Moved from New York to Indiana when a boy, then relocated to Illinois about 1826, settling in Cherry Valley, Winnebago County, Illinois in August, 1835. Married Hannah Smith of Ohio in April of 1844. The couple had nine surviving children: Maria, Joseph, Daniel, George, Lucy, Eli, William, Fred, and Mary. As of 1877, owned 259 acres of land.
Calvin Goodrich Griggs , son of Joseph Perrine Griggs and Sally Goodrich Griggs, was born in Vernon, Oneida County, New York, February 25th, 1816. When but a child his parents came down the Ohio River and settled at Prinston, Indiana, in 1819. His father, being a mill-wright by trade, and the family remained there for several years building mills. While the family lived here, Landon Ezekiel was born May 25th, 1820; also Jacob Vandusen was born June 1st, 1822, but died October, 1823. In 1824 the family moved up the Wabash River and settled at Terre Haute, and here Joseph carried on his trade of mill-building. While living here, Horace was born December 26th, 1825, and Eli, was born May 2nd, 1827.
In 1833, Calvin, with his father Joseph, took wagon loads of potatoes to Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, and saw the guns stacked there, as the Blackhawk War had just closed. Later, the family moved up to Fort Dearborn, or Des Plaines, where they remained, perhaps a year, in this comparative wilderness surrounded by swamps.
Hearing of the rich prairie land farther west, the family decided to try their fortunes with the westward moving pioneers, and in August, 1835, they settled on the banks of the Kishwaukee River where Cherry Valley is now.
Calvin and his younger brothers, ferried travelers across the river as there was no bridge. Cherry Valley was first known as ‘Griggs Ferry’.
There was but one house in Rockford at this time and the Pottawatomie Indians were numerous in this section and would often step in and sample food cooking if the latch string was left outside. Their chief—“Big Thunder”, died in Belvidere in 1835. Soon after this the Government sent the Indians to reservations beyond the Mississippi river and Calvin and his father Joseph, helped in transporting them and their corn to the river. Wild game was plentiful and Calvin often told of counting, while standing on the mound southeast of Cherry Valley, 43 deer as they came down to the river to drink.
The family suffered the privations of the pioneers as the nearest grist mill was at Ottawa, 70 miles away, so they pounded corn in a mortar with a pestle of iron wood and ground their wheat and buckwheat in a coffee mill.
Calvin, being the eldest son, assisted his father in building a mill on the north side of the Kishwaukee River, the first mill in Cherry Valley.
The home was located on the bluff west of the road toward Rockford, and while living here, Calvin worked for Mr. Mulford who had settled on land a few miles west of Cherry Valley. In later years he often told of the visit of “Prairie Bandits” to this home. It seems it had been rumored about that Mr. Mulford had received a large sum of money from the east and this information reached a gang of desperadoes and horse thieves who infested Ogle county and surrounding settlements in the early 1840’s. The bandits were well armed with pistols and knives, came one night and threatened Mr. Mulford and his wife with death unless they gave them all their money. He told them he had but $400.00, which they took but were not satisfied with this amount. They ransacked the house, even cutting up large cakes of tallow in their search for gold. Some of these desperadoes were caught and hung in Ogle county soon after.
The state road from Cherry Valley was laid out to St. Charles by Calvin holding the plow while his father drove the team to make the furrow trail, passing through what was later, Charter Oak and Genoa.
The lead mines of Galena turned the tide of immigration to this section of Illinois and the covered wagon was a common sight. Teaming (horse and wagon) from Chicago to Galena was the only way of transportation at this time. The Griggs boys were among the first to engage in this business, carting loads of grain to Chicago and on the return trip, bringing passengers or freight to Galena. These trips usually took about a week and many hardships were endured. The roads were sometimes almost impassable, especially near Chicago when they would have to double team the wagons to pull them through the mud, often knee deep, where State street is now located. There were ironic signs there bearing the legend, ‘No bottom here’. Wagon wheels and tongues half buried in the mud, justified the warning. There were many sloughs to be crossed on the way and in some of these, logs and rails were laid which made ‘corduroy’ roads. This made it often very rough riding but better than being stuck in the muddy sloughs.
