The origin of the Daggert family in Carroll County was with Adam Daggert. He was born in 1809 and came to the United States in the mid 1800’s. He married Anna Catherine Weitzel. The Weitzel’s had come to America in 1833 and settled in Berlin , Pennsylvania . A family named Ruppel also lived there. Henry Weizel and Arden Ruppel made a trip on the rivers to Ottawa , IL . On the way back they both got cholera and Ruppel died. Henry Weizel went back alone and puchased a farm and brought both families to Illinois . Sometime later Adam Daggert married the sister to Henry Weitzel, Anna Catherine. They later sold the farm at Ottawa and moved to Salem Twp in Carroll County . (My grandmother, Clara Geisz-nee Daggert use to tell me that when Adam Daggert came to this region the prairie grass was so high that they crossed it with sleds behind horses). He built a farm stead south of where the Salem Trinity Church stands today. His wife Anna Catherine died in 1849 after bearing 5 children. He married twice more, Anna Elisa who died in 1866 and Margaretha who died just before Adam in March of 1979. Adam died in May of 1879.

They had two sons who raised families in Salem Township . The older was Henry (1837-1912). He farmed west of the original homestead. He was married to Katherine Appel and had 10 children of which only one married. That being his daughter Amelia. She met John Zur Linden who was helping build the Burlington Railroad. He continued working for the railroad and later worked in copper mining and they lived away from the area. Their daughter Lillian married Julius Dauphin and their daughter Alberta Dittmar remembers staying at the Henry Daggert farm as a young girl. She says they had a beautiful house and it was kept meticulously by her maiden aunts and that the brothers ran the farm the same way. The farm buildings no longer stand as the land was sold with no immediate heirs remaining to farm it. This Daggert family were members of the Black Oak Lutheran Church in Fair Haven Township on Black Oak Road .

Adam’s other son that lived to adulthood was William(1846-1925). He eventually lived on the Adam Daggert farm. He married Caroline Appel (1846-1928). She was born in Germany and came in 1860 to Salem Township ; she was a sister to Katherine who was Henry Daggert's wife. In 1867 she married William Daggert. To this union were born nine children, seven sons and two daughters, two sons died in infancy. Their sons Henry (1872-1954), William 1884-1950) and Theodore (1888-1962) did not marry as did one sister Anna (1883-1970). Anna worked in Mt. Carroll for an attorney and was a very opinionated spinster. Charles Daggert (1876-1952) married Leonettie Eisefeller and they lived on Rt. 40 north of Chadwick. They had two children, Oliver and Lillian, who moved away from the county. Clara (1878-1964) married Charles Geisz Sr. and they live on the Geisz homestead and had a family of 5 children. These children and their families are followed in the Geisz family history. Paul (1881-1965) married Elizabeth Sack and they had three children. Glen Daggert lived in the Mt. Carroll area all of his life. He married Ruth Newcomer and they had 5 children. Glen was a mail carrier and later the postmaster at the Mt. Carroll post office. Their 4 living children, Kay, Larry, Glenda and Deanna live in several states at this time but all attended Mt. Carroll High School . Sherman Daggert also lived in the Mt. Carroll area farming the Paul Daggert farm west of Mt. Carroll . He married Eunice Best and they had two sons. Darrell lives in the Thomson area and works for John Deere in Lanark. Doug lives in the County and is a rural mail carrier.

The William Daggert family was among the original founders of the Salem Trinity Lutheran Church . Members of the family still attend the church.

Adam Daggert took land and made a cemetery south on the ( Salem Church Road ). It is still in use today.