CAPT. STOUGHTON COOLEY
Born in 1822 in Hanover, New York, Stoughton Cooley was a direct descendant of Pilgrim John Alden. After marrying Clarissa Mays in 1842, the couple entered the flatboat business on the Ohio and upper Mississippi Rivers, traveling as far as New Orleans.
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Cooley settled in Savanna in 1851 and became a prominent Mississippi River steamboat captain. He built the steamboat Tensas in 1875, also captained the W.F. Curtis, and constructed a home on a high hill overlooking the river, complete with a cupola to watch river traffic. He and Clarissa had nine children, five of whom continued in the river trade.
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By 1877, sons William, Emmett, and LeVerrier ran the Tensas on the New Orleans–Bayou Macon–Tensas trade until the boat was lost to fire in 1886. LeVerrier became a celebrated steamboat captain, remembered as “the grand old man of the river.” Stoughton Jr. remained in Savanna and authored The Captain of the Amaryllis in 1910. Gilbert Brian Cooley, the youngest, later ran the Monroe Steam Laundry in Louisiana while continuing in steamboating.
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After Stoughton’s death in 1878, Clarissa continued overseeing the family’s river operations and traveled extensively along the Mississippi, likely covering three-quarters of a million miles. She died in 1912 in New Orleans, and her remains were returned to Savanna to rest beside her husband. The Cooley family left a lasting mark on Mississippi River history, spanning seven decades of steamboating excellence.
LUTHER BOWEN
Luther L. Bowen was born Dec. 3, 1806, in Herkimer County of western New York and around 1833 he accompanied a party of surveyors and was engaged with them in locating the disputed boundary line between Illinois and Wisconsin. The work having been completed, he remained in Galena and was employed by a firm as a bookkeeper.
In exploring around the country looking for a good location, he finally recached this frontier settlement and determined it an excellent location for the founding of a city on the Mississippi River. He then negotiated with the settlers for their claim interests and returned to Galena with the intention of returning later and laying out the town.
In 1935, Luther Bowen returned to the settlement and began to develop the land he had purchased from the original pioneers. With a man named Murray, the two laid out the town and called it Savanna, which means, treeless grassy plain referring to the land south of town.
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So the 36 acres of cornfield became streets and building lots. In laying out Main Street they took the westside, the line of field fences which had been built following the line of driftwood indicating some previous high water mark. Commerce Street was laid out one block west of Main Street along the bank of the river. This street and the part of Main Street lying south of which is now Chicago Avenue was vacated by an act of Legislation.
Luther Bowen built a motel, The Mississippi” on Main Street at the present location of the Radke House. It became known as the Woodruff House and was eventually torn down to make room for the Radke Hotel. Luther also started a general store, established the first post office in 1836, and became the first postmaster.
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He went to New York to buy goods for his store, and when he returned he brought with him a bride. He married Elizabeth Dale, native of Union County, Pennsylvania, and they had four children, Hattie E. Bowen Hershey (1845-1927), Jennie F. (1848-1922), Wilmot I. (1852-1884) and Aaron L. (1859-1939). They lived in the log cabin the Blundells had built and then constructed the first frame house at the corner of Third Street and Chicago Avenue.
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In 1836, Luther and his brother, John, built a saw mill on Plum River on the opposite bank of the Kitching's grist mill. The pine logs to supply the mill were rafted down the Mississippi River and up the Plum River to near the mill. This was a great convenience for the settlers in building their cabins as it did away generally with the puncheon floors.
In 1835 and 1836, he established a ferry at the mouth of Plum River, which was made necessary in time of high water, as it was the only way to Savanna from the east and south. He was instrumental in forming Carroll County and was one of the first commissioners of the new county in 1839. He died on May 5, 1876, at age 69, and is buried at the Savanna Township Cemetery.
WILLIAM BLUNDELL
Born in 1804 in Virginia, William Blundell was one of the earliest settlers of what would become Savanna, Illinois. He and his wife, Elizabeth Caroline Davidson, traveled north with the Pierce and Davidson families after originally farming in southern Illinois. Hoping to find opportunity in the Galena lead mines, the group traveled north but quickly decided mining wasn’t for them.
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Instead, they moved south along the Mississippi River to a “beautiful valley on the banks of the Mississippi” that Vance Davidson had previously noticed. While the Pierce family traveled by wagon, the Blundells and Davidsons arrived by boat, spending their first night along the river wrapped in reeds to stay warm.
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The families cleared land and built log cabins from walnut trees near what is now the north end of Savanna’s Main Street. The Blundell cabin once stood at 835 Main Street. That first winter was harsh, with heavy snowstorms and the Mississippi River not breaking up until April 17. That fall, the Blundells welcomed Levi Jefferson, the first boy born in the settlement. The family later had seven more children while living in Savanna.