The family left Cherry Valley, where the father, Joseph had filed on a tract of land in 1835. They settled on South Prairie, which was a few miles south of Cherry Valley, there the soil was thought to be better for farming and the sons were anxious to get claims for themselves. This was in the early 1840’s and the nearest Land Office was at Dixon where claims must be filed in order to buy land for $1.35 per acre. Many claims were being ‘jumped’ and the first to reach the Land Office was the winner. Calvin had often related how nearly he came to losing his claim, as he did not have the money at first. Upon hearing that Pete Shirley, a neighbor, who also wanted the claim, had borrowed the money and was going to Dixon the next day, Calvin borrowed the money from a friend and mounted his faithful horse, ‘Old Dick’ and rode all night so that he might be in Dixon when the Land Office opened in the morning. It was a hard ride of Forty miles but he arrived in time and saved his claim. As he was leaving, his opponent rode up and was much chagrinned at seeing Calvin, who laughed and said, “Well, Pete, I beat you to it this time”.
The Camp Meeting and the Spelling School were the meeting places for the young people and it was at the latter where Calvin met his future wife, Miss Hannah Smith. She had, on this particular evening, the honor of “spelling down” the school and Calvin then and there decided that he was in need of a “good speller” in his little shack on the (his) claim. So he made bold and asked the privilege of “seeing the young lady home”. This was the beginning which culminated in their marriage on April 2nd, 1844 at the home of her uncle, William Witter, in Flora Township, Boone county, Illinois.
Now, a few words about Hannah Smith, who came to Illinois with her widowed Mother, a brother and three sisters in 1840, from near Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where she was born September 4th, 1822. They first settled in LaSalle county, where an older married sister lived but finding there so much malaria, in 1842 they came to Boone county where the Mother’s three brothers settled. They were Abram, Dr. Joseph and William Witter.
The Mother filed on a claim near her brothers, where she passed away on the 31st of December, 1848. Calvin and Hannah bought this claim, deeded from the Government where they made their home, until his death, December 21st, 1883 and where the younger eight children were born and reared.
This home entertained many travelers as it was situated on the State Highway, where passed daily the western bound Prairie Schooners. Calvin Griggs held positions of honor and trust in the community, such as Road Commissioner, School Director and Church Trustee. He was known as “one whose word was as good as his bond” and was always alive to the best interests of social welfare of the community. In his early twenties he was converted and joined the Methodist Church and remained a loyal member and supporter to the end. He was an industrious and successful man of affairs, owning 259 acres of land and besides farming he owned and operated two threshing machines. In his blacksmith shop he repaired his machinery and shod his horses. Having worked with his Father building mills, he was capable in building or help build the good house and large barns, granaries and other buildings on the farm. He took great pride in his orchard of more than two hundred choice fruit trees. Here on this farm he passed away, December 21st, 1883, in his sixty-eighth year after two months of suffering. His illness began with an infected toe and foot, which necessitated later amputation of the leg, but to no avail. He was buried at Flora church Cemetery in the Griggs lot, where also lie buried his Father, Mother and sons, George and John.
It was the wish of the deceased that Fred, the youngest son, should have the home place as William, son next older had purchased and established a home on eighty (acres) of the original tract. Fred, being engaged in mercantile business in Kirkland, Illinois, later sold the farm to his sister, Lucy and her husband, W. A. (Whipple) Harrington, who held the place until about 1900, when the old farm was sold to strangers and the Harrington family moved to Rockford.
The wife and Mother, Hannah W. Griggs, after the death of her husband, longed to see her brothers and sisters in the east, so accompanied by her youngest daughter, Mary, she visited relatives in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the spring of 1884. She passed the remaining years of her life with her daughters, passing away at the home of her daughter, Lucy, in Rockford, Illinois, October 5th, 1905. She was buried by the side of her husband, in Flora Church Cemetery.
