Marengo Township Early History.

Courtesy of McHenry County In The 20th Century Published 1995 By Heart of Marengo and McHenry County Historical Society. www.crystallakenet.org/mchs

The 1877 County Directory gives brief accounts of what they thought their history was, and since no white men had lived there before 1835, there must have been a good many people who had, to quote an old but common phrase, "come with the territory."

Calvin Spencer first came into Marengo Township in 1835 was not alone long. A. B. Coon, C. Sponable, R. I Simpkins, John Belden, Mr. Dunham and Dr. W. B. Mason followed soon after, the last named being probably the first  physician in the county. The first store was put up in 1838 by Charles Hibbard, the next in 1842, by Frank Safford and G. T. Kasson, the latter selling out to his partner at the end of the year.

Mr. Southwood, a Baptist minister, came in 1836 and preached the first sermon in the vicinity; and the first death was that of Calvin Spencer's mother, who died about two weeks after their settlement. Dr. Mason lived until 1847.

This is one of the wealthiest townships in the county, containing as it does, one of the largest villages, which is situated on Sections 35, and, 36 and for taste in private residences it is ahead of anything else in the county. Its leading lawyers, A. B. Coon, one of its earliest settlers, is als0 one of the most prominent men in the county and is counted the best technical lawyer at the bar of the circuit court.

This town, too, depends on the Kishwaukee and its tax for bridge money, the river running eastwardly across Sections 2.5, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 on the east of which it is joined by Rush Creek, from the northeast after flowing through Sections 4, 9, 17, 20 and 19; so the town may be said to be well watered.

As to transportation, the Galena Division of the Chicago and North Western Railroad furnishes all that is necessary, entering the town on the east side and a little south of the middle of the line of Section 36, and running northwesterly a little below the line between Sections 26 and 35, whence it crosses the township in a direct west course, making about six and a half miles of road.

The farmers of Marengo do not appear to have been afflicted with the "milk fever" to an alarming extent, and the town contains no factory for butter or cheese, but contains something no other township does; a stone quarry on Section 31, which has furnished the stone for the school&Mac173;houses at both Marengo and Union, besides one to two smaller buildings of the same class. The nursery business appears to lead all others right about the village, there being two large nurseries besides several smaller ones.

The village of Marengo nearly divides the honors of first settlement with Crystal Lake and Algonquin. It is situated in the southeast corner of the township, hence is about equally accessible as a market for Riley, Coral, Seneca and Marengo. It contains a windmill factory, an excellent steam fl0uring mill, a commodious stone school building, containing seven school rooms and an enrollment of about 350 pupils; not only these but her people take much more than ordinary interest in the progress of their school. They had one newspaper, The Republican, six churches, three hotels, one plaineing mill, two livery stables, three dry goods stores, ten groceries, two banks (one of the National), two boot and shoe stores, two drug stores, six doctors to prescribe the drugs, two jewelry stores, two lumber yards, two lawyers, which certainly speaks well for the town, and four ministers. Marengo once had a carriage factory that was carried on quite extensively by one Skinner, and some carriages were made there.

The story of the first days of Marengo and the story of Calvin Spencer are tied firmly together. He had been looking for a place to settle permanently all the way from Auburn, New York. He lived in Livingston County, New York, moved on to Cayuga County in the same state, then to Seneca County in Ohio and from there to LaPorte, Indiana. When he reached the then unnamed Pleasant Grove, he knew this was what he had been looking for. The 1885 history says he was accompanied by his sister, but a biography, written by his granddaughter when Marengo was 100 years old, not when it was incorporated, but 100 years old from the time he had come, says he was accompanied by his sister and her husband, together with a couple of other young men and a boy. He filed his claim for 160 acres that very day, and there is no comment on where he filed or how, when there were no towns, or even other people about.

 The granddaughter says, "They at once built a small log house and he then returned to LaPorte for his wife and three small children, the youngest two months old." Sources agree the house was small, a 16 foot square log cabin. Yet whether Mrs. Spencer and the babies were along, or he went and got them, there were all of them, and his sister and brother-in-law, the Braytons, scarcely room for a bed apiece on the floor. But as soon as they tried to live there people kept coming, begging for a roof over their heads! It was considered only good manners and decency to turn no one aside in the wilderness.

The next spring, he built two more log cabins, one an 18 foot square and the other 18 feet x 24 feet. They were placed so that there was room for a kitchen between. No one says whether it was ever roofed or was just space, somewhat sheltered where they could cook. Since being a hotel keeper was forced upon him, he meant to erect a frame structure. His business had increased tremendously, but in no account is there any mention of this new frame building being put up. In 1842, he sold the hotel to a man named Basford. Then he did build a frame house and there he lived, and died.

The granddaughter told more things about those early days. The chief, Big Thunder, was buried right there in the village, not up in the tree as Big Foot's son was buried, but sitting up, facing east, in a strong wooden pen to keep animals away, until eventually the skull fell off the body.

The first autumn they lived in Pleasant Grove, Calvin's parents came. Evidently they had not come with the young people because Mrs. Spencer was ill. She died in November and was the first funeral. The years went by. The deer did not wander so close to the houses, they saw fewer wild animals of any sort. But they were glad to exchange them for the nice stone school they built in place of the log schools they had at first. The first church meeting had been in the Smith cabin in 1837 when a circuit riding minister offered to preach for them before he went on farther. Even counting the children, his congregation amounted to less than a dozen people.

However, over the years there were churches, as well as schools, built from the stone quarry, though the churches were frame structures. The railroad came to Marengo, the Galena branch of the Chicago and North Western. In time, most of the farmers became dairymen. They had to chant the town's name when they got a post office.

For awhile they had the interurban going to Elgin, and i the teens of this century, they had a street car system going to DeKalb. There were, of course, many changes. M Spencer had lived to be a very old man and he died in 1899.

This article appeared in the Tracer, a publication of the, McHenry County Historical Society

This article is published with the permission of the McHenry County Historical Society.  The entire book, McHenry County in the 20th Century is available though their organization for $79.95 phone 815-923-2267. www.crystallakenet.org/mchs.

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