From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – C.W. Richmond

If you do any research into DuPage history, at some point you will read A History of The County of DuPage Illinois by C. W. Richmond & H. F. Valette which was published in 1857. An engraving of C.W. Richmond’s “res & nursery” also shows up in the 1874 DuPage Atlas. So who were these guys?

 

Charles W. Richmond seems to have been born in Massachusetts in 1822 or possibly 1830. As his wife Ida was also born in Massachusetts, it seems they arrived in Illinois as adults. The History of the County of DuPage says that "C.W. Richmond of Great Barrington, Mass." was appointed principal of the Naperville Academy sometime during the early 1850s and this is further confirmed by the 1854 Massachusetts Register which lists Charles W. Richmond as an instructor at the Great Barrington Academy. 

 

Once Charles and Ida arrived in Naperville, they became very involved with the community. Charles served as both principal and teacher at the Naperville Academy and later as a School Commissioner and the County Superintendent of Schools. The 1860 census identifies his profession as “teacher” and lists two children, also named Ida and Charles, which makes the research a bit confusing. Two more daughters may have been born later. 

 

For several years, the Richmonds also operated a nursery along the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad tracks, as seen in the 1869 bird’s eye map of Naperville. Nurseries were a big business in Naperville. Lewis Ellsworth ran one on property now owned by North Central College and the Ernst Von Oven family oversaw a large nursery operation at Oswego Road and the Green Acres subdivision.

 

In 1857, the Village of Naperville was incorporated and Lewis Ellsworth commissioned Richmond to research and write the village’s early history as it hadn’t yet been recorded. Henry F. Valette is listed as a co-author, although only Richmond is mentioned in the Naperville Centennial publication that relates the story.

 

Valette grew up in Wheaton and wanted to be a lawyer, but had no access to education. Through the years, he studied at home, farmed, attended private school, studied with an Aurora law firm, farmed some more, and taught school. By 1848, he was married, settled in Naperville, and finally finishing his law studies. He formed a law practice with partner H.H. Cody. How exactly Valette and Richmond worked together is unclear. The partnership with Cody was dissolved in 1869 and Valette moved his practice into Chicago.

 

Richmond seems to have been quite community-minded. He served in leadership positions at St. John's Episcopal Church and was a member of the committee that purchased Naperville's first fire equipment. He was also one of the organizers of a “Masonic and Odd Fellows celebration” held in 1858 on St. Johns Day. Still, it appears the family did not remain in town. The elder Charles and Ida are both buried in Forest Park.

Although neither Richmond nor Valette has descendants in Naperville today, local historians can’t help but bump into both of them constantly while researching! 

From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – Joshua Erb

Joshua Erb was born in 1803 in Pennsylvania Dutch country. The “Dutch” is actually a reference to “Deutch,” the German word for “German” and the Erb family emigrated from Switzerland several generations previously. A number of religious communities in early Pennsylvania followed guidelines such as plain dress and conscientious objection to war, including Quakers from England and Mennonites and Brethren from Germany. The Erbs were mainly Brethren.

In 1847, Joshua Erb arrived in DuPage, intent on buying land. He bought about 1200 acres between the DuPage River and Mill Street, some of which he sold to other relatives and friends while retaining a portion for his own family. By 1848, Joshua, his wife Sarah, and their four children were settled on their Naperville farm. Two more children were later born in Illinois.

The Erbs were instrumental in founding Naperville’s Church of the Brethren along with some other families, including the Netzleys, who also have strong roots in town. They started by gathering in each other’s homes, but by 1860, they had raised enough money amongst their members to build a meeting house. Joshua Erb donated a piece of his farm for it, as well as land for a small school and a cemetery. 

Son John and his family of seven girls and one boy took over the farm operations in the latter part of the 1800s. Joshua passed away at age 86 in 1893 and wife Sarah followed him the next year. In the early 1900s, John was also ready to retire and he handed over the farming duties to his own son, also named John. 

