| 12. | SAYRE William Edwin was born on 21 Aug 1813 in Bloomiung Grove, Orange Co., NY (son of SAYRE John A. and BREWSTER Cleo); died on 24 Jan 1873 in Cook Co., IL. Notes:
I have the legal description 31 40N 13E, the original names of the Street, now I have the original owner's (Sayer and 5 other guys)
purchased in 1838 for $1.25 per acre (www.glorecords.blm.gov), and I have facts about the area and who lived here. The problem is all the titls/deeds to properties were in the Chicago fire 1871 (prior to this date were burned). If I put in my pin number, this info only goes back to 1989. I did find that Sayre built a house on Grand and 70th. My house is located about 2 blocks form that location. Since Sayre was a farmer, I was thinking that he built my house for the farm help???? I have a victorian workmans cottage built in 1852. My search continues.
Here is some info on your family:
An Historical Perspective
1830 Prairie adjacent to Lake Michigan is platted for settlement by the United States government. The Township of Jefferson is established, consisting of thirty six square miles, within the boundaries of future streets North to Devon Avenue, and Western to Harlem Avenue.
1833 Town of Chicago established with a population of three hundred.
1837 Abram Gale (1796-1889) arrives in Chicago from New York state. He bought prairie, built a farm and residence near present day Mulligan and Bloomingdale, miles from the City limits. William Sayre also arrives from New York state, claiming land west of Gale’s, and marries Harriet Lovett in 1839. Theirs is the first settler’s marriage recorded in Jefferson Township. City of Chicago is incorporated.
1848 The railroads arrive, including the Chicago and Pacific running through Gale’s and Sayre’s land, at their request.
1870s Area has farms that grow hay, corn and oats. Grand Avenue, formerly Whiskey Point Road, and prior to that a Native American trail is the farmer’s connection with Chicago.
1873 Sayre Station is established, will be renamed Montclare in 1875. Montclare Post Office established with Thomas Rutherford as Postmaster, it is the only post office serving southwest Jefferson Township. A train stop is also
established for the later Galewood subdivision.
1883 Western Brick and Tile plant (present day Brickyard Shopping Center) is built on land sitting seventy feet above Lake Michigan. One of the first industries in area, serving Galewood’s population of about one hundred twenty people.
1890 Jefferson Township annexed to City of Chicago, in anticipation of the 1893 World’s Fair.
1899 Westward Ho Golf Course, with eighteen holes, established on Gale’s land west of Narragansett Avenue. It became the Galewood Golf Club in 1922.
1912 Grand Avenue streetcar extension to Harlem Avenue encourages middle class residential development along with a booming commercial strip. Rutherford-Sayre Park established, field house constructed in 1916.
1920s The automobile leads to the growth of the bungalow belt in Chicago, our neighborhoods are on the western edge of this development. Wood framed houses are no longer allowed, replaced by the brick Chicago Bungalow, Tudor, Norman, Georgian and other blends of romantic styles.
1925 Amundsen Park, named for the Norwegian polar explorer, established by the Northwest Park District after petitioning by the North Austin Improvement Association. Field house not constructed until 1954
1926 Lovett and Locke Schools built in Gothic Revival/Collegiate style.
Park Avenue. It has paved streets in place, ready for development. Bell Park, named for a Spanish American War Major General, established by the Northwest Park District after petitioning by the Montclare Boosters. Field house not constructed until 1954.
1928 Frank Mars moves his candy business to Galewood from Minneapolis after an invitation from the Gale family.
Sayre school built in Neo-Gothic/Art Deco style.
1930s Vacant land west of Oak Park Avenue along North Avenue and south of Montclare is developed during the Great Depression.
2073 WILLIAM EDWIN,' b. in Blooming Grove, N. Y., Aug. 21, 1813; m.
Harriet Lovett. He removed to Chicago, and was among the earliest settlers.
He died Jan. 24, 1873.
