The OTHER Church on the Hill

Located about four miles east of Bradford is Boyd's Grove church. Organized in 1851 by six families that had been meeting in their homes, the name was taken from the settlement of Boyd's Grove which was once located to the north. The church was built at a cost of $800.00. The lumber milled on sight and the stone quarried over in Sparland.

Lightning struck the church in 1919 and it burned tot he ground, a total loss. That might have been the end of it but perseverance paid off and the church was rebuilt in 1921 and still stands, and holds services, to this day.  It's a quiet place on most days and the day we were there the sun was shining, the skies blue and wispy clouds floated overhead.

Boyd's Grove Church is located on the Wyanet-Walnut road. Turn left and follow the road South until you come to county road 200 N. The church is there on the intersection.

The Last Full Measure

I was on a drive today and stopped off in Henry for a few minutes. While I was there I came across the Cromwell memorial and decided that would make for an interesting story for those who don't know the details.

John Cromwell was born in Henry in 1901. Being a farm boy he naturally gravitated to the Naval academy, graduating from there in 1924 and served initially in the battleship USS Maryland. Between 1927 thru 1929 he served in the submarine S-24.

By world war two he was aboard USS Sculpin as the prospective commander of an American wolf pack. By all respects his star was definitely on the rise.  That all changed on November 19th of 1943. The Sculpin attacked an enemy convoy and during the battle was forced to the surface. The result of the ensuing surface action resulted in the Sculpin being fatally damaged and the surviving crew forced to abandon ship.

However Captain Cromwell, who had survived the battle, was afraid of being captured as he possessed secret details to the upcoming invasion of the Gilbert islands. And so, in an act that earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor, he chose to stay aboard and go down with the ship. Today in a quiet park in a quiet town there's a WW 2 era naval torpedo, a symbol of one man's incredibly heroic act to safeguard the nation he loved so dearly. If you're ever down that way, stop for a moment, take off your hat, and give thanks for men like him who embodied the best that America has to offer.

Home of the Free...Because of the Brave

Tomorrow marks the Two Hundred and Fortieth anniversary of a grand social experiment. In the late 18th century a group of men came together. Doctors, Lawyers, Tinkers and Cobblers. A great debate raged on about what had never been attempted before.

Independence.

Up to that point countries were ruled by Kings and Nobles who treated their people as serfs and peasants with little say in their own affairs. Indeed, that is how America began, as a colony of Great Britain, ruled by a King who decided the fate of the colonists from far across the ocean.

But in 1776 these men came together to propose the unthinkable. To throw off English rule and strike out on their own. It was a terrifying notion. No colony had broken away from it's mother land and many were fearful of what that country would do in retaliation for their actions. At that point in time the English army was the finest in the world. The Royal navy ruled the seas. America had no standing army, no navy. It had little chance of success.

And yet.......

Two Hundred and Forty years after that momentous decision here we are, the Greatest country on this earth. Along the way we've fought wars, stood up against evil and tyranny, Produced great poets, scientists, and military men. And yet thru it all we've Endured. Secure in our liberty and protected by a document that, while often challenged, still holds firm as  a shining light against the dark.

A Hundred years from now we will still be celebrating the 4th of July. We will still be singing our patriotic songs. We will still be standing and placing a hand over our hearts for 'Old Glory'.  Patriotism isn't dead, it's just not as talked about as much as it used to be.  Another Illinois native said it best. "That Government of the People, By the People and For the People shall not perish from the earth"

And so the Grand experiment goes on........

Just another Hodge Podge

I didn't make it out last week (Probably because of that big presentation I did at the library) so here is an assortment of photo's that I didn't post from past expeditions. Either there wasn't enough photo's, or I couldn't find any documentation on them, etc. I'm going out again this week though so there's going to be fresh material for your 4th of July weekend. Promise! Until then enjoy these.

Just how Odd are You?

Recently in our travels we made our way up to Lee Center. We had heard of an old hotel/stage coach stop that way and we wanted to see if we could find it. ( We did ). But as it turns out there's a few more interesting buildings in Lee Center besides the hotel so we went Exploring.

Dedicated on Wednesday, September the 10th, 1913 the Odd Fellows lodge # 1004 was installed in a brand new building donated by Ninety three year old Abigail Haskell in remembrance of her husband. Though elderly and frail she attended the dedication ceremonies and the Grand Ball that occurred that evening.

The lodge held their meetings in the upper floors of the structure while downstairs it was used at first for storage but later turned into a grocery store. I couldn't find the date the lodge folded, perhaps one of my readers might share that?

The day we stopped the current owner of the building graciously allowed us to come onto the property and snap some photo's and gave Lil' Nick a brief history of the building. Of particular interest to Tom were the two cornerstones on either end of the building which according to the owner contained time capsules. He made a couple remarks, purely in jest I'm sure, about coming back one dark night and making off with them!

This is just one of several intriguing spots up in Lee Center to go and see. So if you ever want to get out of the house and decide on a road trip you might consider meandering up that way.

He survived thru a twist of fate.

The year was 1929 and Chicago was a hotbed of gangster activity. Rival gangs fought amongst themselves for control of the city's lucrative underworld market's. Prohibition was the law of the land and illegal sales and distribution of alcohol built empires and made ordinary mobsters Kings.

Two of the most notorious were the North side Irish gang of Bugs Moran and the South side Italian gang of Alphonse Capone. On February 14th  a meeting had been set up to supposedly purchase liquor stolen from Al Capone's gang. The men were surprised by four men, two dressed as policemen and two in plainclothes posing as an undercover raiding party. But far from actual law enforcement officers they were members of the Capone gang who lined seven men up in a garage on North Clark street and executed them at point blank range. Seven men cut down in the prime of their lives.

But there was supposed to be Nine.

In 1929 Leo Mongoven of Lee county was described as a Dangerous public enemy and a top machine gunner for Bugs Moran. He and his boss were supposed to be at that garage with the others. But in an ironic twist of fate Mongoven stopped to buy a pack of cigarettes. They arrived in time to see police cars at the scene and immediately turned around and left.

In time prohibition was repealed and gang activity was sharply curtailed. Al Capone ended up in prison and the gangs broke up, reformed, and broke up again. Bugs Moran died in prison in 1957.

The garage on Clark street is gone, now a parking lot for a nursing home. The bricks from the wall where seven men died went thru a number of owners before being donated to the Mob museum in Las Vegas.

And Leo Mongoven? He lived a long life, dying in 1980 at the ripe age of 84. To find this marker go up to Amboy to the Catholic cemetery. Go in the first entrance and it will be on the right side of the lane about 100 feet from the entrance.

A big thank you to William Eckberg for passing along this story to us.

The forgotten Mormon cemetery

Just outside of Amboy, past the Catholic cemetery is a turnoff to the Left called appropriately enough Mormon road. Take that and go down a mile or two and off to the right side and nearly invisible from the road is a forgotten and abandoned Mormon cemetery.

The Mormons arrived in the Amboy area around the 1830's and settled down to an uneasy existence which was only made worse by the death of  Joseph Smith in 1844. The church split off into several splinter groups one of which was the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ. This was the group in Lee county.

The cemetery was organized in the middle of the 19th century with the first burial in 1854. All told there are only about twenty one graves there that have been found. The day that we visited we only found two headstones, both in severe disrepair. It's clear that in another couple of years there will be nothing left that's legible.

If there's any genealogists out there that want to go take some tracings of these headstones my advice is go soon. To find it drive down Mormon road and look for a modern house on the left sides of the road. The cemetery is on the opposite side of the road. There's a short drive up a hill to get to it but it was easily navigable. ( Once we found it ).