The first settler near Dayton was William Clark, a South Carolinian,
who came from Peoria in the spring of 1828. He laid a claim here, but in the
fall he sold it to John Greene.
John Greene and his companions came from
Licking county, Ohio. They were a temperate, moral people, physically strong and
vigorous.
On their way from Ohio, Greene and his companions had many
hardships. They had to cross pathless woods and flooded streams. Once they came
to a flooded stream over which there was no bridge. Then men cut down trees and
made a bridge. There was a lady in the party who was so nervous that she was
afraid to cross. John Greene took her across on his back. Just as the last
person got over, the bridge gave way and was washed down stream. The horses were
made to swim across, and one barely escaped drowning.
At night they
slept out in the woods. Some of the men took turns staying up nights, keeping
watch for hostile Indians.
Greene first settled on the east side of the
Fox river. There he built a flour mill. This was the first one in this part of
the state. This mill ground flour for farmers within a radius of fifty miles.
There were so many farmers waiting to have their grain ground that they often
had to camp for several days waiting for their turn. The surplus wheat was taken
to Chicago with ox teams. Later this mill was torn down. A memorial stone now
marks the place where the mill stood.
Greene and his companions then
moved to the other side of the river, where they built the first wollen mill run
by water in the state.
Nathan Proctor was the first man to own a store
in Dayton. He was a popular man and everybody thought well of him. Once on a
trip to St. Louis he was caught handing out counterfeit money. He escaped arrest
but he never returned to Dayton. In his store were found prints and dies for
counterfeiting money. After some investigation it was found out that he was a
member of a band of horse thieves and robbers, probably the Prairie bandits.
Among the other buildings that were erected in Dayton were a tannery, a
paper mill, a wagon shop, a saw mill and several stores, all doing a good
business.
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad was built in 1870.
This helped to increase the population near Dayton and gave the farmers a
shipping point for their grain. All farms near Dayton were large and were of
rich soil, on which many good crops were grown.
A dam was built across
the Fox river and was maintained by the State of Illinois. It was built to turn
water into the feeder for the Illinois-Michigan canal. This dam was made of
wood. It was later washed out. Recently another dam has been built. A power
house was also built there. It is used in making electricity.
Although
the people of Dayton did not take an active part in the Black Hawk war, they
were near enough to the actual fighting to be alarmed.
John Greene built
a fort around his house to protect the people of Dayton, but when they heard of
the massacre at Indian creek many of them went to Ottawa to Fort Johnston, where
they stayed until the fear of Indians passed over.
Some of them went in
boats and others walked along the banks of the Fox river to the fort, just south
of Ottawa.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 26.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
 |
Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
