People liked Joel Matteson. In fact, the early Kendall County pioneer was so likable that he was eventually elected governor of Illinois, only (like so many future Illinois governors) to be disgraced after leaving office.

Matteson was, in fact, typical of many of the young single men who moved west to the Illinois frontier in the 1830s. Born in Watertown, New York, on Aug. 8, 1808, Matteson worked as a teacher and businessman before moving to South Carolina in 1831. There, he became a successful railroad construction foreman.

Moving to Illinois in 1834, Matteson may have hoped to get in on the ground floor of the new Illinois and Michigan Canal, proposed to connect Lake Michigan with the Illinois River.

The canal’s promoters saw it as an economic growth engine for Illinois, and thei

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