Gibson City High School - Drummer Yearbook (Gibson City, IL)

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' Q I JUCN I U BOARD OF EDUCATICN WP E E f HQ GEORGE ONKEN President HENRY HAGER Secretary RAYMOND GREEN IVAN BOWERS CHARLES SUMMERS r 1 1-4 IWL-lvv

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Q' 1 i - ,rv ,f i HISTORY OF THE NAME DRUMMER The staff of 1932 has based the theme of this annual upon the legends concerning the word Drummer , Our book, school, township, and nearby creek bear this name and, therefore, the word has considerable local importance. According to available stories it was a hunting dog who first had the name, Drummer , There are many tales concerning the dog. One runs as follows: The first settlers were hunters from Chicago who used several cabins in what is now the heart of Gibson City. One of these hunters possessed a very reliable hunting dog. One day the dog was missing. After searching several days they found it dead gi the,grove west of town. To honor this dog, the tract of land was called Drummer rove '. No one knows how far back Drummer takes its name, but we do know that the Drummer Grove Farm has been in the possession of the Foster family since 1858. The farm was so named at that early period. Mrs. Foster's knowledge concerning the history comes from Mr. Foster's grandfather, who in turn heard the story as told by Jonathan Cheney of Saybrook. Many hunters came here after deer. Among them was a hunter from Saybrook who owned his dog, Drummer . This hunter, as the tale goes, possessed a ferocious temper. In one of his violent moods, he sent the dog after the deer, and when the dog refused to go, he shot him. Afterwards, regret- ting the act, he named the grove Drummer , From Mrs. Fifer Bohrer we learn that her father, Mr. Fifer, who was formerly governor of Illinois, lived during the summer of 1867 with Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Lott in an old box car in Drummer Grove. From her father, Mrs. Bohrer heard the following story: A hunter, in pursuit of deer, missed his aim and killed his faithful dog. He at once named the grove Drummer in memory of this trusted friend. In the Ford County Atlas of 1884 is another interesting story. It reads: Drummer Grove township was organized and set off from Patton township, Septem- ber 14, 1858, and comprised all of what is now the townships of Drummer, Dix, Sulli- vant and Peach Orchard, or all of Ford county lying west of range 9. The township took its name from the little grove called 'Drummer Grove' which lies about one-half mile northwest of Gibson City, and was named in honor of a noted hunting dog called Drumme1 '. The dog, which became overheated and died in a deer hunt, was buried in this grove. The only authentic history is that he was not a 'yaller dog'. In 1864, there must have been a congressional investigation, or something dis- covered derogatory to the character of the dog for a petition signed by a majority of voters of the township was presented to the board of supervisors asking that the name of the township be changed to Dix in honor of General Dix of New York. This was done, and the township was known by that name until 1869 when, upon petition presented to the board of supervisors, the territory comprised in towns 23 and south half of 24 north of range 4 east was set off from Dix and rechristened Drummer Grove thus dividing the honors equally between the dog and General Dix. In 1840 the name being found too long for practical convenience, the word grove was elimin- ated from the name by the supervisors. Although there are many different opinions concerning the death of the dog, Drummer, we are certain of a few facts. Drummer Grove was named in honor of this faithful dog. From this comes the name of the creek, the township-, the school, and finally the annual. In the ex libris we have attempted to poitray this history through a picture. The township represented by squares, while pictures of the dog, grove and school are shown. We are indebted to the following for much of our information: Mr. Wm. McKeever, Dri Wash, Mrs. Huxtable, Mrs. J. B. Foster, Florence Fifer Bohrer, Ford County At as, 1884 . io is-Ti EMETER t'lOYf-'U

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