she 
 
 [ 31 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 would divide flour or meal or other eatables with 
 them and the Indians would appreciate her fair- 
 ness and go away. 
 
 Many Indians also stopped here to trade and 
 exchange their furs, as this was the most import- 
 ant trading post in this section. They came here 
 in the fall and camped along the small streams 
 and trapped, disposing of their furs in the spring 
 before setting out for their northern hunting- 
 grounds. They were peaceful and quiet, and re- 
 mained in this region unmolested, as by this time 
 the white settlers were accustomed to dealing with 
 them. 
 
 One day a young brave appeared before the door 
 of the Pierce cabin, depositing a large bundle of 
 furs which he wanted to exchange for Harriet, the 
 oldest daughter, a girl about fifteen years old. It 
 took much explaining and gesticulating on the part 
 of the mother to make him understand they did not 
 give their daughters for wives Indian fashion, and 
 lie marched angrily away. 
 
 The accounts of the Black Hawk war had grad- 
 ually sifted through to the eastern states, and at- 
 tention was called to this vast unsettled region 
 and settlers were arriving throughout the valley, 
 seeking homes in these rich lands. 
 
 Strangers began making their appearance in the 
 settlement, some arriving on horseback, some on 
 foot, and still others by steamboat. This was the 
 only stopping place between Rock Island and Ga- 
 lena, hence many travelers spent the night at this 
 
 [ 32 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 place and accepted the hospitality of the settlers. 
 
 And now began the arrival of men whose names 
 have been closely connected with the history of 
 Savanna, and who took an active part in the af- 
 fairs of the new Carroll County. 
 
 One of these first arrivals was Elijah Bellows, a 
 brother of Mrs. Aaron Pierce. He was accompany- 
 ing' some military officers who were on their way 
 from Boston to Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien. 
 They were on horseback and had been compelled to 
 camp out many nights as only occasionally did 
 they find a settler's log cabin where they could 
 stop over night. When they reached this point the 
 officers seemed pleased to meet a woman of in- 
 telligence and refinement in such a wilderness, but 
 Mr. Bellows was much mortified to find his sister 
 dressed in a linsey-woolsey dress with a calico cap 
 on her head and living in such rough surround- 
 ings. 
 
 After a night's rest the officers departed on 
 their way, but Mr. Bellows, who came, saw, and 
 was conquered, remained with the pioneers and 
 we find his name among the first records of Car- 
 roll County. 
 
 About this time came also Luther H. Bowen, a 
 hustling, energetic young man from Herkimer 
 County, New York. He had accompanied a party 
 of surveyors and was engaged with them in locat- 
 ing the disputed boundary line between Illinois 
 and Wisconsin. The work having been completed, 
 
 [ 33 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 lie remained in Galena and was employed by a 
 firm as bookkeeper. 
 
 In exploring around the country looking for a 
 good location, he finally reached this frontier set- 
 tlement. He was much pleased with the situation, 
 as it looked like an ideal site for the founding of 
 a city on the Mississippi. He therefore negotiated 
 with the settlers for their claim interests and re- 
 turned to Galena with the intention of returning 
 later and laying out the town. 
 
 And now as our story goes on we find great 
 activity in the little pioneer settlement. The log 
 cabins were filled to overflowing every night with 
 travelers. The upstairs rooms in the new log 
 cabins were filled with beds, and after supper was 
 cleared away, beds were made on the floors down 
 stairs, the families using the old one room log 
 cabins for sleeping rooms and for the kitchens for 
 cooking. 
 
 The years from 1833 to 1836 were filled with 
 arriving settlers whose boundless courage and en- 
 durance had been sorely tried on "the long, long 
 trail that came a 'winding into the West." These 
 pioneers were refined, educated men and women 
 and they brought into their western home the 
 same spirit of independence that their ancestors, 
 the New England colonists had brought from their 
 native homes across the Atlantic. 
 
 As they reached this part of Illinois, either at 
 Galena or at Savanna, they gradually settled 
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 either in or near these places or upon the lands 
 between. The land now included in Washington 
 township and on north to Sand Prairie and Han- 
 over had a goodly share of these early settlers. 
 
 John Bernard with his wife and family occupied 
 the farm now known as the Hatfield farm on the 
 river road, and all the lowlands lying west and 
 north to the river has ever since been known as 
 Bernard's Bottoms. 
 
 Mason Taylor, older brother of Pliney Taylor, 
 was one of the very first settlers in Washington 
 township. He took an active interest in county af- 
 fairs and was the first coroner of the new Carroll 
 County in 1839. 
 
 Milas C. Robison, father of the late well-known 
 John A. Robison and George F. Robison, owned 
 the farm known as the George Fish farm, now the 
 Henry Airhart place on the river road on the new 
 Route 80. 
 
 In a letter received lately from George F. Robi- 
 son who at the age of 85 is still in active business 
 in Windom, Minn., he writes that his old home 
 was the old Robison place which he disposed of to 
 George Fish nearly sixty years ago. He recalls 
 as a boy working for his board and attending 
 school in Savanna, staying one year with Mrs. 
 Aaron Pierce when they were still occupying the 
 El Dorado Hotel, located in the north part of 
 town. 
 
 Stephen Arnold settled north on the river at the 
 [ 35 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 place called by his name, Arnold's Landing', after- 
 ward known as the John A. Robison place. 
 
 The Armstrongs, Coopers and many others set- 
 tled on Sand Prairie around in 1835-6, but that 
 section remained in Jo Daviess County, hence their 
 history did not enter into the records of Carroll 
 County. 
 
 A town and steamboat landing was laid out near 
 the mouth of Apple River and was named Ports- 
 mouth, and for many years the ruins of the founda- 
 tion of an old warehouse marked the site. The 
 deep channel of the river followed that shore, 
 making it an ideal spot for the location of a town. 
 This place is now the lower end of the Savanna 
 Proving Ground. v 
 
 During this same year David L. Bowen, younger 
 brother of Luther H. Bowen, arrived in the settle- 
 ment, having walked nearly all the distance from 
 Herkimer County in Western New York. He often 
 told of passing through Chicago and coming on 
 out here thinking this place looked like a much 
 better location. 
 
 The first marriage to take place in this new 
 home of the settlers was that of Harriet Pierce, 
 eldest daughter of Aaron Pierce, who at the age of 
 sixteen became the wife of Vance L. Davidson, 
 nearly twenty years her senior. The ceremony was 
 performed on June 11, 1835 by Hooper Crews, an 
 elder of the Methodist church and the first circuit 
 rider in this section of Illinois. 
 
 [ 36 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 And now for those who do not care for dry old 
 history, but who have a love for romance and ad- 
 venture in their hearts, I would like to follow the 
 fortunes of this couple at this point in our story 
 for fear I shall not find another opportunity or 
 suitable place. 
 
 After their marriage in 1835, they continued to 
 live in Savanna, taking an active part in all busi- 
 ness and social affairs. But when the call to the 
 gold fields of California came in 1849 the urge 
 was too strong for the pioneer blood in the viens 
 of our hero, Vance, and he joined the party going 
 from this section. Later he returned, and in 1854 
 he took his wife and family and started out across 
 the plains. In a letter I have before me, Mrs. 
 Davidson, his wife, says that was the hardest time 
 she ever experienced. They were over five months 
 dragging along in alkali dust with six children, 
 the youngest an infant. There were fifteen in the 
 party to cook and care for, and the six cows they 
 took with them when they started from here all 
 ate a poison weed and died. "But," she adds, "we 
 lived through it all, and we are glad we are in 
 California, and while we never made our fortune, 
 we live comfortably." 
 
 Twelve children were born to them, and, their 
 pioneering over, they are sleeping in the sunny 
 land thej' loved so well. 
 
 It is from the interesting and ever cheerful let- 
 ters of Mrs. Davidson to her sister, Mrs. David 
 Bowen, that much of the material used in piecing 
 
 [ 37 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 together the early history of Savanna has been ob- 
 tained. 
 
 These letters cover a period of years from 1854 
 to the last letter written in 1908, just before her 
 death, and include one describing her experience 
 during the terrific earthquake in San Francisco in 
 1906, where she was living at the time. 
 
 L 38 ] 
 
3 ^--s 3 **^**« **3 **a**atfefe ©€-*&&«■&€'$" ft fefet&S'-fc 
 
 LAYING OUT THE TOWN 
 
 'HE story of Savanna up to this point has been 
 gathered from old letters, old scrap books, 
 and from personal recollections handed down to 
 the second generation by the settlers themselves. 
 
 But with the year 1835, we enter upon a decided 
 epoch in our history. In that year Luther H. 
 Bowen returned to the settlement and the land he 
 had purchased from the original pioneers, and 
 with a man named Murray, surveyed and laid out 
 the town. He named it Savanna, which means a 
 treeless, grassy plain, such as lies to the south of 
 the town. 
 
 And now the cornfields were laid out into streets 
 and building lots and the little settlement began 
 to take on the air of a thriving frontier village. 
 
 In laying out Main street they took for the east 
 side, the line of the field fences which had been 
 built following the line of driftwood, indicating 
 some previous high water mark. 
 
 Commerce street was laid out one block west of 
 Main street along the bank of the river. This 
 street and the part of Main street lying south of 
 what is now Chicago avenue, were afterward va- 
 cated by an act of legislature. 
 
 The ground where the Lincoln school building 
 now stands was laid out as a Public Square. 
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 This was the Original Town of Savanna as is 
 stated in all conveyances of property and included 
 the ground lying between Davidson street on the 
 north, and Chicago avenue on the south. 
 
 When the first three families settled on this 
 ground, they each laid out four acres on which 
 they built their log cabins, the remaining part of 
 their claims was divided into twelve acre fields, 
 each family having its own field to plant. (From 
 one of the letters of Mrs. Blundell). This accounts 
 for the part lying north of Division street being 
 platted as an addition. 
 
 In a story of this kind it is not possible to go 
 into details as to the original owners and trans- 
 fers of property, but many of the deeds and ab- 
 stracts read almost like romances as step by step 
 they unfold the story of gains and losses, of mort- 
 gages, divorce, heartaches, wills and deaths. I 
 have before me an abstract which anyone talented 
 in that direction could turn into a two volume tale 
 of love and disaster. 
 
 The year 1836 opened with great activity in the 
 new village. From out the east had come many 
 men who were to be identified with the organiza- 
 tion of the town and county, and whose descend- 
 ants are still connected with the business and edu- 
 cational interests of our city. 
 
 John Fuller and an elder sister, Hannah, ar- 
 rived from Kennebec county, Maine, he having 
 driven the entire distance with an ox team. Ar- 
 riving in Galena in March, 1836, he found the 
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 snow too deep for the wagon, so he exchanged it 
 for a sled and completed his journey to this place. 
 
 At this point mention can be made of the first 
 school which was ever held in Savanna. The 
 teacher was Hannah Fuller who had come to keep 
 house for her brother, and while waiting for him 
 to complete a house he was building on upper 
 Main street north of the Davidson's cabin, she 
 consented to teach a little school of six pupils. The 
 school was held in the Pierce log cabin that had 
 a bed in the room. Pour of the pupils were of the 
 Pierce family, the other two being Jefferson Blun- 
 dell, and a boy who lived with the Vance David- 
 sons, this number being all the small children in 
 the settlement. 
 
 Hannah Fuller afterward taught a select school 
 in the new house her brother had built and had 
 for her pupils the same children, with the addition 
 of Sarah Ashby, whose parents had in the mean- 
 time moved here from Canada. 
 
 In 1840, at the age of 16, Sarah Ashby was mar- 
 ried to John Fuller, whose acquaintance she had 
 made while a pupil in his sister's school. The mar- 
 riage took place in her parent's log cabin on the 
 banks of Plum river near the Stedman farm, the 
 ceremony being performed by Bartholomew Weed, 
 then presiding elder of the Methodist church in 
 the northwest section of Illinois. 
 
 They went to housekeeping in the home Mr. 
 Fuller had built in the north part of town, and 
 here nearly all of their nine children were born. 
 
 [ 41 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 In 1860 they moved into the old homestead on 
 Chicago avenue and on Sunday, January 19, 1890 
 they celebrated their golden wedding. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Fuller were Methodists, first, last 
 and always and lived up to their faith. Through 
 their efforts, and with the assistance of the David- 
 sons and the Blundells, who were also Methodists, 
 they had a church society started very early. 
 
 It was in the winter of 1836 Mr. Pierce took his 
 wife and children to Galena once again, so the 
 children could attend school. They rented a fur- 
 nished hotel and remained there more than a year, 
 Mrs. Pierce keeping the hotel, afterward returning 
 to their old home in Savanna. 
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
The Chamber's House 
 
 Built in 1836 in the north part of town by Aaron Pierce and 
 known as the El Dorado Hotel. Moved south on Main Street to 
 the corner of Main and Jefferson. It was burned in 1882. 
 
fB ■$&$ 333 333333333 333 &S-S- ftgSSSfe *:*:* *** £$-:&«» 
 -»" ===========================================================1 **t 
 
 BUILDING ACTIVITIES 
 
 /|Jj>>HE actual work of founding a city in a wilder- 
 ^*> / ness now began, and all the old settlers and 
 many new ones were busy in building and getting 
 into active business. 
 
 A saw mill on Plum River, below the present 
 bridge this side of Old Mill Park, was built by 
 Luther and John Bowen, and was soon doing a 
 rushing business supplying lumber for the many 
 buildings being erected. A powder mill was also 
 erected near the same site on the banks of Plum 
 River, by Porter Sargeant. The powder was most- 
 ly hauled to Galena and sold for use in the mines. 
 
 Aaron Pierce began the erection of a hotel on 
 the ground near where the old log cabins stoods, 
 and although he hired all the help available, the 
 work moved slowly. Young David Bowen was 
 hired to get out the timbers for the frame work, 
 and spent the winter on the island across from 
 the town, cutting the immense oak trees and hew- 
 ing the timbers out by hand. 
 
 (This hotel was first named the Frontier House 
 but was afterward called El Dorado House and 
 was later moved south to the corner of Main and 
 Jefferson streets, occupying the corner where the 
 news depot of Hershey Bowen now stands. It was 
 presided over by different landlords, among them 
 
 [ 43 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 I. S. Woodruff, father of A. P. Woodruff and 
 afterward by Fred Chambers and was known for 
 many years as the Chambers House. 
 