The Chicago " Tribune," of July 4, 1897, makes this reference to his widow :
Mrs. Sayre of Mont Clare has lived at the site of her present home for sixtythree years. The ancient structure in which she took shelter and was guarded by friendly Indians during an Indian raid stands opposite her present handsome residence. Mrs. Sayre tells a story of the early '405, when surveyors first came to the neighborhood with compass and line prospecting a right of way for a railroad. She cooked dinner for the tired, mud-bespattered men, and wagered a goodly venture that no one present on that day would live to see a railroad laid in or about Chicago.
Mrs. Sayre is hale and hearty notwithstanding her pioneer experiences and the fact that she has passed the threescore and ten years' limit of age. She administers her large estate.
CHILDREN.
1 Mary Ellen,' b. April 21, 1841; m. Oct. 27, 1868, Charles E. Allen, a
farmer, who was born in Vermont, June 5, 1841. They live in Chicago.
Child.
William Sayre Allen,9 b. Dec. 31, 1869.
2 Lydia Clio.s b. Oct. 7, 1845; d. April 14, 1851.
3 John JOSEPH,8 b. Jan. 9, 1847; m. Oct. 18, 1875, Amy Sarah Hand. He
died April 21, 1885. Had two daughters.
4 Emma Jane,s b. Jan. 13, 1850; d. Feb. 5, 1851.
5 Ida Theresa.s b. April 22, 1856; d. Oct. 18, 1860.
Sayre family: lineage of Thomas Sayre, a founder of Southampton website
Chicago Public Library
Special Collections and Preservation Division
Neighborhood Research History Collection
Suburbia Collection
1871-1969
.5 linear ft., 13 photographs, 2 oversize folders
Call number: Archives_SUB
22. Biographical sketches—Sayre, Harriet Lovett
Info from face book……….Len The first settlers in the area were the Lovetts. They built a cabin on what now is the SE corner of Fullerton & Long. Following them was William Sayre who built a home what now is the SW corner of Grand/Sayre (Hoyne Bank). Then he married Harriet (Lovett) Sayre. Thomas Rutherford built a home (which is still there) on the SE corner of Medill/Oak Park.
Top of Form 1
&&January 9, 2009 at 6:23pm
Bottom of Form 1
Len Rutherford-Sayre Park was constructed by Thomas & Jospeh Rutherford and Harriet Sayre to prevent the railroads from building a yard.
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&&January 9, 2009 at 6:25pm
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Montclare
Community Area 18, 9 miles NW of the Loop. First attracted by a rolling landscape, William Sayre in 1836 laid claim “by right of possession” to 90 acres in what is now the Montclare Community Area. Unable to gain title to the land because of an inaccurate government survey, he bought the acreage at the
Jefferson Township land sales in 1838. A year later he married Harriet Lovett, daughter of another area settler, in the first marriage of the township. They set up housekeeping in a newly built frame house in 1840.
Sayre and his neighbors cleared fields of hay and tended main crops of oats and corn. Farmers used Grand Avenue as their main thoroughfare to the downtown markets in Chicago, where many hawked their produce from wagons at the Randolph Street Market. The return home was sometimes dangerous: along the dark, lonely road, farmers faced the threat of robbery or by the 1880s risked having their wagons hit by a train.
In 1872 Sayre allowed the Chicago & Pacific
Railroad Company right-of-way over his property, and Sayre Station was built on the farm. A year later another family farm in the area was platted by developers, who sold lots for $250 to $500. The town and the depot were named Montclare after Montclair, New Jersey.
In 1873 the rail line failed and was taken over by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad (CM&SP). As a result, the only form of
commuter transportation was a single daily train, reducing the desirability of the area. Lots remained vacant. Undaunted by a lack of new settlers, the some 120 residents went about their farming. Two schools were in evidence in 1884. Social activities focused on family, church, and Sunday School. Most residents were native-born, English, or German.
Although Montclare was
annexed by the city of Chicago in 1889, the first spurt of growth occurred in 1912, when the Grand Avenue streetcar line extended service to the area. The Sayre family contributed acreage for community use in 1916, which, along with another piece of donated property, later formed Rutherford-Sayre Park. The park was divided down the middle by the railroad tracks that marked the town's southern boundary.
