James T. Bacon (1830 - 1895)

In the early winter of 1834, citizens of the village Hannibal, New York were stirring about the prospect of moving west.

James Bacon, who was just a toddler, did not understand the great fuss of the "western enthusiasts" who included his uncle Hudson Bacon.

By February 1835, a small group of men, including Hudson Bacon, and led by John Bullen, Jr., formed an investment company—the Western Emigration Company. The goal was to establish a "colony" in which its members would aid one another and "mutually share profits and losses in the enterprise."

This was the start of James Bacon's noteworthy and tragic life.

The settlers sent a small group ahead to explore sites. In June 1835, a claim was made on the north side of Pike Creek in today's Kenosha, Wisconsin.

About fifteen families from Hannibal and Troy, New York arrived in the new settlement via the Erie Canal and Great Lakes. Among the settlers was five-year old James Bacon and his father, Peter Bacon, mother Clarinda Trowbridge Bacon, and sister Jane.

The Bacon family were one of the first settlers in Kenosha, Wisconsin. They witnessed the great surge of emigration to Kenosha and Lake Counties in the 1830s and 1840s. Ships arrived daily with passengers both American and foreign born. Like the vast majority of settlers, the Bacon family took up farming.

In late 1850, twenty-year old James Bacon purchased property in Lake County, Illinois, striking out on his own as a farmer.

Isaac Winter and Samuel Miller at the site of their 1830s mill pond, Newport Township Section 33.

This mill site was down the road from James Bacon's homestead.

(Browe School History, Bess Bower Dunn Museum)

Soon after settling in Lake County, James became acquainted with Frances "Fanny" Hinkston, the sister of prominent Lake County citizen, Lorenzo Hinkston. (read previous post on Fanny Hinkston).

James and Fanny wed on May 10, 1855.

In April 1856, James purchased 80 acres from Tryphena Bingham north of Yorkhouse Road and west of Delany Road in Newport Township (part of today's Waukegan Savanna Forest Preserve). Newlyweds, James and Fanny, settled there. In October, James purchased 19 acres in Warren Township from DeWitt Spaulding.

1861 map showing James T. Bacon's property (highlighted left of center) where he and Fanny lived.

Allen Spalding's property (below right) is where Fanny Hinkston lived with her sister's family 
before marrying Bacon. York House School where Fanny taught is also highlighted.
(1861 Lake County plat map)

The first tragedy in James's life occurred on April 15, 1858, when Fanny died. She was only twenty-seven. Her ornate tombstone at Union Cemetery is a living witness to James's grief. After his wife's untimely death, James continued to farm the Newport Township property, but also spent time with his family in Kenosha.

By the fall of 1863, James had re-married. He and his new wife, Maria C., made their home in the same house he had shared with Fanny.

The Civil War was raging, but James did not enlist until January 14, 1864. Nathaniel Vose of Newport Township recruited him into Company I of the 17th Illinois Cavalry.

While he was away at war, James's mother died, and his health began to decline. On May 31, 1865, he mustered out of military service due to illness.

There was one bright spot the summer he returned home—his wife gave birth to a baby boy, Elliott Parker Bacon, born July 8.

James's happiness again was interrupted when his wife Maria died on January 16, 1872. She was buried at the Spaulding Corner Cemetery (today's Union Cemetery), on Grand Avenue in Waukegan.

Grave marker for Maria C. Bacon (1833-1872), second wife of James T. Bacon. 

Union Cemetery, Waukegan, Illinois. FindAGrave.com

Following Maria's death, James made his way to Indiana where his father was living. There he met the widow, Mary Pugh Freligh (1839 - 1917).

James married Mary in 1875, and the couple returned to Lake County with James's son Elliott, and Mary's children, Hattie and Charles. The family settled in Wadsworth, and a son, Joseph Blaine Bacon, was born on August 28, 1877.

Five years later, James and Maria sold their property and moved the family to Thayer County, Nebraska. James continued in farming, but appeared to suffer greatly from "paralysis contracted" since his military service.

The last ten years of James's life were difficult as he struggled with poor health.

In 1886, James was considered an "invalid" (probably due to the paralysis) and admitted to the Western Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Soldiers' homes were established to care for the great number of Civil War veterans, who had returned from the war missing an arm or leg, or suffering from wounds that would not heal, or post traumatic stress disorder (which was entirely misunderstood). These homes were a great relief to families who could no longer care for their veteran.