By Mary Julia M. Griggs Heyward 1922, transcribed by Janice Erbe Mackey, her niece.
Calvin Goodrich Griggs , son of Joseph Perrine Griggs and Sally Goodrich Griggs, was born in Vernon, Oneida County, New York, February 25th, 1816. When but a child his parents came down the Ohio River and settled at Prinston, Indiana, in 1819. His father, being a mill-wright by trade, and the family remained there for several years building mills. While the family lived here, Landon Ezekiel was born May 25th, 1820; also Jacob Vandusen was born June 1st, 1822, but died October, 1823. In 1824 the family moved up the Wabash River and settled at Terre Haute, and here Joseph carried on his trade of mill-building. While living here, Horace was born December 26th, 1825, and Eli, was born May 2nd, 1827.
In 1833, Calvin, with his father Joseph, took wagon loads of potatoes to Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, and saw the guns stacked there, as the Blackhawk War had just closed. Later, the family moved up to Fort Dearborn, or Des Plaines, where they remained, perhaps a year, in this comparative wilderness surrounded by swamps.
Hearing of the rich prairie land farther west, the family decided to try their fortunes with the westward moving pioneers, and in August, 1835, they settled on the banks of the Kishwaukee River where Cherry Valley is now.
Calvin and his younger brothers, ferried travelers across the river as there was no bridge. Cherry Valley was first known as ‘Griggs Ferry’.
There was but one house in Rockford at this time and the Pottawatomie Indians were numerous in this section and would often step in and sample food cooking if the latch string was left outside. Their chief—“Big Thunder”, died in Belvidere in 1835. Soon after this the Government sent the Indians to reservations beyond the Mississippi river and Calvin and his father Joseph, helped in transporting them and their corn to the river. Wild game was plentiful and Calvin often told of counting, while standing on the mound southeast of Cherry Valley, 43 deer as they came down to the river to drink.
The family suffered the privations of the pioneers as the nearest grist mill was at Ottawa, 70 miles away, so they pounded corn in a mortar with a pestle of iron wood and ground their wheat and buckwheat in a coffee mill.
Calvin, being the eldest son, assisted his father in building a mill on the north side of the Kishwaukee River, the first mill in Cherry Valley.
The home was located on the bluff west of the road toward Rockford, and while living here, Calvin worked for Mr. Mulford who had settled on land a few miles west of Cherry Valley. In later years he often told of the visit of “Prairie Bandits” to this home. It seems it had been rumored about that Mr. Mulford had received a large sum of money from the east and this information reached a gang of desperadoes and horse thieves who infested Ogle county and surrounding settlements in the early 1840’s. The bandits were well armed with pistols and knives, came one night and threatened Mr. Mulford and his wife with death unless they gave them all their money. He told them he had but $400.00, which they took but were not satisfied with this amount. They ransacked the house, even cutting up large cakes of tallow in their search for gold. Some of these desperadoes were caught and hung in Ogle county soon after.
The state road from Cherry Valley was laid out to St. Charles by Calvin holding the plow while his father drove the team to make the furrow trail, passing through what was later, Charter Oak and Genoa.
The lead mines of Galena turned the tide of immigration to this section of Illinois and the covered wagon was a common sight. Teaming (horse and wagon) from Chicago to Galena was the only way of transportation at this time. The Griggs boys were among the first to engage in this business, carting loads of grain to Chicago and on the return trip, bringing passengers or freight to Galena. These trips usually took about a week and many hardships were endured. The roads were sometimes almost impassable, especially near Chicago when they would have to double team the wagons to pull them through the mud, often knee deep, where State street is now located. There were ironic signs there bearing the legend, ‘No bottom here’. Wagon wheels and tongues half buried in the mud, justified the warning. There were many sloughs to be crossed on the way and in some of these, logs and rails were laid which made ‘corduroy’ roads. This made it often very rough riding but better than being stuck in the muddy sloughs.
