THE TOWN ONE MILE SQUARE.

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The statute provided that the boundaries of a town incorporated under its provisions should not exceed one mile square. The trustees restricted the limits as thus prescribed by the law. They organized by the election of Daniel S. Haight, president; Anson Barnum, clerk; John C. Kemble, attorney. Isaiah Lyon was elected collector and treasurer; Henry Thurston, assessor for the first district; John Haskell, for the second; Nathaniel Wilder for the third; S. D. Preston, for the fourth.

Rockford continued its simple municipal life under this system until January, 1852. These years were quite uneventful, so far as municipal affairs were concerned. The complete records of the proceedings of the board of trustees for those twelve years are contained in a single small volume. This book is well preserved, in the office of the city clerk. Routine business occupied the almost exclusive attention of the board; and frequently less than a page is required to record its proceedings.

The lands in Winnebago county did not come into market until the autumn of 1839. The lands in Rockford and Rockton townships were not offered for sale until 1843, by reason of the famous "Polish claims," which will be considered in detail in a subsequent chapter. The land office for this district in 1839 was at Galena. The opening of the lands to sale and entry in that year was an interesting event to the settlers of Winnebago county. Some of them had their farms well under cultivation, and had raised a sufficient surplus, so that they were able to secure their farms when the sale began. The uniform government price for land was ten shillings an acre. Speculators were always around the land office on days of sale, waiting for the first chance to make a claim. A common interest bound the settlers together, and they usually maintained their rights in equity against the sharp practices of the land sharks.

Many of the settlers, however, did not possess ready money. Stock and grain had become plenty by this time, but they could not be sold for cash. Money at one time commanded thirty per cent. Some of the farmers had their claims bid in on shares. Lands were also bid in by men who had money, on condition that their advances should double in three yearsthirty-three and one-third per cent. interest; the money-loaner furnished the money, and gave a bond to the claimant to redeem at the expiration of three years, if the money should be paid on or before that day. The money-loaner supposed his

title was good, as it was entered in his own name, and paid for in full with his money. It was decided otherwise, however, by the supreme court, which treated it as a mortgage. There was much litigation on this point.

The Aberdeen Bank of Scotland purchased large tracts of land in 1839, in McHenry, Winnebago and Boone counties. There were purchased four thousand six hundred and forty acres in Boone county alone. Mr. Taylor, the agent of the bank, a short time after he made the entry, went down the Mississippi river on the steamboat "War Eagle," and when near St. Louis, he was drowned by falling from the boat. It has been said he leaped into the river; but there is no known reason to justify a suspicion of suicide.

Reference was made in a preceding chapter to the organization of a temperance society, July 4, 1837. H. B. Potter was chosen president, and M. W. Allen, secretary. The first annual meeting was held July 4, 1838, at Winnebago. Rev. Hiram Foote delivered an address. E. H. Potter was chosen president, and Horace Foote, secretary. The second annual meeting was held in West Rockford, July 4, 1839. Prayer was offered by Rev. John Morrill, and an address was given by Rev. Cyrus L. Watson. The pledge was circulated and sixty-one names were secured, which made the total membership one hundred and sixty-eight. Among the members during the first three years were H. B. Potter, Germanicus Kent, Samuel Haskell, Israel Morrill, I. P. Bartlett, Samuel Gregory, I. M. Johnson, George Haskell, John Emerson, James M. Wight, Dr. J. C. Goodhue.

February 22, 1840, it was resolved: "That this society has learned with concern, and deep regret, that several distilleries are about being erected in this and the neighboring counties, by means of which we are led to fear and believe a large proportion of our surplus produce is to be rendered worse than useless; that the kindest gifts of Providence will by this means be transformed into the worst of evils."

The records of this first temperance society are preserved in good condition, in possession of Mrs. Harriott Wight Sherratt. The last entry was made in April, 1842, by James M. Wight, secretary.

CHAPTER XXIX.

ROCKFORD CEMETERIES.

