This completes the institutions of the rural portion of this quiet country township, and it remains simply to notice briefly the rise and progress of the

VILLAGE OF LODI.

The charter of the Chicago & Galena Railroad required the company to have their track completed and in condition for trains to run to Hickory Grove on the 1st day of January, 1854. The letter, but not the spirit, of the charter was complied with, for late in 1853 the work was hurried through at a desperate speed, and finding that with all their exertions it would be impossible to complete the work to the designated point in the required time, the ties were laid loosely upon the frozen prairie during the last three miles, the rails hurriedly placed upon them, with a nail or two to each, and on New Year's Day an engine slowly puffed to the Grove, where, rejoiced at having complied with the requirements of the law, the conscientious company indulged with the surrounding grangers in a sumptuous regale. It was while these exertions were in progress that the road passed the present site of the village, in 1853. Stopping merely long enough to raise a station shanty west of the site now occupied by the depot and name the prospective place Lodi, the company continued its progress. The track then laid was not formed with the elegant "T" rail now in use, but was pimply parallel square iron bars, such as are still common upon coal roads.

In March, 1854, James Watson, with his family located in the edge of DeKalb County, just outside of the limits of the present village, where he still resides. At that time, there was not a house built in the place, but, soon afterward, Heath & Hathorn (who had purchased the tract upon which the village stands of a Frenchman named Louis Cota, who in turn had derived his title from one Charles Sheldon, the original purchaser) laid out the place* and erected a store where the drug store now stands. This was the first building erected in the village. A little later, James Haines put up a house, which is now occupied as a residence by Mr. Sunlie, and used it for a short time as a hotel, but finally disposed of it, and, about a year later, built the National Hotel. Mr. Watson's store, erected immediately after his arrival, should be mentioned in connection with the early institutions of Lodi, although the building stands just across the line.

Previous to the surveying of Lodi, a post office had been established at the house of Spencer Baker, about a mile west of the present village, and named Line Post Office, from its location. After the plat of the town was laid, it was removed to the store of Heath & Hathorn, and has remained in the village ever since.

From the commencement, the place had a rapid growth. O. S. and F. T. Miner raised a blacksmith shop in the Fall of 1854; B. W. Lyon came in 1855, and built a small store where Kline is now located; and, about the same

* Lodi was laid out and surveyed March 20, 1854, for Heath & Hathorn, by Andrew Pingree, County Surveyor Several additions have since been made.

time, a fine building was erected by a stock company and designed, at first, as an academy, but finally sold to the District and since used as a public school house. At the close of the year 1856, the village could boast a population of 450; but now came a sudden change in its prospects.

A reliable authority states that Heath & Hathorn laid out the place in 1854, and that the financial crash laid it out again in 1857. For several years it remained in a dormant condition, from which it was at length roused to life and activity by the booming of the first shot fired at Fort Sumter. Many a young man from Lodi and the neighboring country hastened to offer his services to his menaced country, and many gave their lives in the sacred cause. Among them may be mentioned the builder of the first dwelling in the village, who perished near Vicksburg.

Business interests revived as the war proceeded. In 1861, a new depot was built, but was destroyed by fire four years later, only to be replaced by a larger and more convenient one.

Religion also revived in 1861, and early in that year the Baptist Church, which had originated, years before, in the northern part of the township, commenced a church edifice, which was dedicated in October.

A little later, the Catholics commenced their building. This society was a branch of the church which had been formed between Kaneville and Lodi as early as 1849, under the missionary labors of Father Fehlie, and known as Blackberry Mission. Father Dwyer followed him, and when the new building at Lodi was completed, Father Murry, from DeKalb, had the honor of dedicating it.

The Methodist Episcopal building was put up in 1862, and the Free Methodist in 1866. In the latter year, the large store now occupied by Brown Brothers was also erected.

