Dale C. Maley: House history mirrors Fairbury history
A title search was done if you purchased a house in Fairbury before about 1968. This title search verified and tracked the ownership of the land from the time it was initially purchased from the federal government until the date of the house sale. The new owner received a copy of this "Abstract of Title." This document was often 40 to 50 pages long because all legal documents related to the land the house was built on were included in the abstract. Because these abstracts became cumbersome to manage, they were discontinued around 1968.
Only a few of these complete abstracts still exist for Fairbury homes. The complete abstract for the 211 S. Fourth St. home was recently donated to the Fairbury Echoes Museum. This abstract covers the period from 1838 until 1958.
In 1838, the land the house is located on was initially surveyed by the federal government. The abstract notes that the home at 211 South Fourth is situated on land that eventually became Lots seven and eight in Block 10 of Fairbury when it was first laid out. The land is part of the south half of the southeast quarter of section three in Township 26 North Range Six East of the 3rd principal meridian. The original survey was approved by Daniel Dunklin, Surveyor General, on Oct. 3, 1838.
In February 1853, Dr. John Leland Miller bought 160 acres from the federal government. Dr. Miller purchased the southeast quarter of section 3. In 1850, Congress passed a law granting land to veterans of the War of 1812. Most of these veterans did not want to move to the swamplands of Central Illinois. These veterans often sold their land rights for 30 cents an acre. Dr. Miller purchased the land patent from veteran Samuel Armstrong and likely paid $48 for the 160 acres he purchased.
Two years later, Dr. Miller sold his 160 acres to Caleb L. Patton for $6,000. Dr. Miller made a profit of $5,952 on an initial investment of $48 in only two years. In 1857, the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad laid its tracks from Peoria to the Indiana border, and Fairbury was founded.
Three Fairbury area farmers competed to get the new railroad run through their farm to make a considerable profit by selling their farmland in city building lot increments. Caleb Patton won this competition by offering railroad engineer Octave Chanute one-half of the new village building lots if Chanute would run the railroad through his farm. Chanute wisely agreed to this deal.
On Oct. 31, 1857, Caleb L. Patton and his wife Orpha deeded half of the southeast quarter of Section 3 to Octave Chanute. The deal was recorded on Dec. 4, 1857. On Dec. 31, 1857, Patton and Chanute filed a plan for the village of Fairbury. This plan included the establishment of Block 10 with Lots seven and eight.
In 1858, Caleb Patton decided to sell half his remaining ownership of Section three to A.J. Cropsey. Mr. Cropsey was a land speculator. The village of Cropsey and Cropsey Township was named in honor of him. Mr. Cropsey went on to become a Civil War hero from Fairbury.
One of the farmers that lost the competition for the railroad to be run through his farm was John Atkins. Mr. Atkins had a daughter named Julie Atkins. In 1862, Dr. Miller married Julie Atkins in Fairbury. They moved back to his home in Sheffield, Mass. Dr. Miller became a multi-millionaire because of his many speculative deals. Although John Atkins lost the battle for the railroad being run through his farm, five years later, his daughter Julia married a very wealthy Dr. Miller.
In 1879, Richard Cresse sold Lot eight to Emma J. Babcock for $400. In 1889, L.B. Dominy sold Lot seven to Emma J. Babcock for $275. Emma was married to Theodore T. Babcock. Mr. Babcock came to Fairbury in 1874 and was in the livery business.
Livingston County tax records show that the current home at 211 S. Fourth St. was built on Lots seven and eight in 1898. Theodore T. Babcock and his wife Emma likely constructed this home. Mr. Babcock enjoyed good health for the first year he and Emma lived at 211 South Fourth. Mr. Babcock then became ill for the next four years and died in 1903. Emma Babcock lived at their home until she died in 1906.
Emma Babcock's estate was settled by selling Lots seven and eight to Nicholaus Claudon for $4,225 in 1909. Mr. Claudon died in 1913, and his wife Mary Claudon lived at that address until she died. Her heirs sold the two lots for $6,100 in 1920 to Gottlieb Steidinger, a Fairbury blacksmith.
Gottlieb Steidinger was the son of Andrew and Maria Agatha Steidinger. Gottlieb was born in Peterzell, Germany, in 1852. He received his education in the schools in Germany and then learned the blacksmith trade. When Gottlieb was 32 years old, he came to America and settled in Fairbury. In 1894, Gottlieb married Miss Bertha Fehr. Gottlieb ran a blacksmithing shop for 40 years in Fairbury.
In the 1930 Fairbury telephone book, Gottlieb Steidinger and his wife Bertha lived at 211 S. Fourth St. His occupation was a blacksmith, and their telephone number was 588. Gottlieb's children living at that address included Reuben, Minnie and Leona.
Gottlieb Steidinger died in 1933. He left the two lots to his wife, Bertha Steidinger. She died in 1958, and her estate was divided equally between all the children of Gottlieb Steidinger. The abstract document donated to the Echoes Museum ended in 1958.
The history of the land ownership described in the title abstract mirrors the history of the founding of Fairbury. The land was initially purchased from the federal government by Dr. Leland Miller, a shrewd real estate businessman. Dr. Miller sold the ground at a massive profit to Caleb Patton shortly before the new railroad came into this area.
Mr. Patton then won the contest to run the new railroad through his farm by offering Octave Chanute, the railroad official, half of the new city lots if Mr. Chanute would run the new railroad through his farm. Caleb Patton and Octave Chanute then laid out the new village of Fairbury.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Dale C. Maley column, House history mirrors Fairbury history
