July 2014 Gazette Ogle County Historical Society LIVING HISTORY OLD TIME CRAFT FAIRE On Saturday, June 21, the Ogle County Historical Society held its first Living History Old Time Craft Faire. The lawn was filled with booths staffed with crafters and living historians, there was live music on the porch, and we had food vendors. The full-size clay model of the tenth sculpture in the CAL series was displayed in the annex building. Our visitor count could have been better, but considering it was our first time things went well. More photos from the day are inside.
Transcript
July 2014
Gazette
Ogle County Historical Society LIVING HISTORY OLD TIME CRAFT FAIRE
On Saturday, June 21, the Ogle County Historical Society held its first Living History Old Time Craft Faire. The lawn was filled with booths staffed with crafters and living historians, there was live music on the porch, and we had food vendors. The full-size clay model of the tenth sculpture in the CAL series was displayed in the annex building. Our visitor count could have been better, but considering it was our first
time things went well. More photos from the day are inside.
Page 2
RECENT ACQUISITIONS
Since the last column we have received donations of artifacts, documents,
and photographs from about a dozen sources.
Melody Welty brought in items from the Danielson family of Daysville
which her father, Walt Spangler, purchased at the Danielson family sale a
number of years ago. These include family photos, some of which are
identified—that doesn’t happen as often as we’d like—and the Ogle County
naturalization papers of both Peter and John Danielson. She also brought in a
history of the Sahlstrom family.
Retired mail carrier, daily walker, and frequent Historical Society visitor
Willis Cline donated several school books, including Arithmetics and
Readers, that his uncle, Clyde Cox, used at Oak Ridge School near Grand
Detour in the early 20th
century. We also have a “Welcome to Oregon”
Business Directory from 1989 courtesy of Joanne Pennock.
In late May we received copies of both the original and the transcription
of the Civil War diary of David H. Talbot of Lynville Township, who served
in the 34th
Illinois Infantry. Several of the entries cover his visits to his
younger brother Prescott in the hospital. Prescott was a musician in the 74th
Illinois, and was wounded by the accidental discharge of a musket during a
drill. Charlene Toews, the Talbot descendant who sent the items, also
informed us that David and Prescott’s mother, Elizabeth Smith Talbot, was
descended from both Mayflower and Jamestown settlers. That’s quite a
distinction for someone who settled in Ogle County.
Victoria Dummer gave us items from the estate of her mother-in-law,
Ardis Dummer. These include booklets and buttons from the Illinois
Sesquicentennial and Oregon Quasqicentennial in 1968, and some very good
photos of the 1996 flooding on S. Tenth St. and Pines Road. Norma Deuth
donated items from the 1986 Oregon Sesquicentennial and that year’s
Autumn on Parade festival.
The World War II uniform of Robert E. McPherson of Oregon was
donated by his children. One of the interesting things to do with uniforms
and other clothing is to see what was left in the pockets. Bob’s yielded
several extra buttons, an official Government Issue olive drab pocket
handkerchief, and a “Welcome Home” flyer from Camp Myles Standish in
Boston, where Bob was processed out of the service on his way home from
England.
Page 3
We received a large photo (c. 1900) of the Thomas Shelton Burright fam-ily of Ogle County from great-granddaughter Nancy Werbach, along with the autograph book of her grandmother, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Burright. Colleen and Bob Logsdon gave us a copy of their latest book on a member of the Grand Detour art colony, John Thomas Nolf. Like their previous books, it has color photos of the artist’s works along with a family history.
Lester Hollenback, father of OCHS member Linda Hoffman, gave us two old can openers for our kitchen display. One was made over a hundred years ago by Gellman Mfg. of Rock Island, IL; the other, from the 1930’s, was made in Kalamazoo, MI.
Lee Johnson, son of Mabel Grover Johnson, a 1917 or 1918 graduate of Kings High School, brought in a class photo and other individual photos, all of them identified by name. He made sure to get the names from his mother while she was still living; when people do that, it makes the photos much more usable. The children of Horace and Ruby Chasm donated a copy of the book War Record of Mt. Morris edited by Harry G. Kable. This is a resource for anyone doing research on WWII veterans who lived in Mt. Morris and/or worked at Kable, and now we have more than one copy of it.