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In the 1850s, the Blundell family joined the westward migration during the California Gold Rush, eventually settling in Healdsburg, California, where William Blundell died in 1867. Elizabeth later passed away in 1887 in Grass Valley, California.
Years later, Elizabeth wrote that despite living in sunny California, she always remembered her pioneer years in Savanna as the happiest time of her life.
FRED CHAMBERS
Fred Chambers, born December 10, 1820, in Kent County, England, immigrated with his family to Chautauqua County, New York as a young boy. At age 19, he headed west toward Galena, Illinois, arriving in Chicago in May of 1840 and continuing the journey on foot.
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Along the way, he stopped overnight at the Pierce House in Savanna. The next morning he offered to help Harriet Pierce chop wood for breakfast, but accidentally nearly cut his foot off with the axe. The injury left him unable to travel for three months, ultimately leading him to settle in Savanna permanently.
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In December 1840, he married Laura M. Strong of Pennsylvania, and together they raised five children. Chambers first worked as a laborer before becoming a merchant and grain buyer, eventually managing the Powder Mill on Plum River, which produced gunpowder for the Galena lead mines. The mill suffered several explosions over the years and was ultimately destroyed in 1853, never to be rebuilt.
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Afterward, Chambers entered the hotel business, purchasing a hotel originally built by Aaron Pierce. The hotel had previously been called the Frontier House and later the El Dorado House, before Chambers renamed it the Chambers House after moving it to the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets. The hotel later burned down in December 1882.
Fred Chambers died July 12, 1888, at age 67, and is buried in Savanna Township Cemetery.
GEORGE DAVIDSON
George Davidson was one of the earliest settlers of what would become Savanna, Illinois, though little is known about his later life. He traveled north from Kentucky to Bond County, Illinois with his wife, son Vance, daughter Elizabeth Caroline, and her husband William Blundell, where they met the Pierce family.
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After farming for two years, the families headed north toward Galena hoping to find opportunity in the lead mines. Deciding mining wasn’t for them, they instead moved south along the Mississippi to a “beautiful valley on the banks of the river” that Vance Davidson had noticed earlier.
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On November 4, 1828, the group arrived at the site of present-day Savanna. The Pierce family traveled by wagon, while the Davidsons and Blundells floated down the river by flatboat, navigating sandbars along the way. With no buildings in sight, they spent their first night on the boat before building simple grass-covered shelters for protection. The Davidson cabin was later built at what is now 1121 Main Street, the site where the Savanna Veteran’s Monument stands today.
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George Davidson soon returned to Bond County with Aaron Pierce and his son Vance to retrieve livestock they had left behind. The cattle, horses, and oxen they brought back were believed to be the first domestic animals in Carroll County. The settlers then began clearing land and cutting cordwood to sell to passing steamboats on the Mississippi River.
This trip to Bond County is the last recorded mention of George Davidson, and it is believed he and his wife did not return to Savanna after fleeing to Galena during the Black Hawk War.
FULLER FAMILY
In 1836, John Fuller and his sister Hannah Fuller arrived in Savanna from Kennebec County, Maine, traveling the entire distance by ox team. Born in Bangor, Maine on November 12, 1812, John reached Galena in March of 1836, but deep snow forced him to trade his wagon for a sled to finish the journey to Savanna.
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Soon after arriving, Hannah Fuller became Savanna’s first teacher. While waiting for her brother to finish building their home on the north end of Main Street, she taught a small school of six children in the Pierce family’s log cabin. Four of the students were Pierce children, along with Jefferson Blundell and a boy living with Vance Davidson—together representing nearly all the young children in the settlement.
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Later, Hannah taught another small school in the Fuller home. One of her students, Sarah Ashby, had recently moved to the area from Canada. In 1840, at just 16 years old, Sarah married John Fuller. Their wedding took place in her family’s log cabin along Plum River, performed by Methodist minister Bartholomew Weed.
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John and Sarah settled in the home he built in the north part of Savanna, where most of their nine children were born. In 1860, the family moved to their homestead on Chicago Avenue, and in 1890 they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.
The Fullers were deeply involved in the Methodist Church, helping establish one of the earliest church societies in the community with the assistance of the Davidson and Blundell families.
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John Fuller died April 3, 1896, at age 83, and Sarah passed away just weeks earlier on March 23, 1896, at age 72.
One of their sons, George Ezra Fuller, became well known in the area for his love of music and served as a bugler in the 92nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Later, he worked as a grocer and operated Fuller Grocery Store with his son Bert at 516 Chicago Avenue.
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The Fuller family remained a lasting part of Savanna’s business and cultural life. George’s son Robert G. Fuller later purchased a furniture and funeral business on Main Street, which became Fuller Furniture Store and Funeral Home, serving the community for many years.