In 1888, James was transferred to the Northwestern Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (now the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center). It is unclear how long James remained at this facility.

Historic buildings of the former Northwestern Branch of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where James T. Bacon lived. (Photo by James Rosenthal from the nps.gov website)

James Bacon's deteriorating health became public knowledge when on May 31, 1895, the Lake County Clerk issued a "command" to the County Sheriff George H. Brown to "summon James T. Bacon if he shall be found in your County," to appear before the court.

Mary Bacon filed an application for the appointment of a conservator for the care and management of her husband's real and personal property.

Notice regarding James T. Bacon published in the Waukegan Gazette, June 1, 1895. 

James Bacon appeared in court in Waukegan on June 15, 1895. His attorney made the following statement: "James T. Bacon... is of sound mind and fully able, fit and competent to properly manage and control his properties."

The court determined that Bacon was a "distracted person." This terminology was commonly used to describe mental illness. Charles A. Partridge was appointed as Bacon's principal conservator. Partridge was also a Civil War veteran, having served with the 96th Illinois.

James returned to the soldier's home in Milwaukee where he died on December 22, 1895. The cause of death was meningoencephalitis, a condition caused by a virus, bacteria or parasite.

Entry for James T. Bacon in U.S. Burial Register Military Posts and National Cemeteries. Ancestry.com

James Bacon was buried at the Spaulding Corner Cemetery with his first two wives, Fanny and Maria.

Mary J. Bacon died in Waukegan in 1917 and was buried in Indiana.

James T. Bacon's gravemarker at Union Cemetery, Waukegan, Illinois with recognition

of his service in the 17th Illinois Cavalry.  FindAGrave.com

Special thanks to Ann Darrow, Waukegan Historical Society, for her Bacon Family genealogy, and Al Westerman for land purchase research. 

Sources:

Lake County Recorder of Deeds, Waukegan, Illinois.
Newport Township Browe School History, 1918. Lake County Discovery Museum.
Waukegan Township York House School History, 1918. Lake County Discovery Museum.
1861 Lake County plat map, L. Gast Bro. & Co. Lith., St. Louis, Missouri.
The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin, Western Historical Company, 1879.
Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War, Brian Matthew Jordan, 2015.
Lake County Court Probate records, James T. Bacon, 1895. Ancestry.com
"James T. Bacon" U.S. Burial Register Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862 - 1960,     Ancestry.com 
Veterans Affairs National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers: https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/veterans_affairs/Northwestern_Branch.html
"Union Cemetery" FindAGrave.com

One-Room School Teacher, Fanny Hinkston

A picture is worth a thousand words.

In the case of Frances "Fanny" Hinkston, her photo was my starting point for uncovering a forgotten life.

Fanny Hinkston Bacon (1831 - 1858)

Photo circa 1855. Yorkhouse School History, Collections of Bess Bower Dunn Museum.

It was difficult to research Fanny due in part to her short life, and that women's lives tended not to include activities that made it into the public record, since they were not allowed to vote or hold office. If not for this photo—so carefully placed by students in the York House School history (written in 1918) and preserved in the museum's collections—we may never have known of Fanny's existence.

Fanny Hinkston was born in New York in 1831. The date of her arrival in Lake County is unknown, but her relatives were here as early as 1836. One of the county's most distinguished settlers—Lorenzo Hinkston (1819-1905)—was most likely Fanny's brother. Lorenzo settled in Waukegan Township in 1836 in the company of Leonard Spaulding.

According to the York House School history, Miss Fanny was its teacher in 1849. This would have been during the spring/summer school term. It was generally believed that female teachers could not handle large farm boys, so they taught during the spring/summer term when boys were needed most on the farm and did not attend school.

The one-room York House schoolhouse was located in Waukegan Township on the southeast corner of today's Greenbay Road and Yorkhouse Road (near Bairstow Avenue).

York House School as it looked in 1855. (BBDM Collection)

The plain rectangular building with no embellishments was typical of Midwestern one-room schoolhouses.

The school was first built in the early 1840s as a log cabin. This frame structure may have been 

built by the time Fanny Hinkston taught there in 1849.