This John struggled to run the farm during the Great Depression, but he was able to hang on by selling off a tract that became Cress Creek Commons. In addition to farming, he also expanded into construction. A couple of his sons followed him in both careers and son Marshall seems to have been the last one to farm the Erb homestead. Marshall died in 1989 and by the 1990s, construction had begun on the land to develop what is now known as Century Farms, a nod to the long line of Erb farmers. 

While there isn’t an Erb farm in Naperville today, there are still Erbs farming elsewhere in Illinois. Also, the Erb legacy with the Brethren continues. 

In 1907, the Brethren meeting house was disassembled and moved from Joshua Erb’s farm. It was rebuilt on Benton Street and enlarged or remodeled several times over the next few decades. In 1968, the Brethren erected a brand new building on Jefferson Avenue near the DuPage River that included a preschool which is a mainstay in town to this day. The Benton Street church is also still in use, currently as a food pantry. 

Joshua and Sarah, as well as other members of their family, are buried in the old Brethren cemetery that used to be behind the meeting house. The house was moved, but the cemetery remained. It lies along West Street on the border of the Century Farms subdivision.

From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – William Henry Hillegas

While William Henry Hillegas built an upstanding reputation in the Naperville community, it’s his son that the guides on the ghost tours talk about. We’ll get to that later, but first, let’s give William his due.

Joseph and Mary Hillegas arrived in Illinois in 1857 and started farming. The family experienced several tragedies including the deaths of two sons before the move, two daughters after the move, and the death of Mary just a few years after their arrival. William and his two sisters, however, settled comfortably into the Naperville community. 

William worked downtown at the hardware store of Andrew Friedley. Friedley’s name pops up all over the early city council records for providing nails and similar items for community infrastructure maintenance. His Lemont store is a national landmark and he died in Lockport, but the family tomb, an impressive pyramid, is in the Naperville Cemetery.

In 1862, William married Maria Hartman. The Civil War was already underway and William joined the 156th Illinois Infantry in 1864, serving until the War’s end. Their first child, Ida, was born in 1863 before William enlisted, Charles was born in 1867, and Harvey in 1869.

Eventually, William took over Friedley’s hardware store, partnered with Louis Reiche. Their establishment was on Water Street, now part of Chicago Avenue, in the building that currently houses Features Bar & Grill and Frankie’s Blue Room. Their names and the date when their store was erected, 1882, are still visible at the roofline.

In addition to working at the hardware business, William was also elected Trustee of the Naperville Village Board, served as a Mason, and was extremely active both with his church and with the local G.A.R. organization. Apparently, he was of particularly strong character, even during trying times, as his obituary in The Naperville Clarion reported:

[He faced] financial trials which test men's courage and powers of endurance and frequently leave physical wrecks and shattered fortunes on the shores of time. That he weathered the storm, maintained his integrity and met every obligation was due to his faith in God, backed by an unconquerable determination to win. And when he did, maintaining to the last the unbounded respect and confidence of every man who knew him.    

William suffered a heart attack in 1906 at the age of 65 and was buried in the Naperville Cemetery. His widow continued to live in the family home, which still stands across the street from Meiley-Swallow Hall. At the time, Meiley-Swallow was the Grace Evangelical Church, but it has since served as a theatre for North Central College. 

So now let’s get back to William’s son, Charles. His gruesome story is a favorite ghostly legend, making it perfect for this time of year. 

Charles was one of many who heeded the “go west, young man” advice during that era. During his travels, he met an English girl named Jessie Robateene Massey and married her in Montana in 1901. 

Unfortunately, Jessie died in 1912, possibly from influenza. At the time, they were living in Seattle, but Charles decided to bring Jessie’s body back to be buried in the family plot in Naperville, a fact confirmed by a short paragraph in The Clarion. 

Within days of the funeral, however, Charles became convinced that Jessie had been buried alive. He was restrained from digging her up several times, but finally giving his watchers the slip, Charles disinterred his wife and brought her back to the family home where he attempted to revive her. 

The sheriff took Charles into custody and the newspaper says he was brought to Wheaton where he was “examined as to his sanity.” This no doubt refers to the DuPage County Home which started out as the County Poor Farm, a place for the old, sick, and mentally ill who could not be cared for elsewhere. The farm was established to be self-sustaining while also providing food for the county jail through the labor of its inhabitants. County Farm Road is a relic of this history. By the time Charles was admitted, however, the Home was evolving to be more like a hospital than a farm and today it’s known as the DuPage Care Center. 