IRENE AND WILLIAM FULRATH
William Russell Fulrath came from a family of German immigrants who helped shape early industry in the Savanna area. His father, Johan Adam Vollrath, was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1852, arriving in New York City aboard the ship Argo with his mother and younger brother after departing from Liverpool, England.
Adam later moved west and married Hannah Smith on March 12, 1864. In 1869, the family relocated to Carroll County, Illinois, settling on a farm at Center Hill. A few years later, in 1874, Adam purchased the Geyer Mill, which would later become widely known as the Fulrath Mill.
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Their oldest son, William Russell Fulrath, was born in 1865 in Olin, Iowa. As a young man he helped operate the family mill and worked on the farm. On April 11, 1886, he married Irene Smith of Mount Carroll, daughter of Thomas J. Smith, a Civil War veteran. Together they raised five children—Lettie, Lillian, Logan, and Laura, with one child dying in infancy.
In 1888, the family moved to Savanna, where William established a brick yard and kiln in Dane Hollow, just south of Summit Street. The business prospered, and in 1905 he expanded operations by opening Fulrath’s Brick and Coal Yards, which became well known in the region.
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By 1911, Fulrath purchased the historic Cooley House on Main Street. Clay from nearby hills provided excellent material for producing bricks of many colors. In 1914, he sold the brick and coal business and turned to real estate development, creating the Fulrath Addition to the city of Savanna. He built thirteen homes, graded the streets, and prepared the lots, helping expand the growing community.
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The following year, in 1915, Fulrath opened Savanna’s first modern filling station at the corner of Main Street and Chicago Avenue. He operated the station until his death in 1931. His wife Irene continued running the business until her retirement in 1958, and she later passed away in 1962 at the age of 95.
Fulrath Brick Yard located on the top of Summit Street.
VANCE DAVIDSON
Vance L. Davidson, born February 22, 1801, in Livingston County, Kentucky, was one of the earliest settlers of what would become Savanna, Illinois. In the 1820s his family moved to Bond County, Illinois, where they met the Pierce family. After farming together for a couple of years, the families headed north toward Galena hoping to work in the lead mines.
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Deciding mining wasn’t for them, they instead moved south along the Mississippi River to a “beautiful valley on the banks of the Mississippi” that Vance had noticed on an earlier trip. On November 4, 1828, with Vance leading the way, the group arrived at the site of present-day Savanna. By Christmas they had built three log cabins for the Pierce, Davidson, and Blundell families.
During the Black Hawk War, Vance enlisted in the army while Aaron Pierce helped haul provisions for the soldiers. After the war ended in 1833, the settlers returned and built larger two-story log homes overlooking the Mississippi River.
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On June 11, 1835, Vance married Harriet Pierce, daughter of Aaron Pierce, in what is believed to be the first marriage in the settlement. The ceremony was performed by Methodist circuit rider Hooper Crews. Vance later opened a store and warehouse along the river near the steamboat landing, selling goods shipped from New York and supplying wood to passing steamboats traveling the Mississippi.
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In 1849, Vance joined the California Gold Rush, returning in 1854 to bring his wife and their children west. Harriet later described the difficult five-month journey across the plains with their six young children, recalling the harsh conditions but saying they were grateful to have survived.
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The Davidson family eventually settled in California, where they raised twelve children. Vance Davidson died November 10, 1881, in Siskiyou County, California, and Harriet Pierce Davidson passed away March 11, 1908, at age 88.
MEDARD DUPUIS | SAVANNA'S FIRST MAYOR
Medard Dupuis, Savanna’s first mayor, was born November 3, 1810, near La Prairie, Canada, the son of Fabien and Marie Dupuis. After being educated in Montreal, he came to the United States at age nineteen.
In the early 1830s he worked in the fur trade and frontier commerce, traveling through the Great Lakes region. During the Black Hawk War, Dupuis narrowly escaped danger when Black Hawk’s forces passed through and destroyed the trading post where he had been working. He later enlisted as a corporal in a company of Michigan Volunteers and served until the war ended.
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After spending time in Galena and St. Louis, Dupuis moved to Savanna in 1847, where he established a lumber business along the Mississippi River. Savanna quickly became an important lumber distribution point for communities throughout northern Illinois and eastern Iowa. Dupuis operated large steam-powered sawmills on Main Street and became one of the oldest and most successful lumbermen on the Mississippi River, producing shingles, laths, and finished lumber for the growing region.
In 1857, he built his home at 1121 Main Street, near his lumber yard and mills. Dupuis was deeply involved in the development of the community, helping organize the incorporation of Savanna as a city and serving as its first mayor, later being re-elected for a second term. Over the years he also served as town supervisor, town clerk, and school director.
During the Civil War, Dupuis actively supported Savanna’s volunteer efforts, helping the town maintain its military quota and avoid a draft. In 1851, he married Sara Ann Woodruff, and together they had six children.
