When Jacob D. Rogers came to the Paw Paw area in 1837, he did something odd.

“He was the first to settle out in the prairie, west of the grove, and was ridiculed for it,” said the 1881 History of Lee County.

“Ridiculed?” Why should a home in the prairie be worthy of ridicule? Why was it laughable to settle outside of the grove?

While I was researching the earliest history of the pioneers of northern Illinois, I noticed the frequent references to people settling in a “grove.” For example, on January 1, 1834, when the Chicago Road opened as the first stagecoach trail from Dixon to Chicago, its first three stops after Dixon’s Ferry were settlements at Inlet Grove, Melugin’s Grove and Paw Paw Grove.

Why settle in groves?

Droves of groves

When the renowned writer Margaret Fuller visited t

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