REMINISCENCE OF MARGARET FULLER.

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interesting historic spot on the river some miles below Rockford. Margaret Fuller visited Oregon in 1843. There she found new themes for her muse. At the riverside there is a fine spring whose waters are cool and unfailing. On the bluff above it today are growing gnarled and twisted cedars. In the branches of one there was an eagle's next. Beneath its shade Margaret Fuller wrote her poem, "Ganymede to his Eagle." The spring still sends forth its pure stream, and hundreds of people visit the spot. Under the shadow of the trees which falls upon the pool, they read the marble tablet set in the solid rock above, which bears this inscription: "Ganymede's Springs, named by Margaret Fuller (Countess d' Ossoli), who named this bluff Eagle's Nest, and beneath the cedars on its crest wrote 'Ganymede to his Eagle,' July 4, 1843."

The level at the intersection of State and Madison streets, on the East side, was about ten feet higher than at present. At the intersection of State with First the level was about ten feet lower than it is today. Between these two points the ground was six feet above its present level. From the river bank to Madison was therefore quite a steep ascent. West of the river, the ground was low, as it now appears at the knitting factories, and so continued nearly to Main street, as it yet remains in some places.

South of the depot of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad, on the West side, and from ten rods west of Main street, the land was low, only a little above the creek, with the exception of the ridge near the creek. When the dain was built this area was called the pond. This depression has been filled, and the site is mainly devoted to railroad purposes.

The bluffs at the college grounds descended steep to the water's edge, unbroken and unworn. They were covered with grass, brush and trees on the top and sides. There were many red cedars, some of which were large and gnarled. The whole formed a pleasant and romantic spot.

At first there were no roads, and the first track would be followed until a road was worn or a change made. The crossing of streams and sloughs was difficult. East of the city, and running nearly parallel with the river, was a wagon road made by the army wagons and trains at the time the troops under Major Smith passed on their way to the battle of the Bad Axe, in Wisconsin, in 1832, where Black Hawk was defeated. This road, however, did not run on the line needed by the settlers, and it

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was soon obliterated. The Indian trails were of little use. The red men always went single file, so that their trails were but narrow paths, and of no special value to the settlers. These trails were easily traceable as late as 1840, and possibly later.

Few antiquities, save arrows and hammers, were found, and -the early race left little to mark its occupation of this region. Only a small number of Indian graves were found, and these did not indicate careful burial. Some traces of burying on scaffolds and in trees were supposed to remain; but little information can be obtained upon this point. The headless Big Thunder skeleton sat in his stockade on the court house mound in Belvidere as late as the autumn of 1838. But neither his renown as a warrior and chief, nor common reverence for the dead, protected his bones or marked their grave.

The Indians had taken their final departure previous to 1834. There were a few Pottawatomies in the vicinity of Rockton. Rock river was apparently the dividing line between the Pottawatomies and the Winnebagoes. The latter had removed to their western reservation. Those who occasionally returned, singly or in small companies, to revisit their former home, were harmless to the settlers.

Wild flowers were abundant, both on the prairies and in the woods. They were of great variety and beauty. Hickorynuts, butternuts, black walnuts and hazelnuts were plenty. In fruits, there were crab apples, wild plums, thorn apples, grapes, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.

Game was plenty. It consisted of deer, wolves, wildcats, otter, coon, muskrat, squirrel, woodchuck, wild geese, ducks, crane, heron, plover, snipe, prairie hens, partridges, quail, loon, gull, and pigeons. Mr. Thurston says: "Having never shot a game bird previous to my arrival in Rockford, the vast quantity of feathered game which I saw migrating northward in the spring of 1837 excited my unbounded surprise and admiration." Fish of the varieties now found in this locality was abundant. Wild honey was obtained in considerable quantity. The small birds then found still remain, except those taken for game. Snakes were quite numerous. The rattlesnake and the massasauga were poisonous, and the blowing adder and a variety of water snake were also so considered. Today a snake is rarely seen, except in woodland and on river bottoms.

THE

CHAPTER VIII.

DANIEL SHAW HAIGHT.—OTHER SETTLERS OF 1835.

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HE first settler of what is now East Rockford was Daniel Shaw Haight, who arrived April 9, 1835. Mr. Haight came to Illinois from Bolton, Warren county, New York. year or two previous to his appearance on Rock river he had selected a claim near Geneva, Kane county. He sold this claim, and in company with two or three men, he came to Rockford on a tour of inspection. He selected a tract of land, which comprised a large part of what is now the First and Second wards. Mr. Haight went back to Geneva for his family, and in May he returned to Rockford with his wife and child; Miss Carey, who was Mrs. Haight's sister, and a hired man. Mrs. Mary Haight and her sister were the first white women to settle in the county, as it is supposed they preceded by two or three weeks the arrival of Mrs. Kent. Mrs. Haight appears to have been equal to the duties and trials of pioneer life. She had no acquaintance with books or literature; but she possessed a good mind, and was alert, shrewd, and affable to strangers. Mr. Haight was a rugged, roistering pioneer, and a shrewd man of affairs.