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Medard Dupuis died October 27, 1890, at the age of 79, remembered as one of Savanna’s most respected pioneers and community leaders.
SIMON GREENLEAF
Simon Greenleaf was born in Penobscot County, Maine, on May 3, 1822, and came west in 1851. He located in Shakopee, Minnesota, and remained there until 1863. He then moved to Davenport, Iowa; went to Racine, Wis., in 1865, and remained there until 1867 when he came to Savanna.
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The Savanna Times was established in 1875 by J. William Mastin and Simon Greenleaf and for the first ten weeks it was printed at the office of the Shannon Gazette in Shannon.
The first issue was printed in Savanna was on September 11, 1875, at which time the equipment of the Shannon Gazette was moved to Savanna. In 1876 Simon Greenleaf bought out the interest of Mastin and became the editor and proprietor until 1884 when he sold the paper. In 1907, Miss L.M. Fraser became the editor of the paper and Hon. W.W. Gillespie the publisher. It continued until the merger in 1917 and was republican in politics with J.E. Humbert in charge.
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Simon served as Justice of the Peace and was the School Director for six years. In 1846, he married Miss Frances J. Foss, a native of New Hampshire born Aug. 13, 1824. They had five sons and one daughter: Frederick W., Henry H., Ada E., Oliver W., Frank S. and Edward P.
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In 1872, Simon built a house on the hill off Fifth Street, known as the “Hillside Home”. It still stands today. The Greenleaf family owned the entire hill along with a large apron of land down on the 'flat' that surrounded it. An Episcopalean of ardent faith, Simon donated a portion of the land to St. Paul's Episcopal church, where he was a founding member. A stained glass window in the structure commemorates him. He died in 1893.
Francis “Frank” Greenleaf
Born on Aug. 16, 1859, in Minnesota, Francis “Frank” Greenleaf came to Savana with his parents and in 1885 started the Savana Daily Journal with his father. A year later he purchased his father’s interest and edited the Savanna Daily Journal.
The announcement was made in the Savanna Daily Journal on Saturday, Sept. 29, 1917, of the merger of the Savanna Times and the Savanna Daily Journal.
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The first issue of the Savanna Times Journal was Monday evening, Oct. 1, 1917, under the ownership of Frank. In that first issue an editorial stated the paper would be politically non-partisan. On Feb. 27, 1920, after 35 years of ownership, Greenleaf sold the paper to Will H. Gharrity of Beloit, Wisconsin. He was married to wife Margaret and then had four children: Kenneth, Harold, Dorothy and John. Started in 1899 and finished in 1901, “Hillcrest" was constructed about the Hillside home and in the Queen Anne vernacular.
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"Hillcrest," built of local brick and limestone brought by rail from Indiana, boasted two water closets (bathrooms), in a time and place where indoor plumbing was a rarity. In addition, Margaret had installed a marble sink with hot and cold running water in her bedroom, where commonly a large pitcher of tepid water in a bowl were the standard fixtures. Luxury woods of Birdseye Maple and quarter-sawn oak were used throughout the first floor public rooms. Going beyond the "modern convenience of electricity throughout" the dining room boasted a Tiffany chandelier, and little lights between the oaken beams of the coffered ceiling. The house in now called Havencrest.
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He organized the Savanna Savings Building and Loan Association in 1886 and for more that 50 years served as its secretary. He was also associated with seven insurance companies and for seven years had an insurance office. Francis died on Feb. 21, 1944, at the age of 84 following a stroke.
The residence of Francis Greenleaf was started in 1898 and was finished three years later. Today it is known as "Havencrest Castle" and is owned by Alan St. George.
HELEN SCOTT HAY
Helen Scott Hay, often called Carroll County’s most famous daughter, was born January 5, 1869, in Cherry Grove Township near Lanark. The daughter of George Hay, a Scottish immigrant who helped organize the Savanna State Bank, she grew up in Savanna and graduated from Savanna High School in 1886.
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After briefly teaching school, Hay attended Northwestern University, graduating with Phi Beta Kappa honors, and later completed nursing training at the Illinois Training School for Nurses in Chicago, graduating in 1895. Known for her strong leadership, she quickly rose to positions of responsibility and later served as director of Cook County Hospital.
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When World War I began, Hay played a major role in organizing nurses for international relief efforts with the American Red Cross. She helped send medical units overseas and served in Russia, the Balkans, and across Europe, eventually becoming Director of American Nursing in Europe, based in Paris. Her work included supervising Red Cross nursing programs and establishing child welfare and public health initiatives in several countries.
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For her extraordinary service, Hay received 14 international medals and citations, including the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest honor awarded by the Red Cross. After her Red Cross work concluded in 1922, she returned to Savanna, where she remained active in civic and charitable work despite declining health.