 Many residents of Savanna can recall the night 
 in December, 1882 when the old Chambers House 
 burned down. When all else had burned away and 
 fallen into the ruins, those old oak timbers and 
 framework stood aloft like a burning skeleton). 
 
 The work on the new hotel, the Frontier House, 
 was hurried along until the dining room could be 
 used by setting the tables at one end of the room, 
 while the travelers and boarders sat around a huge 
 Franklin stove at the other end of the room. 
 
 But with even this improvement they could not 
 meet the demand and many travelers had to be 
 turned away. By this time the stage coaches had 
 begun to appear, also the prairie schooner, all load- 
 ed down with passengers. The steamboats were 
 also bringing in large numbers of people, all look- 
 ing to find a place to locate in this land of promise. 
 
 Among the numbers arriving were many specu- 
 lators, and the period following was known as the 
 period of "land speculation," when everyone was 
 coming west to invest in land, and the old land 
 records show the names of a number of Quakers 
 from Philadelphia. 
 
 In this connection there was a well known story 
 told by the pioneers of some speculators from the 
 east who bought and laid out into town lots the 
 land lying south of the Slough bridge and west of 
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Plum river (Pecatolikee, as given in the old land 
 warrants), during the summer. These lots were 
 sold in the east and when the purchasers came 
 west to occupy them in the spring, there was no 
 land to be seen as it was entirely covered with 
 high water. Much disgusted they hired John Ful- 
 ler and his team to take them back as far as Chi- 
 cago. 
 
 Vance Davidson built a store and warehouse on 
 the river bank near their log cabins in the north 
 part of town, as this was the steamboat landing. 
 He went to New York to buy his goods, and they 
 were shipped down the Ohio and up the Missis- 
 sippi rivers. 
 
 And here we come upon an interesting link in 
 our story, in an old ledger kept by Vance David- 
 son recording this transaction in 1836. It contains 
 the record of his investment in goods amounting 
 to $1,900.00 and also the names of many of the 
 first settlers of the town, and we read the name 
 of William Goss, Edward Corbin, Elijah Bellows, 
 John Bo wen, Robert Upton, John Bernard and 
 others unknown to this community. 
 
 The ledger was found by Mrs. Abbie Collins 
 among the old books of her grandfather Fuller. 
 He had used the same ledger 20 years later as an 
 account book. As books were books in those early 
 times and not to be thrown lightly away, he had 
 utilized the blank lower part of the pages for a 
 record of his sale of cordwood to the steamboats. 
 Some of the boats landing and taking on wood 
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 were the Lucie May, the Alhambra, the Metropoli- 
 tan, the Vixen, the Ben Bolt, the Greek Slave, the 
 Henry Clay, the Clipper, the Skipper, and many 
 others, the wood selling for $3.50 per cord, for 
 hard wood. 
 
 And so the record of the old days goes on. One 
 dollar for a day's labor, a day at that time mean- 
 ing from sunrise to sunset, and sixty-five cents for 
 a day's hoeing, thirty cents for two pounds of 
 butter and twenty-five cents for a straw hat. 
 
 Luther Bowen started a store, and the first post- 
 office to be established in all this section was 
 opened here in 1836, with Mr. Bowen as postmas- 
 ter. 
 
 He went to New York to buy goods for his store, 
 and when he returned he brought with him a 
 bride from Erie, Pennsylvania. They came in a 
 covered wagon and, after boarding a short time 
 with the Pierce family, they moved into the log 
 house belonging to William Blundell, the Blundells 
 having, in the meantime, built a new home on the 
 hill. 
 
 The Bowens lived in the log cabin until a new 
 frame house could be built in the lower part of 
 the newly laid out town. This first frame house to 
 be built stood on the west corner of Third street 
 and Chicago avenue, the corner now occupied 
 (1928) by the residence of Mrs. C. L. Howe. 
 
 He also erected a hotel on the corner where the 
 Radke House now stands and called it Mississippi 
 
 [ 46 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 House. This hotel was known afterward for many 
 years as the Woodruff House and was presided 
 over by I. S. Woodruff and his wife. This build- 
 ing was finally torn down to make room for the 
 fine building which occupies the site. 
 
 Many of the travelers who arrived about this 
 time on journeys of exploration remained and took 
 active part in the affairs of the town and county, 
 but left no descendants, and their names are be- 
 coming only a memory even to the older genera- 
 tion. Among these are found the names of John 
 Orr and his wife who came here in 1836 from Ver- 
 mont and remained here until death called them. 
 Mr. Orr started one of the first general stores in 
 the town. 
 
 Many a barefoot youth in the fall was taken to 
 Mr. Orr's store by his dad and out of a big wooden 
 box of boots a pair was selected which seemed 
 about the right size. They were taken to the peg 
 scraper and the sharp wooden pegs on the inside 
 were scraped down and the boots were tried on. 
 Although some of the sharp pegs may have been 
 left inside, if he could get them on his bruised and 
 battered feet, they were pronounced a fit. The 
 boots were made straight so they could be worn 
 on either foot thus securing longer wear. However 
 when these kip boots and mother's home knit 
 woolen socks were once thoroughly soaked they 
 could hardly be removed from the foot, even by 
 the aid of the bootjack, which every family had. 
 
 No history of Savanna would be complete with- 
 [ 47 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 out the name of Dr. Elias Woodruff. He came 
 west from the state of New York in 1836. He had 
 just graduated from a medical school and he set- 
 tled first in Joliet, 111., and the year following he 
 came to Savanna. Here he remained, teaching 
 school, doctoring the sick and for many years 
 conducting a drug store. 
 
 After his marriage to Miss Anna Eddows of 
 Galena in 1842, he built a home on north Main 
 street opposite the Pierce hotel. This house was 
 moved farther south on Main street, and he erected 
 the large brick residence which still stands on the 
 old home grounds. He spent the remaining years 
 of his life in our midst, a respected and beloved 
 friend of all. 
 
 Another settler who arrived very early was 
 Nathan Lord who came from Meadville, Pennsyl- 
 vania in 1836. He and Royal Cooper, another ar- 
 rival of about the same time, entered and surveyed 
 the land south of the original town and nearly all 
 the land in and around Chestnut Park was owned 
 by Royal Cooper. He set out the chestnut trees 
 which give this thriving suburb its name, and 
 there is much interesting history connected with 
 its settlement. 
 
 The high ridge of ground extending east to the 
 railmill was covered with oak trees, and was a 
 wonderful place for flocks of wild pigeons which 
 gathered there and fed on the acorns, hence was 
 the happy hunting ground of the young hunter of 
 that day. 
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 The transfers of property will show that many 
 of the early settlers owned farm land in that sec- 
 tion and there were several log houses located 
 there very early. 
 
 The farm of Nathan Lord lay on the east side 
 of the present road to the cemetery, and the old 
 turnpike connected the village of Savanna with 
 that settlement. It was not until 1853 that the 
 bridge across Plum River was built to connect 
 York township and Fulton on the south. Previous 
 to this time the only means of crossing the stream 
 was by a ford in low water, and using a ferry in 
 high water. 
 
 In 1843 Nathan Lord married Mary, the eldest 
 daughter of John Smith and they remained in that 
 vicinity, he taking an active part in the new 
 county organization. Lord's lake in Chestnut 
 Park is a reminder of the pioneer family that lived 
 nearby in the long ago. 
 
 John Smith, father of Mrs. Lord, arrived early 
 in this community, coming from Louisville, Ken- 
 tucky and bringing with him his wife and eight 
 children. They came up the river in a flat boat, 
 or keel boat it was called in those days, and settled 
 in Savanna in 1838. He started the first brick- 
 yard and all of the first brick buildings were 
 built from these native bricks. 
 
 There has been considerable discussion as to just 
 where this first brickyard was located as some of 
 the authorities do not agree, but one of his grand- 
 daughters, Mrs. Julia Smith Bashaw, gives the site 
 
 [ 49 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 as east of Fifth street, and south of Walnut street, 
 her father, James Smith, having worked there as 
 a boy. The family lived at one time in a house 
 on the site of the City Hospital. He also started 
 a brickyard on Chicago avenue east of the Fuller 
 homestead. 
 
 The first brick house to be built was erected for 
 Mrs. Harford and her daughter, Miss Ewing, 
 mother and sister of Mrs. Luther Bowen. It stands 
 today on Main street just south of the Northwest- 
 ern Illinois Utilities company office buiding. At 
 the time the house was built in 1838, the grounds 
 extended south to the corner and it was the first 
 place to be beautified with a flower garden, lilac 
 bushes, and other shrubs, and also with an orchard. 
 The deed to the lots was given to Mrs. Sarah Har- 
 ford in 1836 by Luther Bowen. Mrs. Harford and 
 her daughter, Miss Ewing, were the first Episco- 
 palians to make their home here. 
 
 [ 50 ] 
 
i?3333333333333333333336*£C&£*&*ee**«6«. 
 
 THE FIRST DECADE 
 
 SHAVE tried to group together the families ar- 
 riving during the years from 1836 to 1838 as 
 nearly as the records can be traced, but in some 
 cases the records are incomplete and in many 
 others entirely lost. 
 
 Among the arrivals in 1837 were Charles Ben- 
 nett and his wife with their two year old twin 
 daughters named Adelia and Amelia. They located 
 their log cabin in what is now East Savanna, near 
 the Plum River bridge. Our story concerns the 
 twins for when they had grown to womanhood, 
 Adelia became the wife of Martin Shepard and 
 they spent all their lives in this vicinity, rearing 
 a large family. Amelia became the wife of George 
 Nipe and also spent all her life near Savanna. 
 
 Another family whose history is closely identi- 
 fied with the first years of the foundation and 
 growth of Savanna is the Jenks family. 
 
 William L. B. Jenks, F. M. Jenks, George W. 
 Jenks and their sister, Almira, with other mem- 
 bers of the family together with their parents 
 came west from Beverly, West Virginia and settled 
 in Rock Island in 1836. After a stay of about a 
 year at that place they arrived in Savanna in 1837. 
 
 Capt. W. L. Jenks became the first landlord of 
 the Mississippi House built by Luther Bowen. He 
 
 [ 51 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 afterward engaged in several business enterprises 
 and became connected with the old Northern Line 
 Packet company, and for several years was a well- 
 known captain and boat owner. He retired from 
 the river to the farm in the east part of town now 
 occupied by his son, Thomas Jenks. 
 
 F. M. Jenks was too well known to need much 
 added to his history as he was among the leaders 
 in business and politics. He married Miss Louisa 
 Armstrong of Sand Prairie, near Hanover and they 
 spent all their lives in Savanna. In 1905 they 
 celebrated their golden wedding. Mr. Jenks re- 
 tired from active service and left his business in 
 the hands of his sons, the Jenks Bros. 
 
 James White came here also about 1837 and 
 started a store. He married Miss Almira Jenks, 
 a sister of the Jenks brothers, and they went to 
 Elizabeth and started a store and later settled in 
 Hanover where he is remembered best as the 
 founder and builder of the Hanover Woolen Mill 
 which continues to be one of the big enterprises of 
 northwestern Illinois. 
 
 Out of that dim past appear the names of Henry 
 B. Harmon and his wife Nancy Bowen Harmon 
 who arrived here from Herkimer County, New 
 York. Squire Harmon, as he was familiarly known 
 in those days, was an educated man, and taught 
 one of the early schools, and held positions of 
 trust in the new county after its organization. 
 
 They settled on the farm east of town, now own- 
 ed by T. C. Jenks (1928) and set out the first 
 
 [ 52 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 apple orchard in this section. They sold the farm 
 to Capt. W. L. B. Jenks, father of T. C. Jenks, 
 and the records show but that one transfer of the 
 property until the present day. 
 
 The Harmons built a stone house on the south 
 side of Chicago avenue, which was then away out 
 in the country. The house was part stone and 
 part frame and had on one side what the pioneers 
 called a stoop. After the death of Squire Harmon, 
 Mrs. Harmon, who was a sister of Luther and 
 David L. Bowen, made her home with her daugh- 
 ter, Mrs. John A. Cooley. She lived to be past 
 ninety years old and was one of the most lovable 
 of all those early pioneer women. She could tell 
 many tales of the early days and was always a 
 Avelcome guest at all the social affairs. 
 
 One of the stories Mrs. Harmon delighted to tell 
 was about the time when the first steamboat came 
 up the Mississippi equipped with a real steam 
 whistle. The families who had come to this coun- 
 try, which was inhabited only by Indians and wild 
 animals, had lived in fear of the dangers of the 
 forest, and the tales they had heard, only added to 
 this fear. 
 
 When they heard that awful sound of the 
 whistle in the distance, unlike any sound they had 
 ever heard before, they were almost paralyzed 
 with fright- 
 Thinking it was some strange wild animal about 
 to make an attack, or perhaps a tribe of Indians 
 starting out on the warpath, the Blundells who 
 
 [ 53 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 had by this time settled on a farm near what is 
 now Chestnut Park, gathered the family together 
 and ran all the way across the swamp to the home 
 of the Harmons. The only other family nearby 
 was the Bennett family this side of the mill, and 
 they also came running to the Harmon home with 
 the twins. But as nothing happened and their 
 fears gradually subsided, they learned the cause 
 of the alarm. 
 
 With the year 1837 we reach a logical close of 
 the settlement period, and with the years follow- 
 ing, 1839 and 40, came many of the most important 
 men and women who carried on so successfully the 
 work already begun by those earlier pioneers. 
 
 In a history of this kind it is not possible to 
 trace the family fortunes down to the present gen- 
 eration, but I have tried to find the names of 
 those who helped carve a city out of a wilderness. 
 
 [ 54 ] 
 
% 
 
 
 Mrs. David L. Bowen 
 
ORGANIZATION OF CARROLL COUNTY 
 
 ND now our story of Savanna has covered the 
 first decade of its growth, and we reach the 
 next important epoch in its development which 
 was the organization of Carroll County. 
 
 In the year 1837 the residents of this section, 
 finding it quite inconvenient to make the trip to 
 Galena for all legal business, petitioned the Legis- 
 lature to be set apart from Jo Daviess County and 
 to be made a separate county organization. The 
 Act was approved in February, 1839, and the date 
 the second Monday in April following, was named 
 as the day upon which the election should be held 
 and a full set of county officers named and the 
 place for locating the county seat be decided upon. 
 
 It is interesting to know that there were only 
 three precincts or voting places in this new county, 
 those being Savanna, Plum River and Elkhorn 
 Grove, and that the full county vote numbered 
 212, of this number 127 lived in the Savanna dis- 
 trict. Savanna received the majority of the votes 
 cast and therefore was declared the county seat 
 for the time being. 
 
