Occupies the southeastern corner of the county and is nine miles in length by six in width, with an area of 34,400 acres, of which about 30,000 acres are under cultivation. It is well watered in the northern part by the Pecatonica and tributary streams, and heavily timbered in that section also, while the southern portion is mostly rolling prairie. The township formed a portion of Silver Creek Precinct until after the passage of the law providing for township organization, when it was laid off and named, it is said, after a clerk in the Post Office Department at Washington. The first settlement of the town was made in the spring of 1836, by Andrew Jackson and Jefferson Niles, who claim to have come on the 4th of March of that year, and built a shanty on the east bank of the Pecatonica. During the winter of 1835 or 1836, or early in the spring of the latter year, Harvey P. Waters, accompanied by Lyman Bennett, visited the present territory of Stephenson County, and halted at the mouth of Yellow Creek, now included within the limits of Silver Creek Township. He remained here until spring had become an established fact in this section, when he removed to Ridott, and is still enumerated in the census of that town. That spring, it is said, quite a number of settlers identified themselves with future Ridott, and, besides increasing the number of voters in that portion of the county, contributed materially to the promulgation of its attractions. Among these were Sawyer Forbes, Daniel Wooten, who settled one mile west of the present village of Ridott ; Horace Colburn, where Samuel Moyer now resides ; a man named Wickham, who entered the land upon which the village of Ridott is located ; John Reed and brother, who squatted on the Farwell farm ; Benjamin and Josiah Ostrander, at the mouth of the Creek ; David Niles, on land subsequently owned by Garrett Lloyd ; Asa Nichols, and some others. They, one and all, indulged the same anticipations, experienced the same vicissitudes, conquered the same hardships, and rejoiced in final victory, as did those who came at an early day, and, in other portions of the county, were tried and triumphed gloriously. reside within its limits, as one of the most healthful, fertile and desirable in the county, the home of industry, independence and prosperity. The first deaths are alleged to be the drowning of Milburn and Reed, in Pecatonica River, as related in the history of Silver Creek Township, in which township it is also claimed this accident occurred. \par

The primary settlements made in Ridott, as elsewhere in portions of the county watered by the Pecatonica, were established along the bank of the river. The land there was more desirable, apparently, for agricultural purposes than the rolling prairies at a distance from the stream, and the water-power sought to be utilized for mechanical and other purposes was deemed as an invaluable adjunct to the building-up of the country. The houses were, of course, primitive beyond description, often being constructed of sod, with thatched roofs and other evidences of the limited resources available in those days. Yet this discouraging outlook attracted rather than dismayed the emigrants, who came in large numbers even after the township had been generally settled, and desirable sites were held at extravagant rates. In 1837, Caleb Tompkins took up land in the timber on what was afterward known as the Bride Farm. G. A. Seth, Isaac and Eldredge Farwell settled adjoining each other, four miles east of the present village. Garrett Lloyd became a settler this year also, as did Norman, Levi, Isaac and Orsemus Brace, Harvey and Jeremiah Webster, Sybil Ann Price, who entered a claim to land three miles east of the present village; Stewart Reynolds, Sanford Niles, etc. These were followed in 1838 by Lewis and David Mitchell, Philo Hammond, Ezekiel and Jacob Forsythe, John Lloyd, a brother of Garrett Lloyd, who came the year previous; Putnam Perley, who entered a claim to the place now known as Hemmen way's; Ezekiel Brown, who settled near Holmes' Mill; John Brazee, one mile west of the village, probably Christian Clay, and others. In the fall of 1837, a girl was introduced into the household of Daniel and Julia Wooten, ?who was christened Margaret, and published as the first birth to occur in the township. In 1839, among those who cast their lines in the pleasant places with which Silver Creek Precinct abounded, were Charles Babcock and George H. Watson, accompanied by 1,000 sheep; William B. Hawkins, Ross and Anson Babcock, John Karcher, Lewis Woodruff, etc., etc. Early this year, i. e., on March 10, Thomas J. Turner, who had been among the first to settle in the township and make permanent improvements, and was then acting in the capacity of a Justice of the Peace, performed the first marriage ceremony that occurred in the town ; the celebrants were A. J, Niles and Nancy A., daughter of Gustavus A. Farwell ; the ceremony took place at the farmhouse of N. Eldredge Farwell, and the "couple" began the voyage of life without the "fixins " and " flourish " now deemed indispensable to similar events.

The decade between 1840 and 1850 was noticeable for the number and quality of those who came into Ridott to settle ; during that period the improvements that were made, included the railroad then projected, and many other features of enterprise that in these Edisonian days would be regarded as bubbles on the water. On the 28th of August, 1842, a colony of English agriculturists arrived in the township and took up land that had been reserved for their occupation in the timber. The "head-centers " of the party sent out an agent the year previous who canvassed the situation in America, prospected over the West quite generally, and, after making careful estimates of the advantages offered elsewhere, advised the establishment of an English colony in the township of Ridott. The report submitted and containing the recommendation cited was adopted, and in harmony there- with, the following persons came into the township : Thomas Hunt, wife and mother ; Robert Knight, Charles Foulkes, Robert Lankford and wife, Thomas Clay, Henry Layland Knight and wife, Charlotte Hurst, John Wooton, George Barnes, Joseph Gibson, Joseph Lester and W. R. Fairburn and wife. They settled in the timber remained together about one year and a half, employing their knowledge, obtained at home, in preparing the earth for the. bounteous harvests, which have since been yielded. At the expiration of that period, death, a division of sentiments and other causes combined to dissolve the colony, the members of which were distributed about the then almost undiscovered West. Many, however, remained in Stephenson County, where they have prospered, and are, to-day, among the most extensive and enterprising farmers in this portion of the State.

About 1850, lands began to increase in value and command ready sale. During that year, the influx of Germans was quite large. They were com- posed of the better class of that nationality, and, settling south of the old State road, opened up farms and completed improvements, which to the present day, testify in behalf of those who projected and concluded them. The colony originally numbered about fifty members, among whom were Poppa Poppa, Wessel Wessels, Jurin van Buckum, Christian Akerman, Folk Huyanga, Yelle Ruter, Uno Collman, T. Jussen and others, whose descendants have survived them and succeeded to generous inheritances, the fruit of labor employed by their parents, and which has done so much to create a demand for land in the State. From 1850 to 1860, the settlements made by individuals and parties were more frequent and permanent. In 1852, the Galena & Chicago road, since passed into the possession of the Northwestern corporation, was completed through Ridott and contributed materially to the populating and improvement of the township. In 1860, the lands had been generally taken up and occupied ; the war, as a matter of course, diminished the population to an appreciable extent ; but since its close, the numbers who enlisted and never returned have been made up by the arrival of those now counted among the inhabitants and identified with the public good. The township, to-day, is regarded, by those at least who reside within its limits, as one of the most healthful, fertile and desirable in the county, the home of industry, independence and prosperity. The first deaths are alleged to be the drowning of Milburn and Reed, in Pecatonica River, as related in the history of Silver Creek Township, in which township it is also claimed this accident occurred.