Settlement concentrated in the southeastern section near the depot, but was hampered until utilities and paved streets were added in the 1920s. Single-family structures, mainly standard
bungalows, predominated in the area. Some residents found employment at light industrial plants along the CM&SP railroad lines that bounded Montclare on its eastern and southern edges; most workers crossed into neighboring communities where factories were more plentiful.
Housing extended north of Diversey Avenue in the 1930s, a combination of bungalows, ranches, and Tudor houses. Hugging Chicago's western edge, Montclare retained an identity more suburban than urban. Pre–
World War II commercial development was minimal; the only shopping was a retail strip at Grand and Harlem. In the 1960s the strip experienced decline and deterioration as stores left and newer shopping centers were built in nearby areas. But residential areas remained intact owing to good construction and property upkeep by conscientious residents.
Population figures for 1970 showed 11,675, of which
Poles, Italians, and Germans were the majority. These numbers decreased to 10,573 in the 1990 census, with Greeks, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Lebanese, and a growing number of Hispanics (11 percent) adding to the mix. In the late 1980s a few African Americans moved into the neighborhood, prompting racially motivated incidents that induced groups such as the Galewood-Montclare Community Organization to devote their efforts to reducing tensions. At the close of the twentieth century Montclare still had only 297 African American residents, but the Hispanic proportion stood at 38 percent.
Bibliography
Edwards, Brian. “Frontier Bargains: Tiny Montclare Offers Quiet Family Living Way Out West.” Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1990.
Karlen, Harvey M. Chicago's Crabgrass Communities: The History of the Independent Suburbs and Their Post Offices That Became Part of Chicago. 1992, 163–166.
Melaniphy & Associates, Inc. Chicago Comprehensive Neighborhood Needs Analysis, vol. 2. 1982, 16–23.
Encyclopedia ofChicago
WILLIAM E. SAYRE.
The marvelous growth of Chicago deserves to be ranked with the seven wonders of the world. When that section which is today covered for mile after mile with attr
attractive residences or substantial business blocks until the city is today the second in America was an uncultivated prairie of low, wet land, William E. Sayre made his way to Cook county and took up a claim of government land at what is now the southwest corner of Grand and Seventieth avenues. This was in November, 1836. It was not until the following year that the little section of business enterprises and homes that clustered around the mouth of the river was incorporated as a city. For more than a third of a century William E. Sayre lived to watch the marvelous growth of the town as its boundaries were extended to the north, to the south and to the west until today within its borders is found the longest street in any municipality of the world.Mr. Sayre was a native of Blooming Grove, Orange county, New York, born August £1, 1813. His father, John A. Sayre, a native of the same place, was a fanner by occupation and resided there until his death, which occurred in 1859. His wife bore the maiden name of Cleo Brewster and she, too, was born, lived and died at Blooming Grove. On the old homestead farm there the son William E. was reared. His birth occurred while the second war with England was in progress and he lived through the period of two more great wars of the country, the one with Mexico and that between the north and the south. His early experiences were such as usually come to farm boys, his time being divided between the sehoolroom and the fields. He continued to assist his father until twenty-three years of age and then sought the opportunities of the unsettled west. He made his way to Illinois in November, 1836, and with his partner, Amos Moore, took up a government claim of one hundred and sixty acres. There he built one of the first homes on that section which is now the southwest corner of Grand and Seventieth avenues. With characteristic energy he began to break the sod and till the soil and later he purchased his partner's interest and continued in business on this tract until it was subdivided in 1873. Much of this, including the old homestead, is still in possession of the family. With the growth of the city it has risen continuously in value until it now commands a high market price. Year after year Mr. Sayre with the return of spring took his place in the fields and cultivated the crops best adapted to soil and climate, and year after year he gathered his harvests which enabled him to provide a comfortable living for his family. His life was indeed a busy and useful one and at the old homestead he remained until death called him on the 24th of January, 1873.
