Early settlers sought out groves along the prairie much like this Original Grove in Flint Creek Savanna Preserve. “The groves were God’s first temples,” wrote William Cullen Bryant in 1824 in “A Forest Hymn”. He lived and worked as a lawyer in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, for a time. He journeyed through parts of Illinois, including Sangamon County, which inspired his poem, “The Prairie.” For the families entering northern Illinois a decade later, groves were also landmarks, shelter, and the beginnings of community—a sort of natural architecture. Where prairie opened beneath the enormous sky, islands of oak offered timber, shade and protection from the wind. One such place became known as Miller’s Grove—and around it, the early life of Barrington Township began.
By Barbara L. Benson | Quintessential Barrington
When, in 1962, Arnett C. Lines’ “History of Barrington” was published in the Barrington Courier Review, then a broadsheet-sized locally owned and published newspaper, it opened with the following dedication:
“Lest we forget the fortitude, the fearless courage, the determination, the frugal living, the hard work with none of the facilities that are so abundant today, this history has been written as a record of the success of those who left the comforts of civilization in the East and came west to a wild country, and of those who came to America talking a strange language, having very little equipment but bare hands and willing hearts, to wrest from a wilderness or an uncultivated country a living for a large family in a land where they could enjoy freedom from oppression and from pursuit.”
Lines continued: “They came with sons in their teens who grasped the plow of good government, and, having done a masterful work in the Township, came to the new station when the railroad arrived, and repeated their success in the town (village) government and experiences in getting up the country school, by organizing and establishing a new village and its government.”
He followed with words to inspire future generations.
“They builded better than they knew. Today we are enjoying this American heritage. This record may keep the picture before us that we may not take for granted the blessings we enjoy today.”
Arnett C. Lines died in 1970, and his monumental history can be found online at the Barrington Area Library in their local history databases. His work was comprehensive and traced the geographical and governmental history of what would, eventually in 1850, be designated Barrington Township.
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