We have lots of “new” old things; now we just need some more new members and new volunteers.
Page 4
JUNIOR DOCENT PROGRAM
Our Junior Docent program continues to grow, and we continue to come
up with things for the students to do which improve both the museum and
the visitor experience. Over President’s Day weekend, four Junior Docents
and three adult volunteers finished up our winter project of decluttering the
upstairs and downstairs hallways and making new signs for the artifacts and
photos displayed there. The glass front cabinet in the upstairs hall is now
lined with acid-free tissue and contains 12 quilts and 4 woven blankets, most
of them identified.
Of our six Junior Docents from last year, one has moved away and one is
unavailable this summer but may return later. During spring break, Bill
Bailey, Dotti Bowers, and Junior Docents Blaise, Melinda, and Anna, along
with Anna’s guest Taylor, toured the Tinker Swiss Cottage in Rockford. In
May, Taylor became the first of what would eventually be six new Junior
Docents. All of them are going into eighth grade and are earning Eagle
Hours toward the community service award they hope to receive next spring
at eighth grade promotion. In addition to Taylor, we have Jaden, Makenna,
Jaycie, Mykenzie, and Tessa.
During the month of June our Junior Docents gave us a total of 131 hours
of their time, including 25 ½ hours on June 21, the day of our Living History
Old Time Craft Faire. Our latest project, which will take until after school
starts, is making padded hangers for the clothing we have both on display
and in storage. Thanks to members who have donated plastic and wooden
hangers; we have enough for now. Although two of our more experienced
Junior Docents are currently detasseling, our Thursday morning work
sessions continue. Stop in and see the future in action.
LIVE MUSIC
ON THE
FRONT PORCH
Page 5
LIVE MUSIC
ON THE
FRONT PORCH
Page 6
Page 7
OGLE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR
by Bill Bailey
#16—George Q. Allen, Mt. Morris
George Q. Allen was from one of the many families who came to Ogle
County from Washington County, MD. He was born in Hagerstown in 1842
and his parents brought the family to Mt. Morris eight years later. At the
start of the Civil War, George was a student at Rock River Seminary (later
Mt. Morris College) and was among the many young men who left school
and enlisted in the U. S. Volunteers. He joined the 15th Illinois Infantry on
May 24, 1861 and was immediately promoted to Sergeant-Major, the senior
enlisted rank in a regiment.
After six weeks training in Alton, Sgt-Maj. Allen and the 15th
spent the
rest of 1861 in Missouri, serving briefly alongside the 21st Illinois while it
was under its original commander, Col. U. S. Grant. In early 1862 the
regiment was ordered to west Tennessee, arriving at Ft. Donelson in time to
witness its surrender. George Allen and his comrades then served under Gen.
Stephen Hurlbut of Belvidere through the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and
Hatchie River before going into winter quarters in Memphis.
Shortly after joining Grant’s army for the siege of Vicksburg in mid-May
of 1863, George Allen was commissioned a lieutenant and given the job of
regimental adjutant. This meant he was in charge of all the regiment’s
paperwork. According to his obituary, this was a “position he filled with rare
credit, his reports at all times being models for correcdtness and neatness as
he was a pensman of great skill.” This skill, however, did not prevent him
from being one of the officers mustered out when the 14th
and 15th regiments
combined into a six company battalion in July 1864.
On October 21 George Allen enlisted in the 144th Illinois as a 2
nd Lt. and
was promoted to 1st Lt. several weeks later. The regiment, enlisted for only
12 months, spent the rest of the war guarding supply depots and prison
camps, with 1st Lt. Allen being assigned to the prison camp at Alton, IL.
Some time after the war, George Allen moved from Mt. Morris to the
Chicago area, where he married, raised a daughter, and worked for the
Appellate Court and the U. S. Marshal’s Service. In the 1880’s he wrote a
speech entitled “Reminiscences of the Late War of the Rebellion” which he
gave on numerous occasions. He died on November 9, 1913, and is buried in