Mr. Sayre was always active in public affairs of his township—Jefferson—and from its organization held office. He was the first justice of the peace of the district, was supervisor for some time and was road commissioner twenty-seven years. His public duties were ever discharged in a most capable and faithful manner and he was ever loyal to the best interests of citizenship. During the Civil war he took a keen interest in the conflict, being an enthusiastic supporter of the Union, but age and ill health prevented his enlistment. He was always confident that Chicago would some day be a great city which would include his property and time proved the wisdom of his foresight for today the old home farm is within the limits of the western metropolis.
On the 3d of January, 1839, occurred the marriage of William E. Sayre and Miss Harriet Lovett, who had become a resident of Cook county four years before. In 1835 her father, Joseph Lovett, brought his family to Chicago, reaching the little village, for such it was then, on the 4th of March. He made the journey from Bath, Steuben county, New York, traveling overland and bringing with him his wife, Mrs. Lydia (Crouch) Lovett, their five children and a son-in-law. He first took up a claim at Cragin, but about two years later arrived in the district that is now Chicago and took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres a mile east of the farm of William E. Sayre. There he spent his remaining days in agricultural pursuits until age and ill health forced him to put aside the arduous duties of life and on the 6th of September, 1851, at the age of sixty-two years, he passed away. He had for about five years survived his wife, who died in 1846. In their family were ten children but only one, Harriet, the fourth in
order of birth, is now living. She was born December 13, 1819, in Tyrone, New Y'ork, and was a maiden of fifteen summers when she accompanied her parents on the removal to what was then the far west. Here she formed the acquaintance of William E. Sayre who sought her hand in marriage, and on the 3d of January, 1839, went as a bride to his home. They lived upon the western prairie when there was not a house between their home and the west bank of the Chicago river. There is doubtless no one in Chicago who has resided here for a longer period than Mrs. Sayre. She is now in her ninety-third year, but her intellect is remarkably keen and her physical powers but slightly diminished. She does all ^rork without the use of glasses except sewing and reading and busies herself with some of the lighter household tasks or plain sewing. What she has been to the section of the city in which she lives can scarcely be overestimated. In the early days before this section became thickly settled there was no call for assistance in case of illness or distress to which she did not respond. She was the ministering angel at many bedsides and she always had a word of hope and encouragement for any who were distressed because of the heavy burdens or sorrows of life. She still lives upon the property to which she went as a bride, occupying the old homestead of her husband at the southwest corner of Grand and Seventieth avenues until after his death. Since then she has built her present residence which in the renumbering of the district is known as 6935 Grand avenue. Mrs. Sayre always shared with her husband in the belief that their home would one day be connected with the city of Chicago by street car lines and she lived to witness the fulfillment of the hope which she had long cherished. After waiting for seventysix years the car line was completed and she took her first ride on the extension of the Grand avenue line on the 1st of February, 1911. She had witnessed the building of the different railway lines not far from her home and it is said that on various occasions she would prepare a meal for the workmen. It is told how, when on one occasion she had to build a sidewalk at her home, the railroad transported the material free of charge and the labor was performed by neighbors. When the street car line was completed past her home a representative of one of the daily papers, knowing of the hope she had long cherished that this might be realized, invited her for a ride on the new line. The occasion brought back many reminiscences of the past and she exclaimed: "Who ever thought when I came rolling through this stretch of prairie more than seventy-five years ago in an old cloth covered 'schooner' that some day I would pass along this same road in a brightly painted street car? It's wonderful! Why, you will hardly believe me when I tell you that there was not a tree all along here in those days. Nothing but the big prairie and grass higher than a horse. I watched all these trees grow. At that time our house was the only one in this region west of Chicago. Oak Park was a wilderness and Chicago itself a mere dot compared to what it is now. And now I'm here in a street car! Shall I believe it? I have lived to see a wonderful age but I like it. Oh, yes, I do! I believe in all the new things. I love to ride in the automobile and I would take a chance in an airship if I had the opportunity. Really, I wouldn't be afraid; I'd like it." It is indeed a matter of marvel to think that it is within the memory of a living person when all the vast section of Chicago west of La Salle street was an unsettled, undeveloped prairie, yet when she came here with a party of sixteen people, traveling in three emigrant wagons, reaching their destination after a trip of twenty-one days, land could be purchased at twelve shillings per acre. Her father's first home for his family of nine was a little log building without a floor.
