Deacon Winslow Churchill came from Onodaga County, New York , to Chicago, in the schooner "LaGrange" with his wife, Mercy Dodge Churchill and ten of his children. He settled on a claim staked for him by the Babcock brothers on the east breach of the Du Page Riber. This claim was later bisected by St. Charles Road. The Babcocks had been friends and neighbors of the Churchills in Onondaga County, N.Y. and Ralph Babcock's wife, Azubah Dodge, was a niece of Mrs. Churchill. Nine of the Churchill children settled in the vicinity. Four of the married children had their families with them.
Of their coming, a grandson, Amos Churchill, has written:

"On arriving in Chicago they started by ox team for the Reed settlement (Elmhurst). The Chicago prairie to Oak Ridge (Oak Park), was covered with water and above the waer was prairie grass and wild flowers in bloom, waving in the breeze which made an interesting sight. At this point Major Churchill, next to the oldest son, returned east on the  "La Grange" boat. The others continued their hourney to the Bob Reed settlement, where some friends had preceeded them. From here Deacon Churchill and three sons went on a tour of sightseeing and prospecting, and finally located on the east bank of the Du Page River...
"After having decided to locate here, Seth Churchill and Isaas Bradford Churchill started for Chicago with two pair of oxen. They followed what is now St. Charles Road, making the first track, which has ever since been used as a public highway. On coming to the Des Plaines River, there was no bridge, it became necessay to ford the stream. The water at this time of year was high. In crossing, Bradford Churchill rode the rear ox on the near side, and Seth stood on top of the wagon box, one foot on each side, holding himself with a long stick. When the oxen went down into the water, it left Bradford floating on the surface of the water and when the current struck the agon box, it tipped over and the two men were floating about, but managed to keep hold of the wagon. The oxen swam out, and with them the wagon and men. On coming back with loaded wagon, they unloaded the goods, and constructed a foot path across and carried the goods over on their backs letting the oxen swim over with the wagon. They then loaded and pursued their journey over the same road they had come in on." (Amos CHurchill)

Deacon Winslow Churchill built a cabin with one large room, a bedroom, a lean-to, and a loft where the boys slept, climbin up a rude ladder. The cabin was of the native logs. The large woom had a fireplace where the cooking was done, and two small windows and an outside door facing south. It stood on a hill just east of the present bridge over the Du Page River on the norh6t side of St. Charles Road. It was still stansding in 1893 when Miss Adq D. Harmon painted a picture of it that is now owned by the Anan Harmon Chapter DAR.

The Churhills made their claim under the Preemption Act of 1820 holding their claim until surveyed by the government in 1840-41, and paying $1.25 an acre. They helped make the first roads in the vicinity helped build the first schoolhouse and Deacon Winslow CHurchill, a Methodist, ( the rest of following pages not sent to us)

1835
Pioneers coming this year to Babcok's Grove western section were: Moses Stacy, William Dodge, A. S. Janes, Rev. James McChesney, Milo Meacham, HOrace Barnes, Royal Walker, F. D. Abbott and others.

Moses Stacy came on a sailing vessel from New York with his wife, Joann Kimball, and young sons, M. Kimball, 10, and Philo, only 2 1/2 years old. Mosed took up land in a claim south of present Elm Street and later added to it so that at this death he owned 300 acres. He built a substantial log cabin at what is now 678 Main Street, some distane south of St. Charles Road, Five Corners. The cabin was fourteen by sixtenn feet in size, with a puncheon floor and a roof of split logs, the lower layer of which were channeled to catch thedrainage from the upper ones. Later the cabin was moved west on present Geneva Road and used for travelers along with the Stacy inn or tavern.

William Dodge, brother of Mercy Dodge Churchill, with his wife, Matilda Lyon and fourteen children, settled in what is now the southeastern part of Glen Ellyn. They bought a claim from the Bab coks, mostly timber lands. Mr. Dodge was born Oct. 30, 1779in Vermont and was a member of the Vermont militia in the War of 1812.
The first death at Babcoks Grove was that of Amanda CHurchill, daughter of Deacon Churchill. Hers was the first funeral held in the log cabin schoolhouse, the sermon preached by Rev. Pillsbury. SHe was buried on the southeast corner of the claim of J. D. Ackerman and his wife Lurina CHurchill, her sister. This site was later to become the Forest Hill Cemetery. The stone over her gracve still stands, hoary with age. The inscription reads:

In memory of AManda
Daughter of Deacon Winslow Churchill and Mercy Dodge Churchill
Who departed thie life, June 12. A. D. 1835
Aged 21 years, 1 month and 8 days.
Friend, physician, comforter
This is the body and the clay
This grave can ne'er claim her here
When Jesus call thee to his home.

She was soon followed in death by Almire Dodge on October 18, 1835.