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To Jo Daviess County, Illinois |
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To Jo Daviess County, Illinois |
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Village of Elizabeth
The Township of Elizabeth has long been a township of great importance in the county. Its early settlers were attracted thereto by the mines. Jefferson Clark, John McDonald, John D. Winters and Clark Stone were among the earliest settlers. Afterwards came Benjamin Clark. Within its bounds was a fort which was attacked by the Indians during the Black Hawk War, but the Indians were repulsed. The village of Elizabeth is within the township. For years it was an inland village, but since the Chicago Great Western Railroad has passed through its borders, it has become a place of great importance and is constantly improving. Near the village of Elizabeth was one of the best mines ever discovered in the county, which was called the "Wishon Mine." Here were turned out vast quantities of lead ore. It had not been operated for the past thirty years until during the year 1903, when a company called the Wishon Mining Company, with a capital of $1,000,000, leased the mine and contemplate searching for a lower run of ore. Elizabeth has been of importance in a political sense. It has furnished to the State at least three State Senators, namely: W. A. Little, Henry Green and John C. McKenzie, one of whom (John C. McKenzie) was acting Governor of the State. In 1847 there were within the bounds of Elizabeth Township, two post offices --one at Elizabeth, with William Boutwell as postmaster, and one at Weston, with Otis C. Bennet
Note from researcher Lynne Clark Lankford - " I believe it should be "Clack Stone" and not Clark Stone. The 1904 book incorrectly copied "Clark" Stone from The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois book of 1878 published by H. F. Kett & Co. In this book on page 583, the author says "Ambrose White, Captain Clack Stone, Samuel Hughlett, Robert Johnson, and family, including his son, then a young man, James and John Flack. Jesse Van Buskirk, Jefferson Clark, Wm. Lawhorn, Nathaniel Morris and family, Henry Van Volkenburg and family, etc......."
The village of Elizabeth, population 650, is nestled in the middle of the rolling hill country of scenic Jo Daviess County in the northwest corner of Illinois. Originally settled because of valuable lead deposits, the community prospers today due to the surrounding rich farmlands.
The first white settler, A.P. VanMatre, arrived in 1825 after hearing about the land mining near the Fever River. He built the first smelter in this area, and his mines were very productive for years to come.
A fur trapper, Henry VanVolkenburg, came to Elizabeth two years later. That same year, John Winters, James Flack, and John Flack settled here and raised the first corn crop. The village of Elizabeth is built on a claim owned by John Winters and Captain Clack Stone.
Resisting President Andrew Jackson’s directive to relocate all Native Americans west of the Mississippi, the Sac and Fox Indians went on the warpath in the summer of 1832. Settlers around Elizabeth built the Apple River Fort for their protection. On June 24, they successfully warded off Chief Black Hawk’s raid, which came to be the last Indian attack east of the Mississippi.
Elizabeth was the site of an important battle during the 1832 Black Hawk War. Black Hawk and a band of some 150 Sauk and Fox warriors attacked the hastily erected fort on June 24, 1832. The fort has now been reconstructed next to its original site, bringing the early history of the area to life.
As a result of a series of controversial treaties, the Sauk and Fox tribes moved from their villages near present-day Rock Island to Iowa in 1828. Unhappy with their new lands, Black Hawk returned to Illinois in April of 1832 with some 500 warriors and about 1,000 women, children and old men. They planned to plant corn in the village of the Winnebago Prophet, about 50 miles up the Rock river. But when the Illinois militia was called out, Black Hawk decided to return to Iowa.
On May 14, Black Hawk sent a three-man peace envoy to meet with Major Stillman’s militia north of present-day Dixon. When the messengers were captured and one of them killed, Black Hawk and 40 warriors attacked the 275-man militia force. The militia broke ranks and retreated to Dixon. The Black Hawk War had begun.
The settlers, hearing of the battle and other Indian attacks, were panic stricken. In the Apple River settlement (now Elizabeth), the settlers felled trees, dug a trench, and built a stockade by enclosing a settlers cabin and a second structure.
About 45 men, women and children were inside the fort when Black Hawk and some 150 warriors attacked. The men scrambled for the guns, leaped to the firing benches and took their places at the block house portholes. The women huddled in the cabins on the back wall. Then Elizabeth Armstrong rallied the women. They molded musket balls and loaded weapons so that the men could keep up a steady stream of fire. The battle raged for about 45 minutes. Black Hawk, thinking the fort was heavily armed, abandoned the battle, raiding the nearby cabins for supplies as he and his warriors departed. Considering the ferocity of the fighting, casualties were light: in the fort, two men were wounded, one killed; the number of Sauk casualties was undetermined. The war itself ended on August 2, when U.S. Army troops caught the last of Black Hawk’s band at the Bad Ax River, attempting to cross the Mississippi into Iowa.
The Apple River Fort was torn down in 1847, its lumber used to build a barn. But through the efforts of the Apple River Fort Historic Foundation, Inc., the fort once again stands on a hillside overlooking Elizabeth and the surrounding countryside. It can be reached by a short trail from the parking lot at the northeast corner of Route 20 and Mrytle Street in Elizabeth.