Mrs. Sayre has ever kept apace in thought and spirit with the progress that the years have brought and is today as interested in what is being accomplished as she was when she watched the changes that occurred during the period of her girlhood and womanhood. When she first took up her abode out on the prairie it sometimes required five or six hours to drive in a wagon for the roads were usually muddy and it was mainly a swamp district between her home and the river. Speaking of this she said: "In the winter the big swamp would freeze over and our sleds would slip and skid like automobiles do now. There were no bridges over the river except narrow, shaky ones for the people to walk on. Wagons and horses were all ferried across. The stage went by once a week in either direction. It took a week to get to Rockford when the roads were bad and they wouldn't carry many passengers, either. They used to bring our mail out from Chicago and always stop in front of the house. Not a tree was in sight out there and the grass of the prairie, my, how long it was! It seemed to wave like a big sea under the wind which never was still. We could see it waving; as the lumber box wagons of the emigrants going still farther west drove through it we could see the white canvas tops of the wagons but we couldn't see the horses or the wagon boxes. Then in the fall it would catch fire from some camp or somebody smoking and the sky would be lit up as if the whole world was burning. The night of the big fire it was as light as day out here. I could see to pick up a pin on our lawn. I put the children all to bed and stayed up all night myself." Speaking of her arrival in Illinois Mrs. Sayre continued: "We were the only white persons west of the river. The Fort Dearborn massacre took place two years before we came. The government was moving away the Indians but there were still five' hundred Sioux with red blankets, five hundred Sacs with blue blankets and five hundred Pottawatomies with white ones living near us. They 'slept out around big fires at night. We used to go to their camps in daytime. They would give us presents and then come the next day and want them back. But they never shot a deer or any game without coming to the house and asking 'White squaw want some?' We were married young in those days. My nineteenth birthday was in December and on the 3d of the next month I was married. Every person who attended that wedding except me is gone."
Five children came to bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sayre: Mary E., who married Charles E. Allen and makes her home with her mother; Lydia C., who died at the age of six and a half years; Emma J., who died in infancy; Ida T., who has also passed away; and John J. The grandchildren are Harriet Sayre, now the wife of Albert F. Keeney, president of the board of local improvement of Chicago; Mary Sayre, the wife of R. Y. Bradshaw; and William S. Allen, of Los Angeles, California. There are also six great-grandchildren: Edwin Sayre and Josephine Esther Allen, children of William S. Allen; Harriet E. and Virginia Keeney; and Harriet Amy and Robert Sayre Bradshaw.
In his last illness Mr. Sayre said to his wife that he hoped she would take life easier during the rest of her days and not work as they had done in the early period of their married life, adding that it would not be long before she joined him. But thirty-nine years have passed and Mrs. Sayre is still an active, well preserved woman for one of her age. She spends the winter months in California in the milder climate of the Pacific coast, but eagerly looks forward to her return to her old home in Chicago in the opening of the spring. Hers has indeed been a useful life. She cared nothing for the social prominence which means leadership in fashions, but with a heart responsive to every appeal she has always been ready to extend a helping hand to all and her kind deeds have left an indelible impress upon the hearts of many who have known her. Everyone in her section of the city knows Mrs. Sayre or where she lives and such a life deserves all the respect and honor which can be accorded it.
Chicago: Its History and Its Builders, a Century of Marvelous Growth, Volume 4
By Josiah Seymour Currey
1913-11-17
Chicago Tribune (IL)
OLDEST CITY SETTLER DEAD
Mrs. Harriett Lovett Sayre, 94 Years Old, Here in 1835.
RODE WEST BEHIND OXEN.
Bought 160 Acres for $240 on Easy Terms.
Edition: Chicago Tribune
Mrs. Harriett Lovett Sayre, 94 years old, credited with being the oldest settler of Chicago, died yesterday at her home on Grand and Sayre avenues.
