Sterling-Rock Falls Historical Society

Early Beginnings in Sterling

In June of this year Sterling will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding. We are all being reminded of this in various ways. The Sterling City Council appoints a Sesquicentennial Committee more than a year ago, and this committee led by Richard Metcalfe and Don Cousins has been busy for many months planning an appropriate observation of this significant date in the history of our city.

Many organizations in our city are recognizing this important date in Sterling's history by scheduling observances of Sterling's sesquicentennial with special programs, as we are here in our historical society.

We began last fall by taking a look at this area as it was before the arrival of the white man. Now I would like to follow up with a glimpse at the early beginnings in Sterling, to be followed by an investigation of its development and attention to important individuals and occurrences in these 150 year of Sterling's existence.

First, let us again take a quick look at conditions in this area preceding 1834, the year of Sterling's founding. The red man had inhabited this region for many centuries and left much evidence of his presence in his burial mounds and in the many items of his culture which still are being found in this area.

We are acquainted with the activities of Black Hawk and his followers in the Rock River Valley. These Indiana had resisted the advance of the white man upon their lands in the early 1800's, largely because Black Hawk and others felt they had been cheated and deceived in land dealings. Historical research tends to show that the white man was not blameless in this matter.

However, it was the savage manner in which the Indians showed their resistance to the coming of the white man which caused the government to step in and drive out Black Hawk, White Cloud and their followers. The Black Hawk War of 1832, as we know it, was of short duration, and drove the Red Man across the Mississippi into Iowa and made the Illinois territory safe for settlement.

Almost immediately, adventurous and enterprising men to the east and south of the Rock River Valley began to explore the area, looking for desirable lard upon which to settle. One such person was Hezekiah Brink from Fountain County, Indiana.

In the late spring of 1834, Hezekiah Brink headed west into Illinois on horseback on such an exploring trip. In June, he arrived at Dixon's Ferry on the Rock River. Here he met a Mr. Holland and a Mr. Andrews who had heard about the Rock River Valley and also were interested in searching out a suitable spot along the river upon which to stake a claim. The three men decided to join together in their trip down river from Dixon's Ferry.

When they passed the area where Sterling is now located, Hezekiah Brink was impressed with what he saw, but continued on with his fellow explorers. They moved on downstream to Elkhorn Creek and followed it upstream to its confluence wish Spring Creek at which point they returned to the Rock River, crossed to the south side and continued downstream to visit the newly arrived Samuel A. McClure who had staked a claim and built a crude cabin at Walker's Slough in the area where we now find the City of Prophetstown. They also discovered that Asa Crook with wife and nine children were settled nearby.

After their overnight visit to the Prophetstown area, the three explorers headed back towards Dixon. Mr. Brink stopped at the site he had admired on the trip downstream. Holland and Andrews were interested in the Como area. Mr. Brink erected a cabin on his chosen site and then returned to his home in Indiana, stopping at Oswego to trade his horse for a yoke of oxen.

That winter, the Brink family made preparations to move to Illinois and about May 1, 1835, they arrived at the site where Mr. Brink had built his cabin the previous summer. Later that year, they were joined by John J. Albertson and Isaac Albertson from the State of New York. They made their claims east of Mr. Brink in what is now the Woodlawn area.

William Kirkpatrick from Sangamon County in Illinois, arrived in the spring of 1835 and staked out a claim north of the rapids in Rock River, west of Brink's claim in what is now the central section of the City of Sterling. Others who arrived in 1835 were John W. Chapman, Samuel S. Geer, John Simonson, John Wilcox and Jacob Brown.

1836 brought Elijah Worthington and Julius D. Pratt from Pennsylvania; Luther Bush from New York; Van J. Adams from Ohio; Wyatt Cantrell from Kentucky. John W. McLemore, David Steele, John Ogle, Enoch and Noah Thomas, Nelson Mason, John D. Barnett and others also came that year. Charles Bent in his 1877 history of Whiteside County lists 21 arrivals in 1837 and 30 new settlers in 1838. A large number followed each year.

The first white child to be born in Sterling was Margara, daughter of Hezekiah and Martha Brink, the date being Feb. 25, 1836. The first male child born in Sterling was Chas. M. Worthington, later well known as the editor of the Sterling Gazette.