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Helen Scott Hay died in 1932 and was buried at Oakville Cemetery in Salem Township, choosing to rest near her family rather than at Arlington National Cemetery.
George Machen
George Machen was born on April 9, 1849 in Marietta Pennsylvania. His father, William Machen came to Carroll County in 1851, worked in a distillery for awhile, a trade he had learned in Pennsylvania, then turned his attention to the grocery business.
There were no railways and all supplies were drawn by team from Elgin or on a boat up the river. William continued in this business for twenty years when he sold out to two of his sons, George and Calvin, and purchased a farm in Mt. Carroll Township, repurchasing Calvin's interest a few months later. Shortly afterwards George bought out his father and carried on alone until 1888 when he admitted John A. Cooley, Jr., who had been his employee from age ten, into partnership.
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The coming of the railroads brought further prosperity to the Machen's as during the laying of the tracks of the present Burlington Railroad through the County to Galena they were awarded the contract to furnish groceries and all staple supplies. They had three grocery stores, one in Thomson. Their large store building located on Main Street was later used by A. O. Elliott as a jewelry store.
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A three-story brick structure was built for the Commercial State Bank of Savanna on the site of the Machen grocery store in 1902, in which the Machen family had an extensive interest.
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At the southeasterly corner of Chicago Avenue at Fourth Street, George N. Machen built his residence of red pressed brick laid in white mortar, the Kasota pink stone being the principal material for outside construction. This residence, now the Law-Jones Funeral Home, occupies the same ground where an Indian mound once stood, around which and in the woods adjacent Mr. Machen spent many of his boyhood days.
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George Machen married Lizzie C. Marks in 1881. They had four children, George Bruce, Jennie E., Fannie R., and J. Logan. In 1902, G. N. Machen was vice president of the Savanna State Bank and G. Bruce, his son, assistant cashier of the newly organized Commercial Bank. J. Logan was assistant postmaster for many years.
George N. Machen died on Feb. 18, 1927, at the age of 77 in Savanna and is buried at Savanna Township Cemetery.
Aaron Pierce and Family
Aaron Pierce, born February 15, 1793, in Southborough, Massachusetts, was one of the earliest settlers of what would become Savanna, Illinois. He married Harriet Bellows, and in the early 1800s the couple headed west, first settling in Chautauqua County, New York, where Aaron worked in the timber industry.
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Around 1825, the family moved again, traveling six weeks to Bond County, Illinois, where they met fellow pioneers George and Vance Davidson and William Blundell. After hearing of opportunities in the Galena lead mines, the families traveled north but soon decided mining wasn’t for them.
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Instead, led by Vance Davidson, the group followed an old trail south to a “beautiful valley on the banks of the Mississippi River.” On November 4, 1828, the Pierce family arrived at the site of present-day Savanna, taking shelter in an abandoned Native American wigwam near what is now the Pioneer Monument. The Davidson and Blundell families soon arrived by boat.
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The three families cleared land and built log cabins from walnut trees near the north end of Main Street, completing them by Christmas. Soon after, Pierce and the others returned to Bond County to bring back cattle, horses, and oxen, believed to be the first domestic animals in Carroll County.
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On May 8, 1829, the Pierces welcomed Mary Jane Pierce, the first white child born in the settlement.
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After the Black Hawk War, Pierce helped supply provisions for soldiers and later built one of Savanna’s earliest hotels, first called the Frontier House, later known as the El Dorado House, which eventually became the Chambers House.
Aaron Pierce died June 16, 1856, in Savanna at age 63. His wife Harriet Bellows Pierce died January 30, 1860. Both are buried at Savanna Township Cemetery.
Built in 1836 by Aaron Pierce on the north end of Main Street, Savanna’s first hotel was originally known as the "Frontier House". The building was later moved to the 300 block of West Main Street, where it became the El Dorado House until around 1865. It was then purchased by Frederick Chambers and renamed the Chambers House, serving travelers and locals for many years before it was destroyed by fire in 1882.
PIERCE CHILDREN | BIOS
​MARSHALL BROOKS
Marshall Brooks Pierce was Born Nov. 27, 1816 in Portaland, Cautauqua County New York and died May 15, 1885 in Savanna. Buried at Savanna Township Cemetery The first marriage on record in the county, was that of Marshall B. Pierce to Julia Ann Baker, on August 26, 1839, by Benjamin Church, justice of the peace. They had two children Eveline Pierce Fish (Unknown to 1867) and Henry Enos Pierce (1843-1848).Th first wife died of cholera in Savanna, on July 10, 1854. Remarried to Mary Jane Westbrook Pierce (1823-1908). One child, Charles Carroll Pierce (1857-1948). Followed his dad as county treasurer. Worked as a clerk on the steamboat Sucker State in 1870 and had the same position on Rock Island in 1871.
