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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
Gilbert farm and platted the village in 1855, and Andrew and Hannah Pingree platted the Pingree Grove Village in 1882, upon the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad.
ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP.
St. Charles is. the center one of the eastern tier of five townships in the county, embracing Town 40, Range 8. Its lands were first offered for sale by the Government on June 6, 1842, all having been practically claimed and preempted before that date. The east, bank of the river was nearly covered by the heavy oak, hickory, maple, ash, black walnut and butternut timber of the "Little Wood." The low, level, but very fertile prairie on its eastern border stretched away across the old army trail into Du Page County, while a little south of the center of the township, lightly connected with the woods by open woodland, was a beautiful body of stately forest called "Round Grove." The two arms of Norton Creek, which unite near the centers of Sections 14 and 23, half encircle this fine grove, and from this junction flow to the river near the center of Section 15. Lewis Norton built a saw-mill on this stream about 1845, but as he was one of the volunteers for the Mexican War, very little sawing was done at the mill. Further north the prairie is drained by the small streams that meet near the dividing line of Sections 1 and 12, forming Brewster Creek, on which Charles Brewster, son of "Father" E. W. Brewster, operated a saw-mill in the early days. Passing near Wayne, the old Indian trail followed by General Scott's army approached the river on "the divide" between these streams. West of the river there was a fringe of woodland along its bank and along Ferson Creek, the western part of the county being beautiful rolling prairie land. Near the north line of Section 11 the river makes a broad sweeping curve to the west and a half mile north of west, following this course about a mile and a half, when it swings away to the south again near the center of the township. In the broad channel of its northwestward course lie five separate islands well above the ordinary flow of the water. The half encircled promontory-like bluff is bold and high, and was densely covered with heavy forest trees, including many sugar maples. On the high northwesterly and westerly bank of the stream, at and below the second bend, stood stately great white oak trees, under whose broad spreading branches glimpses of the prairie land to the west could be seen. Two rippling brooks from the highlands above had cut their channels down to the underlying bed of limestone rock, and near the highway fell in little shimmering cascades toward the river.
As early as 1834 the beauty of this location and the evident fertility of its soil attracted Rice Fay, a strong, enterprising man who settled and long resided upon Section 3, and subsequently erected thereon the fine, substantial stone dwelling, since occupied by the Keating family. Soon a blacksmith shop was opened by the river roadside, two or three small stone houses were built and a little store established, and the settlement became known as Fayville. In 1836 the Rev. D. W. Ellmore entered a claim west and south of Captain Fay's. He laid plans for the location here of a large industrial training school, and in 1851, with these plans in view, platted a village called Asylum. He also had a bill for the incorporation of his school introduced in the Legislature; but his sudden death by lightning, on July 29, 1854, ended these philanthropic efforts of a cultured, broad-minded Christian pioneer. Three post-offices-Fayville, Silver Glen and Riverside- have been established and discontinued at this place. Quite extensive lime kilns were opened here in the early days.
The different branches of Ferson Creek enter the northwestern corner of the township, and with numerous curves and windings, serving to water and drain many farms, find the river near the southeast corner of Section 21. There were a few red cedar trees on the rocky banks of the streams, besides extensive deposits of excellent gravel and sand on the higher knolls along Brewster, Norton and Ferson creeks, which are now of value. In the spring of 1834, Evan Shelby and William Franklin, brothers-in-law, followed the army and Indian trails to a beautiful location near the Fox River, where they marked claims and built a log cabin, and in August of that year Mrs. Franklin came with her two children. Elijah Garton with his wife and six children, and John W. Gray, his son-in-law; Mr. and Mrs. Albert Howard, with six children; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Steward and four children (a most surprising party of emigrants) arrived at Round Grove, it is said,