The first death in Sterling is considered to be that of a young man who was shot while part of a group trying to oust a claim jumper. The group was armed and the young man was accidentally shot in the leg while on the way to the disputed site. His leg was amputated but he died soon after.

The first marriage in the area is thought to be that of Robert C. Andrews and Rhoda C. Kingsbury on April 24, 1842. There may have been others earlier, but not recorded.

There were two settlements on the site of present day Sterling. The one to the east of what is now Broadway and started by Hezekiah Brink was called Harrisburg in honor of Captain D. S. Harris who brought a boatload of goods up river to the settlement in 1836. He was also given a large share of the land in exchange for his goods.

The settlement to the west of Broadway was started by William Kirkpatrick and was given the name of Chatham, which was also the name of a settlement near Springfield, and the location of Kirkpatrick's hope in that area.

Very early the residents of Chatham, Harrisburg and surrounding area banded together and formed an association known as "The Rock River Rapids Land Association" to protect their land claims. In those days, Chatham was also known as Rock River Rapids. The original record book of this association contains in part the following:

Chatham, Rock River Rapids
May 13, 1837

"At a meeting of the settlers of Rock River Rapids and vicinity, held at Barnett and Mason's store, to take into consideration the subject of the protection of claims to actual settlers, and to devise means by which the rights of the same shall be respected and secured, it was moved and seconded that a committee of five be appointed to draft a constitution, agreeable to the instructions given at this meeting. The following persons were chosen by ballot as said committee: Jason Hopkins, John W. Chapman, Wyatt Cantrell, Nelson Mason and Elijah Worthington."

The elected committee was provided with a set of instructions voted by the assembly. The meeting was adjourned until the last Saturday in May, at the same place, to hear the report of the constitution committee. The group met again as scheduled and adopted the report of the constitution committee which follows, in part:

CONSTITUTION

"We the undersigned inhabitants residing at and near the Upper Rapids of Rock River, having formed ourselves into a society to be denominated the Rock River Rapids Association, which has for its object the defense and protection of individual claims upon government land, do adopt and establish the following constitution, as embracing the laws and regulations by which we pledge ourselves to be governed.

ARTICLE 1. Each and every settler who has or shall hereafter become an actual settler within the limits of this association and shall have previously subscribed his name to the constitution, shall be entitled to hold and claim one hundred and twenty acres of timber and one entire section of prairie (six hundred and forty acres).

ARTICLE 2. And it shall be the duty of every settler who has or shall make a claim upon government land, whether the same be more or less than the amount above specified, to designate the same by ploughing or staking around, and if the latter, the staking shall be permanently placed at least eighty rods apart; and further, the validity of any claim shall not be affected by being in detached eighties or quarter sections, but, on the contrary, the individual who makes his claim on separate pieces shall be entitled to the same number of acres as though the claim was in one tract. The boundaries of each tract must be definitely described: PROVIDED, nevertheless, that where the settler can make his claim compactly or in one body embracing the whole number of acres allowed by the constitution, without trespassing upon the claims of others, he is compelled to do so without taking advantage of this oarticle of the constitution.

(ARTICLES 3 to 11 spelled out some particular regulations in the purposes of the organization.)

ARTICLE 12. Immediately on the adoption of this constitution, a secretary shall be elected by ballot, whose duty it shall be to file and record all acknowledged claims within the limits of this society, and for his services thus rendered, he shall be paid the sum of twenty five cents, to be paid by the person having said claim recorded; and it is incumbent upon every person who claims under the protection of this association to furnish a statement of his claim, containing the number of acres of timber, also of prairie not exceeding in amount six hundred and forty acres, to the secretary within sixty days of the organization of this society and the adoption of this constitution.

ARTICLE 13. If any member of this society encourages any person or persons to settle upon any claim, unless forfeited according to the constitution, he shall be expelled and no longer receive the protection of this society.”