Mrs. Sayre, in 1835, when 15 years old, came to Chicago in a prairie schooner drawn by oxen. Her father, with a party of sixteen from Bath, Steuben county, N. Y., took up land on the prairie four miles north of the Chicago river, two years after the Fort Dearborn massacre. There was a camp of 500 Sioux near her home.
At 19 she was married to William E. Sayre, and went to live in the log house with a dirt floor, the only building between the Sayre homestead at Seventieth street and the south branch of the Chicago river. Their farm here of 160 acres was purchased from the government at 12 shillings or $1.50 an acre, on easy terms. Here she has lived for seventy-two years.
At that time they were the only white people in the vicinity. The stage passed their house on Grand avenue once a week. Seventy years later Mrs. Sayre was one of the party that rode on the first street car down Grand avenue.
She is survived by her daughter, Mrs. Mary E. Allen, who lives at the old homestead; her grandchildren, Williams S. Allen of Los Angeles, Mrs. Harriett S. Keeney of 2046 North Tripp avenue, and Mrs. Mary S. Bradshaw of 2358 North Sayre avenue, and six greatgrand-children. Services will be held at Mont Clair Congregational church tomorrow. She will be buried at Rosehill.
Copyright 1913, Chicago Tribune. For permission to reprint, contact Chicago Tribune.
Record Number: 19131117ob006
The old Jefferson township was settled at a very early date. It occupied a central position, and as the soil was unusually good settlers were attracted to that vicinity. However, the territory was somewhat low and in early times was covered with water. To add to this unpleasant state of affairs, the citizens were negligent in regard to the question of drainage. They even took action against becoming a part of the Chicago drainage system early in the '50s. Later this injury to the town was repaired by the construction of numerous ditches and sewers. The site was originally prairie, crossed with Sand ridge and Union ridge, the latter extending from Elijah Wentworth's hotel to Whiskey Point. As a whole the township was elevated about twenty to twenty-five feet above Lake Michigan. The ridges were approximately from thirty to forty feet above the lake. The drainage was effected from the North branch of the Chicago river.
Among the first settlers was John Kinzie Clark, who located there as early as 1830. He is conceded to have been the first resident in this township. He was a squatter, of course, and hence had no rights except those granted by the preemption laws. His log cabin was located in the timber on the North branch of the river, about eight miles from its junction with the South branch, the Clybourns and several residents of Chicago assisting him to erect his small residence. Here Mr. Clark resided until 1836, when he sold to Mr. Brownell and removed to Northfield.
Mr. Clark seems to have been the only resident of the township prior to about 1831-32. At this date or a little later the Bickerdikes settled not far from the Clark residence. The Nobles owned land in this township very early and may have lived within the township limits during the early '30s. Joseph Lovett settled near Mr. Clark in 1833 and his residence stood about one mile northwest of Whiskey Point. It was not until 1838 that the land of this township was thrown into the market, so that all settlers prior to that date were squatters. Another early settler was David Everett. Elijah Wentworth located on Sand ridge as early as 1836. He opened a tavern and received much patronage from emigrants westward bound.
Mr. Wentworth's tavern became such a landmark that the ridge was often called "Wentworth's Ridge." Among others who settled in the township about 1836 were Winthrop Merrill, Wm. E. Sayre, Gustavius V. Smith, Israel G. Smith, Major Noble, Martin Kimbell, James Townsend, Philip Townsend, Richard Townsend, John Anderson, S. S. Abbott, Thomas Burkel, Laomi Butterfield, John Sweeney, Abner Ellison, and a little later came John Robinson, Hiram Sanford, Reese Eaton, Edward Simons and others.