The first attempt to incorporate the village had been made two years before, when the general law for the government of incorporated towns had been submitted to a vote of the inhabitants, and the result had shown a majority in favor of its adoption. City Fathers were elected, but many of the citizens declared that the proceedings of the election had been irregular, and after several arrests for breach of village ordinances, so strong a sentiment was manifested against the village government that it became impossible henceforth to enforce its acts. In 1858, a majority of the people at an election declared the proceedings of the election of 1856 null and void, and great rejoicing followed this result, for the village government had become generally obnoxious. All the old shotguns and anvils were brought out, and a grand racket followed; but in the height of the commotion an anvil burst, breaking and mangling one of Dr. Kennedy's legs, and inflicting a mortal wound upon George Brooks, one of the village boys. Thus the celebration ended in grief. No attempt was made to revive the subject of incorporation for six years, but in 1865 it began again to receive general attention, and although much opposition arose, it was

overcome honestly, and Lodi became a village, with full power to enforce its laws, on the 11th day of March, 1865. After this event the place prospered, and a number of new buildings were put up. Two thousand dollars were raised among the business men in 1869, and paid to G. W. Bunda, of Ithaca, N. Y., as a bonus for establishing a manufactory of agricultural implements. Five thousand dollars' worth of machinery were purchased, including a good engine, and an extensive business was expected. But the proprietor seems to have lacked the requisite qualifications to make the enterprise successful, and in 1871 sold out to E. J. Austin. The manufactory was never operated with any energy, and is now forgotten by the citizens. A carriage shop, started in 1870 by F. O. Rood, has been more prosperous, as has been the cheese factory, which has become one of Lodi's permanent institutions. In the Fall of 1871, the large store on the present site of the drug store was destroyed by fire but was shortly replaced. Mr. Watson's old stand is now occupied by Shoop & Hoyt, dealers in almost everything required by farmers. The streets of Lodi are regularly laid out, and its location is said to be an exceedingly healthy one.

The first physician to locate in the town was Dr. Strong, who came about 1856, and was followed in 1857 by Dr. Wm. Kennedy, the father of W. H. H. Kennedy, Esq. Dr. K. was a thoroughly educated practitioner, and continued to deal out prescriptions in accordance with the teachings of the Allopathic school until his death, which occurred in the Fall of 1862. Dr. McNair took his place, and Dr. Thompson came in 1875, both of whom still remain in the village.

The legal profession was first represented in Lodi, at its commencement, by W. J. Brown, the son of an early settler in Virgil. Mr. Brown remained until 1861, took part in the war which followed, and settled at Geneva after his return. W. H. H. Kennedy commenced studying with him in 1858, was admitted to the bar in 1860, and since 1861 has been settling the disputes which are said to arise occasionally, even in Lodi.

Several orders have arisen in the village at various times in the past, and once a literary society flourished, and collected a library containing some $200 worth of books; but the societies have become dispersed, owing generally to removals to other places, and the volumes of the library are scattered. The village is important as a railway station, since it contains large water tanks and a coal depot. Its situation is fifty miles west of Chicago, five miles from the nearest village, and it is surrounded by one of the richest farming sections in the State. The assessed valuation of the entire township, including the village, as estimated at fifty cents on the dollar, is $451,383. The population of the township, including the village, is 1,274.

RUTLAND TOWNSHIP

is located in the northern tier of townships of Kane County, and is known as Township 42, North Range 7, East. The surface of the country is uneven and

rolling, with occasional high points or bluffs rising rather abruptly. It is well timbered, with oak mostly, and the soil of the higher lands produces all the root crops in abundance, while the more marshy lands are in demand for meadow and pasturage.

The first settlement in Rutland Township was made by E. R. Starks and Elijah Rich, the former of whom is, probably, the oldest living inhabitant in the township. He (Starks) came from Rutland County, Vt., when but 22 years of years, and took up a claim in the Fall of 1835. After making his claim, he went to DuPage County, where he spent the Winter with a former acquaintance -one Samuel Goodrich-then living two miles from the present village of Naperville. He returned to his claim in the Spring of 1836 and commenced preparations for improving his newly-selected home. Elijah Rich, mentioned above, and an uncle to Starks, came out in the Spring of 1836, and took up an adjoining claim south of Starks, and the preliminary steps taken for the first settlement. Both these men were, originally, from Massachuselts, but had resided in Vermont for years previous to emigrating westward. Rich was a man of family and well advanced in life when he first visited the land and took up the claim destined to be his future home.

