Will County ILGenWeb

  History of Will County 1878 Township Histories WILMINGTON TOWNSHIP The ancient philosophers recognized in nature four primary elements – water, earth, air and fire. This was quite a natural classification, as from these, they readily perceived, came all of their comforts. From the first two came food and drink, and from the last two they derived health and heat. Modern scientists have changed and modified the arrangement of the ancient alchemist, so that the earlier classification is now known only in history. And yet these four items, just as the ancients understood them, are the great essentials of life, … Read more

  History of Will County 1878 Township Histories WHEATLAND TOWNSHIP Wheatland is the northwest township of Will County, with Kendall and Du Page Counties on the west and north; Du Page Township on the east, and Plainfield Township on the south. It is described as Town 37 north, Range 9 east of the Third Principal Meridian, and at the last census contained 1,133 inhabitants. It is watered by the Du Page River and its branches; the former entering its territory at the northeast corner, flows through it a little west of south. It is wholly prairie, having but a few … Read more

  History of Will County 1878 Township Histories WESLEY TOWNSHIP The alarms of cruel butcheries and inhuman massacres by the Indians had but ceased to echo through the State of Illinois, and the tracks of the red men were still visible in the soil – the Government having but recently removed them to reservations beyond the Mississippi – when emigrants from all portions of the East and South came pouring into the State. Prior to 1832, many settlements had been made in the southern and northwestern portions of the State; and, in the part of the State now embraced in … Read more

  History of Will County 1878 Township Histories TROY TOWNSHIP Jedediah Woolley, Sr., was one of the earliest settlers of Plainfield, but of that township it could hardly be said that he became a permanent resident, as he removed from it before the land came into market. He, however, lived there some time, and there experienced some of the trials and privations of pioneer life incident to this country at a period prior to 1835. In the year named, he removed to Troy Township, made a claim and settled permanently. His son, Jedediah Woolley, Jr., had already made some improvement, … Read more

  History of Will County 1878 Township Histories REED TOWNSHIP This is now the smallest township in the county, containing only the west half of Congressional Town 32, Range 9 east of the Third Principal Meridian. For the fifteen years ending 1875, it was the largest, embracing within its limits all of that territory now constituting Custer. As now laid out, it contains eighteen sections, and is bounded as follows: On the north by Wilmington, on the east by Custer, on the south by Kankakee County and on the west by Grundy. The first name given to the township, by … Read more