Apparently, Charles remained at the DuPage County Home until his death in 1940. His funeral was in the Beidelman chapel in town and he is buried in the Naperville Cemetery, along with his wife and his parents. 

From the vantage point of time, this may be just a scary story to tell at Halloween, but it’s also a love story as well as a look at how society has historically treated mental illness. For all of those reasons, it’s a story worth retelling. 

From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – Philip Beckman

In 1853, the Peter and Eleanore Beckman family emigrated from Bavaria with three daughters and four sons. One of the teenaged sons was Philip, who had already been apprenticed in harness-making. Starting on the east coast, Philip worked his way to Chicago and by 1859, he was settled in Naperville with his new bride, Elizabeth Pfeiffer.

Philip was employed at Martin Ward’s harness shop on the corner of Washington Street and what used to be known as Water Street, now an extension of Chicago Avenue. Philip eventually bought out Ward and ran the harness and saddlery for many years, tanning hides and furs, making his own horse collars, and selling manufactured goods such as buggy whips. By 1893, it became obvious that buggy whips were going the way of, well, buggy whips and Philip sold the business. 

Philip tore down Ward’s original frame building and built a two-story brick structure in its place. That building was then taken down during the 1920s and Jimmy’s Grill now operates on the point where his shop once stood. 

During his Naperville years, Philip served as a volunteer fireman, school director, and city road commissioner. He and Elizabeth also owned farmland that they rented out and grew their family to nine children, all of whom were musical. The Beckmans owned both a grand piano as well as a pump organ and everyone enjoyed singing. 

The Beckmans are also credited with installing one of the first telephones in the city, which meant there weren’t many locations to call. The Beckman phone in the harness shop connected to the family home on Loomis Street, with vibrating screens on each side as alerts. The family story is that Philip could yank on the wire at the shop which vibrated at the house so his wife knew he was on his way home for lunch. 

On the Riverwalk where Chicago Avenue dead-ends at Main Street, there is an iron trough-turned-fountain. While the facts are still being debated, it is likely that the horse trough was originally erected by the Beckman family. An advertisement in the 1886 Hollands Business Directory points out that the Beckman harness shop is “Near the Fountain” and the Naperville Area Farm Families History recalls that Philip established a horse trough in the street near his shop for customers and others to water their horses. 

According to Beckman family lore, when Philip passed on in 1910, his children presented the iron trough to the city as a replacement for the original. Once horses no longer strolled through downtown Naperville, the trough was removed, served as a flower planter for a time, and was re-installed as a fountain on the Riverwalk in 1981. Check it out the next time you are strolling along the DuPage River at that plaza! 

From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – Joseph S. Ferry

Joseph Sanford Ferry arrived in DuPage County in 1838 as a nine-year-old when his parents, Sylvanus and Rhoda, moved from New York via Terra Haute. The family lived in Warrenville at first until his father bought his own land. Sylvanus, unfortunately, died not long after. 

When Joseph was sixteen, his uncles helped the family purchase fifty-three acres of farmland. Within a few years, Joseph had sold that farm and bought another more than twice the size. During that time, Joseph married and started a family. Joseph didn’t have access to much education in his youth, but his wife, Sophronia, was a school teacher. In order for the children to attend school, they moved into the city of Aurora a few years later and Joseph sold the farm. 

While the Civil War certainly was an unfortunate influence, Aurora grew rapidly in the mid-1800s, aided by the many factories that were powered by the Fox River. Joseph became a builder and developer while living in the city and “purchased residence property and vacant lots on which he erected several neat dwelling houses.” 

The expansive “farm scene” depicted in the atlas engraving is probably the farm he moved to in 1873 since the atlas was published in 1874. According to a map in the same atlas, Joseph’s acreage was southwest of the town of Naperville. Northwest of Naperville is another plot labeled “M Ferry,” which belonged most likely to Melancthon, Joseph’s brother. Melancthon was married three times and sired a number of children. His family farmed the homestead until the 1970s and inspired the name of Ferry Road. There was also a sister, Louisa, who never married. 

