CHARACTER OF HN-N Ho-no-ne-gah, though born σ & SETER THE traits of a more refined womanhood thoroughly devoted to her home and tribute of devotion was sincere. Si wa to appear conspicuous. She knew DIE TEDALE Upon the outbreak of the Bas Een le at peace with his Winnebagt rela tribe in his flight up Rockriver: warriors to accompany in T this alliance, and thereby m ingly in the ami 313 & VI TI o stat upon which he resided mand se seti which was called Mattrown although the proming enten 1 KIT TA SU old substantial farm e Le Geassure Lux & bood policy of expansion, and act & one thousand dollara. Vien e uneven for a town, he repler that in far better than Mil waukee." Mack Tation business enterprises. He kept a general store and did a successful business. He brought his goods from Chicago on Indian ponies, before the advent of wagons. In 1838 he established a ferry across Rock river, which was managed for a time by William Hulin. It was then purchased by Jesse Blinn, who carried on the business under a license issued by the county commissioners' court. About 1842 Mack built, mainly at his own expense, a bridge in the place of the ferry. This was the first bridge across Rock river in the state. This structure was carried away by a freshet June 1, 1851. Another bridge, which had been built previous to the freshet one mile farther down the river, changed the course of travel, and Macktown fell into decline. Political honors came to Stephen Mack. He was elected associate justice in 1849, and held the office until his death. He was appointed the first township treasurer of the school fund of Rockton. Upon the adoption of township organization in 1850, he was a candidate for supervisor, but was defeated by a few votes by Sylvester Talcott. Mack had taken Ho-no-ne-gah to be his wife under the Indian form of marriage. In order to fully protect the title of his children to his estate, he and his wife were re-married September 14, 1840, by William Hulin, a justice of the peace. This action, however, was probably unnecessary. It is a principle in international law that a marriage is recognized as legal whenever it is held to be such in the country in which it was solemnized. This principle would be applied to the marriage rite among Indians and similar races. On the 4th of April, 1840, Mack executed his will. The full text of this instrument is given in Mr. Carr's History of Rockton. By this will he divided his property equally among his wife and eight children. Ho-no-ne-gah died in 1847. She was the mother of eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. Louisa and Mary were students at Rockford seminary for a time, but their free Indian nature could not long endure such restraint. Louisa and her husband, according to latest information, were residing in Chippewa county, Wisconsin. Caroline, the youngest, was a babe when her mother died. In 1848 Mack married Mrs. Daniels, of Harrison. The ceremony was performed at Beloit. His subsequent domestic life was not as happy as it had been with Ho-no-ne-gah. February 14, 1849, Mack executed a codicil to his will. Since the date of the former instrument changes had occurred in his family. MACK'S LIFE A MYSTERY. 25 Three children had been born, one child and Ho-no-ne-gah had died, and he had remarried. The codicil equally divided his estate among his wife and children. Stephen Mack died very suddenly April 10, 1850. At the time of his death he owned land in several adjoining sections, which aggregated about one thousand acres. He was buried on his farm beside his Indian wife. Thirty years later, May 19, 1880, their remains were removed and buried in the Phillips cemetery, near Harrison. Many reasons have been given why this educated gentleman of New England should have sought a life on the frontier, and married a woman of a savage race. It is said death claimed the idol of his first love. Others believe an insidious appetite drove him to this western wilderness. It may have been a keen foresight by which he caught a glimpse of the marvelous develment of the west. Whatever the motive, he kept his secret until he passed beyond the judgment of men. His career was strange and romantic. He is remembered as dignified in bearing, genial and courteous, a kind husband and father, a true friend, and an honest man. In the summer of 1833 John Phelps, in company with a Frenchman, started down Pecatonica river from Mineral Point, Wisconsin, in a canoe, on a voyage of discovery. These men descended the Rock, and made a brief stop at the mouth of the creek where Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake located claims a year later. Mr. Phelps and his companion were pleased with the site, and would have located there had it not been for the scarcity of timber. For this reason they continued their journey down the river, and selected a site now occupied by the town of Oregon, in Ogle county. Neither Mack nor Phelps ever lived within the limits of Rockford; but a history of