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HARRIET M. PIERCE DAVIDSON
Harriet M. Pierce was born Sept. 5, 1819, in New York and Died March 11, 1908 at San Rafael, California. Buried at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Raf, California. Married Vance Davidson in the first marriage in the settlement. The moved to California during the gold rush and had 11 children.
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LORENZO DOW PIERCE
Lorenzo Dow Pierce was born April 27, 1823, in New York and went to California with Vance Davidson in search of gold. He returned to Savanna and died Sept. 10, 1867, at age 44 and is buried at Savanna Township Cemetery.
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SILA PIERCE BOWEN
Sila Pierce was born in 1827 in Bond County and the date of her death is unknown. She married David Bowen on Jan. 31, 1844, and they had four children: Lester. Waterman (1845-1928), Emma L. (1848-1919), Luther Sherman (1855-1934) and Frank Pierce (1859-1936).
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MARY JANE PIERCE RHODES
Mary Jane Pierce was born on May 9, 1829, and was the first white child born in Carroll County. She married Capt. J. B. Rhodes in 1846 and they had eight children: Esther (1847-1852), William Pierce (1850-1928), Henry Clay (1853-1939), Edward B. (1856-1856), Laura Pierce Rhodes Fairbank (1858-1944), John Brown (1860-1934), Thomas Brown (1860-1950), and Richard G. She died on Nov. 14, 1877 in Rock Island at age 48 and is buried at Savanna Township Cemetery.
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HENRY CLAY PIERCE
Henry Clay was born on Oct. 26, 1834, in Savanna. In 1850, he accompanied two older brothers and some others from his community on the long overland journey to the goldfields of California. He returned to Savanna in 1852, managed the Eldorado Hotel, and then became a clerk on one of the Mississippi steamers of that period. Soon after that, at the age of nineteen, he lost a leg below the knee in an effort to rescue a drunken man who had gotten into the rope when the anchor was running out. On October 23, 1855 at Savanna, he was married to Laura Shepherd and they had three children were born: Henry S., December 3, 1862; Palmer E., October 23, 1865; and Ralph H., December 2, 1868. They moved to Traer, Iowa, and he entered the grain business and afterward established a general store.
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LOENA PIERCE CARSON
Not much is known about the youngest child, She married a man named Carson and her birth and death are both unknown.
PALMER PIERCE
Their son, Palmer, born in Savanna graduated from Grinnell College and the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and received his Lieutenant's commission in 1891. He served in the Spanish American War before becoming athletic director at West Point. An advocate of organizing amateur college sports, he helped spearhead the drive to create the founder of the National Collegiate Athletic Association prevent them from being taken over by professionals, (NCAA), and served as it's President almost continuously from 1905 and 1930. He was a Honor Graduate of the Army War College and served in the 1916 Pancho Villa Expedition on the Mexican Border. He served in France throughout World War I, most notably as Commander of the 54th Infantry Regiment and Assistant Chief of Staff of the American Expeditionary Force, receiving the Distinguished Service Medal and promotion to Brigadier General, the rank he held at his 1930 retirement. After leaving the Army he was employed as Assistant to the President of the Standard Oil Company. Pierce died of a stroke while speaking to the Pan-American Society in New York City, New York. He donated a silver cup he originally received from the NCAA, now the Palmer E. Pierce Trophy, to the Army Athletic Association, which since 1943 has awarded it annually to West Point's Intramural Football Champion. In addition, the Palmer E. Pierce Room at the NCAA's Indianapolis headquarters is named for him.
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JAMES BOTHWELL “BOT” PULFORD
Bothwell was one of the highly respected native sons of Savanna, was born here November 17, 1852, being a son of the pioneers Charles and Sarah (Bothwell) Pulford.
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Charles Pulford was born in England, August 10, 1818, while his wife was born in Ireland, May 10, 1814. He and a brother came to America about 1840, and walked from Chicago to Savanna to join an elder brother living here. Mrs. Pulford came here about the same year. At first, Mr. Pulford went to work in a stave mill, but later took up butchering, he having learned the trade in England, continuing in it until his health failed, when he retired.
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He was a progressive man and assisted materially in the development of Savanna. About 1850, he built a large stone house on the site of the present public library, quarrying the rock himself, as well as hewing all the timber used in the construction of his home. He was a hard-working man who never spared himself, and was noted for his business judgment and ability, and accumulated considerable property. Fraternally, he belonged to the Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Pulford became the parents of five children, of whom James “Bot.” was the youngest. Two survive: Elizabeth, Mrs. Dr. G. W. Johnson, of Savanna; and Samuel Pulford, of Chicago. Charles Pulford died October 2, 1887, while his wife died March 24, 1867.
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Bot was educated in the public schools of Savanna, and being very ambitious, when a boy of twelve years he began work ferrying hay and wood across Plum River, using a horse as motive power.