FOUR sites have been used in West Rockford for the purpose of a cemetery. The first burial in the village of Rockford was that of Henry Harmon, who was drowned at the ferry in Rock river April 7, 1837, on block thirty-five of J. W. Leavitt's plat of the original town of West Rockford. The Commercial Hotel, South Church street, is on the southeast corner of this block. The second interment was of the body of Sarah Kent, a daughter of Germanicus Kent, upon the same block, in 1837. These were followed by the burials of Addison Phillips, who accidentally shot himself in March, 1839, and John Haskell, a brother of Dr. George Haskell, also in that year. Mrs. James Mitchell and some others were buried upon block thirty-five, which was the only place of interment on the west side of the river until about 1840. The proprietors of that portion of the town west of the section line dividing sections twenty-two and twenty-three, then gave to the citizens of West Rockford a plat of ground for cemetery purposes corresponding to block fiftythree in Morgan and Horsman's Addition to the city of Rockford, on the south side of State street. This block now includes the estate of Dr. C. H. Richings. Mrs. Montague, wife of Richard Montague, was the first person buried in this ground. She died February 17, 1842. From that time this plat of ground continued to be the place of burial until 1844. The original proprietors of the town, by an agreement with the citizens, exchanged this place of burial for a site corresponding to what would have been blocks thirty-seven and forty-eight of the original plat, on the north bank of Kent's creek. This tract corresponds with the switch-yards, roundhouse and stockyards of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad. The bodies were removed from the cemetery near State street and reburied in the new grounds. In the year 1844 the citizens, after several meetings, organized an association, and in February, 1845, they obtained a charter incorporating the Rockford Cemetery Association. Under this charter they elected their trustees and

other officers, and kept up the organization in accordance with all the provisions of the act. The first trustees named in this charter were John W. Taylor, Ephraim Wyman, Cyrus F. Miller, Richard Montague and Benjamin Kilburn.

From 1844 to 1852 this site remained the place of burial for the Rockford Cemetery Association. During this time the number of graves had increased to about one hundred and seventy-five. The bodies that had been buried on block thirtyfive remained there until 1852.

The extension of the Galena & Chicago Union railroad to West Rockford again made it necessary for the Association to remove its cemetery, as the grounds had been selected by the railroad company as the site for its depot. A portion of this tract was condemned by the company for this purpose. The Association thereupon made arrangements with the railroad company for the sale of the entire property, except seventy feet fronting on Cedar street. The company paid the Association one thousand and nine hundred dollars. The frontage of seventy feet on Cedar street was subdivided into twelve lots, and sold to different persons for three thousand eight hundred and twelve dollars and twelve cents.

In April, 1852, the trustees took measures to procure a new charter for their more extended needs. In the following May the Association purchased of Charles Reed, George Haskell and Nathaniel Wilder, the present cemetery grounds. This tract contained thirty-three acres, for which the Association paid twelve hundred dollars. On the 29th of May, 1852, the Association made a contract with David D. Alling to remove all the bodies in the original place of burial on block thirty-five, and those in the later cemetery.

At the special session of the legislature in June, 1852, the Association obtained a new act of incorporation. The sum realized from the sale of its former property left a good margin after the later purchase. Quite extensive improvements were made with a portion of this reserve. This cemetery is a beauful spot in summer, well kept, and contains many splendid monuments. One of the most noticeable is the plain granite shaft over the grave of Hon. Ephraim Sumner. The granite was quarried at Barre, Vermont. The height of the base and shaft is forty feet, and the weight is twenty tons. This monument was put up in 1894.

At an early date Daniel S. Haight appropriated an acre of

CEDAR BLUFF CEMETERY.

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ground for a cemetery on the East side. It was situated on the east side of Longwood street, about ten rods north of State. The ground was open prairie. There was no shade from the summer sun, and the wintry winds intensified its desolation.

An act approved February 18, 1847, provided for the incorporation of the Cedar Bluff Cemetery Association. E. H. Potter, Willard Wheeler, Bela Shaw, Selden M. Church, Hollis H. Holmes and Lucius Clark and their successors were made a body politic and corporate for this purpose. The Association was not fully organized, however, until November 28, 1851. Twelve acres in section twenty-three were purchased from Bela Shaw, for four hundred dollars, subject to the dower of Rebecca Shaw. The tract was surveyed by Duncan Ferguson, April 3, 1853. It remained the only burying-ground on the East side until the organization of the Scandinavian Cemetery Association.

Love that survives the tomb has been called the purest attribute of the soul. This love finds an expression in the monuments erected over the graves of the dead. Moreover, the cemeteries of a people are in a measure an index of their religious hope. The funerals of today have less of the gruesomeness that characterized such occasions thirty years ago. Likewise, our cemeteries have been made more beautiful by the cultivation of the artistic sense, and by a deeper realization of the truth that death is but the doorway to a "freer air and a broader view," and an infinite expansion of sanctified power. The cemeteries of Rockford are worthy of the character of its people.