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Before Captain William Davis became one of the earliest settlers along Somonauk Creek, he spent nearly fourteen years at sea, survived three shipwrecks, crossed the Atlantic countless times, and on one voyage remained out of sight of land for seven months. In 1835, he exchanged a captain’s cabin for the Illinois prairie and helped lay the foundations of what would become the Sandwich area.

Early Life and Life at Sea

William Davis was born on January 1, 1802, in Westport, Massachusetts, the eldest son of a New England farmer. At seventeen, he apprenticed to a cooper (barrel maker), agreeing to work three years for wages of twenty-five dollars a year and board.

After completing two years and five months of his apprenticeship, Davis received an offer that would change his life. A whaling vessel needed a ship’s cooper and offered him twenty five dollars a month, a year’s wages every thirty days. He purchased the remainder of his apprenticeship and went to sea.

His first voyage carried him to the Cape Verde Islands and the coast of Brazil. Later he became mate on a brig trading between the United States and Brazil, carrying merchandise south and returning with hides and leather. Three years later he was promoted to captain and spent nearly fourteen years commanding merchant vessels.

One voyage lasted eleven months and twenty five days, with the ship remaining out of sight of land for seven months. During his years at sea, Davis survived three shipwrecks, two of which resulted in the complete loss of the vessel, though everyone aboard escaped safely. He commanded several ships during his career, including the Agenoria, Louisiana, Phoebe, Pandora, and Fame.

Looking for a Home

After years at sea, Captain Davis decided he had, in his own words, “ventured enough upon the treacherous sea.” Like many New Englanders of his generation, he looked west for a new beginning.

In 1835, Davis, his wife Eliza, their young child, and his brother in law, Major Dennis, left Massachusetts for northern Illinois. Upon reaching Chicago, the women and children remained in camp on what would later become Lake Street while Davis and Dennis spent nearly five weeks exploring the Fox River country on horseback in search of land.

The two men divided their search. Major Dennis explored the south side of the Fox River while Captain Davis rode north.

During his search, Davis mistakenly followed the timber along Somonauk Creek, believing it to be the Fox River valley, and soon found himself lost. Eventually he came upon a trail leading to the cabin of pioneer Isaac Potter, where he met James Whitmore. Whitmore told him of a nearby claim that was available for purchase. After inspecting the property, Davis bought the claim for thirty dollars. In July 1835, he returned with his family to begin a new life on the Illinois frontier.

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Settlement Along Somonauk Creek

When Captain Davis settled along Somonauk Creek, the countryside contained only a handful of pioneer families.

On the east side of the creek lived William and Joseph Slye, along with a family on the Beveridge farm at the crossing of Somonauk Creek and the Galena Road. Nearby were William B. Poplin and James Whitmore. On the west side of the creek between the Galena Road and the Fox River lived Isaac Potter, C. B. Rhodes, Simon Price, and a Mr. Hawkins.

Today we know this early settlement as Freeland.

Captain Davis’s recollections provide one of the clearest firsthand descriptions of the area’s earliest residents. Without his memories, much of what we know about the beginnings of the Freeland settlement might have been lost.

He later recalled that in those early years the prairie remained so open that travelers riding south from Freeland on opposite sides of Somonauk Creek could often see one another across the valley—a simple observation that vividly illustrates the landscape encountered by the first settlers.

Building a Life in Sandwich

From that modest beginning, Captain Davis established a successful farm and became one of the community’s most respected citizens.

By 1876 he had lived on the same property for more than forty years. The Voters and Tax-Payers of DeKalb County valued his real estate at $17,000 and his personal property at $6,000, reflecting both his success and the prosperity that had grown from those early pioneer years.

In 1860 he built a substantial brick residence on the south side of Church Street at the west end of Sandwich. The home remained a familiar landmark for more than a century before being demolished in the early 2000s.

As Sandwich expanded, portions of Captain Davis’s land became incorporated into the growing community through developments known as Davis’ Second Addition and Davis’ Third Addition.

The Davis family remained closely connected to the surrounding land. Property later owned by his son, George W. Davis, became associated with Davis Lake, a popular destination for fishing, boating, skating, hunting, and picnicking during the late nineteenth century.

A Gathering of the Pioneers

By 1870, the frontier Captain Davis had entered thirty five years earlier was rapidly disappearing.

That year, his home became the setting for a memorable gathering of pioneer settlers who had arrived in northern Illinois during the 1830s. As reported by the True Republican, the guests spent the evening recalling the days of log cabins, ox sleds cushioned with hay, barn raisings, and the hardships of frontier life.

Looking around the comfortable home and prosperous farms that surrounded them, they marveled at how completely the country had changed within a single generation. Captain Davis’s house had become more than a family home, it had become a gathering place where the pioneers who built the community preserved their own memories.

A Voice From the Frontier

One of Captain Davis’s greatest contributions was preserving his recollections of the settlement years.

In 1879, after living in Illinois for more than four decades, he shared detailed memories of his life at sea, his journey west, and the earliest days along Somonauk Creek. Those recollections remain one of the most valuable firsthand accounts of the settlement that became Freeland and, ultimately, Sandwich.

Captain Davis did more than help settle southern DeKalb County.

He left behind the story of how it happened.

Captain Davis’s story is more than the biography of one pioneer. Through his own recollections, it also becomes the story of how the Freeland settlement, and eventually Sandwich, came to life.

Without Captain William Davis’s recollections, much of the story of the earliest settlement along Somonauk Creek might have been lost.

Final Years and Legacy

Captain William Davis died at his home in Sandwich on July 4, 1890, at the age of eighty-eight. His funeral was held two days later from the family residence on Church Street, and he was laid to rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery beside his wife, Eliza Dennis Davis.

A local newspaper remembered him as “a very reliable, highly honored citizen” and one of the men who helped “build up a new state in moral, as well as physical power.”

Captain William Davis crossed two frontiers during his lifetime. The first was the Atlantic Ocean, where he survived storms, shipwrecks, and years at sea. The second was the Illinois prairie, where he exchanged a captain’s cabin for a farmhouse along Somonauk Creek and helped lay the foundations of one of DeKalb County’s earliest settlements.

More than a century later, his memories still guide us back to the beginning.

Continue the Story

• Freeland: An Early Settlement Along Somonauk Creek
• Davis Lake
• Early Sandwich
• Oak Ridge Cemetery

Research & Sources

• The Voters and Tax-Payers of DeKalb County, Illinois (1876)
• Biographical Record of DeKalb County, Illinois
• “Reminiscences of Captain William Davis,” Weekly Argus, March 8, 1879
• Sandwich Republican obituary, July 1890
• True Republican, April 1870 (reprinted 1910)
• Find a Grave Memorial – Captain William Davis
• Local and family history research