 This was a proud day for all of our old friends 
 in the village whose fortunes we have been follow- 
 ing since 1828, and we meet them all again in 
 
 [ 55 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 their official capacity as they helped to lay the 
 firm foundation of our own county. 
 
 And now as this is a woman's story of the way 
 things are accomplished, I shall just write down 
 the facts which look to be the most interesting, 
 and leave the dry details of the procedure of the 
 organization to those who care to look through the 
 old records. 
 
 Prom the history of Carroll County of 1913, I 
 find the names of the first County Commissioners 
 to be Luther H. Bowen, Sample M. Journey and 
 Garner Moffett. The first meeting of these com- 
 missioners was held in Savanna,. April 13, 1839. 
 They appointed Elijah Bellows of Savanna and 
 Alvah Daines of Elkhorn Grove the first assessors, 
 also Norman D. French the first collector, and 
 each man was assessed by the commissioners, four 
 day's labor on the roads. 
 
 William Goss was the first clerk of the county 
 commissioner's court, Hezekiah Francis was the 
 first sheriff. John C. wings was the first pro- 
 bate justice, and Mason Taylor was the first cor- 
 oner. Royal Cooper was the first recorder and 
 Levi Warner was the first surveyor. Leonard Goss 
 was the first notary public and Vance L. David- 
 son was the first public administrator. 
 
 Everything being in readiness for the transac- 
 tion of business, on the 12th of September 1839 
 the first term of the circuit court was held. The 
 building used for the court stood on the corner of 
 Main and Webster streets and served as a sort of 
 
 [ 56 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 public building. There does not seem to be any 
 record of who built it, or why it was built. It was 
 used for school and for church services of any de- 
 nomination that came along. 
 
 (An extract from the papers of Mrs. Sila Bowen) . 
 
 School had to be dismissed during court week 
 and it was then that the Pierce tavern was extra 
 crowded. It was then the tables had on extra 
 fine linen, and the tall brass candlesticks had an 
 extra polish as they were set in a straight line 
 through the center of the long tables which were 
 set for thirty or forty people, each candlestick 
 holding a sperm or wax candle. 
 
 It was then the old black cook came down from 
 Galena, the same one who had cooked for us in 
 Galena, and roasted pigs or turkeys and monster 
 sirloins of beef. The same old cook who had the 
 beef steaks broiled to just the right turn on the 
 large gridiron, over the red hot coals on the hearth 
 of the big fireplace, in which all the cooking was 
 done. The baking was done in an outside brick 
 oven. 
 
 By this time they had some bedrooms finished, 
 but not enough to accommodate all who came and 
 they therefore still kept the ballroom filled with 
 beds. 
 
 They had one bedroom in the attic which had no 
 window in it, and this was used during court week 
 to put the criminals in, as there was no jail, and 
 always afterward it was called the "criminal's 
 room." 
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Old Judge Brown had to have a room by himself, 
 and often brought his own cook along so as to 
 have everything just as he liked to have it." 
 
 That first session of the court did not have many 
 cases, but the second term, held the next May, 
 1840, was quite like modern times as there were 
 two divorce cases and two slander suits. 
 
 But Savanna was not left long to enjoy her court 
 and her county seat, owing to the condition of the 
 roads, and the long distances they had to drive 
 which made it hard to reach this place. Many 
 settlements had been made by this time in other 
 parts of the county, especially on Preston Prairie, 
 Elkhorn Grove, * Cherry Grove and the eastern 
 parts. 
 
 An election to locate the county seat on a site 
 afterward named Mount Carroll, had been urged 
 by a Mill Company of that section. This election 
 was held in August, 1843, with the result that the 
 Mount Carroll site received the majority of the 
 votes cast, and in 1844 the county offices were 
 moved to that place. 
 
 And there we will leave them, as this is a story 
 of Savanna, and the county seat does not enter 
 into its growth or progress, except as a place to 
 transact the regular legal business. 
 
 With that matter out of the way, we will return 
 to the records of the families in this locality just 
 before or after 1840. 
 
 [ 58 ] 
 
PIONEERS OF 1840 
 
 ,NE of the pioneers to arrive about 1840 was 
 John Finke. He shortly afterward opened 
 the first cooper shop. He married Margaret Both- 
 well and they always made Savanna their home. 
 They had several children, but the two that are 
 best remembered were Sarah Ellen and Anna who 
 were teachers in the school for many years. All 
 the members of the Finke family were devout 
 church members, Mr. Finke being one of the found- 
 ers of the early Congregational church. 
 
 Another pioneer who arrived in 1840 from his 
 native home in England was Charles Pulford, 
 father of Bothwell and Samuel Pulford and the 
 late Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson. He married Sarah 
 Bothwell, a sister of Mrs. Finke, and for years 
 they lived in a stone house on the corner of Third 
 street where the Public Library now stands. Later 
 in the forties, 1848, two other brothers arrived 
 from England and after getting as far as Chicago 
 they finished the remainder of the distance on 
 foot. These two brothers were James and Jere- 
 miah Pulford. Having reached a point somewhere 
 near the corner where the Catholic church now 
 stands, they inquired of a man they met where 
 they could find Savanna. He told them they were 
 in Savanna, greatly to the joy of the foot weary 
 travelers. All these families have descendants 
 still living in Savanna. 
 
 [ 59 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Fred Chambers, who for years was the big genial 
 landlord of the Chambers hotel which burned 
 down in 1882, came to Savanna, also, in 1840. He 
 was born in England but had spent his early boy- 
 hood in New York. He was engaged in several 
 enterprises, among them being a powder mill, be- 
 fore he engaged in the hotel business. The family 
 has left this vicinity with the exception of Mrs. 
 T. B. Rhodes, who lives in Mount Carroll. 
 
 One of the noted pioneers whose name appears 
 on so many old legal documents is that of Silas 
 Killam. He was a bachelor and had a wagon shop 
 on the south corner of Main and Adams streets 
 where Dr. Maloney's office has stood for so many 
 years. When the call to the Civil War came, Squire 
 Killam, as he was called, packed all his tools into 
 barrels, headed them up, locked up his shop and 
 enlisted. When the war was over he returned to 
 Savanna, opened up the barrels, took out his tools 
 and started to work in his old shop. 
 
 Captain John B. Rhodes, one of the best known 
 arrivals of this period, reached Savanna in 1841. 
 One of the outstanding business enterprises in the 
 life history of this distinguished pioneer was his 
 connection with the old Northern Line Packet 
 Company, operating for years on the Mississippi 
 from St. Louis to St. Paul. 
 
 In 1846 Mr. Rhodes and Miss Mary Jane Pierce, 
 the pioneer baby girl of the early settlement, who 
 had by that time reached the age of seventeen 
 years, were married. They made Savanna their 
 
 [ 60 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 home and later built the large brick house on north 
 Main street, on the site which had been occupied 
 by the early Pierce log cabin. In the big house 
 they raised a family of five boys and one daugh- 
 ter. The sons have been known in business circles 
 as the Rhodes Brothers during all these years. But 
 as time changes, only two of the family continue 
 to make Savanna their home, John B. Rhodes, one 
 of the twins, and Henry C. Rhodes, the second son. 
 Thomas B. Rhodes, twin brother of John B., has 
 made his home in Mount Carroll for several years. 
 
 Another name which was closely identified with 
 the growing town was that of M. Dnpuis. He was 
 born in Canada of French-Canadian parentage, and 
 came to this part of Illinois before the Black Hawk 
 war. He served during the period of the war, re- 
 maining in Galena until 1845, when he came to 
 Savanna, where he engaged in the lumber business. 
 His wife, who was Miss Sarah A. Woodruff, teach- 
 er in the earliest school in Elkhorn Grove, was 
 one of the most highly respected and beloved of 
 the pioneer women. She was foremost in all things 
 for the betterment of the community and was a 
 founder and leader of the W. C. T. U. It is a 
 pleasure to pay tribute to such a noble woman. 
 
 Mr. Dupuis was active in all town affairs and 
 was the first Mayor of Savanna. 
 
 In looking over some old papers of her father, 
 Reuben H. Gray, his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Gray 
 Bowman, came across a dairy kept by him when 
 he came west from the state of New York. 
 
 [ 61 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 He left his home in Erie County in July, 1844, 
 accompanied by his wife, Abby Dewey Gray, and 
 two children, Helen Gray (Kearney) and George 
 Gray. The trip was made by wagon. In the party 
 were his father and mother, also his brother, Cal- 
 vin, with his wife and family. In two weeks they 
 had reached Michigan and by September they 
 were at Inlet Grove, near Chicago. After doing 
 some surveying at this place they started out again 
 and the party reached Savanna, their final des- 
 tination, in January, 1845. 
 
 He went to Dixon and entered land for a home 
 here casting his lot with the early pioneers, where 
 he followed his vocations of teacher, surveyor, and 
 merchant. Early in the year of 1845, his parents 
 died and were buried in the cemetery on the hill. 
 
 Another settler who came west, arriving in Sa- 
 vanna in 1845 was Albert Stedman. He settled 
 in Stephenson County in 1839, then later came to 
 Carroll County. He took active part in the affairs 
 of the town and his sons, Frank and Ira M., for 
 many years held positions of trust in the commun- 
 ity. At this writing, 1928, a daughter living in 
 Savanna is the only one left here of a large family. 
 It is to her, Mrs. Louisa Robinson, that I am in- 
 debted for many dates and incidents given in the 
 story of Savanna. 
 
 The Forties were the years of many additions 
 and changes made in the frontier settlements 
 throughout this section of Illinois. Although I 
 have not been able to mention the names of all 
 
 [ 62 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 those families locating here at that period, tribute 
 has been made in a brief way to those who had 
 a prominent part in guiding the affairs of the little 
 village. 
 
 And so the struggle of the years went on, the 
 primitive conditions remaining about the same. 
 They had no other means of transportation of any 
 of their products except by steamboat or hauling 
 by team across the entire state to Chicago. 
 
 In their urgent desire to get to a better market 
 with their grain, stock, or other productions, they 
 eagerly welcomed the proposition for the building 
 of a railroad, as this mode of transportation had 
 become an assured improvement. 
 
 In those days when a dollar which had been 
 wrested from the virgin resources and been saved 
 in a home, a few acres, or a small business, was 
 worth a hundred dollars in the present time, or 
 even a thousand dollars, perhaps. 
 
 To secure this first railroad, they mortgaged 
 their homes, or land, to raise the money to aid the 
 project of building the road. And folded up with- 
 in these old mortgages which have been handed 
 down among other papers to the present genera- 
 tion, you may find a heartache or a tear, as those 
 brave old settlers struggled to pay off that debt. 
 
 But all that passed away and was forgotten, and 
 with a railroad finally a reality, a more prosper- 
 ous condition prevailed in the little village. 
 
 [ 63 ] 
 
^^^a^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ti^^afe^gig^gfcf-fe^fegfrfe^^ 
 
 THE POLL BOOK OF 1846 
 
 iff N looking through a box of old papers left by 
 qj D. L. Bowen, I came across the Poll book of an 
 election held in Savanna precinct August 3, 1846. 
 This was a State and County election and contains 
 the names of the entire population who voted that 
 day and furnishes a list of the residents of the 
 year ending in 1846. 
 
 The original document has been framed and 
 placed in the public library exhibit of old pictures. 
 
 Poll book of the election held in the Precinct 
 of Savanna in the County of Carroll, on the third 
 day of August in the year of our Lord one thous- 
 and eight hundred and forty-six. And John B. 
 Rhodes, David L. Bowen and W. L. B. Jenks, 
 judges, and Merritt Hamilton and Silas Killam 
 clerks of said election were severally sworn as the 
 law directs previous to their entering on the duties 
 of their respective offices. 
 
 Names of voters : John Beecroft, James Kimball, 
 J. M. Planck, J. P. Goodrich, N. C. Gilbert, John 
 O'neal, H. B. Harmon, L. J. Smith, Joel Howd, 
 Simen Gilbert, Robert McClanahan, John Parker, 
 Royal Jacobs, Clement Starbeck, Benj. N. Kellogg, 
 L. D. Ensley, A. M. Hatton, Alex McDonald, 
 Luther Griswold, Wm. Hawthorne, P. R. Kingon, 
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Anthony Pero, Thomas Roof, P. Sargeant, Elias 
 Woodruff, Enoch Chamberlain, H. Melendy, Lewis 
 St. Ores Jr., Thos. B. Rhodes, Robt. Richardson, 
 David L. Harrison, Summer Downing, Jonathan 
 Manning, T. S. Barnes, Hez Francis, Solomon Ash- 
 by, Charles Pulford, Oliver Bashaw, Wm. P. Hard- 
 en, John M. Kibey, Calvin Gilbert, Stephen Neal, 
 A. B. Miller, Luther Gilbert, T. F. Sheldon, Wm. 
 C. Thompson, Levi Kent, Henry Spafford, Geo. 
 Ashby, Joseph Ashby, J. C. Boyer, Robert Blair, 
 N. K. Lord, Aaron Pierce, Wm. Rhodes, Wm. Mc- 
 Entire, George Davidson, Alex Wallace, James 
 Wilson, G. R. Day, Geo. Myers, Vance L. David- 
 son, N. P. Walter, Jas. Myers, Wm. Patterson, 
 Wm. Edmonds, Henry Miller, John Orr, Wm. 
 Bashaw, Wm. Ashby, Robt. Ashby, Wm. Wait, 
 R, H. Gray, Hiram Maxfield, Wm. Bacheldor, 
 Chas. Bennett, John Smith, Amos Whitten, John 
 Puller, F. Chambers, Alex B. Warren, Isreal Day, 
 Cyrus Colvin, James Watson, Horace Davis, L. H. 
 Bowen, Albert Stedman, E. Hitchcock, Wm. Blun- 
 dell, J. B. Rhodes, D. B. Hartsough, D. L. Bowen, 
 Silas Killam, M. Hamilton, Levi Wilson. 
 
 At an election at the school house in Savanna, 
 Savanna Precinct, in the County of Carroll, and 
 State of Illinois, on the third day of August in the 
 year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred, 
 and forty-six the following named persons received 
 the number of votes annexed to their respective 
 names for the following described offices towit : 
 
 Thomas M. Kilpatric had 56 votes for Governor. 
 Augustus C. French had 36 votes for Governor. 
 
 [ 65 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 (We will skip over the other state officers). 
 