Milwaukee avenue at a very early date was a wagon track extending from Kinzie street, Chicago, northward through Jefferson township and then on to Niles and Northfield in the direction of Deerfield. This was the most important highway leading northward from Chicago in early years. Accordingly the citizens of Chicago as well as the settlers along the road were interested in its early improvement. The County Board early made appropriations for keeping it in repair, and the towns through which it passed levied taxes for the same purpose. It was duly surveyed upon petition of Silas W. Sherman, and Asa F. Bradley was the surveyor to mark its final course. Abram Gale located in the township as early as 1835. Upon his arrival Charles Chapman had just located within the limits. Mr. Gale selected a tract on the ridge that afterward became known as Galewood. The house, however, was not built until 1838. Richard Y. Spikings, Leighton Turner, Able Kay, D. L. Roberts, Chester Dickinson and William P. Gray located in the township late in the '30s or early in the '40s. Taverns were opened by George N. Powers, S. S. Abbott and D. L. Roberts. The latter purchased the tavern owned by Elijah Wentworth in the village of Jefferson. This building was a strong block-house, two stories high. In 1845 a postoffice was established at Jefferson with E. B. Sutherland as postmaster. He was succeeded the following year by Chester Dickinson. The school section was offered for sale in 1840. At that date its valuation was from $4 to $12 per acre.
In 1850 the township was organized as a township under the new law. Prior to that date the citizens had voted either at Chicago or in Monroe township. One of the voting places was at Higgins' tavern on the west side of the Des Plaines river. The new Jefferson town was made to coincide with the Congressional township of the same name. At the first meeting there were present the following men: Martin Kimbell, William P. Gray, Edward Simons, Chester Dickinson, David L. Roberts, Zina Byington, S. S. Abbott and Major Noble. The first election was held in April, 1850, at the residence of Chester Dickinson. George Merrill served as moderator; D. L,. Roberts, clerk. The first officers elected were as follows: Martin W. Kimbell, supervisor; Robert J. Edbrook, clerk; Russell Morton, assessor; Alexander Clark, collector; George Merrill, overseer of the poor; Daniel Booth and Major Noble, commissioner of highways; John H. Butterfield, constable. The officers immediately proceeded to divide the township into road and school districts, levy a tax on property, fix a legal height for fences and provide for digging ditches and constructing sewers. Early in the '50s the commissioners of highways performed the duties of a drainage board, and seem to have been negligent because there was much complaint. In 1859 a separate drainage board was organized. The village of Jefferson was organized in 1870, the first officers being William P. Gray, supervisor; S. S. Abbott, assessor; Frank D. Wulff, collector, and D. N. Kelsey, clerk. In 1856 the town hall was erected at a cost of about $2,500. From the start Jefferson spent immense sums for drainage purposes, and the result was shown a little later in the splendid farms and gardens in this portion of the county.
In 1872 the village organization was made effective. Thirty citizens petitioned for the change and a total of eighty-two votes were polled, seventy-two being in favor of village organization and ten opposed. William P. Gray was the first president of the Board of Trustees. As early as 1869 the first artesian well was sunk on the farm of M. W. Kimbell, and a depth of 653 feet was reached at a cost of about $4,000. Later several Bothers were dug in the same vicinity; the water usually came a few feet above the surface but not with great force. About ten or a dozen wells were sunk and several are in existence at the present time.
As early as 1836 the township was divided into school districts. Reese Eaton was one of the first teachers. He was succeeded by L. H. Smith. Mr. Kimbell taught several terms in his own residence. Children came to his house from as far as four miles. By 1837 there were four schoolhouses within the township limits. The first regularly organized school district was established in 1842 and Edward Simons, Gustavius V. Smith, Philip Townsend, Nyram Sanford and W. E. Sayre were the first trustees. Two years later, School district No. 2 was duly organized by the citizens assembled in the tavern of Mr. Kimbell. By 1849 Jefferson probably had, as a whole, the best schools in the county outside of Chicago proper. The school buildings by that time were numerous, well constructed and well attended. Among the early settlements in the township were: Maplewood, Cragin, Humboldt, Avondale, Mont Clare, Montrose, Whiskey Point, Grayland, Forest Glen, Bandow, Kelvyn Grove, Jefferson, Bowmanville, Summerdale and Irving Park. In 1869 the citizens concluded to build their first high school building. At first it was proposed to conduct high school in the town house. The first attempts failed, and it was not until 1870 that a high school was finished and opened under the principalship of J.,,B. Farnsworth. The high school building was not erected until 1883. It cost about $30,000 and was a credit to the township. Soon afterward it was found necessary to erect another.