Joseph Ferry only remained on the farm in the engraving until 1890 when he and his wife, Sophronia, moved back into Aurora. Sophronia taught school in DuPage County as well as in Vermont and New York, where she lived before her marriage. Both her great-grandfather, Col. Seth Warner, and her grandfather, Israel Putnam Warner, were Revolutionary War veterans, although Israel was only a nine-year-old messenger and scout during the war. 

http://genealogytrails.com/ill/dupage/bigwoodcem.html

Israel and his wife Esther settled in DuPage County and their daughter, also named Esther, was Sophronia’s mother. In 2008, Israel’s headstone in the Big Woods Cemetery, Warrenville, was rediscovered, restored, and then rededicated in a 2008 ceremony. This was a big deal because, unlike the eastern states, there are very few graves of Revolutionary War veterans in Illinois.

From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – Daniel Strubler

In 1832, George and Salome Strubler emigrated from Alsace, France to Warren, Pennsylvania with their young son, George Jr.. Two more sons, Philip and Frederick, were born before the Strubler family decided to relocated to Illinois, just a few years after the founding of Naper’s Settlement. Son Daniel was born in Naperville in 1837.  

All four of Strubler boys were in livery-related businesses as horses were still required for every form of transportation, including farming. Until the railroad was built in town, brother Philip drove the stagecoach between Naperville and Winfield. 

 

Daniel was trained as a blacksmith and opened his own shop. Not only did he shoe horses, but he also made and repaired farming equipment and eventually sold wagons and repaired wagons as well. His empire included a series of storefronts along Washington Street, as seen in the atlas engraving. 

 

In 1859, Daniel married Mary Kribill and they shared 53 years together, throwing a big golden wedding anniversary party in 1909. Unfortunately, none of their children lived to adulthood, but he and Mary adopted and reared one of her nieces, Lorena. 

 

The Strubler family was very involved in community activities. Daniel served with the Evangelical church and the local Masonic Lodge and brother Philip was serving as town sheriff the night of Wheaton’s raid on the county courthouse.

 

While Daniel Strubler’s blacksmith and wagon shops have long gone the way of the buggy whip, the family home, which in the engraving is barely visible behind the trees, is still on Washington Street. It has hosted a number of businesses and is currently the location for Karisma Boutique.

From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – The Stolps

Highlighted in this atlas are three farms owned by families named “Stolp.” The name may be familiar to people who have been to the Paramount Theatre or Hollywood Casino in Aurora, Illinois as both of them are located on Stolp Island. It turns out that DuPage and Kane counties have a wealth of Stolps in their histories. 

The Stolp ancestors were originally from Germany and immigrated to New York in the late 1700s, serving in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, before sending roots westward. They had large families and often named their children for parents and grandparents, so it gets pretty tricky to sort them all out. Several times over the past decades Stolp family members have recorded histories, many of which are available online, but there is still some confusion.

Just trying to focus on the DuPage Stolps was a challenge! Of the three that are depicted in the atlas, it seems Henry P. and Chas. W. were brothers, the sons of Frederick. Frederick walked from New York to Naperville in 1833, which is just a couple of years after it was founded. He was 52 years old, a brickmaker by trade, and decided the area around Big Woods was suitable for his needs. So Frederick walked back to get his wife and nine children. 

 

Frederick, apparently a champion walker, lived until he was 91 years old. He was married to Jannetje Peper, (the “P” in “Henry P.” stands for “Peper) who was the mother of all those children, for 24 years. A couple years after her death in 1837, he remarried, sharing 34 years with Amanda Rosier. In the 1870 census, which was taken just before this atlas was published, Frederick is listed as a “retired farmer” with his son Henry in charge. Presumably, this is the farm shown in the engraving. 

 

One of Frederick’s other sons was Charles West, the Chas. W. mentioned in the atlas. He and his wife Sarah had six children and apparently lived their last years in Kansas with daughter Harriet, although they are both buried in Aurora. Alfred, yet another son, is listed on a county land map. His property, west of downtown Naperville, is bordered by land labeled “Thatcher,” which should be explored since Alfred married Roxanna Thatcher. 

