Your Weekly Village News

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By Village of Spring Grove

Sep 30, 2021

Village of Spring Grove issued the following announcement on Sept. 29

Dear Village Resident,

There are only two days left to purchase your 2021-2022 vehicle stickers without any penalties! If mailing in your payment, make sure the envelope is date-stamped by October 1. Or drop the envelope in the Municipal Centre drop-box, make a payment at the PD website here , or visit the PD window at 7401 Meyer Road by October 1. All vehicles kept in the Village, whether used or stored, must have a current sticker displayed prior to October 1. Fees double after October 1!

Get Ready for Trunk or Treat

Residents and businesses are invited to decorate their cars, trunks or tables and have fun passing out candy! Trunk or Treat will be held at Horse Fair Park on Saturday, October 30 from 1 - 3:00 pm. Please register by October 28. Registration and admission is free! Brought to you by the Spring Grove Community Engagement Committee. View the flyer here.

Trout Fishing at Hatchery Park this Fall

The 2021 Fall Trout fishing program starts Saturday, October 16! Hatchery Park will be stocked this fall and will be closed a day or two before October 16 after the fish are released (more info on that later). Gates open at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 16! During the season, the daily catch limit is five trout. View more information and details here.

Pancake Breakfast

The Spring Grove Fire District is hosting a Pancake Break during Fire Prevention Week on October 10 from 8 a.m. - noon at the Fire Station. Proceeds help Fire Explorer's, who are young adults interested in becoming firefighters, to attend training introducing them to to hands-on firefighting skills. View the flyer here.

Photo of the Week

This friendly Bumble Bee is keeping an eye on Mike Brieske while enjoying a Sedum flower at his house in the Pine Meadow Subdivision. If you have a photo of Spring Grove you would like to share, email it here.

Alkaline Battery Recycling Event

The McHenry County Department of Health (MCDH) will be accepting single-use alkaline batteries for recycling from Monday, October 4 to Friday, October 8 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Battery sizes AA, AAA, C, D and 9-volt will be accepted. Drop them off at the MCDH Division of Environmental Health office, 667 Ware Rd, Suite 110, in Woodstock. To find a location that accepts rechargeable batteries, such as lithium-ion cell phone, laptop, rechargeable drill or other small appliance rechargeable batteries, vehicle or etc., please visit the McHenry County Green Guide.

Witness Trees of Illinois

In the early 1800s, surveyors used “bearing trees,” many of them oaks, as landmarks. How many are still with us, as living witnesses to our history? How many of these trees survived? You can help to find out. All you need is a smartphone. Illinois residents are being asked to visit the sites of bearing trees on their property or on public property and record information about any remaining bearing trees left and, if not, what is there now. This project is a collaboration of The Morton Arboretum, The Field Museum, University of Notre Dame and the PalEON Project, and US Geological Survey. Click here to find the map and start searching!

Blast from the Past

T. J. Kimball has a weeping willow on his headstone in the Cole Cemetery.

William Slater, a friend and

neighbor of the Kimballs

Edward Kimball's Civil War registration

The Slaters and Kimballs were neighbors

The Thomas Jefferson Kimball family came to Burton Township around 1840. They were friends with the Miles Cole family from New Hampshire where they also came from. Jefferson (as he was called) and his wife, Eliza, had five children, including Edward, who was born in 1833. Unfortunately, Jefferson died of "suffocation" in 1849 at the age of 48. This must have been a terrible blow to the family, including Edward, who was only 16.

On August 13, 1862, Edward volunteered for the 95th Illinois infantry regiment which was formed as a result of President Abraham Lincoln's call for 300,000 volunteers in the late summer of 1862, and was mustered in on September 4. He was discharged 12 weeks later on November 25, 1862 at La Grange, TN. During that time, the Battle of Antietam was fought on September 17. More than 23,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing in action in that battle, the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War...

Fast-forward 20 years to the morning of February 5, 1883, when the temperature was 20-degrees below zero. Ed Kimball came up to neighbors William and Margaret Slater's place and called Mr. Slater out of bed. Kimball said he wanted to borrow a revolver to "shoot coons". Slater said his revolver was "up to Spring Grove being repaired" but Kimball didn't believe him. He said if Slater didn't let him have it, he would kill him. Then he took out his jackknife and stabbed Slater in the left breast. Slater called for help and his wife came to his assistance. A lively struggle ensued in which they finally pushed Kimball out the door, but not without receiving many dangerous cuts. A doctor was called who dressed and sewed up Slater, who survived the incident.

Kimball was taken before a jury at Woodstock and pronounced insane. Apparently he "had been insane" several times before that. He was placed in an Elgin asylum where he lived another 19 years and died in 1902. His obituary said he had "many friends and no enemies, being of a kind and pleasant disposition and it was a sincere grief to all when mental misfortune overtook him". He never married or had any children. There are two unknown graves in a row of Kimballs that include his parents in Cole Cemetery, so the body may have made its way home there.

Since that time we've learned much about traumatic experiences like the ones he faced, the psychological impacts they can have, and new ways to cope.

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