Adopted May 27, 1837
John D. Barnett, Secretary

Growing out of the enforcement of these claim laws a great many "claim fights" as they were called, took place. The claims were too large, and often when a stranger came late into the country, and after looking over the broad prairies he would select the place that pleased him best, he would find out very soon that his choice was the claim of someone else; but as there was no person living on or near it, and often no evidence of being claimed, he would after mature deliberation, make up his mind to "jump" it, as it was then called. The next proceeding would be, the settler who claimed that his claim was the oldest, and having the benefit of his claim being recorded in the books of the Rock River Rapids Land Association, would order the “jumper" to quit in double quick. But if the "jumper" had made up his mind to fight it out on that line, he would not have to wait long. All he had to do was to get ready and if he had any friends to marshal them; for without fail, he was not out by the time required, he would see the entire force of the association coming upon him with every conceivable weapon and agricultural implement. And the result almost always was that the "jumper" was, with his family, houses, horses, cattle, wagons and farm implements, removed off the claim, and the cabin often taken away and either destroyed or used for some other purpose. Often the party ejected would commence an action of trespass viet armis against all the parties engaged in ejecting, but none of these cases were ever tried in the Circuit Court, and there were quite a large number on the docket at the first court held in this county.

Occasionally, the individual claim owner, with his family, would proceed against the "jumper" and successfully drive the intruder from the property. One of my favorite stories about such a case occurred in the northern part of Whiteside County, where a pioneer mother took matters in her own hands and moved against the unwelcome encroacher upon the claim. In the middle of the night, this courageous woman rose from her bed, dressed and went to the barn where she hitched a team of horses to a log chain and drove to the “jumper's" uninhabited cabin. Here she surrounded the intruder's cabin with the log chain and proceeded to pull it down to the creek on the property. Here she left it, returned to the barn, unhitched the team and went back to bed. The story goes that the “jumper” took the hint and left the vicinity.

In June of 1841, the government land office in Dixon began selling government land at public auction. The members of the Rook River Rapids Land Assn. were present as a body to protect their claims with proper bids. Some land went as high as twenty dollars per acre, and could later have been bought at five dollars. Because of their united action, very little competition was offered. The landowners were then provided with appropriate deeds to their holdings.

In 1837, both Brink and Kirkpatrick platted a town in their respective settlements. What we now know as Lincoln Park in east Sterling was the town square for Harrisburg, and the surrounding area was laid out as town lots. Present day Sixteenth Avenue was then called Main Street.

The town square for Chatham we now call Central Park. Here, too, town lots were laid out around the square. Neither town tended to develop around the town square. Most settlers were more interested in being closer to the river.

It was the general feeling of the inhabitants of both towns that an important river town was to develop here. This is reflected in the layout of the town. Streets running parallel to the river were planned to be 60 feet wide, whereas streets running north from the river were platted to be 100 feet wide to handle the heavy business traffic from the river they expected. However, the river traffic never developed as hoped, because the rapids in the river at this point prevented navigation, except in times of very high water.

There was much rivalry between Harrisburg and Chatham in those early days and retarded the development of the two towns for a number of years. Consequently, surrounding towns like Dixon, Lyndon, Como, Albany and Fulton moved ahead at a faster rate. This was all to change, however, when the two towns decided to unite and become one town.

In 1838, what is now Whiteside County was separated from Ogle County. Then began a real contest between the area towns to be chosen as the site for the county seat. It was then that Harrisburg and Chatham realized that neither stood a chance of being selected, even in competition with Como and other nearby small settlements. It was decided that the two towns should unite with the hope of being named the county seat of justice.

Even then, there was strife between the two towns in the selection of a name for the new united town. No agreement could be reached, so, almost in desperation, it was decided to settle the matter by having representatives from the two towns meet and flip a coin (in those days it was called "tossing a copper"), the winner choosing the name for the town. The winner was also to have the court house located on the winner's side of Broadway.

Hugh Wallace and Nelson Mason were chosen to represent Chatham, and Hezekiah Brink and Elijah Worthington represented Harrisburg. Chatham won out in the coin toss and chose the name of Sterling, in honor of Mason's friend Major James Sterling, an area resident who was held in high esteem. History has it that Hezekiah Brink was ready to name the place "Pipssissiway", so perhaps we are lucky that the coin toss favored Chatham.

