Our earliest settlers
Settlers to northern Illinois came mainly from New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. There were two main routes from the east — the Great Lakes and overland. When the Erie Canal was finished in 1825, it offered an easier route through the Great Lakes.
The Preemption Act of 1820 provided for a claim process whereby the land was first pre-empted (or claimed) by an individual. The settler would hold the land until it was surveyed, at which time he was to pay a specified cost per acre of land and the deed was recorded.
The Babcock brothers, Ralph, Anson, and Morgan, took up claims to a large wooded area in 1833. The following year, Deacon Winslow Churchill and his family of twenty-eight members arrived from New York. They held their claim until it was surveyed in 1840 and then paid $1.25 per acre.
John Ackerman married Lurania Churchill and they staked a claim west of the DuPage River. David Christian married Christiana Churchill, Lurania’s twin sister. They settled on the northeast corner of present-day St. Charles Road and Main Street.
Moses Stacy and family arrived in 1835 from Massachusetts. When William Dodge came with his family, he bought a claim from the Babcock brothers. Others arriving that year included A. S. Janes, Milo Meacham, Horace Barnes, Royal Walker, and the Reverend James McChesney.