Silver Creek Township, in the southern tier of townships in the county, contains 22,069 acres of land, all of which is improved, being mostly of rolling prairie. The water facilities are generally good, the Pecatonica River and Yellow Creek flowing through the northern portion, with creeks and rivulets of less prominence and value coursing its remaining sections at different points. The Illinois Central passes through the township from north to south, the Western Union cutting across its northwestern corner.

The township is well supplied with schools and church buildings, but has no town within its limits, Freeport being the market for its citizens. An addi- tion to Baileyville, a town in Ogle County abutting on Silver Creek Township, was once made with a view to the establishing of a village, but improvements were neither rapid nor extensive, and the Ogle County portion of the town finally neutralized the Silver Creek undertaking.

The first permanent settlement made in the present township was effected by Thomas Craine, who visited the county in August, 1835, and entered a quarter section of land in the southwest quarter of the township, where he built a cabin and housed his family, consisting of a wife and three chil- dren. In the fall of the same year, Augustus Bonner established himself in Section 34, near the mouth of the Yellow Creek, but was not a settler. He remained there until 1836, building a cabin during the winter, when he resigned his claim to its legitimate owner, Thomas Covel, and went West.

In the spring of 1836, Charles Walker, F. D. Bulkley and Hammond were enrolled among the pioneers, and in the fall Sidney Stebbins, Joel Baker, Loran Snow and the " Widow " Brown. Walker was employed by Mr. Craine to teach his children the limited rudiments of education, in those days accessi- ble to purchase, paying therefor $75 a quarter. The tutor remained there for several months, familiarizing himself in the mean time, as the sequel proved, with the intricate knowledge of horse stealing, which he subsequently practiced until 1838, when he was captured and condemned to the penitentiary at Alton, whither he was taken. Some land was "broke up" in 1836, and a few improvements in the way of building completed.

The following year, though emigration to the State and county was more liberal than during the years preceding, Silver Creek failed to gain the quota its fertile soil and other attractions deserved. The settlers who had already put in an appearance entered claims in the eastern part of the township, the western portion being, as yet, uninhabited. This continued for many years, and it was not until about 1843, that lands in the latter sections were taken up, the early settlers therein being Dr. Michner, Thomas and Adam Nelson, Christian Bennett and son, John Flynn and others. But, to return to earlier dates : Seth Scott settled in the tow'nship in 1837, at a point east of Crane's Grove; Hiram Hill, also, on Yellow Creek : Maj. John Howe on the west side of the Grove, Maj. Howe soon after removing to Freeport; I. Forbes on the State road, on the extreme eastern part of Silver Creek. John Milburn, a man named Reed, employed by Thomas Craine, and some few others were included on the bills of mortality this year, which also furnished the first deaths in the township — those of Thomas Milburn and Reed, who were drowned while attempting to cross the Pecatonica River.

In the spring of 1838, John Walsh came in, as also did John and Thomas Warren, the latter settling northeast of the Grove. Isaac Scott, Samuel Lieb- shitz. Christian Strockey, with his sons Christian, Jr., and Frederick, Chauncey Stebbins and others, all making claims in the eastern side of the township, the new-comers being ignorant of or igaoring the fertile prairies to the west. In 1839, a large number of German emigrants made their advent and began the accretion of that wealth and influence now visible as the result of labor and thriftiness for which this nationality is known. Among those who became residents of the township in 1839, were Jacob Hoebel, A. Gund, Valentine Stoskopf, Jacob Shoup, Jacob Bartell, D. E. and '"Jock" Pattee, with their families and others, including a man named Judkins with his associates, who were added to the colony. Shortly after the Pattees came, Mrs. " Jock " Pattee suicided by hanging, the tragedy occurring on Gallows Hill, in the eastern part of the township.

The first birth, an important event in the history of every township, was that of Jacob Thompson, a son of William and Lucinda Thompson, who came to the surface in the summer of 1838. The first marriage is recorded as having been solemnized two years later, February 11, 181:1, Frederick Baker and Miss A. Craine being the contracting parties. The ceremony was performed at the res- idence of Thomas Craine, father of the bride, Squire Fowler officiating. The attendance included a large proportion of settlers in the vicinity, and, after the twain were pronounced one, the guests participated in the festivities of the time, chief of which was dancing, Daniel Wooton, half-brother to Mrs. Baker, fur- nishing the music and calling the sets. Husband and wife still live, residing in the city of Freeport, in the enjoyment of a hale old age, surrounded by a large family of descendants who cheer the decline of their lives, and realize unto them the Biblical injunction to which all dutiful children give heed.

The township thenceforward began to settle up, and numerous accessions having since been made to the roster of its population. The west side of the township, which had theretofore failed to receive its just complement of inhab- itants, has since become thickly settled, and the great resources latent within the territory have been profitably developed. The inhabitants are a prosperous, industrious, and proportionately independent class of people, to whom the Great West is indebted for the cultivated and progressive type of life to be found in that section.