The site chosen for the new court house in Sterling was Block 57 just west of Broadway and bounded by Third and Fourth Streets on the south and north. Besides choosing a site, it was necessary for the competing communities to offer inducements in terms of land and money. Sterling offered 80 acres and $2,000, which seemed to be the most generous offer, even after the land offer was reduced to 60 acres.

The first act of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois in relation to a county seat in Whiteside County was approved on Feb. 21, 1839 by Governor Thomas Carlin. The act provided that the legal voters were to meet the first Monday of May, 1839, to vote on a permanent site for a seat of justice.

There were five competing communities, and elections were held each month until one community could gain the majority of the votes. After each election, the town gaining the fewest votes was eliminated from further consideration. It required six elections, and on Sept. 23. 1839, Lyndon was declared the winner over Sterling. Feelings ran high and a recount of the votes was finally ordered. The recount reversed the decision, showing Sterling with a majority of 264 votes to 253 for Lyndon.

Lyndon had been serving as the county seat from May, 1839. On April 8, 1841, an order was served on the sheriff and the county clerk requiring the next county court to be held in Sterling. The county court, therefore, met in Sterling on June 8, 1841.

Court was held in Sterling until December of 1842, when Lyndon secured a majority on the board of commissioners and the county court was ordered back to Lyndon. There was so much confusion and dissatisfaction that an act was passed by the General Assembly in 1843, appointing G. W. Harrison and John McDonald of Joe Davies County, Joshua Harper of Henry County, Leonard Andrus of Ogle County, and R.H. Spicer of Mercer County as commissioners to locate the county seat of Whiteside County. The act was approved by the Governor on Feb. 28, 1843.

The committee met in Albany and agreed on Lyndon on May 27, 1843. This apparently settled the matter, but not for long. Lyndon donated 40 acres, but no building was ever erected or this site. Matters rested that way until April 14, 1646 when the County Commissioners ordered that court be held in Sterling where a new court house awaited them, but they continued to hold their sessions in Lyndon.

Lyndon was still fighting and through two of her citizens, Thomas Trumbull and Augustus Smith, applied for a mandamus to compel the commissioners to move the Circuit Court back to Lyndon. Lyndon lost out, however, as the court held that the old buildings being used in Lyndon were not on the ground designated as required by statute.

On Feb. 16, 1847, the General Assembly ordered all court proceedings to be held in Sterling, as the court house had been finished and on Sept. 7, 1847, court was held there. Lyndon again tried to obtain an act by the legislature to remove the county seat to Lyndon, but Sterling finally won out in an election held on April 3, 1849 in which Sterling received 510 votes and Lyndon 451. This settled the matter until 1857, when the Governor approved an election for moving the county seat to Morrison. On Nov. 3, 1857, an election was held in which Morrison received 1,631 votes and Sterling 1,572. At the November term, 1857, the Board of Supervisors, W.S. Barnes, A. Hurd, H.C. Fellows, P.B. Besse and D.O. Coe were appointed to select the grounds. $3,000 was donated by the citizens of Morrison and the court has been held there ever since. The county offices were moved to Morrison May 3, 1858, and occupied temporary quarters until the present building was erected.

It took many years for the wounds of this county battle to heal, and there are those that feel that county matters are sometimes still settled on an east west basis, especially in terms of candidates for county offices.

The county court house in Sterling was much used for other than county business. Several of our church groups held worship services there until they could build their own church home. In Sept. 1881, Adam B. Spies bought the abandoned court house and razed it for the bricks which were used to erect some two story residences on E. Fourth Street and Eighth Ave. They are still being used.

Navigation on the Rock River was limited because of the rapids in the river opposite the center of the town. It did, however, provide water power for industry at an early date. It was the river as well as the land which drew Wyatt Cantrell to this area in 1836, and he soon began planning to use the river for water power. In 1838, he built a wing dam on the rapids of the river at the foot of what is now Sixth Ave. The dam, which was built of loose stones, extended out from the bank at an angle of 45 degrees. For nearly ten years, Cantrell ground grain here for all the surrounding area. He also sawed some lumber.