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Two years later, he entered a drug store as clerk and apprentice, and at sixteen bought out the stock and conducted this store until his death. He built up a very extensive business, and carried a large stock of drugs, paints, oils, wall paper, pianos and musical instruments, jewelry, silverware and similar articles.
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In 1881 he built his corner store that housed his drug store and by 1892 had competed the Pulford Opera House as well a three-story building on the south side of the opera house.
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He was also connected with other business ventures, and at one time served as president of the Commercial State Bank, holding that office at the time of his death. Mr. Pulford bought the first electric light plant built in the city, later installed a larger plant in the opera house building, and still later erected another plant, which he owned individually when he died.
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At the time of his suicide, Bot owned the entire 300 block of east Main Street which his opera house was located. In addition he owned and rented 47 of the “best residencies” in Savanna.
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One anecdote said Bothwell never kept a single book account. He carried all of the details in his head “and never making a mistake.” He was also known as a philanthropic man and one of the most popular men in Carroll County.
A further description of Bot describes him as “slender, wiry, shrewd, kindly, with a heart in him as big as an ox.” He never was in Chicago and never ventured further from Savanna than to Galena. He attended a country school and people said “all he knew was how to make money.”
Many stories were told of his business methods. He kept large sums of money hidden about the shelves of his drug store behind jars. If a man owed him a nickel, he never forgot.
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Sheriff Dave Doty owed him $2.35 for 10 years. Sheriff Doty had moved away from Savanna. He was a busy man and the debt had slipped his mind. When he returned to savanna, he went to Pulford and said. “Bot, I believe I owe you some money but I have forgotten how much. “Its $2.35 Dave,” replied Bot after 10 years.
He belonged to the city council for a number of years, and was also on the school board. Politically, he was a staunch Republican. Like his father, he was an Odd Fellow, and also belonged to the Modern Woodmen. In early life he was an active church member. About 1892 he built the present Pulford residence, which was one of the finest in Savanna.
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On January 5, 1884 he was married to Lucinda Wiel, born in Hanover, on August 22, 1861, the daughter of Philip and Margaret (Nicodemas) Wiel, natives of Nassau, Germany. The Wiels came to America and located in Madison, Wisconsin, and later, they went to Galena, Ill. In Germany, Mr. Wiel was a carriage maker, but established a vinegar factory at Madison, moving it to Galena later on. Some time later he sold it, moving to Hanover, being one of the first to locate there. Mr. Wiel enlisted in the army during the Civil War, and died at Memphis, Tenn., having contracted smallpox in the service. Mrs. Wiel died at the home of her daughter in 1895. Mrs. Pulford was the youngest of eleven children.
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Mr. and Mrs. Pulford became the parents of two children: Pearl B., and Hazel Nell.
Pearl was born January 9, 1886 and was married three times. Her first marriage was to Charles Gillette and they had one daughter, Mildred (1905-2003). After his death she married Allen Shaw on Oct. 28, 1907 in Cook County, he died in 1919. They had one daughter, Hazel Shaw O’Leary (1912-2001). She then married Harold McCall before her death in 1954.
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Hazel was born November 29, 1887, and married Robert Miner in 1907. They moved to Seattle and she died suddenly of a heart failure on January 21, 1909.
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Opera House Murder
In the spring of 1905 the City of Savanna was rocked and shocked by the murder of lawyer D.S. Berry and the following suicide of Bot Pulford. The Opera House Murder.
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The following are from the Savanna Daily Journal:
“The funeral of the late Bothwell Pulford, who committed suicide Thursday, was held from his late residence yesterday afternoon and was the most largely attended ever held in Carroll County. Three thousand persons gathered in the blocks surrounding the home. The services were conducted by Rev. F. Y. Nichols of the Presbyterian church, who chose for his text, "I Know in Whom I Have Believed." The procession to the grave was headed by the Woodmen, Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows lodges and business men. Nearly 400 men were in line. Three hundred carriages took the people to the cemetery. The floral tributes were many and elaborate.”
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From his obit in the Savanna Daily Journal “Mr. Pulford died May 25, 1905. Few men were more active than he in Carroll county, and none are more kindly remembered, for his all too short life was filled with deeds of kindness, and he was always public-spirited to the highest degree. It is such men as he who build up a community and advance its best interests.”
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Capt. John B. Rhodes
Captain Rhodes was born on Nov. 20, 1817 at Hanover Township in Columbiana County, Ohio. He comes of English ancestors who were among the early settlers of the Old Dominion. From Virginia they scattered some years later to newer portions of the country, the father of John B., taking up his abode in the Western Reserve and being one of the pioneer settlers of Ohio. With the pioneer instinct of his ancestors, John B. Rhodes, on becoming a young man, left the home of his childhood and turned his face westward, Illinois being his objective point.