 Luther H. Bowen had 45 votes for State Repre- 
 sentative. 
 
 Henry Smith had 32 votes for County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 Norman D. French had 56 votes for County 
 Commissioner. 
 
 John B. Rhodes had 83 votes for Sheriff. 
 
 John B. Whiteside had 4 votes for Sheriff. 
 
 Jered Bartholomew had 56 votes for Coroner. 
 
 Then follows a scattering vote for different 
 candidates. 
 
 Certified to by us 
 
 John B. Rhodes, Wm. L. B. Jenks, D. L. Bowen 
 — Judges of Election. 
 
 Attest : Silas Killam, Merritt Hamilton — Clerks 
 of Election. 
 
 With this date, the year of 1846, the period of 
 the settlement of Savanna logically closes. This 
 old document which was evidently laid away im- 
 mediately after election seemed never to have been 
 unfolded. It is to be hoped that every legal voter 
 cast his ballot that day as this gives the only 
 record we have of the settlers living here at that 
 time. The original Poll book, as it was called, 
 may be seen at the Public Library and is worth 
 looking at. 
 
 Those settlers who arrived after that time found 
 conditions as prosperous as any frontier village 
 could be at that early date, and they simply had 
 to carry on what the others had begun. 
 
 [ 66 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 I have tried to tell the simple story of these 
 earliest pioneers who came here when there was 
 nothing but a wild, unbroken forest where the 
 Indian hunted, trapped, and roamed at will; and 
 who lived out their simple unassuming lives and 
 passed peacefully to their rewards. None of them 
 ever achieved greatness and no one of them ever 
 had greatness thrust upon him. Great fortunes 
 were not made, and as they came empty handed, 
 no fortunes were lost. 
 
 But the fact that they built well their founda- 
 tion cannot be disputed as we look upon the beau- 
 tiful streets and buildings of our present city. 
 
 My aim has been to follow the fortunes of those 
 early founders down through the years when there 
 were few records kept and their history was more 
 or less handed down from one generation to an- 
 other. 
 
 After the organization of Carroll County the 
 records have been preserved and papers filed, so 
 those in need of legal dates can possibly find 
 them. 
 
 [ 67 ] 
 
& 333 *&* gig 333 333 -3-53 fefefe ftfett fr&& fcSS fefeft fe&g Cg 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY 
 
 t|||UT our story would not be complete without 
 qjF mention of the social life of the settlement 
 and we will turn our thoughts back once more as 
 we try to discover what could be found in the 
 way of pleasure amidst such rough surroundings. 
 
 We must go back to the beginning and think of 
 the three families who joined their fortunes and 
 founded this little settlement. They had met in 
 the central part of the state, one family arriving 
 there from Massachusetts, the others from Ken- 
 tucky. 
 
 But a common interest, a human feeling for 
 companionship, drew them together and they ven- 
 tured forth to found a new community. Together 
 they braved the terrors of the wilderness and to- 
 gether they shared each other's joys and sorrows. 
 When, during their first hard winter here, the 
 wolf was not far from their doors, and one family 
 secured a little flour and meal from the Indians, 
 it was divided among them all, and the brother- 
 hood they formed remained to the end of their 
 lives. 
 
 The next season they gathered the wild fruit 
 which grew abundantly all about, and in the Fall 
 they gathered hickory nuts, walnuts, butternuts, 
 and hazelnuts by the bushel, and when in the 
 
 [ 68 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 evening the ''candles were lit," and the neighbors 
 came in, they gathered around the big fireplace 
 and 
 
 "Sped the time with stories old 
 Wrought puzzles out, and riddles told 
 Shut in from all the world without 
 They sat the clean-winged hearth about, 
 While close at hand the basket stood, 
 With nuts from brown October's wood." 
 
 But with the arrival of new settlers from the 
 East, who brought with them their good clothes 
 and their good manners, the social life became 
 quite active, and very early there was a singing 
 school organized and also a dancing school. 
 
 The hotels or taverns, as they were called in 
 those early days, were all provided with large 
 ballrooms, and when the invitations to a large ball 
 were sent out the guests came in sleighs from 
 miles around. And the story is told that no man 
 appeared upon the ballroom floor unless wearing 
 his dancing pumps and white kid gloves. 
 
 A man by the name of Paddleford was the lead- 
 ing musician in this section. He came from the 
 City of New York and his fame as a violinist 
 went out all over the country. He was not an 
 ordinary fiddler but was a composer and violinist 
 of great ability. 
 
 There lies before me a manuscript book of his 
 music which was presented to F. P. Bowen by 
 Mrs. Hilsinger of Sabula, whose father, Mr. Scar- 
 
 [ 69 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 borough, a violin player, had played second violin 
 for years with Paddleford. These two composed 
 the orchestra. 
 
 Some titles just noted in glancing through the 
 book "Begone Dull Care," and "Gen Ye How 
 the Fiddle Goes" seem appropriate for the oc- 
 casions. 
 
 One of these early printed invitations came to 
 light out of the old box of letters and this is the 
 way it reads: 
 
 The company of Mr. David L. Bowen and lady 
 is respectfully solicited at a Ball to be given at 
 the house of Mr. W. Craig, on Thursday, Febru- 
 ary 14th, 1839, at 4 o'clock p. m. 
 
 Managers 
 
 J. W. White, John Bowen, Charles Swan, Mason 
 Taylor, Henry Corwith, John How, J. M. McCur- 
 tey, A. Drummond and W. W. Mudd. Wappello, 
 January 28, 1839. 
 
 It is presumed that young David attended this 
 party in Hanover as he could "cut the pigeon 
 wing" in the very latest style. 
 
 A great anniversary such as we are having in 
 Savanna this year will reach thousands who are 
 ordinarily unconscious of past historic associa- 
 tions. 
 
 During this summer we must compete with a 
 presidential campaign and with the sports of the 
 
 [ 70 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 world in producing reading matter of sufficient 
 interest to hold the attention of our readers. 
 
 But this is our year for looking backward and 
 for gathering from out a gradually dimming past, 
 the little stories and the simple heart interest of 
 our pioneer settlers. 
 
 This is the year in which we review the every 
 day life of the founders of our city and gather 
 all the items of our local history into some 
 definite form where it can be preserved. 
 
 Old customs have given way before the results 
 of invention and discovery, but this is one time 
 for us to just look back for a short moment and 
 take a fleeting glance at what once were real con- 
 ditions. 
 
 Many are inclined to scoff at the "old things" 
 as they are termed, but perhaps the very articles 
 or methods we are using so proudly, will, in an- 
 other hundred years be just "old things" to those 
 who are then living. 
 
 With these thoughts in mind I have selected a 
 few pages from some memories of pioneer life 
 written by Mrs. David L. Bowen. In these she 
 recalls many of her earliest impressions and 
 throws light upon that distant time of the early 
 settlers. 
 
 When that first family arrived here on the 4th 
 of November, 1828, it consisted of the father, 
 mother and four children, the youngest being a 
 baby girl a little more than one year old, named 
 
 [ 71 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Sila. This little girl spent her entire life in Sa- 
 vanna with the exception of the times the family 
 lived in Galena. When she had grown to woman- 
 hood, in 1844, she was married to David L. Bowen 
 and together they traveled side by side down 
 through the years. In 1894 they celebrated their 
 golden wedding and several friends were present 
 who had attended their marriage. Of these James 
 White from Hanover, who had been best man at 
 their wedding, and also Dr. and Mrs. Ellas Wood- 
 ruff were able to attend. 
 
 In 1898 Mr. Bowen passed on to the long jour- 
 ney alone and Mrs. Bowen was left to spend her 
 remaining years among her children and friends, 
 a beloved gentle woman. 
 
 With the advancing years Mrs. Bowen was con- 
 fined more and more to her home and as her 
 thoughts turned to her early life she often wrote 
 down the interesting parts as she remembered 
 them. Being a woman of extreme refinement and 
 sensitiveness she lived her quiet life amidst her 
 flowers, her reading, and her own thoughts. 
 
 The following pages are selections taken from 
 her writings and given as a tribute to her memory : 
 
 My Recollections of Pioneer Life 
 
 About the first thing that I remember is being 
 in an Indian wigwam that stood between our house 
 and the river. I was picking kernels of corn out 
 of a wooden bowl of soup that was on a bench, 
 and tasting them, as I did not like the taste, and 
 
 [ 72 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 happened to look up I saw the old squaw who 
 lived there standing in the doorway laughing* at 
 me. I was very much frightened and jumped 
 down from the block of wood upon which I was 
 standing and ran past her with all my might to- 
 ward home, and to my childish imagination, escap- 
 ing from danger. 
 
 A confused memory lives with me of Indians 
 with blankets over their shoulders, with buckskin 
 leggings, and buckskin moccasins on their feet, 
 and with their hunting knives stuck in their belts. 
 They would have feathers stuck in the tops of 
 their heads of coarse, greasy black hair, that hung 
 down to their shoulders. The squaws with woolen 
 petticoats that reached below the knees, showing 
 buckskin leggings and moccasins, sometimes 
 trimmed with beads. Short calico gowns pinned to- 
 gether with large silver brooches, and with great 
 strings of long, white beads around their necks, 
 hanging down to their waists. They would have 
 their little papooses strapped to a board, and 
 hanging on their backs, setting them up beside a 
 tree when not traveling. The little sharp, black 
 eyed babies seemed to enjoy the situation, for I 
 never heard one cry. I also remember of Indians 
 sleeping on the kitchen floor with their feet to- 
 ward the fire some cold nights, when mother's 
 kind heart would not let them be turned out into 
 the cold. 
 
 My mother soon learned to talk with them, part- 
 ly in their own language, and partly in English, 
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 with a generous mixture of signs. My father, who 
 did not try so much to learn their language, would 
 send them to my mother to do their trading. 
 
 These Indians would have their drinking sprees, 
 and at such times they always selected one of 
 their own number to keep sober, he to take care 
 of the others. They would give up their knives, 
 guns, tomahawks, or anything else that could be 
 used to injure themselves or others with, into the 
 keeping of the sober one, and then proceeded to 
 get dead drunk and lie around on the ground en- 
 tirely unconscious of surroundings. On one ol 
 these occasions an old squaw came across an ax 
 that my father had left by the wood pile, and 
 grabbing it up she ran toward an Indian lying 
 drunk on the ground. My father happened to 
 see her and running after her grabbed her arm 
 just as she had raised the ax above the drunken 
 Indian's head. She then fell to the ground as 
 drunk as the other. 
 
 Our log house, as I remember it, was a double 
 house, that is two houses of one room each, with 
 an outside entry or space between roofed over. 
 One of these was used for a sitting and sleeping 
 room, and the other for a kitchen or "eating" 
 room as we expressed it in those days. Both of 
 the rooms had large fireplaces which took up al- 
 most one end of the room. These fireplaces had 
 a nice hearthstone and our great ambition was to 
 "keep our own hearthstones clean." There was 
 a good puncheon floor that we kept scrubbed with 
 a split broom. The split broom was made by peel- 
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 ing a hickory pole, or shredding it to within a foot 
 or so of the end, then the splits were drawn over 
 the end and firmly tied. These made excellent 
 brooms for scrubbing those puncheon floors, and 
 soon wore them smooth. This broom making was 
 evening work for the men of the families. We 
 gathered rushes that grew near Plum river, and 
 tied them in bunches about as large around as 
 your wrist, and these were used for scrubbing our 
 tables and split bottom chairs. Over the fireplace 
 were two crotched wooden pins where the gun was 
 kept, the powder horn and other accoutrements 
 were hung back in the corner, ready for immedi- 
 ate use should a wild cat or stray wolf come along, 
 or if chance brought a wild turkey or a wild 
 goose. We were not afraid of the Indians, as they 
 were very peaceful. 
 
 A lamp, in shape such as those carried in the 
 hands by Virgins of Bible records ''who hurried 
 out to meet the bridegroom/' hung by the side 
 of the chimney. This lamp was kept well filled 
 with coon's oil, and had a cotton rag for a wick. 
 But finally something happened to this lamp and 
 in its place we used a saucer filled with coon's 
 oil with three or four rags for wicks stuck around 
 its edge. After a while the saucer lamp was laid 
 aside and the beeswax candle took its place. This 
 candle was made by having the wax warm enough 
 to work with the hands, and rolling it around a 
 rag for a wick. To do this we took a board or 
 some smooth surface on which to roll it, and 
 commenced by putting a thin layer of wax along 
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 the length of the wick, and then began to work 
 it and roll it smooth and firm, this was repeated 
 with another layer, and another, until the candle 
 was the right size. When we had this candle set 
 in an iron candlestick, we considered that we were 
 indeed getting into the very luxuries of life. We 
 used these candles until we raised our own beef 
 and had tallow, then we had "tallow dips'" which 
 we considered a great improvement on the wax 
 candle. To be sure we had the wax in great 
 abundance, for all that was necessary to do when 
 w T e wanted honey was to go into the woods and 
 cut down a bee tree and gather the honey from 
 the store inside, carry it home in buckets or tubs, 
 sort out the nice unbroken comb and lay it aside 
 for use. The broken pieces were put in a bag and 
 hung up in a warm place to drip into a pan or jar. 
 Afterward this vessel was set in a cold place for 
 the honey to harden and become candied, when it 
 would become white and could be sliced with a 
 knife and was much esteemed as a great delicacy 
 and was greatly preferred to honey in the comb. 
 After all the honey that would had dripped through 
 the bag, water was poured over the comb and it 
 was allowed to drip again into another jar. This 
 time the jar was placed in a warm place for a few 
 days and it soon began to work and sparkle and 
 from this we had a drink known as matheglon, 
 and it was considered almost as good as cider. 
 After this last was made, the honey comb was 
 made into wax and from this the aforesaid 
 candles were made. 
 
 In those days my mother also grated corn and 
 [ 76 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 made starch, and in case of emergency made 
 saleratns by burning* corn cobs in an iron kettle. 
 I hardly know the process, but the ashes or liquid 
 from these burned cobs made a good substitute for 
 saleratns. 
 
 We shelled corn in the evenings to send to 
 Craig's mill on Apple River to be ground into 
 meal, out of which we made our corn bread. My 
 father raised wheat one year, threshed it out with 
 a flail on a floor and then took it to Craig's mill 
 and had it ground into flour. Out of this flour 
 my mother made excellent "salt risen" bread 
 which she baked in a Dutch oven before the big 
 fireplace. 
 
