Cryder Case

These items were preserved by Ray Cryder, whose family came to Aux Sable Creek in the fall of 1833.

There were three families—Henry Cryder, Nathanial Tabler, and Zachariah Walley that left Ohio and traveled together by covered wagon. The Grease Bucket hung on the Walley wagon, to lubricate hubs of the wagon wheels in route. The Broad Ax cut the trees to make the half face shelter where they spent the first winter, hewed the beams for the log cabin, and was used to cut a furrow in the sod for their first crop. The handle is offset so you could straddle a log and debark it without hitting your knuckles.

The Jug was found six feet down in the old Morris garbage dump at the ford in the Illinois River. Jugs like this were used like a canteen, filled with water, and hung from the horse’s harness when men were working in the field. Knife and keys from the William Hoge family.

The knife handle was made from wood from the covered wagon that came here from Fauquier County, Virginia in 1831.

The keys are to the Isaac Hoge house.

The Hoges settled in Section 25 Nettle Creek Township, now called Pioneer Road, west of Morris near the Morris Country Club. They are billed as the first permanent settlers in Grundy County. The patriarch, Joshua Hoge, came here for land—I&M Canal land—when it was first offered for sale by the Canal Commissioners in 1830.

To help pay for the Canal, sections of land along the Canal route were sold for $1.25 an acre. There is a case in front of the window full of Hoge relics, including the trophy from the 1941 Grundy County Centennial Parade awarded to the Hoge family entry, which was a covered wagon.