Seldom if ever does it fall to the lot of an individual approaching the ninety-second milestone in life to be able to look back through the span of years and recall events which are associated with a residence in one family dwelling for eighty-four consecutive years. There is in Freeport one person whose experiences during that long period of time conform to such a lifetime residence. Miss Rosa M. Webster, 406 W. Exchange Street, has known the white frame dwelling at that address as her home since the age of eight, a most unusual record.

Tomorrow, April 24, she will celebrate her ninety-second birthday anniversary. With her brother, Bert Webster, who resides with her in the old family home and is the only other living member of her immediate family, she will have with her on this happy occasion her nieces, Miss Helen B. Miller of Oak Park, Ill., and Mrs. H. H. Badger, Amboy, and the latter’s husband and their son Warren.

Miss Webster, when recalling the days of her early childhood spent in the old family home, smiled as she remarked: “It may seem strange to many of the present generation to think that a person could be happy and contented throughout so long a time in one house. I have seen many changes take place in Freeport, and while others of my family enjoyed their different diversions, I was content to remain at home, keeping busy with my flowers and garden, and most of all, my embroidery and fancy work. I really believe I’ve done enough fancy work to paper every inch of the walls of this house.” And considering the many rooms, that would certainly be a large order under any conditions.

“I recall picking wild blackberries on the lot where the Masonic Temple now stands,” said Miss Webster. “There was timber in a large tract extending from where the temple is located westward as far as the city cemetery. My school days began in the frame building which was located on the lot where the First Baptist church is today. Reverend James Bentley was the teacher, and was pastor of Grace Episcopal Church which was under construction at the time. I have been a member of this church since early childhood.

My first recollection of what a tornado was like came during that time. The school building had been partly cut into halves in order that two buildings could be made of it. This was only partly completed when along came a tornado during the night and finished the job.” A photograph which Miss Webster has shows the result of that windstorm.

A “reward of merit” card dated Sept. 20, 1854, given to the young pupil at that time reads: “The bearer received this as a reward of good behavior and diligent attention to study in school.” Miss Webster was a member of the second class to graduate from Freeport high school. Her sister Sophia was a member of the first class. The high school was then located on the site where the junior high building now stands.

“Indians often called at our house, the women with papooses strapped on their backs,” said Miss Webster. “I recall that Mother was kept busy going to the well to pump them a supply of drinking water. The Indians had to be watched while on the premises for fear they would pick up anything they could conceal and take with them, and they never were backward in asking for food.”

The first circus ever to come to Freeport is recalled by Miss Webster as a highlight of that early day. “I remember the morning the circus arrived,” she said. “We went to the upper porch above our front door and watched the wagons unload across the street on the circus lot, where the Rosenstiel property is now located. Water from our well was used in large quantities and we had great fun watching the circus people get their equipment ready for the show. It seems a long time ago, when I think of it.”

Until six years ago, Miss Webster took personal charge of the house work in the family home for herself and brother, M. P. (Bert) Webster, who recently retired after many years of service as a city mail carrier. Since then Miss Mina Reynolds has been housekeeper and companion and for the first time during her lifetime, Miss Webster relaxes from the every-day round of such pursuits. Today Miss Webster, at the age of ninety-two, still retains her pleasant outlook on life. Although delicately frail in body, she is cheerful and her memory of incidents during the bygone years is clear and vivid. She takes pleasure in going from room to room of the house which has been her home for so many years, and pointing out the many interesting keepsakes and reminders of another day and age. Among those are a tea caddy purchased in London by her father and given to her mother before the family left England. The lacquered box of ancient design contains compartments for a small teapot and a supply of tea. Paper weights of glass into which are molded designs of flowers and lace are today as colorful and bright as when they were made. Oil paintings four feet square in size of her parents, her grandfather, and of a family group, all painted in England, are treasured possessions. Books which Miss Webster prizes highly include a tiny dictionary four and a half inches by three inches in size and only three-quarters of an inch in thickness, containing 252 pages and glossary. Printed in Glasgow, without a date-line, the type is so small that glasses are needed to read it. Another volume, published in 1824, is a copy of “Beauties of the British Poets” (Campbell).

Thomas & Elizabeth (Bentley) Webster

William Webster, brother of Thomas Webster

It is interesting to note the chronology of the Webster family in making the transition from their native land and becoming part of the life which Freeporters enjoyed in that early day when the settlement had outgrown its status as a village and had become a town. Leaving their home on High Street, Hull, England, the Websters set out for the new world where they were to cast their fortunes, and with a cargo of thirty-one boxes and crates containing their belongings, sailed aboard the ship “Constellation” for New York. The voyage, which was under sail, required six weeks.

Remaining only a few days in New York, the family and Mr. Webster’s brother William made the trip westward, mostly by covered wagon route and came to Madison, Wis. as their first stop in looking for a place to make their future home. After a brief residence in Madison they moved to Galena, Ill. and lived for a short time on Beach street before coming to Freeport, where Mr. Webster expected to establish a bank. William had had previous experience in the banking business in England. Thomas had been apprenticed to a firm in the wine shop business. Both were the type of men who were methodical, careful and very systematic in their keeping of accounts and business transactions.