In October 1850, Fanny was residing a couple of miles south of the schoolhouse with Hannah Hinkston Spaulding (Spalding) and her children. Hannah was the wife of Allen Spaulding and sister of Lorenzo Hinkston. Although no online family histories connect Frances "Fanny" Hinkston to Hannah and Lorenzo, it is believed they were siblings.

Among Fanny's pupils were Hannah's daughter, Mary (1842 - 1910), and their neighbor (and relative) Emily Hinkston (1844-1931), daughter of Eber Hinkston, Jr.

Emily Hinkston Moulton started attending the York House School 

when she was five years old in 1849. She is pictured here about 1865.

(BBDM Collection)

Fanny's other pupils included: Thomas, Jerry and Oliver Brown; John, Charles and Elisa Miller; Minerva Buell, Mary Emmons, Augusta Phillips, Lily Putnam, and Mary White.

According to historian, Wayne E. Fuller, in the one-room schools, it was said that "no school, no matter how well equipped, was better than its teacher." The teacher was a one-person show, setting a good moral example for the students, in addition to teaching Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, and taking on janitorial and administrative duties.

During her time as a teacher, Fanny met farmer James Bacon. The Bacon family had moved from New York to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin (just over the stateline).

On May 10, 1855, Fanny Hinkston married James T. Bacon, the son of Peter and Clarinda Bacon.

Three years later, in April 1858, Fanny died. There is no record of the cause of death, but she may have died in childbirth. Fanny's obituary stated that she was the sister of "L. Hinkston." This is more than likely Lorenzo Hinkston.

Tombstone of "Fanny wife of James T. Bacon" at Union Cemetery, Waukegan. 

(Photo by Pence on FindAGrave.com)

At just twenty-seven years old, Fanny's hopes and dreams for a life with James had come to an end. Her family's grief is reflected in the symbolism on her tombstone: a weeping willow tree for their sadness, and a tree stump for her life cut short.

The story of James T. Bacon's life after the loss of Fanny will be discussed in a future post.

Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org

~ ~ ~

Sources:

• Waukegan Township York House School History, 1918. Bess Bower Dunn Museum. 
• One-Room Schools of the Middle West: an Illustrated History by Wayne E. Fuller. University Press of Kansas, 1994.
• 1850 U.S. Census. Ancestry.com 
• Illinois, Marriage Index. Ancestry.com 
• FindAGrave.com

Mother Rudd's Temperance Tavern

The historic Mother Rudd House stands on the corner of Old Grand Avenue and Kilbourne Road in Gurnee. The building is a testament to Lake County's settlement period and the county's role in the national Temperance Movement.

Mother Rudd House, Gurnee, Illinois. Built in 1843.
Photo courtesy of Warren Township Historical Society. 

Wealthy Buell Harvey Rudd (1793 - 1880), endearingly known as "Mother Rudd," was Lake County's first woman innkeeper, a temperance supporter, and one of the county's best known citizens. She founded the O'Plain House (today's Mother Rudd House), as a temperance tavern in 1843.

Temperance taverns developed in the 19th century out of the Temperance Movement, which initially railed against hard liquor, but soon advocated abstinence from all alcohol.

This social movement was mostly made up of women, who saw the ills of menfolk drinking whiskey, rum and hard cider at all hours of the day. Drinking hard liquor was culturally accepted and widespread, but by the late 1830s, temperance taverns were established as an alternative to public bars where alcohol was served.

The Temperance Movement, which had its start in New England in the early 1800s, was transplanted to the Midwest by settlers. Among those newly settled Lake Countians were Wealthy and Jonathan Harvey.

Wealthy and Jonathan had married in 1813 in the prosperous whaling port of New London, Connecticut. They lived in Litchfield, Herkimer County, New York, and later in Summit County, Ohio before coming to O'Plain (now Gurnee) with their 10 surviving children, aged 6 to 29.

It is generally believed that Jonathan and Wealthy Harvey arrived in O'Plain around 1842, following Wealthy's brothers, Horatio and Abel Buell.

The settlement of O'Plain was appealing due to its location at the intersection of the Milwaukee Road, and the Fox Lake and Little Fort Road (now Grand Avenue). Innkeepers, grocers, and blacksmiths converged at this point to provide services to travelers and the influx of settlers.

Milwaukee Road and Grand Avenue intersecting at the iron bridge
over the Des Plaines River, circa 1900. Mother Rudd House in distance.