 We had a spring house in which to keep our 
 butter and milk, a "root house" where we kept 
 our vegetables through the winter, and poles of 
 sliced pumpkin hung over head to dry for winter 
 use. Wild fruit such as crabapples, plums, black- 
 berries, raspberries, strawberries, and gooseberries, 
 grew in great abundance all around us. 
 
 We remained in Galena during the Black Hawk 
 War and while there we made the acquaintance 
 of some very fine people, among them being the 
 Gratiots and the family of Reuben Brush. 
 
 My mother took me with her to visit the latter 
 named family one evening. Their little girl, Harriet, 
 about my age, took me by the hand and led me 
 to her little chair, as she said: "Take a chair." 
 This was the first little chair that I had ever 
 seen, as my own seat at home was a three legged 
 
 [ 77 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 stool. I was very much impressed with her polite- 
 ness and we became good friends at once, and I 
 am glad to say this friendship was kept up many 
 years after. 
 
 I think jt was at this time that I attended Mrs. 
 Kent's infant Sunday school, where the little ones 
 all knelt around a young girl about 15 years of 
 age, who also knelt and we repeated in unison 
 with her the Lord's Prayer. Once I toppled over 
 against the next one by me and she toppled also, 
 but it did not go any farther, and I was very 
 much ashamed of myself for my great ambition 
 was to keep upright at prayer time. At this place 
 I saw for the first time a picture. It was a large 
 oil painting of the Garden of Eden with Adam 
 and Eve in the 'midst, half hidden by trees and 
 shrubbery, and looking very beautiful, and my 
 ideas of Heaven were made to correspond with 
 this picture and the explanation given by Mrs. 
 Kent. I do not remember that she said anything 
 about the serpent, but I am sure there was none 
 shown in the picture. 
 
 After peace was declared in the year 1833, the 
 three families moved back to our old home, and 
 took up life and work once more on the banks of 
 the Mississippi. The cornfields were brought Into 
 order again, and we children returned to our old 
 occupation of keeping the birds out of the field, 
 as the black birds came in great flocks in the Fall, 
 when the corn was just beginning to ripen. My 
 brother, Lorenzo Dow, was not tall enough to load 
 a gun, but could shoot it off, after it was loaded, 
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 so my sister Harriet would load it for him, then 
 clap her hands over her ears and run back, while 
 he would shoot to scare the birds away. While 
 this was going on my younger sister, Mary Jane, 
 and myself would stay up on a scaffold built up 
 in a tree and add to the noise by clapping our 
 hands and drumming on tin pans and screaming 
 with all our might, and then watch to see what 
 part of the field the birds would light in next, 
 and so on day after day. It was thus we lived 
 two or three summers, always out of doors, stroll- 
 ing along the bank of the river, picking up the 
 shells and carnelians, wading in the water, and 
 paddling a canoe, but I never "paddled my own 
 canoe" as there was always someone to paddle it 
 for me, and always has been through all my life. 
 
 We often crossed the river in this little canoe, 
 to the place now called Sabula, but in those days 
 there was not even an Indian wigwam to mark 
 the entrance to the unbounded west. But there 
 was a beautiful pebbly beach where we could find 
 carnelians of great beauty and also some of the 
 most beautiful clam shells, so we made frequent 
 visits to this shore which was one of Nature's 
 beauty spots." 
 
 As the little settlement rounded out its second 
 decade and reached the year 1850, the town was 
 well established and the dreams of the Pioneers 
 were coming true. 
 
 The citizens, with true aim for advancement 
 had, in 1847, built the little stone school house, 
 and the ladies, as usual, had given entertainments 
 
 [ 79 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 and solicited subscriptions until they had a fund 
 sufficient to purchase a bell. 
 
 When this bell, which bears the date, 1847, was 
 rung: for the first time from atop the wonderful 
 little building, there was great excitement and 
 joy in the hearts of the people. Although the 
 street in front of the new school house was a mud 
 hole in rainy weather, by the liberal use of saw 
 dust from the mill, the pupils were able to reach 
 the door, and within its walls of stone, the youth 
 of the community gathered for the first time in 
 a regular school building. 
 
 It served as a social center and also for various 
 church denominations, as well as a place for hold- 
 ing elections. * 
 
 The religious life of the community had been 
 fostered and kept alive by the settlers themselves, 
 assisted by an occasional circuit rider, and two 
 years after the school house was built, in 1849, 
 the Methodists undertook the erection of a small 
 frame church in the north part of town. 
 
 And now, after all these years have passed, we 
 find in an old ledger the entries which tell of the 
 hard struggle the Pioneers made to secure that 
 modest place of worship. 
 
 Under "Subscriptions to the meeting house," 
 Vance L. Davidson is credited with $21.53 for the 
 lot and William Blundell with $12.00 for laying 
 the foundation, while Luther Bowen is credited 
 with fifty cents for surveying the ground. Few 
 
 [ 80 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 cash subscriptions were available, the largest sum 
 being donated by John Fuller and Reuben Gray 
 who each gave ten dollars. Still others donated 
 material, small sums, or their labor, and the name 
 of Ashby, Thomas Roof, William and Samuel 
 Hitchcock, R. Richardson, D. B. Holt, John Smith, 
 Enoch Chamberlain, George Davidson, E. Wood- 
 ruff and M. Dupuis are among those recorded as 
 having contributed to this first church, and little 
 by little the building became a reality and it 
 stands on the same spot today, although convert- 
 ed into two small dwellings. 
 
 With the year 1850 we will end the "Westward 
 March of the Pioneers." The excitement caused 
 by the opening up of # the fertile lands of the 
 Mississippi Valley had somewhat subsided, and 
 only occasionally a pioneer with his axe, his rifle, 
 and his young wife moved out from the East, into 
 the wilderness, to build his lonely cabin home. 
 
 I am glad that I have been able to delve into 
 the old records and traditions, and bring forth a 
 few echoes from that almost unknown period of 
 our past. 
 
 So now our story comes to its conclusion, and 
 it is with regret we say farewell to all our old 
 friends. And it is hoped that the historian of our 
 second hundred years will be able to find such 
 staunchness of character, together with such good, 
 lovable citizens as we have met in these early years. 
 
 [ 81 ] 
 
August 19, 20, 21 and 22, 
 1928 
 
 n HE Centennial celebration 
 inJionor of the one hun- 
 dredth birthday anniversary of 
 the settlement of Savanna. 
 
 A brief review which out- 
 lines the program and gives 
 such other matter in general 
 as should be preserved in our 
 history. 
 
The Pioneer Monument 
 
i ftgggggjjggag jg *** *»§ £&£ *** e«* *** tee *«& *> 
 
 * — — — i 
 
 ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER 
 
 [HEN the City of Savanna reached her hun- 
 dredth milestone, it was deemed fitting to 
 celebrate the event in a manner out of the ordi- 
 nary, and on a more elaborate scale than anything 
 which had ever before been undertaken. As the 
 time approached much interest was manifested, 
 and a meeting was called for the purpose of form- 
 ing an organization to take charge and prepare 
 plans for the event. 
 
 The meeting was held in the Township High 
 School and was attended by many men and women 
 from all organizations and denominations, all en- 
 thusiastic in promulgating the project. This meet- 
 ing resulted in the formation of a Centennial Cele- 
 bration Committee and the Executive officers were 
 elected, with C. N. Jenks, Chairman, Miss Mamie 
 I. Marth, Secretary, and Bruce Machen, Treasurer. 
 Later, Miss Marth resigned and J. E. King was ap- 
 pointed in her place. 
 
 The Times-Journal issued a Centennial edition 
 of thirty-six pages on December 30, 1927, com- 
 memorating the founding of Savanna one hundred 
 years before. Many articles were contributed by 
 the citizens on the history of the industries, 
 churches, and local institutions, and the first in- 
 stallment of the "Story of Savanna" appeared. The 
 
 [ 83 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 papers were widely circulated, and many copies 
 were sent to friends and relatives all over the 
 world. This seemed to bring the subject of the 
 Centennial into the foremost topic of the day in 
 Savanna. 
 
 With the opening of the year 1928, plans for the 
 celebration began to assume a definite shape. 
 Various committees were appointed to take care of 
 the work, and a program was arranged. 
 
 The dates of August 19, 20, 21, and 22 were se- 
 lected as being more suitable as to time of the 
 year for a homecoming, than November Fourth, 
 the actual date. 
 
 The city wa^s cleaned, shined, polished and 
 decorated as never before, and a feeling of co- 
 operation was shown on every hand and when the 
 time came, all was in readiness. 
 
 The History and Marker Committee had com- 
 piled a book which they called " Savanna, Old and 
 New, a Picture Book." This was the hardest task 
 undertaken by any committee and the town was 
 searched for rare pictures of the old days, and 
 many new pictures were taken. The result was 
 most satisfactory and, when placed on file, will be 
 a truthful record for the next Centennial. 
 
 The Centennial Celebration opened on Sunday, 
 August 19th with specially prepared services and 
 programs in all the churches. 
 
 In the forenoon a "Pageant of Progress," writ- 
 ten by Mrs. Chauncey Ferguson, was given on the 
 
 [ 84 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 lawn and terrace in the Lincoln School grounds, 
 by the members of the M. E. Church. 
 
 The Catholic Church, under Father William Mc- 
 Guire, celebrated a solemn high field mass in Old 
 Mill Park which was attended by more than a 
 thousand people. 
 
 Special Centennial services were held Sunday 
 morning at the First Baptist Church with the Rev. 
 C. C. Colby, pastor of the church officiating, with 
 special music for the occasion. 
 
 Rev. D. W. Barclay of the Presbyterian Church 
 took for his subject, "What the Stone Face Saw," 
 and gave an interesting sermon. There was a 
 large attendance at this service. 
 
 At St. Paul's Episcopal Church, which was 
 beautifully decorated for the occasion, the Rev. 
 Walter S. Pond of St. Barnabas Church, Chicago, 
 preached a sermon on Psalm 77, verse 5, "the 
 days that are past." There was specially prepared 
 music, and a large attendance. 
 
 Sunday evening hundreds gathered in the Lin- 
 coln School yard where union services were held 
 with an especially arranged program. Bachman's 
 Band which was here during the Centennial, gave 
 a sacred concert and a chorus of singers from all 
 the choirs, rendered beautiful old hymns, the 
 audience joining in the singing of "I Love to Tell 
 the Story." 
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
DEDICATION OF PIONEER MONUMENT 
 
 Monday, August 20 
 
 /SpHE official program called for the opening of 
 ^£V the registration of all residents and visitors at 
 the Public Library. The Trustees had two specially 
 prepared registers for the occasion and during the 
 Centennial year, more than two thousand persons 
 have registered. The librarian, Miss Hattie Grreve, 
 with her assistants and extra helpers, was kept 
 busy with the registration and making the Library 
 the social headquarters. 
 
 The two registers will be filed in the Library 
 for reference for future generations. 
 
 During the morning many residents and visitors 
 gathered on North Main Street, which is Savanna's 
 historic ground, to witness the unveiling and dedi- 
 cation of the Pioneer Monument presented to the 
 City of his birth by Frank P. Bowen. 
 
 Only one century has passed since the three most 
 primitive log cabins, standing huddled together on 
 the grounds nearby, constituted the only habita- 
 tions in what is now the City of Savanna, and the 
 cnly settlement within a radius of many miles. 
 
 It was an inspiring and momentous occasion 
 when the friends and descendants gathered, with 
 feelings of love and respect, to mark in so fitting 
 and permanent a manner the ground about which 
 so much of our history clings. 
 
 [ 86 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 The program for this most important event of 
 the Centennial celebration is given in full in order 
 that the words spoken and the tribute paid the 
 Pioneers may be recorded in the history of Sa- 
 vanna. 
 
 Note : We are indebted to Miss Mamie I. Marth 
 for her full and accurate report of the dedication 
 and unveiling ceremony. 
 
 
 I 87 1 
 
jP 333 333 333 333 333 333 feSfe fefeft g£S ggg frfrfr ggg ffr 
 
 DEDICATION OF MONUMENT 
 
 Program 
 
 Selection by Bachman's Million Dollar Band. 
 Introduction by Lawrence H. Miles, Chairman : 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: Girls and Boys: 
 
 We are gathered here this week to celebrate the 
 first one hundred years in the life of our city of 
 Savanna ; nestled here at the very foot of these 
 magnificent bluffs along the world famed Missis- 
 sippi. Naturally our thoughts are with the hard 
 adventurous pioneers — the first families of our 
 city — and today, especially, we come to render 
 them honor, glory and reverence. 
 
 No Centennial celebration can be complete with- 
 out this spirit of reverence and worship, so may 
 I ask that you all — the young people particularly 
 — will give evidence of this spirit by absolute 
 quiet and close attention. 
 
 Reverend Walter S. Pond, grandson of Marshall 
 Brooks Pierce, oldest son of Aaron Pierce and his 
 wife, Harriet Bellows Pierce, a rector in a large 
 city church, but this summer one of our pastors, 
 will open the memorial service with prayer. 
 
 Reverend Pond : 
 Prayer : 
 
 Almighty God, King of Kings and Lord of 
 Lords, who rulest all things in Heaven and Earth, 
 
 [ 88 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 we adore Thee as the giver of every good and per- 
 fect gift. As the author of all blessings temporal 
 and spiritual; as the bestower of all civil as well 
 as religious benefits. We thank Thee for that 
 faith which thou hast extended over the people of 
 this country and especially this part of the country, 
 from the beginning; for the peculiar Providence 
 by which, from the earliest period of their history, 
 they were made ready for the important part they 
 were to perform in the execution of Thy mighty 
 plans in the development of mankind. 
 
 We thank Thee especially for that noble body 
 of men and women, by whose heroic self sacrific- 
 ing efforts in the face of great difficulties, the 
 safety of our Nation was secured and we enabled 
 to enter upon our present splendid heritage of 
 freedom and prosperity. 
 
 Ever preserve in us a recognition of their self 
 denying labors and sacrifices. 
 