The accuracy is noted when reading the record kept of the cargo of household and personal belongings they brought with them from England. Each box was numbered consecutively and the contents carefully listed. William’s death within a year after their arrival here changed the plans of his brother, who decided that property investments in the new town would offer as good a future as any he could find. A property located on what is now the northeast corner of West Exchange street and North Walnut, opposite the fire station in the City Hall building, on which was a stone house, was purchased by Mr. Webster from C. H. Rosenstiel, and here the family made their first home. Believing that real estate would increase rapidly in value in the then small town, Mr. Webster purchased lots 4 and 5 in block 67 in the original town of Freeport, where the family home now stands. He chose this property rather than the lots just west of the Masonic Temple now stands.

The Webster family was comprised of Mr. and Mrs. Webster, their six daughters and four sons. Their daughters were Helen, who later became Mrs. Isaac H. Miller; Sarah, who married E. E. Babcock; Sophia, Rosa, Laura (who died in 1930) and Clara, who married Rev. N. W. Heermans. The sons were Horace, Sidney, M. P. (Bert), youngest of the family, and Norman, who died in infancy. Horace was employed as a cashier in the Second National Bank, and Sidney later became an assistant cashier in that same institution.

Bound Out To Wine Merchants

Business life in the new country was quite different from the methods and ways of conducting business in England, as can be noted from the paper of apprenticeship dated Oct. 8, 1823 which bound young Thomas Webster to Messrs. Cobb & Malcolm, wine merchants, for a term of seven years. Under this indenture, he was to receive a total of 105 pounds, the equivalent of $525 in American money, in a varying scale of payment which ranged from 10 to 20 pounds annually. The document in part reads as follows: “Drawn at the town of Kingston Upon Hull Wharfingers, county of York, in the reign of George IV, insures him in the trade or business of Wharfingers, providing the applicant with suitable and sufficient meate, drink, washing, lodging and clothes during the whole of said term. He shall faithfully serve, their secrets keep; their lawful commands shall do; hurt or damage to his said masters shall not do or consent to be done; shall not frequent ale houses unless he be about his master’s business; at dice, cards, tables, bowls or any other unlawful game he shall not play; nothing within the term and he shall not contract nor absent himself without permission.”

An account book dated 1844, the covers of which are held together with a large lock and key, and the pages from an account book dated August 24, 1739 of this firm in which a record is made in a full round hand with ink which is boldly plain today, showing that “2 gallons of brandy cost 9 shillings” are interesting reminders of that early day apprenticeship.

Old Account Books Preserved

Reference to the personal account books kept by Thomas Webster show that the two lots on which the Webster dwelling stands were purchased from Walter P. Hunt for $275. The date of the transaction was Sept. 15, 1852. On June 3, 1853 two lots just west of the premises were bought for $70 and used as a garden. A lot in block 67 cost $52.25 and lot 7 in the same block of the home was purchased for $151, making the total investment in real estate for the newcomers $458.25. In 1854 two lots in the city cemetery were bought for $20 and lots 9 and 10 in block 50 now owned by Dr. D. E. Sunderland and located on the corner west of the Masonic Temple in the same block, were bought from Joseph S. Emmert for $550.

The dwelling was built at a cost of $3,300, with a stable costing $200, a well $106, fences $70, and later a kitchen, ice house, veranda, and grape bower totaling in cost $105; a smoke house and a bathroom costing $50; and other improvements on the property represented a total expenditure of $3224.25. Lumber used in construction which could not be obtained locally was shipped from Chicago. Bricks sold at $5 per thousand and a 27-foot piece of black walnut lumber more than one foot in width cost only $1.10. Another item of cost shows that $20.02 was the sum paid for 16 ½ days of labor. Most of the work on the new home was done at the rate of $1 per day by the workmen and craftsmen. Taxes on the property which today are $128.56 were but $45.70 thirty-eight years ago.

That the scale of living was such as would be out of all proportion today is seen from household items of expense kept by the Websters, which include chickens, quail, prairie chickens at 10 cents each, pheasants at 13 cents each, turkeys at 50 cents apiece, and eggs at 10 cents a dozen. A 119-pound pig cost only $4.15, and 55 cents bought 9 pounds of beef. Ducks were 20 cents each and rabbit’s the same price. Apples were 60 cents a peck and raisins 25 cents a pound. These last two items and the rabbits were higher in price than today.

In 1866 Thomas Webster and William Rhodes bought a grist mill on what was then known as Manufacturers Island, the site of the present Burgess plant. The mill had been built by a man named Rickard. The two partners sold it in 1881 to Martin Serf. Thomas Webster died in 1882 and Mrs. Webster in 1900.

Transcriber’s Note: Three of the family portraits painted in England and described in this article were given to the Stephenson County Historical Museum by M.. P. (Bert) Webster. The portraits of Thomas Webster and his wife, Elizabeth Bentley Webster, hang in the museum’s front parlor, between the front windows. The other painting is of William Webster, the brother of Thomas Webster, and it hangs over the piano in the front parlor. According to the Illinois Statewide Death Index, 1916-1950, Rosa M. Webster died shortly after her 92nd birthday, on July 31, 1938. Sidney died March 18, 1916, and Sophia on October 23, 1927. Laura died August 26, 1930. M. P. (Bert) Webster is listed as Moubury P. Webster, and he died May 13, 1944. All died in Freeport, Stephenson County. Horace isn’t listed.

Many thanks to Suzie Beggin for sending us the photos and very special thanks to the Historical Society for letting us use them.