The family left Cherry Valley, where the father, Joseph had filed on a tract of land in 1835. They settled on South Prairie, which was a few miles south of Cherry Valley, there the soil was thought to be better for farming and the sons were anxious to get claims for themselves. This was in the early 1840’s and the nearest Land Office was at Dixon where claims must be filed in order to buy land for $1.35 per acre. Many claims were being ‘jumped’ and the first to reach the Land Office was the winner. Calvin had often related how nearly he came to losing his claim, as he did not have the money at first. Upon hearing that Pete Shirley, a neighbor, who also wanted the claim, had borrowed the money and was going to Dixon the next day, Calvin borrowed the money from a friend and mounted his faithful horse, ‘Old Dick’ and rode all night so that he might be in Dixon when the Land Office opened in the morning. It was a hard ride of Forty miles but he arrived in time and saved his claim. As he was leaving, his opponent rode up and was much chagrinned at seeing Calvin, who laughed and said, “Well, Pete, I beat you to it this time”.
The Camp Meeting and the Spelling School were the meeting places for the young people and it was at the latter where Calvin met his future wife, Miss Hannah Smith. She had, on this particular evening, the honor of “spelling down” the school and Calvin then and there decided that he was in need of a “good speller” in his little shack on the (his) claim. So he made bold and asked the privilege of “seeing the young lady home”. This was the beginning which culminated in their marriage on April 2nd, 1844 at the home of her uncle, William Witter, in Flora Township, Boone county, Illinois.
Now, a few words about Hannah Smith, who came to Illinois with her widowed Mother, a brother and three sisters in 1840, from near Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where she was born September 4th, 1822. They first settled in LaSalle county, where an older married sister lived but finding there so much malaria, in 1842 they came to Boone county where the Mother’s three brothers settled. They were Abram, Dr. Joseph and William Witter.
The Mother filed on a claim near her brothers, where she passed away on the 31st of December, 1848. Calvin and Hannah bought this claim, deeded from the Government where they made their home, until his death, December 21st, 1883 and where the younger eight children were born and reared.
This home entertained many travelers as it was situated on the State Highway, where passed daily the western bound Prairie Schooners. Calvin Griggs held positions of honor and trust in the community, such as Road Commissioner, School Director and Church Trustee. He was known as “one whose word was as good as his bond” and was always alive to the best interests of social welfare of the community. In his early twenties he was converted and joined the Methodist Church and remained a loyal member and supporter to the end. He was an industrious and successful man of affairs, owning 259 acres of land and besides farming he owned and operated two threshing machines. In his blacksmith shop he repaired his machinery and shod his horses. Having worked with his Father building mills, he was capable in building or help build the good house and large barns, granaries and other buildings on the farm. He took great pride in his orchard of more than two hundred choice fruit trees. Here on this farm he passed away, December 21st, 1883, in his sixty-eighth year after two months of suffering. His illness began with an infected toe and foot, which necessitated later amputation of the leg, but to no avail. He was buried at Flora church Cemetery in the Griggs lot, where also lie buried his Father, Mother and sons, George and John.
It was the wish of the deceased that Fred, the youngest son, should have the home place as William, son next older had purchased and established a home on eighty (acres) of the original tract. Fred, being engaged in mercantile business in Kirkland, Illinois, later sold the farm to his sister, Lucy and her husband, W. A. (Whipple) Harrington, who held the place until about 1900, when the old farm was sold to strangers and the Harrington family moved to Rockford.
The wife and Mother, Hannah W. Griggs, after the death of her husband, longed to see her brothers and sisters in the east, so accompanied by her youngest daughter, Mary, she visited relatives in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the spring of 1884. She passed the remaining years of her life with her daughters, passing away at the home of her daughter, Lucy, in Rockford, Illinois, October 5th, 1905. She was buried by the side of her husband, in Flora Church Cemetery.
By Mary Julia M. Griggs Heyward 1922, transcribed by Janice Erbe Mackey, her niece.
