were also from Canada-whence the name of the settlement. It now contains a church, school house, store, two blacksmith shops, a paint shop, and fourteen dwellings.

CHURCHES.

Rev. D. W. Elmore planted the germ of a Baptist Church in Campton, at an old log dwelling, near King's mill, as early as 1838. The same organization continued to flourish for many years, under the ministration of Dr. King and several other preachers, but at length became weakened, and had ceased to exist, when, in 1872, the church at "Canada Corners" was commenced. The society was then revived, and several members contributed liberally to the church, where the Baptists now hold meetings alternately with their Methodist brethren.

A Congregational Church was established very early in the Stewart neighborhood, formerly known as the New Hampshire settlement. Father Clark was an early preacher; also, Rev. Mr. Warner, who lived where Orus Hitchcock now resides; but the membership was never sufficiently strong to erect a house of worship, and in process of time, they became scattered, many of them uniting with the church in St. Charles.

The Methodist Episcopal society was organized at the old log school house, in the Eddy District; early removed to the Corron school house and Canada Corners, and in the Fall of 1872, built with others the Union Church at the latter place, at the cost of about $2,500. The membership is about thirty-five.

CHEESE FACTORIES.

About 1868, a small cheese factory was built at Gray Willow, by the Larkins Brothers, and was sold, at length, to George Lake, and ceased operations in 1875, when the fine building was erected for a similar purpose, near the old site of King's mill. In the Fall of 1877, Mr. Lake disposed of the property, and the business is now continued by Duncan Johnson, who has since manufactured both butter and cheese, from 8,000 to 12,000 pounds of milk per diem. In the Spring of 1870, Edward Thornton built a butter and cheese factory on the west side of the township, and has worked it ever since, obtaining, on an average, the milk from 400 cows daily. The building, like the above, is of wood, well furnished, and cost $6,000.

TOPOGRAPHY AND POPULATION.

Campton Township is well diversified between prairie and wood land, and contains but few tracts of the former which are not under excellent cultivation. It ranks as one of the best towns in the county, both in agricultural resources and the intelligence of its inhabitants, and like all the others, is steadily progressing. Its population, by the last census, was 960.

UNDATIONI

BLACKBERRY TOWNSHIP.

Town 39 North, of Range 7 East, of the Third Principal Meridian, more familiarly known as Blackberry Township, was surveyed in August, 1842, by Silas Reed, one of the surveyors in the employ of the Government.* It lies south of Campton and north of Sugar Grove, and is bounded on the east by Geneva and Batavia, and on the west by Kaneville. The township is crossed from north to south by Blackberry Creek, which, with several small tributaries, are fringed with a thick growth of oak and other timber, which originally extended over the entire western third of the town, and was early named Lance's Grove. The surface in this region is unusually rugged for Kane County, the creek in some parts of its course meandering through deep gorges, like the mountain streams of the Eastern States. Two isolated mounds or hills in

the vicinity rise to a height overlooking all the surrounding country, and are considered stupendous eminences by those whose wanderings have been limited by the limits of this Prairie State. The eastern portion of the township possesses more of those features of scenery common to the best part of Northern Illinois. Nelson's Lake lies partly in Blackberry and partly in Batavia, and its outlet, Lake Run, flows to the southwest into Sugar Grove Township, where it unites with Blackberry Creek. The township contains but little lowland, but the streams referred to furnish, with their affluents, water in sufficient quantities, and the soil is of an excellent quality. The Chicago & North-Western Railroad crosses the north tier of sections, and two of its stations, Blackberry and La Fox, are located in the township.

SETTLEMENT.

The first settlement in Blackberry was made by William Lance and his son John, early in May, 1834. The father was a native of New Jersey, but had been for a number of years a pioneer, his last dwelling place being in the State of Indiana. Starting thence, upon the opening of Spring, with the above named son, his daughter Mary, now Mrs. John Souders, and a younger son, Charles, he drove with eight yoke of oxen to the bank of Fox River, at the Big Woods. Here Mr. Lance was delayed by illness for a few days; and John, leaving the company, encamped in the wagon, crossed the river, and journeying west past Nelson's Grove, selected the claim where Charles Souders now resides. The Spring of 1834 is said to have been one of the mildest on record in the State, and vegetation was already far advanced when the Lances arrived on the banks of the river. This fact lent a peculiar charm to the scenery where the young man decided to make his home-a spot which, even in the dreariest season of the year, is by no means devoid of romantic beauty-and

he marked the spot under the firm impression that it was the most picturesque

*From a copy of the Surveyor's field notes in the possession of Rev. A. Pingree.

P

land upon which the sun ever shone. Having returned to the other side of the river, he guided the remaining members of the party to the place, where the Lance family finally claimed between 70 and 8000 acres. For several days they lived in their wagon, engaged meanwhile in building the first log house in the town. Mrs. Souders is supposed to have been the first white woman in the township.

On the morning of the third or fourth day, the settlers noticed smoke arising from the south, and while still speculating upon the probabilities of its issuing from a pioneer dwelling or an Indian wigwam, a horseman appeared upon a distant hill, riding toward them, who, upon his arrival, introduced himself as Mr. Isbell, and explained that he had just arrived with a party from Ohio, and that the smoke arising in the distance came from his camp fire. He had noticed smoke at the north of him, and, impelled by curiosity, had ridden to discover from whence it came. As may be supposed, the Lances were much rejoiced to learn that they were not alone on the frontier, and mutual congratulations were exchanged. A few days later, the Lances had their house ready to raise, and it was located very near the spot where C. Souders now lives. After its erection, they broke and fenced forty acres of land, and planted a portion of it with corn. It should here be stated that Isaac Waltrup accompanied Mr. Lance from Du Page County, and took up the claim of which George Gould now owns a portion. He was never a resident of the township, however, returning to Du Page in August in the year in which he had taken the land, and later sold it to Hiram Hall. In the Fall, the Lances, father and son, returned to Indiana, leaving Mary and Charles at Peter Dodd's, a brother-in-law, in Du Page County. Dodd had taken up his claim in March of the same year, but eventually sold it and settled in Blackberry. Late in the Fall of 1834, John Lance and his sister Margaret were married, the latter to David Beeler, who accompanied the entire family back to Illinois, arriving on Christmas, and se:tling on a place now known as Johnson's Mound. The Lances and Beeler were the only settlers in the township during the Winter of 1834-5.

During the summer of 1835, important accessions were made to the settlement around the Grove. The township, from the first, presented inducements to immigrants which they were not slow in perceiving. A high table-land above the fevers and chills of the river bottoms, and possessing all the fertility of the lower sections, with timber in abundance-the indispensable consideration in the mind of a Yankee and a powerful one to the Hoosier, as well-a land of hills and streams, resembling more than those of any other town in the county the Eastern country, it was the first of the back townships to be settled.

To the native of hills and valleys, the boundless prairies appear unspeakably flat and dull when viewed for the first time, and it often requires weeks and months to remove this first impression. The variety of surface in Blackberry, on the contrary, was the exact reverse of the extensive plains, dreary in their changeless beauty, which the pioneers had crossed on their way thither, and, consequently, many of them remained.