Historian: Bess Bower Dunn (1877 - 1959)

Bess Bower at Grass Lake, circa 1905. Dunn Museum Collections.

Bess Bower Dunn has made appearances in previous posts, but I've never featured her until now. She is so deserving of her own post!

Bess, also known as Bessie, was a woman of firsts. She was one of the first women in motion pictures, the county's first official historian, the county's first assistant probate clerk, and one of the county's earliest genealogists and historic preservationists.

Still from Edward Amet's silent film featuring best friends, Belle Spoor (left) and Bess Bower. Circa 1896. Amet Collection, Dunn Museum. 

About 1896, Bess and her best friend, Isabel "Belle" Spoor, were asked by inventor, Edward Amet, to help with his new motion picture invention. When the women arrived at the inventor’s home on North Avenue in Waukegan, Amet handed each a pair of boxing gloves. Bess recalled, “We whipped those long skirts out of the way and had a fine old time.” 

For several historic minutes, the girlfriends punched each other while Amet filmed. The stars of Amet's film titled, "Morning Exercise," became the first women in motion pictures.

Bess Bower working in Lake County's probate office as the assistant probate clerk, circa 1899. Bess Bower Dunn Collection, Dunn Museum, 61.14 

In 1899, Bess was hired as the county's assistant probate clerk, and in her spare time assisted people with their family research. If you happened into the probate office at the first half of the 20th century, Bess would happily assist in your research by looking into county records, and offering to visit local cemeteries to verify the correct spelling of surnames and birth/death dates. 

Bess Bower with Daniel Wright Memorial Rock in Half Day, 1909. Bess Bower Dunn Collection, Dunn Museum.

Bess was one of the founders of the Lake County Historical Society (defunct). In 1909, the Society placed a 7-ton memorial rock near the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue (Route 21) and Aptakisic Road west of the Des Plaines River to commemorate the county's first permanent non-native settler, Daniel Wright (1778-1873). See my post on Wright. 

Bess promoted Lake County history through the efforts of the Lake County Historical Society and by giving lectures. She also preserved history by documenting the county's heritage through research and speaking with descendants of early settlers. She was an avid photographer and traveled throughout the county looking for historic sites and natural areas to capture on film. 

Bess Bower with her box camera at an unknown location, circa 1905. Bess Bower Dunn Collection, Dunn Museum. 

Bess Bower with Native American trail tree in Lake Bluff, circa 1909. Bess Bower Dunn Collection, Dunn Museum. 

On November 21, 1918, after several years of courtship, Bess Bower married Roland R. Dunn. Roland was the son of Byron A. Dunn (1842-1926), historian, author, Civil War veteran, and newspaperman.  Roland became the advertising manager of the Globe Department Store in Waukegan. Sadly, just ten years into their marriage, Roland died of pneumonia following an appendicitis operation. Bess and his sisters were at his bedside. Bess never remarried. 

Bess Bower's husband, Roland R. Dunn (1874-1928). Photo 1903. 

In the mid-1950s, Bess Bower Dunn assisted Robert Vogel with his Lake County Museum of History in Wadsworth, Illinois. She was the museum's curator and donated materials from the Lake County Historical Society and her own collections for Vogel's museum. Those collections are now part of the collections of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum in Libertyville. 

Just before her death in 1959, the Lake County Board of Commissioners awarded Bess the title of Lake County Historian. She is the first person in the county's history to have the title. She was also honored for her 60 years of service as an employee of the County of Lake from 1899 to 1959, which made her the longest county employee on record.

The day after her passing, the courthouse flags were at half mast in memory of Bess and the county's Recorder of Deeds, Gustaf H. Fredbeck, who had also passed away.

Bess Bower Dunn was known to have a wide circle of friends. Here she is with friends in Millburn, Illinois: (left to right) Bess Bower, Florence Stewart, Mrs. White, Maud White, Mrs. Stewart, Mrs. Armbruster, and Mrs. Strang. Photo taken July 12, 1897. Bess Bower Dunn Collection, Dunn Museum. 