 As we today engage in this commemorative cere- 
 mony and unveil and place this monument in the 
 memory of thy servants Aaron Pierce and his 
 wife, Harriet Bellows Pierce, their children, Mar- 
 shall Brooks Pierce, Harriet M. Pierce, Lorenzo 
 Dow Pierce, Sila Pierce Bowen, Mary Jane Pierce 
 Rhodes, Henry Clay Pierce, Lenora Pierce Carson, 
 George Davidson and his wife and his son, Vance 
 Davidson, William Blundell and his wife, and as 
 we have erected this stone as an honorable mem- 
 orial to those to whom both our State, and espec- 
 ially this part of the State, are indebted for ex- 
 
 [ 89 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 traordinary services, at a critical time in our his- 
 tory, may we recall with proper gratitude what 
 they and others of a like spirit wrought for us, 
 and may the fire of the same loyalty and patriot- 
 ism that burned in them be ennobled in us through 
 Jesus Christ our Saviour, who, when we pray, hath 
 taught us to say: 
 
 Our Father which are in Heaven, hallowed be 
 Thy name ; Thy Kingdom come ; Thy will be done, 
 in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our 
 daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we for- 
 give our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, 
 but deliver us from evil : For thine is the kingdom, 
 and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 
 
 Chairman, Mr. Miles : 
 
 The memorial marker will be unveiled by Jason 
 Pierce Law, the youngest son of Ives and Louise 
 Rhodes Law, who is also the youngest representa- 
 tive of the fifth generation of Pierces. He will be 
 escorted by his brothers, Richard Rhodes Law and 
 Robert Henry Law, and also by the daughters of 
 Alfred M. Pierce, Fern Marion Pierce and Phyllis 
 Mary Pierce, likewise the fifth generation of 
 Pierces. 
 
 Our next speaker is not a son of Savanna's first 
 settlers but a man himself of sturdy stock who 
 already has made an enviable name for himself as 
 a leader and pioneer in his profession and in busi- 
 ness as well, Judge Franklin J. Stransky, who will 
 deliver the presentation address. 
 
 Judge Stransky: 
 
 [ 90 ] 
 

 
 
 
 :'^ 
 
 
 
 w\ 
 
 
 
 
 'V/ S\~\ 
 
 ON THIS* GR 
 STOOD iffi& mffik 
 
 OCCUPIED BY 
 
 AARON PIERCE AND'hIS* WIFE; 
 
 HARRIET BELLOWS' PIERCE, 
 
 AND THEIR EOUR GHIL*DREN. 
 
 NOVEMBER 4; 1828 
 THE' I^IRST WHITE SETTLERS 
 OF SAVANNA-." 
 
 Erected in memory of his mother 
 SILA PIERCE BOWEN, 
 
 BY 
 FRANK PIERCE BOWEN. 
 
 The bronze tablet on the granite 
 monolith 
 
<»a**S*33*33»***a**33fefefefefr:fcfr6fr«<«*:«g:gfrfefr^ 
 
 DEDICATION ADDRESS 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 On this 100th Anniversary of the founding of 
 Savanna, we meet here for the purpose of doing 
 honor and homage to the first settlers of Savanna, 
 for the purpose of praising them and seeking to 
 emulate them, and for the purpose of dedicating to 
 their memory a monument of granite and bronze, 
 from which we trust and pray future generations 
 may take inspiration and courage. 
 
 It has been said that life is a succession of 
 phases, a succession of conditions. This monument 
 which is presented today and which will be grate- 
 fully accepted by the City of Savanna, typifies in 
 particular a part of the successions or stages of 
 the history of Savanna. 
 
 You will note that the lower portion of this 
 monument, which is before you, is made in the 
 rough, in the state, almost, which nature made it. 
 You will observe that the upper or central part of 
 the monument shows more the marks of the hands 
 of human genius, and you will note at the top the 
 smoothened surface which indicates a still larger 
 amount of energy and effort and refinement on 
 the part of the sculptor. Savanna's history is akin 
 to these symbolic portions of this monument. 
 
 In 1828 Aaron Pierce and his wife and four chil- 
 
 [ 91 1 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 dren left Galena, Illinois, in a vehicle drawn by 
 oxen, led by Yance Davidson on horseback. Aaron 
 Pierce had known of the place, which we now call 
 Savanna, and had noted that it was a beautiful 
 place surrounded on the east by hills and on the 
 west by the grand old Mississippi River. He had 
 visions of the future for himself and for his wife 
 and children and their children's children. With 
 bravery and courage he and his wife and children 
 traveled along untrodden roads, blazing their way 
 through the vast forest of timber and thicket until 
 finally, after days of travel and labor and toil, he 
 reached the upper part of Savanna, as nearly as we 
 can ascertain — the Pinnacle — of which we are now 
 in the shadow, v 
 
 With much difficulty — (and it has been told me 
 from authentic source) — it was necessary to cut 
 trees to blaze a path through the side of the hills, 
 and in order that the descent might not be too 
 abrupt it was necessary to cut a large tree and tie 
 the tree to the wheel of the wagon so that the 
 descent would not be disastrous. 
 
 On November 4th, 1828, Aaron Pierce and his 
 family reached this spot and found temporary re- 
 fuge in an abandoned Indian wigwam which stood, 
 as near as can be ascertained, where this monu- 
 ment, which is being dedicated, stands. Later 
 they were able to build a log cabin and by Christ- 
 mas time of the year 1828 they were nicely settled. 
 If we could look back a hundred years and see 
 Savanna as it then was we would see something 
 like this : vast forests upon the hills and upon the 
 
 [ 92 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 bluffs, no highway that civilized man had ever 
 trodden, the only thing in the way of arteries for 
 travel were the devious Indian trails which were 
 hard to locate and hard to keep when located. 
 
 A short time later in the day the other two fam- 
 ilies of these first pioneer settlers arrived in a 
 flatboat, having come by water down the Fever 
 River from Galena into the Mississippi, and landed 
 here joining the other party which came by land. 
 These two families were George Davidson and his 
 wife and William Blundell and wife. 
 
 These three families blazed the way for the 
 future of Savanna. Can you imagine the courage 
 which it took for those lone families to travel 
 through unknown regions in order to reach a des- 
 tination which they could build up as a place they 
 could call their home, as a place that they could 
 cultivate and develop, as a place in which they 
 and their posterity might live and be happy? 
 
 The three families named lived togther in peace 
 and harmony and divided the territory. There 
 was a log house established by the Davidsons 
 where the Dupuis house now stands, another log- 
 house established for the Pierce family where the 
 old Rhodes home now is, and the third log cabin 
 was located where the Stransky homestead now 
 stands and belonged to the Blundells. Each family 
 was allocated four acres of ground adjacent to 
 their cabins, which they cultivated and used for 
 themselves. In addition to the said land there was 
 land which was grown up in high grass and suita- 
 
 [ 93 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 ble for farm purposes which was allocated to the 
 families; each person had about twelve acres. 
 
 Later on, in about the year 1834, Luther Bowen, 
 a young surveyor from New York, came with a 
 party of Government Surveyors to Galena and 
 pjassed through here, and noting the natural beau- 
 ty of Savanna and its potential possibilities, he 
 returned later and purchased a part of the main 
 portion of the City of Savanna, which he as an en- 
 gineer and surveyor laid out into lots and blocks 
 as the original town of Savanna. Later on David 
 Bowen, his brother, and the father of Frank Pierce 
 Bowen, came from New York, traveling down the 
 Erie Canal, and finally arrived at Detroit, Michi- 
 gan. Having no other means of transportation 
 and having a "devouring" desire (I use the word 
 "devouring" advisedly because) he walked all 
 the way from Detroit, Michigan to Savanna. When 
 he came to Savanna he came out on the brow of 
 this Pinnacle and looking down into the valley be- 
 low saw the log cabins occupied by the three fam- 
 ilies referred to by me. Fascinated with the en- 
 vironment, he too settled here. He also was a 
 descendant of that great nobility of this world, — 
 the nobility of labor. 
 
 When the Pierce and Davidson and Blundell 
 families came here there was no such thing as a 
 stove ; there was nothing but an open hearth to 
 furnish heat for the log cabin and to furnish the 
 means of cooking the food for the table. At that 
 time kerosene was unknown so that it was impossi- 
 ble to light even with lamps burning kerosene oil. 
 
 [ 94 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 The light which was furnished was from the oil 
 of coon, because coon were very plentiful at that 
 time and made an excellent fuel for burning of 
 lights. The method employed was to take a rag 
 and soak it in the coon oil. Of course it made a 
 poor light, but it was a light which guided these 
 people; a light by which they sometimes read the 
 Holy Bible. It was a light by which they acquired 
 their meagre knowledge of the outside world. It 
 is particularly fitting today to know that the man 
 who is presenting this monument has done more 
 to light the streets of the City of Savanna than 
 any one else in our community. 
 
 We are very, very grateful to Mr. Frank Pierce 
 Bowen today because of his gift to the City of Sa- 
 vanna. Mr. Bowen, with the love and devotion 
 which he had for his mother; Mr. Bowen, with 
 patriotism and loyalty to the City of Savanna, has 
 presented this monument in granite and bronze, 
 hoping that it will be an inspiration for future 
 generations that they may go on with the good 
 work which his grandfather and grandmother 
 nobly started on this spot. 
 
 I have often thought how much courage and 
 bravery it takes for any person to leave the land 
 or State of his birth and go to foreign countries 
 to mingle with the people of foreign countries or 
 foreign States, but bear in mind that Aaron Pierce 
 and his family, and the first settlers of Savanna, 
 were not going from their own homes to other 
 homes which had been theretofore established 
 among other people, but were going out into the 
 
 [ 95 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 arms of nature to blaze a trail for themselves and 
 for their posterity, with no companions excepting 
 the wild animals, which I dare say, at night, made 
 the welkin ring with their cries. At that time wild 
 cats and wolves were in abundance in this vicinity. 
 Deer and occasionally bear were to be seen here, 
 but these families, with all of their courage and 
 all of the stamina which mark the early pioneers 
 of America, came here unafraid, undaunted, with 
 faith and trust in their hearts; faith in themselves 
 and trust in the Almighty who created them. 
 
 This spot is particularly well known to me. Mr. 
 Miles in his introduction said that I was not one 
 of the first families of Savanna, but my ancestors 
 date back to tlie year 1838 when my grandfather 
 settled on a farm in Jo Daviess County. 
 
 When I was two years old my father bought a 
 little house which is located in this same block and 
 which has an American flag hung on the little en- 
 closed porch. Here is where I lived from the time 
 I was two years old until I was ten, and I knew, 
 as a boy, every place in this community. I knew 
 every hole in the rocks in the bluffs ; I knew every 
 vale and hill, especially the Pinnacle. I knew the 
 place where the flowers grew in the Spring, and I 
 knew the places where I could find the fruit in 
 the Fall. This was a paradise to me, and even then 
 — and that is nearly half a century ago, — even 
 then this place was so much different than it is 
 now. There were only a few houses; the house in 
 which I lived; the old Dupuis homestead and the 
 old Rhodes homestead. 
 
 [ 96 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 Civilization is one step after another. The pion- 
 eer paves the way for a succeeding generation. 
 The succeeding generation and succeeding genera- 
 tions gather knowledge and experience and happi- 
 ness from the experience of those who have gone 
 before. The pioneers of 1828 who paved the way 
 were composed of hardy stock, whose courage, 
 stamina and trust and faith were the monuments 
 upon which they built. The people of Savanna 
 today can take increased devotion in the cause to 
 which these people dedicated their lives. They 
 dedicated themselves to the home, and we, our- 
 selves, can dedicate anew that ideal and make Sa- 
 vanna a wonderful place in which to live. 
 
 Today I am thinking particularly about two in- 
 dividuals who are my friends. I refer to Mr. 
 Frank Pierce Bowen and to his good wife, Alice. 
 The name "Bowen" and the name " Pierce " are 
 most familiar names in the history and progress of 
 Savanna. The youngest of the four children of 
 Aaron Pierce, who came with him in 1828, was the 
 mother of Frank Pierce Bowen; she had the bur- 
 den and the responsibility of the Bowen family 
 and the moulding of their future character, and 
 the teachings of that good woman are shown 
 throughout the successive generations and are 
 shown in my good friend, Frank Pierce Bowen, 
 who it is my pleasure to know full well as a 
 friend and as a companion. 
 
 The Bowens, the Pierces, the Rhodes, the Blun- 
 dells, the Davidsons, and many other families — 
 their names are written indelibly upon the pages 
 of the history of this community. 
 [ 97 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 The dream of Aaron Pierce, the grandfather of 
 Frank Pierce Bowen, was to blaze a trail into an 
 unknown country where he could worship God as 
 he pleased and have a home for his children and 
 his children's children. The dream of Prank 
 Pierce Bowen, the grandson, ever since I have 
 known him, has been to make the community 
 which his grandfather founded the best lighted 
 community in the United States. 
 
 When we are talking of our loyalty to the pion- 
 eers, let us not forget those who in the successive 
 stages of life took up the burden of making the 
 world a better world in which to live. Everything 
 in the history of the world, and of men, has been 
 a history of successive stages. The steamboat, lo- 
 comotive, automobile and airplane, in their original 
 conceptions were but ideas and crude pieces of 
 mechanism. The pioneers of the early days plant- 
 ed the idea for the future generations to take up 
 and carry on and to refine. The pioneers who 
 sought temporary refuge and abode on the spot 
 which this monument marks, blazed the way for us 
 so that we might carry on the work which they 
 originated. Each successive generation profits by 
 the experience of the generation which has gone 
 before. Since Aaron Pierce and his family first 
 occupied this spot, five generations in Savanna 
 have come and some of those generations have 
 gone. Today we pledge anew our loyalty and our 
 devotion to the interests of Savanna and affection- 
 ately bow in respect to those sturdy pioneers who 
 made this City possible. 
 
 [ 98 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Mr. Mayor and Citizens of Savanna : In behalf 
 of Mr. Frank Pierce Bowen, I present to you this 
 monument in granite and bronze, and hope and 
 pray that its inspiration may lead us on to better 
 things and happier lives and more wonderful 
 homes. 
 
 Chairman Mr. Miles: 
 
 It is customary that such a splendid gift should 
 be accepted by the Mayor of the City, but in this 
 case it is most appropriate in that the Mayor is 
 the son of one of our early merchants — a Savanna 
 boy educated in our schools, then an instructor in 
 the same schools, a capable business man and for 
 many terms our efficient city manager — Mayor 
 Charles N. Jenks. 
 