 

Peter M. was the son of Johan, Frederick’s brother, and Margaret Marlett, which is his middle name. He was married to Mary Jane Briggs in 1841 and they raised their family in DuPage, but by the time of the 1880 census, Peter and Mary Jane were farming in Crawford County, Wisconsin, which is only a few years after the atlas was published.

 

Another brother of Johan and Frederick was George Stolp. George and his wife Katharine started their family of eleven children back in New York. Some stayed, some moved out to Illinois, and some traveled even farther across the country. Son John was among the first of the family to settle in the area, farming in Naperville, so that’s where his brother Joseph stayed when he arrived. It was Uncle Frederick who secured the island for Joseph.

 

The twenty-five-year-old Joseph was apprenticed in wool manufacturing and was planning to start a woolen mill empire. The island location was perfect because he was counting on the Fox River to power the mill. Joseph was enormously successful, at one point employing 150 people, mainly women. Milling stopped in 1887 and the mill burned down in 1906, but the Woolen Mills Store and the Dye House buildings are still standing on Stolp Island if you want to see them. 

 

This only scratches the surface of the Stolps who were numerous and active. If you do any poking around in local history books, you are bound to find a Stolp! 

From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – W.H. Wright

W.H. Wright’s farm looks tidy and prosperous, but who exactly was W.H. Wright? 

Naperville’s history features a number of Wrights. One of the most community-minded was James Gregson Wright. James was born in England, emigrated to New York, and by 1843, he had settled in DuPage County where land was reasonably easy to obtain. He farmed for a number of years, and then became a banker, launching Producers’ Bank in 1857 with partner George Martin II, the Scot who built the mansion at Naper Settlement. 

 

Continuing to be involved with Naperville, James was appointed postmaster and served six terms in the Illinois General Assembly. He was also the first owner of the farm that is now the site of the Meson Sabika restaurant, but this engraving is not of that farm and James is obviously not W. H. Wright. 

James married Almira Van Osdel, whose father was a noted architect, and they had seven children, one of whom was named William. William also lived a life of public service, but dedicated himself specifically to the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic), an organization for veterans of the Civil War. The G.A.R. was actually founded in Illinois and grew to be a national organization. 

Captain William had served as an officer in the 156^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and it apparently had a deep impact on him. Building on his local involvement, William was eventually elected the 66^th Commander-in-Chief of the national organization. He served from 1932 until 1933 when he died in Pittsburgh at the age of 88 years old while attending a G.A.R. encampment. 

 

In 1872, William had married Ida Sleight, whose father, Delcar Sleight, and grandfather, Morris Sleight, were both major real estate developers in Naperville. Delcar donated the land for North Central College and there is a Sleight Street in one of their developments. There is also a Wright Street which was named for William, Delcar’s son-in-law.

But William’s middle name is Parkinson, which was his Grandmother Wright’s maiden name, and he moved to Chicago in 1871, just before the Great Fire, so he can’t be the W.H. Wright of this farm engraving either. 

W.H. Wright is mentioned twice in the 1874 DuPage Atlas. His residence is listed as Naperville Township, Section 17, with Eola as the post office. The other listing is as a “patron” of the atlas, which no doubt means he paid for inclusion, but cemetery, census, newspaper, and other records reveal nothing else about W.H.. 

So the search continues! 

From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – Frederick Long

At sixteen years old, Fred Long emigrated from Stuttgart, Germany in 1853 and was living in Naperville by 1856. There is no record of his parents living or being buried in Naperville, so it’s possible he was alone. Fred worked as a cabinetmaker in town and he prospered, opening his own shop as early as 1861.  

Also in 1861, he married Amelia Beidelman, the oldest of ten children born to William and Eliza Beidelman who arrived in Naperville around 1847. Of course, the Civil War was just starting during this time and Fred was drafted in 1863, serving in the 49^th Infantry, and was mustered out as a sergeant. 

