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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
C. Pinney and W. D. King, Constables. W. D. King was also chosen Collector.
At the close of 1834 twelve persons appear to have been located at McCarty's Mill, viz.: Joseph and Samuel McCarty, Jeffrey Beardsley, Robert Faracre, Stephen A. Aldrich and his wife and two children, Ralph C. Horr, Seth Reed, Zaphne Lake and Hiram Bowen. In 1835 the settlement was reinforced by the arrival of Dr. Daniel Eastman, D. Gorton and George Gorton, Theodore Lake, R. Matthews, John Barker, B. P. Phillips, Winslow Higgins, Elgin Squires, John Livingston, Charles Bates, L. Huntoon, John Holbrook, B. F. Fridley, B. D. Terry, M. D. Cone and probably a few others, a portion of whom had families. Such as desired were permitted to "squat" upon Joseph McCarty's claim, and occupy lots which they selected with a view to purchasing when his land should be platted. McCarty prepared a plat of lots and blocks on the east side of the river in the fall of 1835, and Dr. Eastman purchased, at $5 each, the two lots first sold. This plat was first recorded at Ottawa-then the county-seat-and, later, on August 8, 1839, at Geneva, in Volume I., page 160, and the Eastman purchase embraced Lots 5 and 6 in Block 11.
Burr Winton, an old friend of the McCarty's, was persuaded by them to come from down on the Vermilion River, where he was prospecting, and board their hands. He arrived with his family October 9, 1836, after eight days' journey, with his family in a prairie schooner drawn by a yoke of oxen, and leading the indispensable cow. The first wheat ground at the McCarty mill was grown, it is said, about where the First Congregational church now stands, at the corner of Main Street and East Park Place. Elias D. Terry and his brother Richard built the first frame hotel at the northeast corner of Main and LaSalle Streets, which was opened January 1, 1837, with a grand New Year dancing party. This doubtless was the first plastered building in the city. The lime was burned from the stone taken out of McCarty's mill race, and the trowel used was fashioned by John King, the first blacksmith and Justice of the Peace in 1850, out of an old broken hand-saw.
Joseph G. Stolp arrived in 1837, and immediately commenced the foundation of the manufacturing enterprises that have contributed so largely to the immense prosperity of the city. Noah B. Spalding, John Holbrook, W. D. King, Abram Odell, Anson Pease and William Gardner were among those who arrived in 1836 or earlier. William V. Plum, Nathaniel Deniston, Abel Downer, Clark and Roswell Wilder, William H. Hawkins and E. D. Huntoon were among those who came in 1837. Among the names of those who came in 1838-39 we find O. D. Day and William B. Plato, well remembered as able lawyers and influential men, besides Griffith Evans, father of the present State Senator H. H. Evans. The first death within the limits of the present city was that of Miss Elmira Graves, in the fall of 1835, and the first within the present township, but not within the city, was that of Mr. Jacob Carpenter, its first settler, which occurred September 20, 1836.
At an election held March 6, 1845, fifty-two votes were cast in favor of incorporating the village of East Aurora. Daniel Gushing presided, Myron Whipple was clerk, and no negative votes were cast. During the same year the following Village Board of officers was elected: Daniel Eastman, President; Daniel McCarty, Perseus Brown, Luke Wheelock and F. J. Wagner, Trustees. The village of West Aurora was organized in 1854 with Myron V. Hall, President, D. B. Waterman, B. Street, George McCollom and Anor Richardson, Trustees. The Legislature of 1857 granted a charter uniting the two villages, and at the first city election, held March 3, 1857, B. F. Hall was elected Mayor, J. D. Clark and W. V. Plum, Aldermen of the First Ward; Holmes Miller and J. G. Stolp of the Second Ward; William Gardner and R. C. Mix of the Third Ward; and L. Cottrell and S. L. Jackson of the Fourth Ward. In 1887 the special charter was abrogated and the general charter for the incorporation of cities was adopted. The development of the united corporation, in all desirable lines, has been steady and rapid, and few cities in this great Middle West bear a more desirable reputation than does the beautiful city of Aurora.
BATAVIA TOWNSHIP.
Township 39, covering the half townships of Batavia and Geneva, has ever been in all its material aspects and resources, as attractive and desirable as can well be imagined. The