In 1843, the Harveys purchased 77 acres from Isaiah Marsh at today's Kilbourne Road and Old Grand Avenue. (Kilbourne Road had originally been part of the Milwaukee Road). Along with having acreage to farm, the property included a settlement house built by the New York Land Company, which provided temporary housing to settlers.

Shortly after their arrival, Wealthy and Jonathan set about building a new home for their family with accommodations for travelers, across the road from the settlement house. It is probable that part of the original settlement house was used in the new structure.

When planning the new frame structure, a carpenter offered to build it for free if the couple paid for the doors at a rate of $1 for the first door, $2 for the second door, $4 for the third door, and so on. Initially, the Harveys thought this was a good deal until a friend calculated that the last door (there would be 22) would cost them $2,097,152!

O'Plain was not a dry community, and Wealthy took a stand against her alcohol-serving tavern neighbors, by opening her temperance tavern—the O'Plain House. A nearby public bar with one of the worst reputations was Barney Hick's "California Exchange." Hick's place was so raucous that the one-room school situated across the street had to be re-located because "people resented having their children forced to see the drunken men who frequented the tavern."

"Woman's Holy War" an allegorical political cartoon representing the Temperance Movement.The Saint Joan of Arc-styled leader is part of a group of "holy women" destroying barrels of alcohol. (Published by Currier & Ives, New York, 1874. Library of Congress online)

Sadly, on January 22, 1845, Jonathan Harvey passed away. He was 55 years old. 

On November 14, 1846, Wealthy married Erastus Rudd. Rudd farmed the land while Wealthy ran the Temperance tavern, which became known as "Mother Rudd's."

From the start, Mother Rudd's O'Plain Tavern was a place for the community to come together, and was used as a Town Hall for local elections and meetings. At Christmas, Wealthy offered customers elaborate dinners that included oysters and pastries, and entertainment such as sleighing parties.

Intersection of the old Milwaukee Road/today's Kilbourne Road (left) 
and Grand Avenue, showing Mother Rudd House at right. Circa 1910.
Courtesy of Warren Township Historical Society.

During the Civil War, the Rudd's were strong Union supporters. Local legend states that the Rudd's barn, and possibly the tavern's basement, were used to hide enslaved people seeking freedom via the Underground Railroad. 

In 1862, Erastus Rudd was appointed the town's postmaster. This made their home not only an inn, but also the post office.

In June 1870, Erastus Rudd died of dropsy (edema). After her second husband's death, Wealthy dressed in black for the rest of her life, and later added a white lace cap on her head. 

Now in her late seventies, Wealthy discontinued operating her home as a tavern. She lived there until her own death on August 8, 1880.

Wealthy's daughter, Nancy Harvey Mutaw, re-opened the house as an inn, continuing her mother's legacy. According to the Warren Township Historical Society, Nancy operated the inn until about 1894. She died in 1915.

Nancy Harvey Mutaw (1830 - 1915),
daughter of "Mother Rudd," circa 1890. Findagrave.com online

After Nancy's death, the property was sold to the McCann family, who for a time, had a candy store on the front porch.

After a series of owners, in 1984, the Village of Gurnee purchased the historic building and three acres. An agreement was made to partner with the Warren Township Historical Society in the restoration and operation of the house. For over 30 years, the Society has exhibited its historical collections and given tours and programs at the Mother Rudd House, while the Village continues to maintain the building and grounds.

For more information on touring the Mother Rudd House contact the Warren Township Historical Society info@motherrudd.org.

~ ~ ~

Sources:

A History of Lake County, Illinois, John J. Halsey, 1912.
A History of Warren Township, Edward S. Lawson, 1974.
Warren Township Historical Society, Gurnee, Illinois.

Historic Minto Home, 1857 - 2016

Nearly everyday I drive past the Minto homestead on Deep Lake Road in Antioch Township. I have spent years researching and acquainting myself with this historic family of Scottish immigrants through the letters, diaries and objects preserved by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (formerly Lake County Discovery Museum).

The Minto home on Deep Lake Road with original 1857 house (center two-story structure) 

and additions. (BBDM 93.45.44).

The Minto family were some of the earliest Scottish settlers to Lake County, Illinois.

In the spring of 1840, David Minto, Jane Johnstone Minto, their sons William, John and Robert, and Jane's sister Margaret Johnstone, left Scotland for the United States. They sailed out of Liverpool, England on the ship Fairfield, arriving in New York on May 16th. 

