|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Reflections
How Kendall County places got their names : Reflections : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisHow Kendall County places got their names
| 9/18/2008
|
Almost everyone, I suppose, at one time or another, has looked at a map or a road sign and wondered, "Where did that name come from?"
Kendall County has its own share of places with name that probably sound obscure to newer residents, and may even be puzzling to those who've lived here their entire lives.
With a new school year started and with new families having moved into the area over the summer months, it's perhaps a good time to take a look at some prominent local place names and their origins. If nothing else, new kids in school can wow their teachers with their knowledge of their new hometowns.
Oswego Township and the village of Oswego both carry the Mohawk Indian name that literally means, "place of the flowing out," or more familiarly, "the mouth of the stream." The village was first named Hudson by the two men who laid it out, Levi F. Arnold and Lewis B. Judson. Both were native New Yorkers, and picked a familiar name for their new town. When the village was awarded a post office in 1837, however, the government decided to call it Lodi. Later that same year, the four or five property owning residents of the tiny village gathered and voted on a permanent name, deciding on yet another familiar New York name, Oswego (by a margin of a single vote). When the Illinois General Assembly established townships in 1850, residents decided to name the township after the village.
Little Rock Township and the village of Little Rock are named after the creek over that direction. The City of Plano was given the Spanish word for plain, because, the town's founders decided, it accurately described the new community's site.
Bristol Township and the current village of Bristol are both named after early settler Lyman Bristol.
Kendall Township, and the county as well, are named after Amos Kendall, journalist and political crony of Andrew Jackson. Kendall was Jackson's primary political hatchetman and as Postmaster General, handled passing out thousands of postmaster patronage jobs throughout the nation.
Yorkville was named after the village in New York from which some of the early residents came. The north side of Yorkville was first known as Bristol and was a separate village until 1957 when Bristol and Yorkville merged.
Boulder Hill, the huge unincorporated subdivision between Oswego and Montgomery east of the Fox River, was named after the Boulder Hill Stock Farm owned by the Bereman Family. Developer Don L. Dise bought the stock farm, which covered more than 700 acres, in the early 1950s to develop his new community. Bereman once owned more than 1,000 acres of land in Oswego Township. He made his fortune manufacturing and selling freckle cream, which was supposed to eliminate skin blemishes and give women smooth, white skin.
NaAuSay Township was given a made-up name that some of the earliest township residents insisted meant "headwaters of the AuSable." If it means what they thought it meant, it's a fitting name since AuSable Creek starts in the township before flowing to its mouth on the Illinois River. AuSable Creek carries a French name meaning "Sandy Creek." It was a major landmark from colonial times until the 19th Century and is mentioned in many Indian treaties.
Big Grove Township was named after the large grove of trees in Sections 9, 10, 15, and 16 of that township when settlers arrived in the 1830's. Newark was given the name of a town out east, but before that it was known as Georgetown after founder George Hollenback.
Lisbon Township and the Village of Lisbon both carry the name of the city in Portugal. According to early histories, settlers wanted to give their new home a different name from any of the county's other towns. Plattville was named after its founder, Daniel Platt. Platt hailed from Plattsburg, N.Y., which his ancestors founded.
Waubonsie Creek is named for the well-known Pottawatomie war chief who lived in the area. Waubonsie also gave his name to Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove and Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora. Waubonsie was also the name of a large reed marsh extending over some 350 acres near the intersection of U.S. Route 30 and U.S. Route 34 in Oswego and Montgomery. The marsh was drained in the early 1900s, but still reappears after heavy rains.
Morgan Creek is named for Ebenezer Morgan, an early Oswego Township settler and millwright. Hollenback Creek is named for the Hollenback family, early settlers and business leaders.
Bartlett Creek, which crosses Main Street in downtown Oswego a block south of the old village hall, is named after the Bartlett family, early Oswego settlers. The small house on the west side of Main Street where it crosses the creek was built by the Bartletts when they came from New York in 1837, and may be the oldest house in Oswego.
Seward Township is named after New York Gov. William H. Seward, later U.S. Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. The township was originally named Franklin, after Benjamin Franklin, but the name had to be changed after it was discovered another Illinois township carried that name.
In the Treaty of 1829 signed at Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin, the U.S. Government granted reserves of land to two Indians then living in Kendall County. The larger Waish Kee Shaw Reserve went to the Indian wife of fur trader and businessman David Laughton and to her son, Joseph. The other reserve was granted to an individual named Mo-Ah-Way, of whom little else is known. Reservation Road bisects the two reserves, thus the road's name. And the Oswegoland Park District's Waa Kee Sha Park was named after Waish Kee Shaw.
The names of roads, towns, and streams can be a sort of guide to the history of an area. In our own area, Indian, French, and early pioneer influences are all evident. Knowing the origin of local place names is one way to make local history come alive.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