 

Fred and Amelia’s only child, Charles, was born in 1868 and the family enjoyed being active members of the town. Naperville’s fledgling fire department started in the 1870s and Fred became a volunteer of Rescue Hook and Ladder Company in 1875. 

 

The illustration from the 1874 Atlas shows the F. Long storefront with an addition to the side. The Sanborn Map from 1886 describes this addition as a “dwelling,” so it seems the Longs may have lived next to their shop. 

 

During those days, woodworkers made coffins as well as furniture, as described in his advertisement. Fred also served as an undertaker and attended mortuary school in the 1880s to expand his business even further.

 

James Nichols, who was a professor at what was then known as North-Western College, partnered with John Kraushar and Fred to launch the Naperville Lounge Factory in 1893. They hired Nichol’s student, Peter Kroehler, as a clerk. The business – and Kroehler – both flourished. Kroehler became a partner in 1896 and bought the company in 1916.

 

Fred and Amelia’s only son, Charles, died at age 30, married, but childless. One of Amelia’s nephews, Oliver Beidelman, who was already working with Uncle Fred, wound up taking over the furniture and the undertaking businesses, passing both along to other family members. It was Oliver who, along with his son “Dutch,” built the brick Beidelman’s Furniture store that is currently on the corner of Washington Street and Jackson Avenue, replacing the shop pictured in the 1874 Atlas. While the funeral parlor space there is still visible, the Beidelman funeral business moved to another downtown location and one in south Naperville. 

By 1911, Fred’s health was failing and his nephew was running the business. He was cared for by Amelia and her sister Ella until his death in 1912 at age 74. The sisters lived together until Amelia died in 1922 and her Beidelman relations continue their business pursuits in Naperville today. 

From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – J.J. Hunt

Throughout this year, we’ll take a look at some of the homes and businesses featured in the 1874 Atlas Map of DuPage County. First up is the hardware emporium of James. J. Hunt which was located on the northwest corner of Washington and Van Buren, where the restaurant Catch 35 is now.  

Hunt was born in Pennsylvania and learned there to be a blacksmith. He came to Naperville with his young family in 1844 and started by working in another man’s plow shop. Within a couple of years, however, Hunt opened his own blacksmith shop and also ran a livery business.

 

Hunt spent part of the Civil War serving as a captain and then a major in Illinois and in Pennsylvania, but at the same time, he also launched a small scale hardware business, presumably operated by his wife and pre-teen sons who remained in Naperville. After the war, all his efforts went into that business, making Hunt & Son Hardware a downtown staple until his retirement in 1893. 

During his years in Naperville, Hunt served the community as sheriff, fire marshal, justice of the peace, and treasurer. Hunt was also dedicated to Euclid Lodge, the local Masonic organization, holding meetings above his shop and serving as Master of the Lodge eight times. 

 

A story was recorded about how Hunt was able to cool down a clash between some Naperville residents and their more recently-arrived German neighbors during his tenure as a police magistrate. Apparently, while the town was celebrating Independence Day, a dispute arose which “had been bottled up and escaped from such confinements down the throats and thence into the brains of a few otherwise ‘real good fellows.’” 

 

Hunt held positions as a village trustee and village president during the 1860s and 1870s. Then in late 1889, Naperville’s citizens began the process of incorporating from a Village to a City. The vote passed in March of 1890 and Hunt was elected the first mayor of the City of Naperville in April. 

 

When he moved from Pennsylvania, Hunt brought his wife, Nancy, with whom he had ten children, six boys and four girls. Their first two sons died very young and Nancy herself suffered from ill health in mid-life. She traveled out to Colorado to convalesce, but died there at age 48. Hunt remarried a couple of years later to a woman twenty years his junior. Andelusia became mother to the youngest Hunt children, but, sadly, buried three infants of her own. 

 

None of the girls married and Eva, the youngest, eventually moved to Oregon to live near her brother James Everett Hunt. Obviously public service was a family trait because James E. was a senator there. He died in 1933 at age 80 after being hit by a taxi. 

 

James Hunt, the father, died in 1905 at age 83 and was buried in the Naperville Cemetery with full Masonic honors. The Clarion newspaper headline that day was “Passing of a Naperville Pioneer.”