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Captain J. B. Rhodes came to Savanna in July, 1841, where he first engaged as a clerk in the store of J. W. White. He continued employment until March of 1843, and then engaged in the sheep trade, going to Ohio and bringing out a large drove. After disposing of his sheep interest, upon which he made a reasonably fair profit, he re-engaged as a clerk for eight months, with White's successor in business, and then became a partner.
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The partnership continued one year, when Captain Rhodes bought out the interests of his partners and became sole proprietor for six years. Rhodes served as Carroll County Sheriff from 1846-1850 and one of the county’s first tax collectors. Many times he advanced the tax money for the majority of the farmers, who in turn paid him at the time their crops were sold. ln his later years he proudly boasted that “no man had ever defaulted for a dollar in these transactions.”
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He remained out of business for two years, and then formed a partnership with W. L. B. Jenks, with whom he remained in business until 1852. He then sold those interest and engaged in steam boating for over 25 years, He bought an interest in the steamboat "Martha No. 2," and was also the captain of the “Dubuque”, becoming a large stockholder in the Northern Line Packet Company.
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Riot Aboard the Dubuque
On July 29, 1869, what began as an argument ended as a race riot on the steamer Dubuque as she made her way north from Davenport under the command of Capt. John Rhodes and she had more than 30 men in her crew, over two dozen of them black. She carried nearly 100 passengers on the cabin deck and almost twice that number in the steerage and freight deck below.
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Following the normal customs, the clerk went to collect steerage tickets after stationing Moises Davis, a black deckhand, at the top of the stairway. No one was allowed upstairs until all tickets were collected. A quarrelsome Irish lumberman named Mike Lynch attempted to gain the upper deck and was refused. There was a short fight which he lost. Under the influence of drink and angry, he gathered 20 of his friends and led a rush at Davis.
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In the battle that followed, the raftsmen joined in and soon the fight spread to include all the black boatsmen. At Hagy’s Landing near Hampton, 16 back men gained the shore amid a hail of shots and thrown missiles but since Rhodes was told the boat would be burned if he stopped for help, the Dubuque continued up river, The fight went on and it wasn’t long before Davis and four other black men either jumped or were thrown into the river and drowned. The only other black men aboard who survived did so because the other passengers hid then Lynch and another man left the boat at Camanche in time to avoid capture at Clinton by a posse alerted by the men reaching safety at Hampton.
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Twenty men were placed in irons and returned to Rock Island where nine were finally tried in June of 1870. Judged guilty, they were sentenced from one to three years. Ringleader Lynch was eventually caught, tried and sentenced to 10 years for his part in the crime.
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In 1846 he married Mary Jane Pierce, the first white child born in Carroll County and the daughter of original settler Aaron Pierce. Rhodes constructed what was known as the Steamboat House at what is now 1019 North Main Street. The home was surrounded by a large metal gate and had a large cupola on top.
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They had eight children: Esther (1847-1852), William Pierce (1850-1928), Henry Clay (1853-1939), Edward B. (1856-1856), Laura Pierce Rhodes Fairbank (1858-1944), John Brown (1860-1934), Thomas Brown (1860-1950), and Richard G. After the death of Mrs. Rhodes in 1877 he re-married in 1881 to Lydia D. Gansley Craig-Rhodes.
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​After retiring from steam boating, he engaged in the grocery trade with his son, Richard G., until his death.
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The Rhodes House on the north end of Main Street.
Frank Zennel
Frank Zinnel, a native of Carroll County, was born March 5, 1864, in Lanark, the son of Henry and Kate (Framm) Zinnel. As a child he moved with his family to Fair Haven Township, where he grew up on a farm and attended country schools.
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In 1887, the family relocated to Chadwick, where Frank and his father built the town’s first blacksmith shop and first house, along with a cider mill and woodworking shop. A few years later Frank opened a hardware business, and during that time helped modernize the town by installing a telephone line to Fair Haven and Chadwick’s first electric light plant.
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Zinnel soon expanded into the telephone industry, building lines and exchanges connecting Lanark, Shannon, Milledgeville, Mount Carroll, and Savanna. After moving to Savanna in 1900, he built the town’s telephone system and organized the Carroll County Independent Telephone Company in 1902, serving thousands of customers across the county.
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Zinnel was also Savanna’s first Ford automobile dealer and built one of the city’s earliest homes with an attached garage at Keller and Chicago Avenue in 1902. A friend of Henry Ford, he was once offered the opportunity to invest $5,000 in the early Ford Motor Company, but declined—later joking that those “famous last words” haunted him after Ford’s success.
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In 1913, Zinnel moved to San Diego, California, where he founded the Zinnel Auto Loan Company, one of the first businesses of its kind in the area. He retired in 1939 and remained in California until his death on August 9, 1951, at age 87.
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