the city would scarcely be complete without a record of the facts given in this chapter. Joseph Kemp was in this section from 1830 to 1840, and again from 1842 to 1844. He has not been in this county since the latter date. Mr. Kemp first came from a point below Rock Island on the Mississippi, then to Rockford by way of Rock river. He did not, however, permanently reside in what is now the city of Rockford. In July, 1899, he was still living, at Michigan City, in his eighty-ninth year, and was seen by Charles L. Williams. CHAPTER VI. GERMANICUS KENT AND THATCHER BLAKE. T was stated at the beginning of Chapter IV. that the Black Hawk war was the immediate occasion of the settlement of the Rock river valley. There were, however, remote and more general causes. The peace following the great Napoleonic conflict in Europe had stimulated emigration to this country. President Monroe's administration had passed into history as the "era of good feeling." The Erie canal and the construction of railroads, steamboats and stage lines had created a period of expansion. The great undeveloped northwest, east of the Mississippi river, was then quite well known, and presented a splendid opportunity for capital and enterprise. Illinois occupied a central position. The Illinois and Michigan canal had been chartered, and a large number of railroads had been subsidized by the state. A tide of inflated prosperity was swiftly carrying every department of industry and speculation toward the financial breakers of 1837. Under these conditions the actual history of Rockford began. Germanicus Kent was born of English ancestry in Suffield, Connecticut, May 31, 1790, nearly one hundred and ten years ago. In early manhood he went from his native state to New York. In 1819 he went from there to the south with testimonials of first-class business ability. He first stopped for a short time in Blacksburg, Virginia. About 1822 Mr. Kent went to Huntsville, Alabama, where he was for some years engaged in the dry goods business in partnership with Preston Yeatman. June 7, 1827, Mr. Kent married Miss Arabella Amiss, who was born in Culpepper, Virginia, April 9, 1808. The ceremony was performed at Blacksburg. Mr. Kent was subsequently a partner in the firm of Patton, Donegan & Co., at the Bell Cotton factory on Flint river, about nine miles from Huntsville. The firm owned a dry goods store at Huntsville at the same time, but Mr. Kent was not personally interested in it. It has been said Mr. Kent was an abolitionist, but this statement is not fully FIRST ARRIVAL IN ROCKFORD. 27 established. At one time he owned several slaves, and brought one of them to this state. Mr. Kent went from Alabama to Galena, Illinois, where his brother, the Rev. Aratus Kent, a Presbyterian clergyman, was stationed as a home missionary. This brother was deeply interested in higher education, and his name will re-appear in this book. At the time Aratus Kent left Huntsville he possessed an amount of ready money that was considered a competence for those days. At Thatcher Blake was born at Turner, Oxford county, Maine, March 16, 1809. He resided in his native state until 1834, when he started for the west by way of Boston, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis. St. Louis he conversed with the soldiers who had been in the Black Hawk war, who gave interesting descriptions of the Rock river country and Galena. The latter was then being rapidly populated by reason of its extensive lead mines. Mr. Blake therefore visited Galena. There he became acquainted with Germanicus Kent. This acquaintance ripened into friendship, and they arranged to explore the Rock river valley. In June, 1834, these gentleman started from Galena, in a democrat wagon, on their tour of exploration. They went north into Wisconsin Territory to the Pecatonica river, about four miles from what was then known as Hamilton's Diggings, a small mining village operated by a son of Alexander Hamilton. A man named Ransom had settled on the Pecatonica at this point, of whom they procured a canoe. Their purpose was to explore the Pecatonica and Rock rivers with a view of settlement if the country should meet their expectations. Their first landing was at a point now included in the city of Freeport. It was then an Indian camp, known as Winneshiek's Village. Winneshiek was the name of a chief of a band of Indians which numbered from two to three hundred. Mr. Kent went ashore and explored the country some distance from the river. The Indians gathered about Mr. Blake in such numbers that he became alarmed, and was compelled to row from the shore and remain in the middle of the stream, as a precaution against robbery of their moderate supply of provisions. From Winneshiek's Village they continued their journey and made frequent landings to explore the country. They ascended the Pecatonica to its junction with Rock river, and came down the latter until they arrived at the mouth of the small tributary to which the |