Society Saturday - Pere Marquette State Park

The State meeting of the Colonial Dames 17th Century was held at the Pere Marquette State Park outside of Grafton, Illinois.  This is a site along the Mississippi River a little north of the St. Louis area.

The meeting was held in the lodge of the same name.  This lodge was a rustic building built in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps .  It had wooden beams and fireplaces.  There was a large lobby with chess sets and ample seating.

The reason that we met there was to dedicate a state marking at the site.  This site was visited by Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet in 1673 when they were exploring Illinois.  They traveled from Canada across Lake Michigan and Wisconsin and down the Mississippi.  It was near this site that they met a group of friendly Indians and learned that the Mississippi Rive actually flowed all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

The state Society placed a plaque which states:
Pere Jacques Marquette
In 1673 Father (Pere) Jacques Marquette, Missionary Priest, and Louis Jolliet, Fur Trader, left Canada to explore the Mississippi River.  They returned by the Illinois river, passing near this area.  Their travels covered four months and 2500 miles.

There is a statue of Pere Marquette just behind the marker we placed.

Society Saturday - The Woman's Christian Temperance Union

Yes, the WCTU is a society, but, for the purpose of this blog, one we learned about at a recent meeting of Colonial Dames 17th Century.

We met at the headquarters of the WCTU in Evanston, IL in the former home of Frances Willard.  The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was founded in 1874 to promote social issues such as temperance and woman's voting rights.  Since women were not allowed to vote, this was one way they could get their message out.  The WCTU was a very effective way for women to organize and promote family values.  Their agenda for social change also included campaigns against sex trafficking and for pure food and drug laws.  They are best known for their support of the 18th amendment (prohibition).  They also helped bring about the 19th Amendment (women's voting rights).  The WCTU is still in existence today, lobbying against alcohol and other substance abuse.

Frances Willard was the second President of the WCTU from 1879 until her death in 1898.  She had led a remarkable life up to that point, including her position as President of Evanston College for Ladies, and then Dean of Women at the Women's College of Northwestern University.  Under her leadership, the WCTU became the largest organization of women in the world.  They were extremely influential during the late 19th and early 20th century.

Our meeting included a very interesting talk about Miss Willard by Glen Madeja, Executive Director of the Willard Historical Association, as well as a tour of her home which served as headquarters for her beloved organization.

Society Saturday - Happy Birthday NSCDXVIIC

I was a guest at the Opening Night Banquet of the Colonial Dames 17th Century.  They are celebrating their 100th Anniversary this year and have turned their Convention into a gala celebration.

While everyone was gathering, we were entertained by the US Marine Corps Brass Quintet.  

After introductions, the Anniversary cake was presented and cut.

Following dinner, we were entertained by comic Kim Weitkamp.  Her humor appealed to a room full of women, with apologies to the few men in the room.

www.colonialdames17c.org

Society Saturday - Touring Ansel Brainerd Cook's House

Our fall meeting of the Lac des Illinois Colonial Dames 17th Century chapter was in Libertyville, IL.  We started out with a tour of the Ansel Brainerd Cook house.

Ansel Brainerd Cook was born in 1823 in Haddam, CT.  He moved to northern Illinois in 1845, then to Chicago in 1853.  While in Chicago, he started a stone masonry business.  He provided the masonry for the iconic Chicago Water Tower, one of the few structures to survive the Chicago fire.  The stone came from a quarry which is now the site of the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower - another iconic Chicago building.

He was an alderman in Chicago, and also served in the Illinois State Legislature for 3 terms - initially from Cook County and later from Lake County.

In 1878 he built his country residence in Libertyville, on the site of that town's first post office.  After his death in 1898 he willed this house to Libertyville for use as a library.  He stipulated that his third wife be allowed to live there until her death in 1920.  The house was used as a library until 1968 when the present Cook Memorial Library was built adjacent to the home.

The house became the headquarters of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society and contains many donated period pieces, including furniture, small items, and many wedding dresses on display.

One interesting item was a banner on display for the Wide Awake Club.  This was a Republican Campaign Club that existed to aid in the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.  The Libertyville delegation was the largest contingent to march in a torchlight parade on Chicago's State Street.  At the bottom of the picture are 2 of the torches carried in that parade.

www.colonialdames17c.org

Society Saturday - Yea, we have a Goodly History

The Lac des Illinois and Robert Hempstead Chapters of the Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century held a join meeting.  The special guest was the State President, Nancy Schultz.  She must visit each of Illinois' seven chapters during her two year term.  Members from both chapters held their business meetings.  There were some new and some prospective members present, as well as some members from out of state chapters.