 [ 99 ] 
 
ACCEPTANCE OF GIFT 
 
 Response by Mayor Jenks: 
 Friends and Citizens of Savanna: 
 
 I do not know whether I am going to be able to 
 say just the right thing or not this morning. "What 
 with parades, decorations and fire works and cele- 
 bration details in general, and the emotions which 
 have arisen within me at this ceremony, words are 
 not going to come very easily. When I think that 
 a hundred years ago a little baby girl about a year 
 and a half old came here to this very spot, ap- 
 proximately where this stone stands, and lived in 
 this vicinity all her life, one cannot help but feel 
 a thrill of emotion, and with me it practically stops 
 a fluent flow of words and any connected line of 
 thought. I hope you feel the same way that I do 
 so you can sympathize with me, and I want you 
 to understand that if I don't say the right thing 
 (and it is going to be very brief), you will know 
 that my heart is in the right place anyway. 
 
 It is more blessed to give than to receive, we 
 have been told. In this particular instance I think 
 it is about fifty-fifty with the giver and the re- 
 ceiver, because I know the donors feel the full 
 satisfaction of a thing well done and one that is 
 worthy, and I know the recipients have the same 
 emotions. 
 
 [ 100 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 We are particularly happy today in being able 
 to accept this magnificent monument which rises 
 on this spot — and we hope and trust and pray that 
 what this stone symbolizes now will reach your 
 innermost hearts, and will guide your future 
 actions so that whenever you pass this place may 
 it cause to rise within your hearts and minds just 
 the thoughts of the things our forefathers went 
 through in settling this country, and I know if you 
 will permit it to do that, you will all become 
 better men and women and have a better com- 
 munity in every respect. 
 
 I am going to tell you a happy secret — this is 
 my birthday; I am fifty five years old today. I 
 am very happy to be able to accept, on behalf of 
 the City Council of the City of Savanna this stone, 
 and I want to add this to all of the very fine 
 things that have been said about Mr. Bowen and 
 his wife, Alice Bowen, and they are well deserved 
 and merited — that in the fifty five years I have 
 lived in Savanna, I can remember back when I 
 was four years old, but I do not ever recall where 
 the City of Savanna has ever received a single, 
 solitary thing from anybody that amounted to 
 over a dollar or a dollar and fifty cents, except 
 the library ; every piece of paving, every thing we 
 have in this town the people have gone down into 
 their pockets and have paid for and this is the 
 first occasion in the hundred years of our existence 
 that anybody has seen fit to donate or give this 
 town a single, solitary thing outside of the Car- 
 negie Library and we had to give Mr. Carnegie 
 
 [ 101 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 about fifty-fifty, when we got that, and ''Uncle 
 Sam" the same way. 
 
 We can be particularly grateful to these folks 
 who have given us a monument which will endure 
 for years and which is worthy of our whole heart- 
 ed acceptance, and I again say, on behalf of the 
 City Council, which I represent, and the Citizens 
 cf Savanna, we graciously and gratefully accept 
 this marker, and I hope we promise to maintain 
 this spot forever in its beauty and in its security. 
 I thank you. 
 
 Mr. Miles: 
 
 I am sure that everybody here, just like me, 
 would like a glimpse of the man who has made 
 this marker possible. It is a splendid addition to 
 Savanna beauty spots and in years to come will 
 be a shrine for beauty lovers. This man has a 
 wife, and she has been the historian for this Cen- 
 tennial. She has gathered the early recollections 
 of the history that has been given to her. Mr. 
 Bowen and his wife are so modest that they have 
 been given no place on the platform or on the pro- 
 gram, but I am going to ask them to stand up, and 
 perhaps Mr. Bowen will say a few words to us all. 
 
 Response by Mr. Bowen. 
 
 Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 You have perhaps noticed that my better half is 
 a little bit more modest than I am, but I just want 
 to say this, that I am very grateful for your 
 presence here today to attend this ceremony; that 
 
 [ 102 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 I want to thank the people who have taken part, 
 who have helped me to bring about this occasion, 
 and, particularly, do I want to thank the adjoin- 
 ing property owners and the officials of the City 
 of Savanna for the co-operation in my behalf in 
 securing this site. It was necessary, as you proba- 
 bly know, to have this spot vacated in order that 
 it might be turned over to the Park Board, who 
 are to keep it in perpetuity, and that was the ob- 
 ject of locating the monument as it is now located, 
 and, fortunately, upon the spot where my mother, 
 by a little sketch and also by word of mouth, told 
 me of the wigwam that her parents lived in. 
 
 There is just one more word I want to say in 
 regard to the monument. While it is erected in 
 the memory of my mother, I feel that it is dedi- 
 cated to all of the Pioneers, not only of Savanna, 
 but of the entire Mississippi Valley. Those people 
 who with that indomitable courage, who with 
 toil and sacrifice laid the foundation (as I look at 
 it) for the prosperity that we are of the present 
 generation now enjoying. I thank you. 
 
 Mr. Miles: 
 
 Friends, one of the strongest words in the Eng- 
 lish language or any other language, is that of 
 "home". Most of us here, now or at some time 
 in the past, have been brought to call Savanna our 
 home, and so it is ^very fitting that the next num- 
 ber on the program is that lovely little poem by 
 Edgar A. Guest, "It takes a heap o' livin' to make 
 a place called home," read by Mrs. Virgil Marth. 
 
 [ 103 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Mr. Miles: 
 
 I am sure that everyone here has greatly enjoy- 
 ed these impressive dedicatory exercises. Savanna 
 will ever be proud of this memorial marker and 
 long remember its donors. We hope that the 
 words here spoken and thoughts here expressed 
 will be as seeds sown in the minds of those pres- 
 ent, that will ripen into full bloom and fruit, in 
 our actions and in our lives in the golden days 
 yet to come. 
 
 Prayer by Rev. Pond. 
 
 Selection by Band. 
 
 Descendants Attending 
 
 Many descendants of that first family who oc- 
 cupied the old Indian wigwam were present at the 
 ceremony of the dedication of the Memorial Mark- 
 er. Of the other two families who arrived here 
 the same day, the Davidsons and the Blundells, no 
 representatives of either family could be present, 
 although there are many of them living in Califor- 
 nia and the other western states, even unto the 
 sixth generation. 
 
 The first family and the descendants and those 
 in attendance are given as follows: 
 
 Aaron Pierce — Born 1793, Massachusetts ! died 
 1856, Savanna. 
 
 Harriet Bellows Pierce — Born 1798, Massachu- 
 setts; died 1860, Savanna. 
 
 [ 104 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Children — Marshall Brooks, Harriet, Lorenzo 
 Dow, Sila Caroline, Mary Jane, born here, Henry 
 Clay, born here, Lenora, born here. 
 
 Those attending from the family of Marshall 
 Brooks Pierce were Orrin Pierce, of Minneapolis, 
 Mrs. Harriet Pierce Pond of Chicago, her son, Rev. 
 Walter S. Pond, her daughter, Sara Pond Torrance 
 and granddaughter, Harriet Pond Allee. 
 
 Also from the family of Marshall Brooks Pierce 
 were Mrs. Belle Fish Hammond with her daughter, 
 Mrs. May Hammond Wolf, of Mount Carroll and 
 Ira Fish of Savanna. 
 
 The family of Lorenzo Dow Pierce was repre- 
 sented by Alfred M. Pierce with his wife and two 
 little daughters. 
 
 The family of Sila Pierce Bowen represented 
 by her son, F. P. Bowen and by her only grand- 
 daughter, Mrs. Louise Bowen Hyler. 
 
 The Rhodes family, children, grandchildren and 
 great grandchildren, was well represented. Henry 
 C. Rhodes, his daughter, Mrs. Louise Rhodes Law, 
 and her three little sons, Richard Rhodes Law, 
 Robert Henry Law and tiny Jason Pierce Law 
 who unveiled the marker. 
 
 John B. Rhodes and his grandson, James Cham- 
 bers Jr., represented that family. 
 
 Thomas B. Rhodes of Mount Carroll was present 
 and with him his daughter, Mabel Rhodes Miles 
 and her little daughter, Mary Jean Miles, and his 
 
 [ 105 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 grandsons, Fred Rhodes Jr. and Thomas, all of the 
 fifth generation. 
 
 Monday Afternoon 
 An immense crowd gathered in the Lincoln 
 School grounds to hear an address which was 
 given by former Governor Harding of Iowa. The 
 speaker touched upon subjects uppermost in the 
 nation's minds today, and with humorous stories 
 and comments compared the present times with 
 the time that is past. This speech was much en- 
 joyed by all who heard him. 
 
 This was followed by a concert given by the 
 Bachman Band, and other entertainment provided 
 for the occasion. 
 
 In the evening there were vaudeville acts in the 
 school yard and many attractions on Main Street. 
 But a severe storm came on and the strong wind 
 and downpour of rain sent every one scurrying 
 home and thus ended the second day of our Cen- 
 tennial celebration. 
 
 [ 106 ] 
 
THE BIG PARADE 
 
 Tuesday, August 21 
 
 'UESDAY morning dawned bright and fair after 
 the storm and activities began early. The 
 forenoon was given over to general visiting and 
 homecoming wherever people met and the Library 
 was the gathering place for visitors and friends. 
 
 Large crowds passed up and down Main Street 
 during the morning looking at the wonderful dis- 
 play of curios, antiques and relics which were be- 
 ing shown in all the store windows. No one ever 
 dreamed that such a rare collection could be found 
 within our own city. 
 
 Products of the looms of the Pioneers, also the 
 looms themselves, articles of great antiquity dis- 
 played by citizens, which were brought here by 
 foreign born parents, crude farm implements and 
 household articles ; there were so many valuable 
 articles brought to light, it would take a whole 
 book to enumerate them. 
 
 All day and evening during the four days of the 
 celebration the display was a drawing attraction, 
 and gave the present generation a glimpse of the 
 past in many relics of the household. 
 
 There were books, especially rare Bibles, more 
 than a hundred years old, rare old pictures and 
 pieces of furniture, together with old fashioned 
 clocks, watches and jewelry. There were guns and 
 
 [ 107 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 pistols and swords for war times, and pots and 
 pans and kettles for times of peace. The Pioneers 
 did not neglect the comfort of their children as 
 the display of homemade cradles, buggies and 
 sleighs would indicate. 
 
 The Library had an interesting collection of pic- 
 tures of the old settlers, rare old dishes and many 
 valuable old books. Such a wealth of keepsakes as 
 was displayed would fill a museum. 
 
 But as the morning advanced, from behind 
 closed doors came much mysterious hammering 
 and silent figures were seen darting in and out 
 of backdoors and alleyways as preparations were 
 made for the grand Historical and Civic Parade 
 to be given in the afternoon. 
 
 The Parade 
 As the time approached the hour set for the 
 Historical Pageant, the streets were thronged with 
 spectators the entire length of the line of march. 
 Boy Scouts were everywhere in evidence, directing 
 traffic. 
 
 When the Parade got into full swing headed by 
 Patrol Officer Eber Shephard and by Chief of 
 Police Henry Truninger, the citizens and visitors 
 realized that never before in the history of Sa- 
 vanna had such a magnificent affair been attempt- 
 ed. Nothing but co-operation and concerted action 
 could have produced such a beautiful and harmon- 
 ious result. 
 
 It will not be possible within the limit of this 
 [ 108 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 book to give each and every one the praise due 
 them, but the Times- Journal of the date August 22 
 has been filed in the Library, and, also the article 
 describing the Parade has been placed in the Cen- 
 tennial scrap book and will also be on file. 
 
 As the Parade marched slowly north on Third 
 Street it was greeted on all sides with enthusias- 
 tic cheers and handclapping. 
 
 The Indians on horseback, the Indians walking, 
 the Pioneers in wagons, Pioneer ladies in historic 
 costumes, the circuit riders, the old log cabin, the 
 little stone school house, Father Marquette, and 
 Pioneer belles in hoopskirts and wearing little hats 
 of olden times, had all been reproduced with 
 painstaking care. 
 
 The industrial floats were all designed to repre- 
 sent the changes which one hundred years have 
 made in occupations, mail carrying, farming, 
 lighting, costumes, firefighting and building, and 
 were all artistically and harmoniously decorated. 
 
 The railroads took an active part in the Pageant. 
 The C. M. St. P. and P. employes prepared an en- 
 gine bearing the date, 1862, which was the date of 
 the completion of Plum River bridge and the first 
 train to run into Savanna. 
 
 The C. B. and Q. railroad produced a miniature 
 train from somewhere and created quite a sensa- 
 tion when it formed part of the parade, loaded 
 down with children. 
 
 But the surprise came when Washington Town- 
 ship, whose history is so closely linked with that 
 of Savanna, came into the parade with a real 
 [ 109 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 " prairie schooner," pioneers with children, In- 
 dians, and not forgetting the dog tied under the 
 wagon. This was carried out by the Washington 
 Community Club. 
 
 A special feature of the parade which appealed 
 to the throngs of spectators, was an automobile 
 carrying the last surviving members of Savanna's 
 corps of the old Grand Army of the Republic. 
 Only five of the "Boys of '61 were left to receive 
 the applause as their car moved along in the line. 
 Those veterans who occupied the car were J. P 
 Plattenberger, Bernard C. Holland, John Handel, 
 John Albright and C. Dickinson. 
 
 Another car which received much attention was 
 one in which were seated the four oldest living 
 descendants of the early pioneers. They were 
 Thomas C. Jenks, Henry C. Rhodes, L. S. Bowen, 
 and Orrin Pierce. Dressed in old fashioned broad- 
 cloth suits, with high silk hats and other ancient 
 adornment, they made an imposing representation 
 of the aristocracy of the days of long ago. 
 
 The American Legion float with its field of 
 poppies and the Red Cross nurse, the fire truck 
 from Mt. Carroll carrying members of the band, 
 the float of the Commerce Association, carrying 
 the key to the City, and lastly, the boy with the 
 goat and the cart were cheered all along the line. 
 
 As the long Pageant proceeded down Main 
 Street where they disbanded, nothing but praise 
 was heard on all sides, and the event passed into 
 the history of Savanna as the Day of the Big 
 Parade. 
 
 [ HO ] 
 
A **3*»^»^»^»^*»3^frfr**frfrfrf**f^*frg»g^ 
 
 THE PIONEER MEMORIAL 
 
 Wednesday, August 22 
 
 EDNESDAY morning had been set aside for 
 the Pioneer memorial which had been ar- 
 ranged to be held in the Savanna Township Ceme- 
 tery. 
 
 As the hour arrived, a large number of relatives 
 and friends gathered in the cemetery to take part 
 in honoring the memory of the founders of our 
 City who are sleeping in the quiet of their last 
 resting place. 
 
 The History and Marker committee had marked 
 the graves of all the Pioneers who had settled in 
 Savanna before the year 1850. 
 