Moved from New York to Indiana when a boy, then relocated to Illinois about 1826, settling in Cherry Valley, Winnebago County, Illinois in August, 1835. Married Hannah Smith of Ohio in April of 1844. The couple had nine surviving children: Maria, Joseph, Daniel, George, Lucy, Eli, William, Fred, and Mary. As of 1877, owned 259 acres of land.
Calvin Goodrich Griggs , son of Joseph Perrine Griggs and Sally Goodrich Griggs, was born in Vernon, Oneida County, New York, February 25th, 1816. When but a child his parents came down the Ohio River and settled at Prinston, Indiana, in 1819. His father, being a mill-wright by trade, and the family remained there for several years building mills. While the family lived here, Landon Ezekiel was born May 25th, 1820; also Jacob Vandusen was born June 1st, 1822, but died October, 1823. In 1824 the family moved up the Wabash River and settled at Terre Haute, and here Joseph carried on his trade of mill-building. While living here, Horace was born December 26th, 1825, and Eli, was born May 2nd, 1827.
In 1833, Calvin, with his father Joseph, took wagon loads of potatoes to Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, and saw the guns stacked there, as the Blackhawk War had just closed. Later, the family moved up to Fort Dearborn, or Des Plaines, where they remained, perhaps a year, in this comparative wilderness surrounded by swamps.
Hearing of the rich prairie land farther west, the family decided to try their fortunes with the westward moving pioneers, and in August, 1835, they settled on the banks of the Kishwaukee River where Cherry Valley is now.
Calvin and his younger brothers, ferried travelers across the river as there was no bridge. Cherry Valley was first known as ‘Griggs Ferry’.
There was but one house in Rockford at this time and the Pottawatomie Indians were numerous in this section and would often step in and sample food cooking if the latch string was left outside. Their chief—“Big Thunder”, died in Belvidere in 1835. Soon after this the Government sent the Indians to reservations beyond the Mississippi river and Calvin and his father Joseph, helped in transporting them and their corn to the river. Wild game was plentiful and Calvin often told of counting, while standing on the mound southeast of Cherry Valley, 43 deer as they came down to the river to drink.
The family suffered the privations of the pioneers as the nearest grist mill was at Ottawa, 70 miles away, so they pounded corn in a mortar with a pestle of iron wood and ground their wheat and buckwheat in a coffee mill.
Calvin, being the eldest son, assisted his father in building a mill on the north side of the Kishwaukee River, the first mill in Cherry Valley.
The home was located on the bluff west of the road toward Rockford, and while living here, Calvin worked for Mr. Mulford who had settled on land a few miles west of Cherry Valley. In later years he often told of the visit of “Prairie Bandits” to this home. It seems it had been rumored about that Mr. Mulford had received a large sum of money from the east and this information reached a gang of desperadoes and horse thieves who infested Ogle county and surrounding settlements in the early 1840’s. The bandits were well armed with pistols and knives, came one night and threatened Mr. Mulford and his wife with death unless they gave them all their money. He told them he had but $400.00, which they took but were not satisfied with this amount. They ransacked the house, even cutting up large cakes of tallow in their search for gold. Some of these desperadoes were caught and hung in Ogle county soon after.
The state road from Cherry Valley was laid out to St. Charles by Calvin holding the plow while his father drove the team to make the furrow trail, passing through what was later, Charter Oak and Genoa.
The lead mines of Galena turned the tide of immigration to this section of Illinois and the covered wagon was a common sight. Teaming (horse and wagon) from Chicago to Galena was the only way of transportation at this time. The Griggs boys were among the first to engage in this business, carting loads of grain to Chicago and on the return trip, bringing passengers or freight to Galena. These trips usually took about a week and many hardships were endured. The roads were sometimes almost impassable, especially near Chicago when they would have to double team the wagons to pull them through the mud, often knee deep, where State street is now located. There were ironic signs there bearing the legend, ‘No bottom here’. Wagon wheels and tongues half buried in the mud, justified the warning. There were many sloughs to be crossed on the way and in some of these, logs and rails were laid which made ‘corduroy’ roads. This made it often very rough riding but better than being stuck in the muddy sloughs.