Bess Bower likely at home in Waukegan, circa 1896. Bess Bower Dunn Collection, Dunn Museum. 

Bess Bower Dunn is one of my most admired Lake County citizens. From her photographs and articles it's apparent her life was full of joy and purpose. I think she'd be pleased that her efforts in preservation are appreciated to this day. 

D. Dretske, ddretske@lcfpd.org

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Note: In 2016, the Lake County Forest Preserves Board voted to change the name of the Lake County Discovery Museum to the Bess Bower Dunn Museum, honoring Dunn's extraordinary efforts to preserve and promote Lake County's heritage. 

Note: the Lake County Historical Society's collections are now held by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum and Lake Forest College. 

Daniel Wright - County's First Non-Native Settler

Daniel Wright (1778-1873) is considered Lake County's first  permanent non-native settler. Native Americans were the original stewards of the land we call Lake County. There were also  French and British fur traders, who were seasonal inhabitants from about the mid-1600s.

Wright was born in Rutland, Vermont in 1778. He was a farmer and served in the War of 1812. Although he was known as "Captain" he served in the war as a Lieutenant with the 1st Rifle Company, 3rd Regiment of the Vermont Militia.

In 1814, he moved his family to Ohio and in 1832 began to explore land in Illinois. Rumors of good, cheap farmland led Wright to Fort Dearborn (Chicago), where trappers told him of good hunting along the Des Plaines River near what would become Half Day (later Lincolnshire).

Wright was the first of the Euro-American newcomers to stay year-round in what would become Lake County, Illinois. Though many of the county's history books note that Wright arrived in 1834, in a letter to the Waukegan Weekly Gazette in 1868, Wright stated that "the native tribe of Potawatomi... helped me raise my first rude log cabin in June 1833."

This public statement is significant when put into the context that the Spring 1833 date puts Wright's arrival before the signing of the Treaty of Chicago on September 26, 1833. In this treaty, signed between the U.S. Government and the United Nation of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians, the tribes were forced to relinquish their last tracts of Great Lakes’ land. The land was opened to non-native settlement. Accordingly, the trickle of settlers began in the spring of 1834.

Shown here is an artist's rendering of Wright's cabin. Wright stated that in the fall of 1833, a prairie fire swept through the area, burning his crop of hay and forcing his family to find shelter along the Des Plaines River bank. Fortunately, the cabin was unharmed since it had been built with green timber.

Wright never purchased the land he settled on, but his grandson, William Whigham, did. Wright farmed the land along the Des Plaines River until he died in 1873.

In 1909, the Lake County Historical Society placed a memorial rock near the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue (Route 21) and Aptakisic Road just west of the Des Plaines River where Wright had settled.

The rock was from the site of today's St. Mary's of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein. It was taken by wagon on dirt roads to Half Day by the Bairstow Company of Waukegan.

William Whigham, Wright's grandson, was photographed with the memorial rock about 1909. You will notice that the date carved into the rock to honor Wright's arrival is 1834. Hence, the continued confusion about when he arrived in Half Day.

The "X" marked in ink on the photograph on the left side of the rock, denotes the location of Wright's cabin. In his golden years, Wright lived with his grandson in a woodframe house on the southwest corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Aptakisic Road, now the site of a commercial development.

In 1996, the Illinois Department of Transporation determined that the rock needed to be removed from the road right-of-way. They contacted the Lake County Discovery Museum (now the Bess Bower Dunn Museum) to assist with finding an appropriate location. The Friends of Ryerson Woods and the Lake County Forest Preserve District agreed that the rock should be placed on public land where it could be enjoyed by all. With this in mind, and the fact that much of the land now preserved in the Ryerson Conservation Area was once owned by Wright's descendants, Ryerson Woods was chosen as the location. Photo of the Daniel Wright memorial rock at the Ryerson Conservation Area.