Upon his arrival Mr. Haight put up a tent under a large bur oak tree, which his family occupied until his cabin was completed. This dwelling, built in the summer of 1835, was the first structure on the East side. It was built on the eastern part of the lot which now forms the northeast corner of State and Madison streets. This spot was at the brow of the tableland, from which the descent was rapid toward the river. The house was built in regular pioneer style, without the use of a single nail. The main part was about eighteen feet square, built of oak logs. It had a puncheon floor, two windows and a door. The cellar was simply an excavation under the centre. "Such a house," says Mr. Thurston, "may be built with an axe and an auger, and is a warm, comfortable dwelling. Haight made an addition in '36, with a space between ten feet wide and roofed over, which had a shingle roof and floor

of sawed lumber." Mr. Haight's second house was on the northeast corner of State and Madison streets. It was a frame structure, and completed in 1837 by Thomas Lake and Sidney Twogood. This house was divided and a portion removed to the northeast corner of Walnut and Second streets. It is the oldest frame structure now standing in Rockford.

The first public religious service in Rockford was held the second Sunday in June, 1835, at the house of Germanicus Kent, and was conducted by his brother, the Rev. Aratus Kent, of Galena. It has been said that on that day every soul in Rockford attended divine worship. The audience comprised Mr. and Mrs. Kent, Mr. and Mrs. Haight, Miss Carey, Thatcher Blake, Albert Sanford, Mr. Van Zandt, who was Mr. Kent's millwright, a man in the employ of Mr. Haight, and two other persons whose names are unknown. Thus it will be noted that in early June, 1835, there were less than a dozen persons in Rockford. This small number may be explained by the supposition that several workmen, who had been temporarily employed by Mr. Kent, had removed from the settlement.

It is impossible to give the name of every settler in what is now Rockford township at the close of the first year after Mr. Kent's arrival. In the autumn of 1834 Mr. Kent solicited a number of his southern friends to settle in the rising colony. Reference was made in Chapter VI. to John Wood. Another gentleman who thus responded was James B. Martyn. He was a native of the County of Cornwall, England, and had emigrated to Huntsville, Alabama, where he had made the acquaintance of Germanicus Kent. Mr. Martyn arrived in Rockford late in the summer of 1835. He subsequently removed to Belvidere, where he engaged in the milling business.

James Boswell and James Wood also came from the south about this time. Mr. Boswell settled on a claim about half a mile north of State street, on the west side of the river, immediately above Dr. Haskell's orchard. The next year Mr. Boswell traded with Mr. Spaulding for property directly opposite, on the east side of the river.

Eliphalet Gregory was born in Danbury, Connecticut, April 23, 1804. He came from New York in June, with his family. His claim extended east one-half mile from Kishwaukee street, and south from State to his brother Samuel's claim. His first log house was near Keith's creek, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, and west of Seventh street. A part of his later

THE FIRST PHYSICIAN.

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grout house still stands on Charles street. Mr. Gregory died February 16, 1876.

Samuel Gregory arrived in Rockford December 8th. His claim was approximately bounded by what are now Sixth and Fourteenth avenues, and Ninth street and Churchill Place. His log house was on Seventh avenue, by Keith's creek, between Ninth and Tenth streets. Mr. Gregory spent his last years in Pekin, New York, where he died in May, 1886. His sons are: Delos S., John Clark, Homer, and James B. There were also four daughters: Mrs. Delia A. Johnson, deceased; Mrs. Addie S. Witwer, of Chicago; Mrs. Edna J. Hulbert, deceased; and one who died in infancy.

Ephraim Wyman arrived in September. He was a native of Lancaster, Massachusetts. In 1824, when he was fifteen years of age, he removed to Keene, New Hampshire, and from there he came to Rockford. He followed the business of baker from 1835 until 1850. In the latter year he went to California, where he remained three years. Mr. Wyman owned and platted a tract of land in the heart of West Rockford, to which reference will be made in a subsequent chapter. A street on the West side bears his name. Mr. Wyman was county treasurer and assessor in 1844-45. In his last years he was afflicted with blindness. Mr. Wyman was a worthy gentleman, and is kindly remembered. He died in the autumn of 1893. Mrs. Wyman still resides in Rockford. Their only child died when less than four years old.

Levi Moulthrop, M. D., had the distinction of being the first resident physician in Winnebago county, as now organized. Dr. Whitney had probably preceded him at Belvidere, which at that time was included in Winnebago county. Dr. Moulthrop was descended from Mathew Moulthrop, who settled at Quinnipiac, now New Haven, Connecticut, April 18, 1638, and who was one of the original signers of the Plantation Covenant, ratified June 4, 1639. Dr. Moulthrop first came to this county in the autumn of 1835, and permanently settled here in the following spring. He was born near Litchfield, Connecticut, November 1, 1805. He received his early education in his native town, and completed a course of medicine and surgery at Fairfield college, in the state of New York. In the spring of his arrival in this county, he settled upon a claim of several hundred acres near Kishwaukee, now in New Milford township, and began the practice of medicine. June 30, 1840,