Early History of Franklin Grove Creek
by Miss Ethel Sheap
“Franklin Grove Creek around which the first China Township settlement was made, was so name it is said after the youngest son of “Father Dixon.”
In July 1835, two covered wagons stopped at the Iron Spring west of the present side of the village of Franklin Grove.
In the first wagon were the Reverend Jeptha Condit Noe, his wife, and two children. In the second wagon were his younger brother Cummins McWhorter Noe, his wife, and two children.
The second brother, Cummins Noe built the Noe house, the first dwelling at Franklin Grove, near the sprint, where he remained for some time, while Reverend Jeptha Noe and family travelled on to Jefferson Grove where he organized the few settlers into a church and began preaching to them.
Cummins Noe was born at Caldwell, Essex County, New Jersey in 1809, but had later gone to Jersey, Licking County Ohio, which he left in the fall of 1834 to come to Illinois.
On their way to Illinois, a child was born in Tazwell County and a son died, in April of 1835, but by gentle travelling, the family came on and the warm weather and infancy of the children made the Iron Spring location gratifying. The Indians had said that Iron Spring “was good medicine water.”
Cummins Noe later said, “Iron Spring near Franklin Grove, is a beautiful spot in the famous Black Hawk Country along Rock River. There is plenty of fuel near for the cutting and for building log cabins. The grove furnishes berries and nuts in abundance, and excellent fish can easily caught. Venison, wild turkey and quail are abundant. The water of the spring which the Indians highly prized for medicinal purposes, flows close by the site of the cabin door. The wooded slopes make a deep wind-break from the west and north wind. It is a spot of haven and peace.”
In 1836, it is recorded there were three families living at the Spring, the Noe, Holley, and Morgan families. Later others made the Noe home their stopping place.
The Franklin Creek which flows into Rock River affords much picturesque scenery. Along its banks in places the sandstone walls reach a height of fifty to eighty feet.
As we journey on west along the creek from Iron Spring, there is a beautiful bend where the creek widens, called Black Bass. Just beyond this bend is a large spring, where at one time stood a spring house, built by Mr. Harrison Hausen who came to Franklin Grove in 1838 and his parents and family lived at the Spring for some time when he was young. He and his brothers bought much of this scenic beauty in time.
A little father on is a smaller spring called Norwegian Spring where in 1847 Moody Thompson, a Norwegian and his friend Oleg Gamerson were murdered in their sleep. A chest was found broken open and rifted but sixty to seventy dollars in gold coins was found scattered on the floor near the chest. The crime was never cleared. A mystery to this day.
Next we come to Singer’s Pond where the stream again widens.
On father we come to Whipple’s Cave where Jeremiah Whipple in 1837 had Jess Holly construct a Saw-Mill.
Log cabins and log schoolhouses served for temples or worship. Even the Saw-Mill on the creek was sometimes brought into use; and when in a busy time, it was considered necessary to run it Sundays, the water would be shut off only long enough for the assembled worshippers to have devotions.
Mr. Whipple sawed native lumber here in 1837 for Nathan Whitney to build the first frame house, said to be the first between Chicago and the Mississippi River. Mr. Whitney brought his family from the east in 1838 and lived in the Noe log house until his home was completed. This Whitney house was later used for a vinegar house on his Nursery farm, which was one of the largest nurseries in the state.
Edward Morgan built a double log cabin which no doubt was often used by later comers at Iron Spring.
. . .
As we journey on, we come to Dysart Pond where later the thrifty farmers cut ice for the summer use.
On past the curve to Steam Boat Rock, a huge rock, the shape of the bow of a boat, which sticks out from the side of the bank, with beautiful large ferns and moss over-hanging from the ledges.
On past Hulsey Pond and more high bluffs, is a large spring called Mill Spring, which furnished the water for the grist-mill which Jacob Emmert built about 1850. It was later sold to Joseph Lahman, who ran the grist-mill sixteen years, and was later sold to Robert Schulz, Sr. who also ran the mill some years before it was discontinued. The mill stood by the Schulz barn and the Schulz family say one of the mill stones is buried in the ground where it stood, but the other stone was acquired by Clarence Lahman who had it mounted on a frame in his yard, which is located at the nort west end of Franklin Grove on the “Old Mill Road.” The home is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Townsen.
On past Hulsey Pond and more high bluffs, is a large spring called Mill Spring, which furnished the water for the grist-mill which Jacob Emmert built about 1850. It was later sold to Joseph Lahman, who ran the grist-mill sixteen years, and was later sold to Robert Schulz, Sr. who also ran the mill some years before it was discontinued. The mill stood by the Schulz barn and the Schulz family say one of the mill stones is buried in the ground where it stood, but the other stone was acquired by Clarence Lahman who had it mounted on a frame in his yard, which is located at the nort west end of Franklin Grove on the “Old Mill Road.” The home is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Helen Townsen.
From Mill Spring we go on to the old wooden bridge called Sunday Bridge, where for years the young folks of the town have enjoyed swimming in its deep pool.”
Notes: China Township is now called Franklin Grove Township, changed in 1994.
Colonel Nathan Whitney was a veteran of the War of 1812 and when he settled in the Franklin Grove area, he developed the first nursery in northern Illinois. His sons Nathan and Alexis developed the Whitney Apple, a type of crab apple tree, among the over 20,000 trees in the vast family orchard. The Whitney estate had four houses constructed on it, the Italianate house from 1860 has its own Wikipedia entry and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“Father Dixon” refers to the namesake of Dixon, Illinois, an early settler named John Dixon who operated a ferry across the Rock River. The settlement’s first name was Dixon’s Ferry. Franklin Grove takes its name from John Dixon’s son, Franklin.
According to a gravestone in Franklin Grove Cemetery, Ethel Virginia Sheap was born in 1889 and she died in 1980. Her parents, William Lloyd Sheap (1862-1951) and Nellie I. Sheap (1863-1935), and two sisters Harriett Ann Sheap (1887-1960), and Daughter Sheap (born in 1909 but dying the same day) are also buried in Franklin Grove Cemetery. See: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144463202/ethel-virginia-sheap.
There is a replica Grist Mill operated by volunteers in the Franklin Creek State Natural Area. The people of Franklin Grove raised the money ($600,000) and volunteered labor to construct the Grist Mill, and Franklin Grove was the first community in Illinois to donate land to the State of Illinois for the establishment of Franklin Creek State Park. (From Historic Franklin Grove, published in 1996 by Farming Heritage, Inc.)
