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Samuel Orvis, from last week’s story, was married to Levina Sanborn, but before we begin her story, we have to tell the story of her parents, John & Mehitable Sanborn. John Sanborn was born in Salisburg, New Hampshire and came west around 1838, when he was 44. He went first to Michigan where he was a scout for the army in the Black Hawk war. He was also a soldier in the War of 1812 where he was a gunner in a fort and aided in the surrender of a British vessel.
Sanborn came across Lake Michigan on a ferryboat with a wagon and a team of horses landing at Southport, the modern-day Kenosha. A man there offered to “guide him to fertile lands in Illinois”. They came to a hill on today’s Wilmot Road (which was an old Potawatomi trail) by English Prairie Road, and as they came over the rise of the hill, they saw a band of Indians approaching from the south. The guide, who was on horseback, turned his horse and went back north as fast as his horse could go. The guide may have had reason to fear the Indians, but John went on, said howdy, and continued on his way. But he only went a little way, unhitched his horses, and spent the night on land where he would later build his home, bending down a little oak tree on which he hung his gold watch. That little tree grew to be a great oak and in later years the family outhouse stood beneath its branches, according to family lore.
Sanborn dug out living quarters at the base of a gully and lined the pit with carefully stacked fieldstones, which can still be seen today. English settlers who were already here resented Sanborns intrusion, called him a Yankee, and tried to drive him away. They had been grazing their cattle on the land and probably had intended on buying it. There was also a historical dislike of a Yankee for an Englishman. The Revolutionary War was 50 years earlier, but the War of 1812 was only 25 years in the past.
He befriended neighbor Marvel Pierce, but there was sporadic fighting between him and his English neighbors. One time they beat him up so badly they left him for dead, but Marvel nursed him back to health. Later he had to defend himself with a corn knife against a dozen or so enemies. He chased them away, announcing his intention of cutting off their legs, and roaring he would “make this prairie stink of English, like Hell did of Brimstone”. They left but he lost his hat and for a long time kept a musket on his shoulder or nearby while working in his fields and surrounding woodland.
In 1840 he went back east and married his cousin, Mehitable Sanborn, who was 14 years younger than him. Daughter Levina, (Sam Orivis’ future wife) was born on December 29, 1841. In 1842, he came back, bringing his wife, daughter, and Mehitable’s father, Winthrop Sanborn. John also invited more Yankees to join their wagon train, (the Stevens family and the Hatches) and the English gave up fighting for the disputed land. The Sanborns had five children, two boys and three girls.
The original cabin became the sub-basement of an enormous house and barn he built after a style common in New England. There was a large fireplace in every room with wide oak and walnut plank floors. The house, buggy shed and barn were built as one unit. The buggy shed itself was over 100 feet long and everything was put together with wood pegs.
In 1843, Sanborn helped Joseph Bliven build the grist mill in Spring Grove and was one of the organizers of Burton Township. At a town meeting, his English neighbors asked if he would “bury the hatchet”. He said yes, but with the handle up… As time went on the next generations of the English and Yankees grew to be friends.
John died of Typhoid Fever at age 71 on February 26, 1866. Mehitable, who loved to smoke a pipe (but eventually gave it up), lived until age 74 in 1883. They are buried in the Sanborn-Orvis Cemetery.
Story by Laura Frumet
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