In the early fall of 1845 Mr. and Mrs. Burlingame came to La Salle
county. They settled about three-fourths of a mile north of where Earlville
now stands. Cold weather soon came and everyone suffered from fierce snow
blizzards. Mrs. Burlingame sat up through the nights and kept the fire from
going out. If a fire went out it was hard to get it started again. Mr.
Burlingame watched the cattle at night to keep them from going out into the
cold. The wolves were near, too, and they were hungry.
Mr. Burlingame bought forty acres of land from the government. He paid
twelve dollars an acre for it, which was then a good price for land. The
land is in Meriden township.
Mr. Burlingame went to Chicago to get the money. The government would not
accept paper money, therefore it had to be paid in gold. His family worried
while he was gone, because much murdering and robbery was being done.
When he returned from Chicago with the gold, he had to take it to Dixon to
pay for the land. This journey took from two to three days by horse and
wagon. He had his gold in a small trunk. On the way he stopped at a hotel
for the night. The hotel man asked him if he was going to leave his trunk in
the wagon. Mr. Burlingame laughed and said, "No one would want what is in
that trunk." He then went into the hotel, leaving his trunk behind. When he
awoke the next morning his trunk was still there.
On their farm the Burlingames had a dairy. They had thirty-five cows. The
milk, butter and cheese was taken to Ottawa and sold. They also sold eggs
for five cents a dozen. They raised many hogs. They butchered them and the
pork was sent to Chicago.
In the summer time when the mosquitoes were bad, the people were attacked by
malaria fever. Mrs. Burlingame took it. She suffered every other day from
bad chills.
In 1857 the Burlingames built a new home. By this time they had three
children. The two older children went to the district school near their
home, but the youngest child went to the town school. Mr. Burlingame thought
that she would get a better education. When the children were older they had
parties, dances and get-togethers at the farmers' houses. They also had
spelling bees. One time Earlville and Leland had a spelling bee in which
Leland was victorious.
In about 1849 Earlville built a post office. In 1850 three more buildings
were built. They were Wade's general store, S. T. Sutphen's hotel, and
Harris' and Bennett's blacksmith shop.
Mr. Reed, a man of Earl township, sold whiskey. This was against the
people's wishes and they made him leave town. Mr. Reed was very angry about
this. He hired Mr. Letz to blow up Earlville's schoolhouse. Mr. Reed and Mr.
Letz were both arrested. They also received a sentence. This took place in
1858.
Earlville was increasing rapidly by now. They had several stores, but quite
a few were destroyed by fire. In 1867 Union block was burned. In 1875 the
buildings south of here were also burned. In 1894 the city hall was burned.
In 1899 the Wallace home was destroyed by fire, too.
In 1840 the Methodist church was organized. The church was built in 1856. In
1852 the Presbyterian church was organized in the home of Susie Kelly. The
church was built in 1855. The Universalist church was built in 1869, the
Congregational church in 1870, and the Baptist church in 1871.
The first paper published here was the Earlville Gazette. It was an
interesting paper and was enjoyed by everyone who read it.
Mr. and Mrs. Burlingame have passed away, but Miss Fanny Burlingame, their
youngest child, is still living. She is librarian at the Earlville public
library. Here she has endeared herself to not only people of her own
generation, but also to the school children who come to her for books.
Extracted 06 Jun 2015 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 84.
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