The family left Cherry Valley, where the father, Joseph had filed on a tract of land in 1835. They settled on South Prairie, which was a few miles south of Cherry Valley, there the soil was thought to be better for farming and the sons were anxious to get claims for themselves. This was in the early 1840’s and the nearest Land Office was at Dixon where claims must be filed in order to buy land for $1.35 per acre. Many claims were being ‘jumped’ and the first to reach the Land Office was the winner. Calvin had often related how nearly he came to losing his claim, as he did not have the money at first. Upon hearing that Pete Shirley, a neighbor, who also wanted the claim, had borrowed the money and was going to Dixon the next day, Calvin borrowed the money from a friend and mounted his faithful horse, ‘Old Dick’ and rode all night so that he might be in Dixon when the Land Office opened in the morning. It was a hard ride of Forty miles but he arrived in time and saved his claim. As he was leaving, his opponent rode up and was much chagrinned at seeing Calvin, who laughed and said, “Well, Pete, I beat you to it this time”.
The Camp Meeting and the Spelling School were the meeting places for the young people and it was at the latter where Calvin met his future wife, Miss Hannah Smith. She had, on this particular evening, the honor of “spelling down” the school and Calvin then and there decided that he was in need of a “good speller” in his little shack on the (his) claim. So he made bold and asked the privilege of “seeing the young lady home”. This was the beginning which culminated in their marriage on April 2nd, 1844 at the home of her uncle, William Witter, in Flora Township, Boone county, Illinois.
Now, a few words about Hannah Smith, who came to Illinois with her widowed Mother, a brother and three sisters in 1840, from near Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where she was born September 4th, 1822. They first settled in LaSalle county, where an older married sister lived but finding there so much malaria, in 1842 they came to Boone county where the Mother’s three brothers settled. They were Abram, Dr. Joseph and William Witter.
The Mother filed on a claim near her brothers, where she passed away on the 31st of December, 1848. Calvin and Hannah bought this claim, deeded from the Government where they made their home, until his death, December 21st, 1883 and where the younger eight children were born and reared.
This home entertained many travelers as it was situated on the State Highway, where passed daily the western bound Prairie Schooners. Calvin Griggs held positions of honor and trust in the community, such as Road Commissioner, School Director and Church Trustee. He was known as “one whose word was as good as his bond” and was always alive to the best interests of social welfare of the community. In his early twenties he was converted and joined the Methodist Church and remained a loyal member and supporter to the end. He was an industrious and successful man of affairs, owning 259 acres of land and besides farming he owned and operated two threshing machines. In his blacksmith shop he repaired his machinery and shod his horses. Having worked with his Father building mills, he was capable in building or help build the good house and large barns, granaries and other buildings on the farm. He took great pride in his orchard of more than two hundred choice fruit trees. Here on this farm he passed away, December 21st, 1883, in his sixty-eighth year after two months of suffering. His illness began with an infected toe and foot, which necessitated later amputation of the leg, but to no avail. He was buried at Flora church Cemetery in the Griggs lot, where also lie buried his Father, Mother and sons, George and John.
It was the wish of the deceased that Fred, the youngest son, should have the home place as William, son next older had purchased and established a home on eighty (acres) of the original tract. Fred, being engaged in mercantile business in Kirkland, Illinois, later sold the farm to his sister, Lucy and her husband, W. A. (Whipple) Harrington, who held the place until about 1900, when the old farm was sold to strangers and the Harrington family moved to Rockford.
The wife and Mother, Hannah W. Griggs, after the death of her husband, longed to see her brothers and sisters in the east, so accompanied by her youngest daughter, Mary, she visited relatives in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the spring of 1884. She passed the remaining years of her life with her daughters, passing away at the home of her daughter, Lucy, in Rockford, Illinois, October 5th, 1905. She was buried by the side of her husband, in Flora Church Cemetery.
