HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
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of the first years of the Republic. Many of the Indian struggles on the Atlantic coast, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the awful conflict of the great Rebellion were not altogether history to him, but incidents in his country's development within his own observation. He lived during the administration of all the great historic Presidents of the Republic. Possessing much of the pioneer spirit, he was living in Indiana in 1833 and resolved to push still farther westward. Early in the spring of 1834, which was an unusually mild and early season, he started with his adult children John and Mary and a much younger son, Charles, driving, it is said, eight yoke of cattle, and, on the trail in what is now Du Page County, they picked up a man named Isaac Walthrop. They camped for a few days at the head of the Big Woods, probably near Christopher Payne's cabin, and John prospected the west side of the river. He found a location near the southeast part of the heaviest body of timber on Blackberry Creek near the present northwest corner of Section 28, which he thought (and truthfully) one of the most delightful spots on earth; and, returning, piloted the family to the place. There on May 2, 1834, they located the first claim in all that portion of Kane County, and there Mr. Lance resided until his death, September 7, 1873, aged 102 years, four months and twenty-nine days.
In the fall, William Lance and his son John, having left Mary and Charles with an uncle in Du Page County, returned to Indiana for the other members of the family. John and an older daughter, Margaret, married in Indiana during that winter, and all returned to Illinois together, arriving at the claim on Christmas Day. William Lance and his family, John Lance and his bride, and David Heeler with his bride, Margaret Lance-all living in one little log cabin-were the only white people in this township; and probably the only ones in the county, save Haight, west of the river during the winter of 1834-5. Mary Lance, the first white woman in the township, married John Souders about Christmas time 1835, their's being the first wedding in the township; and about this date her sister, Margaret Beeler, gave birth to a daughter, Martha, who was the first white child born in the township. A little more than a year after, on February 2, 1837, another sister, little Sarah Lance, was burned to death in the destruction of the first cabin built
in the township. These are said to have been the first death and the first fire in the township -a very remarkable train of "firsts" to center in the family of a man of such extraordinary experience.
In the spring and summer of 1835 came D. W. Annis, Harry White, George Trimble, L. D. Kendall, John Souders, Hiram Hall, and perhaps others, and settled near R. Acres and J. G. Acres. John Vannatta arrived in 1836, and during that year and the following year, S. Kendall, Mr. Corey, James Smith, S. Platt, J. Calkins, Mr. Larkin, Noah B. Spalding and others took up claims in the township. William B. West was one of the first settlers. He became a magistrate of the township, and a man of great influence throughout the county; was also the first banker at Geneva.
The early settlers of Blackberry effected a very strong organization for protection against "claim jumpers" and to secure to all their respective claims, each placing himself under $2,000 bonds to observe its requirements. They selected Mr. West to bid in all the land at the Government sale, and convey to each his proper portion according to the claim lines. Whoever will examine a map of the township, showing the irregularity of the farm lines, will get some idea of the delicacy and difficulty of the duty assigned to Mr. West, but which he successfully and satisfactorily accomplished.
Peter H. Johnson, at an early day, paid David Beeler $1,150 for his improvements and claim of about 1,000 acres, covering the Mound; and a little below its summit, on its southerly side near a distinct Indian trail, he built the o first frame house in the township, which he opened with a national celebration on July 4, 1844. William P. West was another influential man among the pioneers of this township. The names of many of these pioneers, and of others not here mentioned, are still familiar as "household words" in the families of the older residents of the county.
BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP.
Township 41, Range 6, is another purely agricultural township. Its lands came into market January 30, 1843. No stream flows across the township; but Coon Creek and two other creeks which empty into the Kishwaukee, have