The first house, or, rather, hut, was built of logs, unhewed, on land now owned by Starks and where his orchard now stands. This was the "claim hut," and was the very first in the township. Soon after, a log stable was put up by Starks and Rich, also on Starks' claim, in which both lived during the Summer and Fall of 1836, Starks playing the housewife and doing the cooking and general housework of their bachelor family. Nathaniel Crampton owned a claim in the northern part of the township in 1836; Noble King owned one, also, near him at the same time, and both men boarded, during the Fall, with Rich and Starks in their log stable. The next year Mr. Rich brought his family out from the East and located permanently on his claim, and where he died in November, 1871.

In 1838, Mr. Starks went back to Vermont and married, and brought his young wife out to his new home. A tender and delicate flower, she survived the rigors of the wild West but a few years. Indians were numerous when Starks first located, but were a rather lazy and harmless set, but great beggars, and lived principally by the latter vocation. In the Fall of this year, Andrew McCornack and family came and took up claims in the township. They were from Scotland, and the elder McCornack, who died three years ago, was upward of 90 years of age. Arnold Hill came the same year, and died but recently at the advanced age of 90. William Moore was also in the township in 1838, as was William Lynch, who was a brother-in-law to Moore, and a man by the name of Seymour was living in the western part of the township. These families came direct from Ireland and took up claims, upon which they made permanent settlement. Andrew and Daniel Pingree, brothers, came, this Fall, from New Hampshire and took up claims in the vicinity of what is now known as Pingree

Grove. Straw and Francis Pingree, two other brothers, had come out in the previous Spring, but had made few improvements when the others arrived.

The following Spring, Andrew Pingree went back to Belfast, New Hampshire, and taught there and in Maine until 1844, when he again visited his claim in Rutland, and settled there permanently. Wm. C. Pingree, a fifth brother, and a mere boy, came the previous year and remained, and the entire family came out in 1844. Andrew Pingree, Sr., the father and head of the family, who was quite an old man at the time they came out, died in March, 1846, about two years after coming to the town. Doctor Daniel Pingree (who had not taken up the medical profession at that time, and who will receive further notice in the history of Plato Township) traveled extensively after 1838, spending several years in the Southern States, and also in California, still retained his claim here, to which he finally returned and settled, about 1860. Andrew Pingree, a minister of the Universalist denomination, and one of the most noted and eminent men of Kane County, and whose biography appears in another part of this work, is still living on his original claim made in 1838, and at present owns about 1,200 acres of land. Francis settled in Iowa in 1853. Straw died on his original claim a few years ago. William, the youngest scion of this good old stock, after attaining his majority, went to California, where he is now living. In the first settling of the township, and previous to 1838, the settlers did their milling in Du Page County, but afterward a mill was erected in Elgin, which on account of its convenience received almost their exclusive patronage. There were at this period (1838) but three little little log huts between Pingree Grove and Elgin, to relieve the dreary monotony of the lonely wilderness. Dr. McKay was the first physician in the township, and was here as early as 1847. He was born and educated in the North of Ireland, and for many years practiced his profession in Rutland. Owen Burke came from Ireland in 1836, and settled originally in Elgin, but bought land and settled in Rutland Township in 1842, where still lives.

THE NAME OF RUTLAND

was attained in the following manner: Half of Dundee Township and Rutland were known originally as Deerfield Precinct. In 1848, the State was divided into townships according to Government survey. At a meeting of the citizens, when the subject of a name came up, the Scotch suggested the name of some town in Caledonia, now forgotton; the Irish clamored for Rose Green, a name dear to the "exiles of ould Erin," while the "nation born sons of the soil," who were (as were the Scotch and Irish elements) overwhelmingly Democratic, wanted it called Jackson, after the hero of New Orleans, which was finally agreed to. At the first meeting of Supervisors it appeared that there was another Jackson Township in the State, which had a precedence of this, and that this must be changed. E. R. Starks, one of the Supervisors (the first of Rutland Township), and already mentioned as 'one of the earliest settlers, still