After our business was concluded, and after lunch, President Schultz gave her program "Yea, We Have a Goodly History".  This was about the founding of the National Society by Mary Florence Taney in 1915.  The Society will be celebrating its 100th anniversary next year.  Since its founding by 5 women, it has grown to over 11000 members with the following goals:
     - preservation of records and historical sites
     - to foster interest in historical colonial research
     - to aid in education of our youth
     - to commemorate noble and heroic deeds of our ancestors, the founds of our great Republic
     - to maintain a Library of Heraldry
     - to develop a library specializing in seventeenth century American colonial data

http://www.colonialdames17c.org/illinois.html

Society Saturday - Farnsworth House

The Lac des Illinois Chapter of Colonial Dames 17th century had their September meeting at the Farnsworth House in Plano, IL. 
The Farnsworth House was the weekend escape of Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a nephrologist  at Northwestern University in Chicago.  The main significance of this structure was that it was built for her by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1951. 

The house is an excellent example of Mies' philosophy of "Less is More".  It stands along the Fox River on 62 acres of land.  It is a beautiful wooded setting.  The house was built 5 feet off the ground to prevent flood damage, but unfortunately did sustain some damage in 2 very large floods.

The house is surrounded on all four sides by glass panes.  This provides a lovely view of the river, the woods, or the surrounding lawn.  Inside, there is a center enclosed area which contains 2 bathrooms and a utility room. 

There is very little storage throughout the house - essentially just the kitchen cabinets.  Dr. Farnsworth ultimately had a large wardrobe constructed for the bedroom area, although the architect was opposed to this.

This was a very interesting tour, and all the ladies (plus one husband) seemed to enjoy it.

Our guide is telling us the history of the house - the Fox River can be seen in the background.

The "front" of the house - to the left is the study area, in the center is the living area, and the bedroom is behind the curtain on the right.

The ladies walk up the steps to the patio before entering the house.  The yellow structure is a sculpture that was recently added.

This is the "back" of the house - bedroom to the left, kitchen in the center, and dining area on the right.  The house is suspended by the white steel beams.  The larger "beam" under the house contains the electricity and telephone lines.

Society Saturday - Lincoln's Watch

The Lac des  Illinois chapter of Colonial Dames of 17th Century recently had a wonderful program.
Doug Stiles presented a true "detective story" he participated in.

He recalled a family story that his great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Dillon was a watch repairman in Washington DC and happened to be cleaning Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch on the day that the Civil War began.  He placed an engraved notation about that including that date and "thank God for our government" inside the watch.

Mr.Stiles set out to determine if the story was true and told us how he tracked the watch to the Smithsonian. The curator didn't believe him at first, but was ultimately convinced to open the watch after reading a 1906 NY Times article quoting the watchmaker.

On March 10, 2009, during a televised event, a master watchmaker opened the watch and found, the engraving behind the dial!!!!

It was a fascinating story, wonderfully told by a descendent of that watchmaker.

Society Saturday - The Colonial Art of Spinning

Lac des Illinois chapter of Colonial Dames of Seventeenth Century met recently.  Our speaker was Maggie Kraus.  She is a local artist who works in several media, including painting and fabric.  She has been spinning her own yarn for knitting for over 30 years.

She brought her spinning wheel and showed us how she spins - talking as she spun.   She discussed the journey taken by wool after it is shorn from the sheep.  She demonstrated carding the wool and mentioned that it is a great workout for the upper arms!  She then spins the yarn and gathers it into skeins.  She has dyed her own yarn as well - in a large vat over an open fire!  It is not necessary to dye the yarn, though, as there are many naturally occurring colors and shades.

Maggie had brought several yarn samples with her, demonstrating the difference in yarn based on breed of sheep.  Finally, she showed several examples of sweaters and other items that she had knit.  Her homespun yarn and handmade sweaters were beautiful and quite durable.

It was easy to imagine our colonial ancestors spending hours going through this process, just to make a single item of clothing!

Society Saturday - Learning about the Brothers' War

At a recent Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century meeting, we learned about the "Brothers' War".  The meeting started off at a member's home where we conducted business and had a nice lunch.  Then we traveled to Grayslake, IL Historical Society.

There, Society Director Dave Oberg told us about the Brothers' War - ie. the Civil War.  He was in costume and told of the 50 young men from the Grayslake area who fought for the Union.  At the time, the town of Grayslake did not exist, and these were predominantly farm boys who fought.


He gave an extremely interesting and well researched talk about many of the young men.  He told of the battles they were in, showed portraits of some of them, and made connections to some current local residents.

Along with some excerpts of letters and diaries written by these men, he also entertained us with songs that were popular with the troops. 

A very interesting program and I'm glad that I travelled the 40 miles each way to attend.