By Mary Julia M. Griggs Heyward 1922, transcribed by Janice Erbe Mackey, her niece.
Calvin Goodrich Griggs , son of Joseph Perrine Griggs and Sally Goodrich Griggs, was born in Vernon, Oneida County, New York, February 25th, 1816. When but a child his parents came down the Ohio River and settled at Prinston, Indiana, in 1819. His father, being a mill-wright by trade, and the family remained there for several years building mills. While the family lived here, Landon Ezekiel was born May 25th, 1820; also Jacob Vandusen was born June 1st, 1822, but died October, 1823. In 1824 the family moved up the Wabash River and settled at Terre Haute, and here Joseph carried on his trade of mill-building. While living here, Horace was born December 26th, 1825, and Eli, was born May 2nd, 1827.
In 1833, Calvin, with his father Joseph, took wagon loads of potatoes to Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, and saw the guns stacked there, as the Blackhawk War had just closed. Later, the family moved up to Fort Dearborn, or Des Plaines, where they remained, perhaps a year, in this comparative wilderness surrounded by swamps.
Hearing of the rich prairie land farther west, the family decided to try their fortunes with the westward moving pioneers, and in August, 1835, they settled on the banks of the Kishwaukee River where Cherry Valley is now.
Calvin and his younger brothers, ferried travelers across the river as there was no bridge. Cherry Valley was first known as ‘Griggs Ferry’.
There was but one house in Rockford at this time and the Pottawatomie Indians were numerous in this section and would often step in and sample food cooking if the latch string was left outside. Their chief—“Big Thunder”, died in Belvidere in 1835. Soon after this the Government sent the Indians to reservations beyond the Mississippi river and Calvin and his father Joseph, helped in transporting them and their corn to the river. Wild game was plentiful and Calvin often told of counting, while standing on the mound southeast of Cherry Valley, 43 deer as they came down to the river to drink.
The family suffered the privations of the pioneers as the nearest grist mill was at Ottawa, 70 miles away, so they pounded corn in a mortar with a pestle of iron wood and ground their wheat and buckwheat in a coffee mill.
Calvin, being the eldest son, assisted his father in building a mill on the north side of the Kishwaukee River, the first mill in Cherry Valley.
The home was located on the bluff west of the road toward Rockford, and while living here, Calvin worked for Mr. Mulford who had settled on land a few miles west of Cherry Valley. In later years he often told of the visit of “Prairie Bandits” to this home. It seems it had been rumored about that Mr. Mulford had received a large sum of money from the east and this information reached a gang of desperadoes and horse thieves who infested Ogle county and surrounding settlements in the early 1840’s. The bandits were well armed with pistols and knives, came one night and threatened Mr. Mulford and his wife with death unless they gave them all their money. He told them he had but $400.00, which they took but were not satisfied with this amount. They ransacked the house, even cutting up large cakes of tallow in their search for gold. Some of these desperadoes were caught and hung in Ogle county soon after.
The state road from Cherry Valley was laid out to St. Charles by Calvin holding the plow while his father drove the team to make the furrow trail, passing through what was later, Charter Oak and Genoa.
The lead mines of Galena turned the tide of immigration to this section of Illinois and the covered wagon was a common sight. Teaming (horse and wagon) from Chicago to Galena was the only way of transportation at this time. The Griggs boys were among the first to engage in this business, carting loads of grain to Chicago and on the return trip, bringing passengers or freight to Galena. These trips usually took about a week and many hardships were endured. The roads were sometimes almost impassable, especially near Chicago when they would have to double team the wagons to pull them through the mud, often knee deep, where State street is now located. There were ironic signs there bearing the legend, ‘No bottom here’. Wagon wheels and tongues half buried in the mud, justified the warning. There were many sloughs to be crossed on the way and in some of these, logs and rails were laid which made ‘corduroy’ roads. This made it often very rough riding but better than being stuck in the muddy sloughs.