David Minto and family, including Margaret Johnstone, on Fairfield's manifest.

Note the signature of the ship's master William L. Lyons at bottom right.

(Ancestry.com New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, "David Minto," [database on-line])

The family lived for three years in a Quaker settlement in Canandaigua, New York, where son, David J. Minto was born in 1841. That same year, cousin George White of Annan, Scotland joined them, and in September married Margaret.

In the spring of 1843, the Mintos headed west. (George and Margaret would remain in New York an additional year). The Mintos traveled via the Great Lakes, landing at Southport (now Kenosha), and continuing to Lake County, Illinois by ox cart. There, David Minto purchased land east of Loon Lake along today's Deep Lake Road in Antioch Township.

The land was heavily forested, affording David plenty of timber to build a log house and barn. These structures were built on the west side of Deep Lake Road, north of Grass Lake Road. David and Jane's daughter, Jannet, was born in this log house in 1844.

Jane Johnstone Minto with her children, Robert, William, Jannet and David, 

circa 1855 (BBDM 93.45.75).

On March 31, 1844, cousin Andrew White (also living near Loon Lake) wrote to his brother George White (still in New York), and mentioned "David Minto has been rather poorly, but is better again."

David's health did not improve, and just six years after settling in Lake County, David Minto died on March 17, 1849, aged 45. He left a widow and five children (the oldest being twelve).

With her sister and cousins living nearby, Jane was supported in this tragic loss.

Deed for 40 acres purchased by Jane Minto, September 1, 1849. (BBDM 93.45.113).

By 1857, Jane Minto built her family a new home a short distance from the original log house, which they then used as a granary.

Floor plan of the Minto home showing the original house outlined in red and its additions. 

By Katherine V. Minto, 1964. (BBDM 93.45). 

In 1869, Jane's son, Civil War veteran David J. Minto, married Susannah Dale Smith from neighboring Millburn. The newlyweds settled into the home with Jane. 

David Minto and Susie Smith were married on May 20, 1869, 

and lived in the Minto home. (BBDM 93.45.52 and Private Collection). 

The first addition was made for the newlyweds by taking part of another home from the neighborhood and adding it to the north side of the house (Dining room, Bedroom, Kitchen and Back Room as shown on floor plan).

In 1905, when David and Susie's son, David Harold Minto (known as Harold) married Mildred Holloway, a bedroom was added on the south side of the house.

Eventually, Harold and Mildred lived in the north half of the house, while David and Susie, their daughter Una Jean, and Hannah Smith (Susie's sister) lived in the south portion of the home.

David J. and son were partners in the family farm. They raised sheep, purebred Shorthorn cattle and Clydesdale horses. 

Susie Smith Minto's garden at the southeast corner of the house, circa 1905. (BBDM 93.45.77)

Minto family pictured at their home in 1898. Seated: Susie and David, 

standing Harold and Una Jean and kittens. (BBDM 93.45.91).

Susie Minto died in 1914 and David in 1915. In 1920, Una Jean left to become a missionary in Angola, West Africa. 

David Harold and his daughter Ruth were the last Mintos to live in the home. Harold died in 1963, and the old home was vacated, and property sold. 

Sadly, in the early morning hours of Friday, March 4, 2016, the Minto home (undergoing renovations, but unoccupied) was destroyed by fire. I was heartbroken when I drove past that morning to find the ashes of the Mintos' home. 

Remains of the Minto home after the fire, March 4, 2016. (D. Dretske)

View of the Minto home fire in the early morning of March 4, 2016. Antioch and Lake Villa Fire Departments responded. Photo credit Joe Shuman for Lake County News-Sun. 

The Minto family lived on the property for 120 years from 1843 to 1963. It was remarkable that the 1857 home remained intact for so many years after the family's departure. 

Thankfully, the stories of this Scottish-American family will continue to be told, because of the foresight of David and Susie's granddaughters, Ruth Minto, Katherine Vida Minto, and Lura Jean Minto Johaningsmeier, who donated the family's personal belongings to the Lake County Discovery Museum (now known as Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County).

For more on this family, check out my previous post Susie Smith's Romance with Richard Thain and the Illinois Digital Archives where the Bess Bower Dunn Museum's photos and letters from the Minto Family Papers are hosted.