Church and school were early on the minds of the residents of Sterling and surrounding area. The schools developed gradually beginning with classes taught by Mrs. E.B. Worthington in her home as early as 1836. In 1838, L. Whipple and W.H. Andrews conducted school in a shop building on Seventeenth Ave. School was also conducted in a stone building erected by Hezekiah Brink opposite present Lincoln Park. The basement of the Presbyterian Church was used in the late 1840's and early 1850's. The ward and district schools were organized in the 1850's and 60's. There have been Lincoln, Central and Wallace schools on their present sites since about 1860.

The first attempt to organize a religious society was made by the Methodists. They were served by circuit riders from 1836, meeting in the homes of the interested residents. In 1838, the Rev. Barton H. Cartwright, cousin of the more famous Peter Cartwright, officially organized the First Methodist Episcopal Church in the cabin of Hezekiah Brink. The six founding members were Mr. & Mrs. Hezekiah Brink, Mr. & Mrs. Luther Bush, Mrs. Pratt and Mrs. Geer. The group worshipped for a time in the county court house until the first sanctuary was completed in 1856. It is still part of the present structure (1984).

Other early religious organizations were the Presbyterians in 1844, St. John's Lutheran in 1854, Baptists in 1856, Congregational in 1857, St. Patrick Catholic (became St. Mary) in 1860, Grace Episcopal, 1864, Reformed Mennonite, 1865, Fourth Street Methodist, 1667 and Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 1869. Many of these early churches held services in the court house before they built their first house of worship.

The needs of the settlers were few and simple and most supplies were offered by one of their town who decided to serve as a merchant. Mr. Brink conducted the first store, having acquired a good portion of the goods brought in by Capt. Harris in 1836. Prices were low. Wheat sold from 30 to 50 cents per bushel; pork from one dollar to one dollar and a half per 100 pounds. Wages ran from 37 1/2 cents to 50 cents per day, and women's wages from 50 cents to one dollar per week. Money was scarce and hard to come by so there was much trading and bartering.

Paper money was plentiful at times and of questionable value, causing great inflation. Wages doubled and everything else in proportion. The cheap and plentiful paper money, called shinplasters, caused continuing inflation.

The sale of the crops raised by the settlers was of utmost importance, but the closest outlet to the east was Chicago, several days journey with teams of horses or oxen and wagons. These early farmers would load their horse drawn wagons with 40 bushels of wheat, or if they hitched up two or three yoke of oxen they could haul up to 60 bushels in a load. When they arrived in Chicago, they could expect to receive up to 75 cents per bushel. On the return trip, they could haul supplies needed by their neighbors back home, making the trip a financial success.

Hauling grain to Chicago was not an easy task. With a team of horses, one could expect to cover 20 to 25 miles per day, or with yokes of oxen, 10 to 15 miles per day. The drivers of these wagons would sleep under their wagons at night if there were no rattle snakes around. Then they would sleep in their wagons. Few would return from these dewey nights free of the ague. Some early settlers earned their livelihood by hauling grain for others and earned from 20 to 25 cents per bushel hauled. Many farmers joined together on these trips for safety and for help where the traveling was difficult.

Some relief from this slow and difficult means of hauling crops to market came with the extension of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (now the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad) to Rockford in 1850, and to Freeport in 1852. These two places now became the point of delivery for the farmer’s crops, reducing the time of travel by one half and the cost accordingly.

Hezekiah Brink served as storekeeper for Harrisburg until 1837, when Elijah Worthington became his partner. They closed out their business in 1839 when Theodore and Elijah Winn took over for a short time. They were followed by Brownshields and Fuller. Farther west in Chatham, Mason and Barnett opened a store along the river bank in the winter of 1836-37 with a larger general stock. Mason and Barnett were succeeded by William and George Adams who built a new store on E. Third Street at Sixth Ave.

The growth of Sterling was very slow for about twenty years, but it was a steady growth. In the 1850's, some things happened to cause a quick rise in population and the general development of the town, and especially so following the close of the Civil War.

Next month I would like to tell the story of this steady and rapid growth and advancement of the City of Sterling.

Comment:  Paper presented to the Sterling Rock Falls Historical Society by Gunnar Benson on January 15, 1984, in observance of the approaching Sterling Sesquicentennial, to be celebrated in June of 1984, with credit to the early and later historians of the community for the records left by them.