The family left Cherry Valley, where the father, Joseph had filed on a tract of land in 1835. They settled on South Prairie, which was a few miles south of Cherry Valley, there the soil was thought to be better for farming and the sons were anxious to get claims for themselves. This was in the early 1840’s and the nearest Land Office was at Dixon where claims must be filed in order to buy land for $1.35 per acre. Many claims were being ‘jumped’ and the first to reach the Land Office was the winner. Calvin had often related how nearly he came to losing his claim, as he did not have the money at first. Upon hearing that Pete Shirley, a neighbor, who also wanted the claim, had borrowed the money and was going to Dixon the next day, Calvin borrowed the money from a friend and mounted his faithful horse, ‘Old Dick’ and rode all night so that he might be in Dixon when the Land Office opened in the morning. It was a hard ride of Forty miles but he arrived in time and saved his claim. As he was leaving, his opponent rode up and was much chagrinned at seeing Calvin, who laughed and said, “Well, Pete, I beat you to it this time”.
The Camp Meeting and the Spelling School were the meeting places for the young people and it was at the latter where Calvin met his future wife, Miss Hannah Smith. She had, on this particular evening, the honor of “spelling down” the school and Calvin then and there decided that he was in need of a “good speller” in his little shack on the (his) claim. So he made bold and asked the privilege of “seeing the young lady home”. This was the beginning which culminated in their marriage on April 2nd, 1844 at the home of her uncle, William Witter, in Flora Township, Boone county, Illinois.
Now, a few words about Hannah Smith, who came to Illinois with her widowed Mother, a brother and three sisters in 1840, from near Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where she was born September 4th, 1822. They first settled in LaSalle county, where an older married sister lived but finding there so much malaria, in 1842 they came to Boone county where the Mother’s three brothers settled. They were Abram, Dr. Joseph and William Witter.
The Mother filed on a claim near her brothers, where she passed away on the 31st of December, 1848. Calvin and Hannah bought this claim, deeded from the Government where they made their home, until his death, December 21st, 1883 and where the younger eight children were born and reared.
This home entertained many travelers as it was situated on the State Highway, where passed daily the western bound Prairie Schooners. Calvin Griggs held positions of honor and trust in the community, such as Road Commissioner, School Director and Church Trustee. He was known as “one whose word was as good as his bond” and was always alive to the best interests of social welfare of the community. In his early twenties he was converted and joined the Methodist Church and remained a loyal member and supporter to the end. He was an industrious and successful man of affairs, owning 259 acres of land and besides farming he owned and operated two threshing machines. In his blacksmith shop he repaired his machinery and shod his horses. Having worked with his Father building mills, he was capable in building or help build the good house and large barns, granaries and other buildings on the farm. He took great pride in his orchard of more than two hundred choice fruit trees. Here on this farm he passed away, December 21st, 1883, in his sixty-eighth year after two months of suffering. His illness began with an infected toe and foot, which necessitated later amputation of the leg, but to no avail. He was buried at Flora church Cemetery in the Griggs lot, where also lie buried his Father, Mother and sons, George and John.
It was the wish of the deceased that Fred, the youngest son, should have the home place as William, son next older had purchased and established a home on eighty (acres) of the original tract. Fred, being engaged in mercantile business in Kirkland, Illinois, later sold the farm to his sister, Lucy and her husband, W. A. (Whipple) Harrington, who held the place until about 1900, when the old farm was sold to strangers and the Harrington family moved to Rockford.
The wife and Mother, Hannah W. Griggs, after the death of her husband, longed to see her brothers and sisters in the east, so accompanied by her youngest daughter, Mary, she visited relatives in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the spring of 1884. She passed the remaining years of her life with her daughters, passing away at the home of her daughter, Lucy, in Rockford, Illinois, October 5th, 1905. She was buried by the side of her husband, in Flora Church Cemetery.
By Mary Julia M. Griggs Heyward 1922, transcribed by Janice Erbe Mackey, her niece.
Family Members
Advertisement
Advertisement