 The white ribbon markers which bore the in- 
 scription 1828 — Pioneer — 1850 gave silent tribute 
 to the memory of those early Pioneers who strug- 
 gled through the first hard years of the settle- 
 ment and then passed the work along to those 
 who came after. 
 
 And as the descendents of those brave old set- 
 tlers looked around at the fluttering little em- 
 blems, and read the names carved on the time- 
 worn stones, they greeted as old friends the names 
 of the long list of Pioneers whose fortunes have 
 been told in the early story of Savanna. 
 
 Many graves were remembered with the little 
 
 [ Hi 1 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 markers whose occupants had been forgotten for 
 many years. 
 
 With feelings of reverence and awe, the visitors 
 to the cemetery that morning, gathered near the 
 Chapel and listened to the program which had 
 been arranged. 
 
 The program opened with the singing of the 
 song "Crossing the Bar" by a male quartette 
 consisting of J. L. Brearton, Paul K. Miles, R. G. 
 Fuller and Will Kauck. 
 
 Prayer was given by the Rev. Walter Shoe- 
 maker Pond. 
 
 Mrs. B. E. Fuller gave a short reading from the 
 poems of Angie Fuller Fisher, called Wondering. 
 
 This number was followed by the names of the 
 Pioneers whose graves had been marked, read by 
 Mrs. F. P. Bowen. 
 
 The list of names numbered about one hundred 
 and thirty -five ; and it had taken the committee 
 several weeks to compile the list from old ceme- 
 tery records, the old Carroll County history, and 
 from relatives living in this vicinity. This num- 
 ber did not include the names of many children 
 born to the families and who died in infancy. 
 
 The memorial address was given by the Hon. 
 John L. Brearton and is included in this record 
 of the Centennial celebration. 
 
 Mr. Brearton said in part : 
 
 We are engaged in celebrating the completion 
 of the first one hundred j^ears of the history of 
 [ 112 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 the City of Savanna. It was fitting that the first 
 of the four days of this celebration should be the 
 Sabbath Day, because any community that has 
 prospered and is happy at the end of its first cen- 
 tury owes much to the religious activities of its 
 people and the God whom they have worshiped. 
 
 It was also appropriate that last Monday morn- 
 ing we gathered at the monument erected to mark 
 the spot where the first settlers established their 
 abiding place, and conducted a program which re- 
 called that incident vividly to our attention. 
 
 Now, on the last of the days set apart for these 
 anniversary programs, we are met at this chapel, 
 erected in this beautiful cemetery, to do honor to 
 the memory of those who first came to Savanna 
 and proceeded to lay the foundation on which this 
 community has been established, and who have 
 passed to the Great Beyond and whose burial 
 places are in this City of the Dead. It was a 
 divinely inspired thought that brought us to this 
 place on this day, during the hours of the morn- 
 ing, when all nature seems to join with us so per- 
 fectly and so beautifully, to conduct this Memori- 
 al service. Our words are being translated into 
 the songs of the birds in the trees surrounding us, 
 and are wafted on the breeze, warmed by the 
 glorious sunshine of; this morning, to the place 
 where are the souls of those whom we honor .this 
 hour. 
 
 No structure can be more enduring than its 
 foundation. No community can be better than its 
 
 [ 113 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 average citizen. We are what we are today, there- 
 fore, because those who came here and laid our 
 foundation builded wisely and well. 
 
 Prom 1828 to 1850 is a span of years about 
 equal in number to the years during which a 
 young man is preparing himself to assume the 
 duties and responsibilities of manhood. As, dur- 
 ing these years of prei>aration, the growing boy 
 determines by industry and education the char- 
 acter of the man he is to be, so these early settlers, 
 by enduring hardships and overcoming every dif- 
 ficulty during these first years, shaped and chart- 
 ed the future of Savanna. Each one either wrote 
 a line, a paragraph or a chapter in the story of 
 our first century. There was work of all kinds to 
 be done, and there was some one to do it. 
 
 In my work as a lawyer it has been necessary 
 frequently to examine the record of the land titles 
 as they appear in the books in the Recorder's 
 office at Mount Carroll. Through this investiga- 
 tion we find prominently identified with the be- 
 ginning of the titles to the lands on which we 
 have built our city such names as Vance L. David- 
 son, Elijah Bellows, Luther H. Bowen, William 
 Blundell, Royal Cooper, Reuben H. Gray, Henry 
 B. Harmon, Nathan K. Lord, John Fuller, Henry 
 Clay Hunter, a surveyor, and many others. This 
 circumstance is mentioned to show that one who has 
 lived among you no longer than the last twenty- 
 five years of the century just closing, knows some- 
 what of the importance of these men to this com- 
 munity in which they labored so many years. You 
 
 [ U4 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 can recall the names of many other men, as easily 
 and as pleasantly, who are entitled to our words 
 of appreciation on this occasion. We are not un- 
 mindful of the women of those days who served so 
 faithfully in their homes. The character of the 
 women who makes the home determines, to a 
 great extent, the kind of home over which she 
 presides. The character of the homes in any com- 
 munity determines the heigh th to which such a 
 community can go morally, socially and in its 
 civic life. We can here and now truthfully pay 
 a glowing tribute to the women of the early days 
 of Savanna. 
 
 As the years have rolled by, many honest 
 differences of opinion have arisen between us, but 
 the inherent common sense, good judgment and 
 f air mind edness of our people have been such that 
 the rich and the poor, the native and the foreign 
 born, the white and the black, the old and the 
 young, have lived together in peace and harmony, 
 and I call to your attention as evidence of this 
 condition, the fact that the fence which stood for 
 many years between these two cemeteries, Catholic 
 and Protestant, has now been removed, and all is 
 peace between those who are here to sleep etern- 
 ally as it was in the days of their active life. 
 
 The founders of our City selected with great 
 wisdom the location for their future homes when 
 they decided to remain under the shelter of the 
 imposing bluffs beside the mighty Mississippi. 
 
 During all the intervening years, the Great 
 [ U5 ] 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Father of those who preceded them here has 
 caused a sentinel to remain near by to watch over 
 them, and proudly and majestically has this sen- 
 tinel held aloft his "Indian Head," while beside 
 him, carved from the everlasting; rocks, stands 
 the "Twin Sisters," who now suggest to us we 
 cultivate such a spirit of friendship as will con- 
 tribute to our mutual welfare. Beside them is the 
 "Open Bible" from which, just as the Father of 
 Waters flowing close by to the Gulf has drawn 
 from an inexhaustible source, we have received an 
 inspiration for righteousness that has made us 
 what we are today — a God loving, happy and 
 prosperous Savanna. 
 
 We are reminded" Longfellow said : 
 
 "Lives of great men all remind me, 
 We can make our lives sublime, 
 
 And in parting, leave behind us, 
 
 Footprints on the sands of time." 
 
 So as we leave this place, sacred to the memory 
 of other days, let us remember that we, too, like 
 those who have gone before us, will sooner or 
 later be (in the words of a song we learned in our 
 youth) : 
 
 "Fading away like stars of the morning, 
 Losing their light in the glorious sun, 
 Thus will we pass, from the earth and its toiling, 
 Only remembered by what we have done." 
 
 After the address the audience joined in singing 
 Auld Lang Syne, which was followed by taps 
 
 E 116 ] 
 
THE STORY OP SAVANNA 
 
 sounded by Dick Fuller, after which the Rev. 
 Walter S. Pond dismissed the assembly with the 
 benediction. 
 
 And thus came to an end the most impressive 
 and heartfelt ceremony ever held in the cemetery, 
 and the only tribute ever paid the Pioneers them- 
 selves alone, in the century which has passed. 
 
 As the friends left the grounds in quiet and sub- 
 dued little groups, and passed out through the 
 beautiful new gates which have just been erected, 
 there was a feeling that the Pioneer Memorial had 
 been one of the outstanding features of the Cen- 
 tennial. 
 
 [ 117 ] 
 
CLOSING EVENTS OF CENTENNIAL 
 
 ONTINUING the program which had been 
 planned for the grand celebration, on the 
 afternoon of this fourth day, Richard Yates, 
 former Governor of Illinois, delivered an address 
 in the Lincoln school grounds which drew forth 
 much praise from the large assembly. 
 
 The Lanark community school band, under the 
 direction of Miss Beth Hower, was a feature of 
 the afternoon. 
 
 As we neared the end of the celebration in honor 
 of our hundredth birthday, the people were still 
 untired, as they thronged the streets until a late 
 hour on the last night. Visiting, dancing, and 
 merrymaking held sway and the entire population 
 was loath to give up the festivities. 
 
 And thus ended the Centennial ceremonies to 
 which all had looked forward for many months. 
 
 There could be no finer eulogy written of the 
 Centennial than that which appeared in an 
 editorial in the Times-Journal of Monday, August 
 20, 1928. In this article the former editor and 
 resident of Savanna, Wm. H. Gharrity, forcibly ex- 
 pressed the importance of observing such a vital 
 date in our history. We will let it speak for itself. 
 
 A Tribute and an Obligation 
 
 Savanna's Centennial, which opened so auspici- 
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THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 ously yesterday, has a two-fold objective. 
 
 During the four days of Centennial ceremonies, 
 this community is proud and happy to pay sincere 
 tribute to the iron-souled men and women who 
 blazed the wilderness trails to establish the first 
 settlement here. 
 
 And during these four days, this community will 
 find fresh inspiration and renewed civic spirit to 
 face the problems of the Savanna of tomorrow. 
 
 The pioneer settlers of Savanna were part and 
 parcel of that sturdy and independent race who 
 pushed across the Blue Ridge mountains and down 
 the Cumberland gap, or who followed the Ohio 
 and its tributaries into the great Mississippi val- 
 ley. They were part and parcel of that race of 
 empire builders who wrestled this vast inland 
 domain from the wilderness and laid the founda- 
 tions of the United States of America of today 
 which is the hope and the inspiration and the 
 envy and despair of civilized man all over this 
 world of ours. 
 
 They were a race of strong men and strong 
 women. They were strong of body and strong of 
 soul and the weak had no place in their ranks. 
 Privations and hardships which would wreck the 
 modern man and woman were commonplace events 
 in their lives. They knew high adventure, where 
 the stakes were human life and death was the 
 penalty for any mistake. 
 
 These men and women did not seek the perils 
 of the wilderness for material comfort or wealth. 
 
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THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 On the contrary, they left these things behind 
 when they set their faces toward the west. What 
 they wanted was "elbow-room" and homes of 
 their own where they could enjoy individual 
 liberty and equal opportunity to live their lives as 
 they saw fit. 
 
 But there must have been something more than 
 even the love of free souls for freedom in the urge 
 that sent these pioneers out into the wild places 
 of the open west. Down deep in the hearts of all 
 was the earnest desire to break the trails for their 
 children and their children's children that they 
 might enjoy the richness of life and its abundance 
 in the new places made ready for them. 
 
 Here in Savanna, the children and the children 
 of the children of the pioneers are expressing 
 something of their sense of obligation to the 
 fathers of this community in the Centennial cele- 
 bration this week. One hundred years is only a 
 short time in the life of a nation. It is merely a 
 passing milestone in the history of the race. 
 
 But in observing the Centennial of its birth this 
 week, Savanna is also taking stock of the richest 
 and most extraordinary century of all human 
 progress. The men and women of early Savanna 
 had the faith and devotion which enabled them to 
 glimpse something of the tremendous future of 
 this republic. It was this splendid vision of theirs 
 that carried them through the perils and priva- 
 tions of pioneer life and it is to this faith and 
 vision that the Savanna of today does homage this 
 week. 
 
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THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 When we look back on the century that has 
 closed, when we realize that we have progressed 
 further during the last hundred years in the ma- 
 terial comforts of life than in all the centuries 
 that man records, we are able to turn to the future 
 with renewed inspiration and courage and confi- 
 dence. If the last two or three generations have 
 been able, despite all their handicaps to build a 
 mighty empire out of wilderness, what may their 
 sons and daughters accomplish in the next two 
 generations. And this is particularly true here in 
 Savanna, where real community spirit abounds 
 despite occasional neighborly differences. 
 
 Let us take stock of ourselves this week. Let 
 us look back and measure the things that have 
 been accomplished in the century whose close we 
 are observing so fittingly. Let us realize that our 
 fathers and their fathers could never have builded 
 this thriving and prosperous little city of five 
 thousand people unless they had possessed abund- 
 ant courage and real loyalty each to the other. 
 And let us realize, above all, that when these 
 sturdy pioneers were building this city, they were 
 building for themselves, but they were also build- 
 ing for us. We are trying this week to pay them 
 the tribute due them but we are also renewing our 
 sense of obligation to them. We have inherited 
 from them the material comforts they gathered 
 for us. We have inherited something of their fine 
 devotion and splendid vision. And we have also 
 inherited a debt, and an obligation to carry on and 
 build a better and finer Savanna in the years to 
 
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THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 come. By doing that we can best prove worthy 
 sons and daughters of a race that has passed with 
 the opening of the last frontier. 
 
 With the rounding out of the first hundred 
 years of Savanna's history we reach the end of 
 the story. Having chronicled the first few years 
 of her settlement and growth, it appealed to me to 
 give the end of the century which culminated in 
 the Centennial celebration. 
 
 The "years between" were filled with many 
 events of world interest and it is hoped some one 
 will preserve this part of our history for the gen- 
 erations of the coming years. 
 
 "A century from now 
 
 Whose lips will speak our name? 
 Whose heart exult that we 
 
 To earth as dwellers came? 
 
 Time will move on the same 
 The sun will rise and set, 
 
 And others praise or blame. 
 Remember and forget." 
 
 THE END 
 
THE STORY OF SAVANNA 
 
 Contents 
 
 Page 
 
 The Coming of the Pioneers, 9 
 
 Founding the Home, 17 
 
 The Black Hawk War, 24 
 
 The Settlement, 31 
 
 Laying out the Town, 39 
 
 Building Activities, 43 
 
 The First Decade, 51 
 
 Organization of Carroll County, 55 
 
 Pioneers of 1840, 59 
 
 The Poll Book of 1846, 64 
 
 Social Life of the Community, 68 
 
 One Hundred Years Later, 83 
 
 Dedication of Pioneer Monument, 86 
 
 Program, 88 
 
 Dedication Address, 91 
 
 Acceptance of Gift, 100 
 
 Descendants Attending, 104 
 
 The Big Parade, 107 
 
 The Pioneer Memorial, Ill 
 
 Closing Events of Centennial 118