As early as 1833 religious services were held in Jefferson township. The first settlers prior to that date attended meetings at the residence of Daniel Everett in Leyden township and in 1833 Rev. Mr. Payne, a Congregational minister, conducted services in the first schoolhouse built in the township. A little later Methodist quarterly meeting was held at Whiskey Point. This meeting was the foundation for the rapid growth of Methodism in this section of Cook county. Mark Noble, Sr., a strong church man, preached to Jefferson township congregations at an early date. Several other organizations sprang up and by 1860 the township was well represented with religious services. The Jefferson Congregational church was organized with seven members in 1861. St. Johannes German Evangelical Lutheran church was established in 1876 by Rev. Augustus Reinke. The Union Congregational church at Bowmanville was founded as early as 1878 and was known as the Union Protestant church. Mrs. Mary A. Petersen was a leading member at the start. This society had an early Sunday school with large membership. The Congregational church at Cragin was established in 1873 by Rev. J. M. Williams. In 1874 the Reform Church of Irving Park was commenced with a membership of sixteen. In 1860 the Baptist church of this township was organized. Its services were held in the railroad station and in the schoolhouse. The Church Extension sosiety of this denomination do important work to this day. Jefferson village was laid out by D. L. Roberts in 1855. Numerous additions were platted and within a few years the village contained several thousand population, excellent schools, churches, business houses and shops.
Maplewood lies in the southeast corner of Jefferson township. The first house there was built in 1870 by Mr. Hoffman. The second was built the following year by Mr. Daniel Reynolds. Other buildings were erected by Crony & Farlin. Mr. Rhoades, L. Welch, C. M. De Libbey, David A. Cashman, T. W. Taylor, James Lee and Mr. Whitman. The station was built in 1870 and the postoffice established two years later with Mr. Reynolds as postmaster. The site of Maplewood originally embraced the southeast quarter of Section 25.
Galewood is 8.7 miles from Chicago proper. The land was originally owned by Abram Gale, from whom the village took its title. It was located on Sections 31 and 32. The station house was built in 1872, but was only a flag station until 1883. Charles G. Whitcomb was the first station agent. An important business enterprise here was the Western Brick and Tile company, which began operations in 1883. Excellent brick clay was found in the vicinity of Galewood. When burned it gave brick of a fine red color that attracted the attention of builders and contractors.
History of Cook County, Illinois--: being a general survey of Cook ..., Volume 2
By Weston Arthur Goodspeed, Daniel David
GALE ABRAM E2SE 31 40N 13E 3 10/23/1838 COOK
GALE ABRAM W2SE 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
LOVETT JOSEPH E2NE 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
MOORE AMOS M SW 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
MOORE AMOS M E2NW 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
MOORE AMOS M W2NW 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1883 COOK
MOORE AMOS M W2NE 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
SAYRE WILLIAM E SW 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
SAYRE WILLIAM E E2NW 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
SAYRE WILLIAM E W2NE 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
SAYRE WILLIAM E W2NW 31 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
BAILEY FREDERICK NE 30 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
BOWEN SYLVESTER E2SW 30 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
BRAND ALEX W2SE 30 40N 13E 3 05/18/1847 COOK
COLE PARKER M W2SW 30 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
ROBINS GEORGE NW 30 40N 13E 3 11/28/1846 COOK
STRACHAN PATRICK E2SE 30 40N 13E 3 11/27/1838 COOK
William married LOVETT Harriet Esther on 03 Jun 1839 in Jefferson Twp, Cook Co., IL. Harriet (daughter of LOVETT Joseph and CROUCH Lydia) was born on 13 Dec 1819 in Tyrone, Schuyler Co., NY; died on 16 Nov 1913 in Cook Co., IL; was buried on 18 Nov 1913 in Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Cook Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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