‘A window to our past’: 1846 document signed by President James Polk tells story of DuPage County

In 1846, the plains of Illinois fueled dreams. With rich soils and prairie grasses taller than a horse’s head, it attracted settlers eager to pursue the dream of having a place of their own on which to create a better life.

But proving the land you had cleared, planted and built upon was yours could be difficult. Even though Illinois became a state nearly 30 years earlier, large swathes had not been officially surveyed and platted. Conflicting claims and battles with squatters ensued.

Which is why the day he received a land patent signed by President James Polk must have been a joyful one for George Cary of DuPage County. The 40 acres was his. Nobody else could lay claim to it.

And Tuesday, DuPage County Recorder of Deeds Liz Chaplin proudly unveiled that patent in the county’s administration building.

“It is more than a document. It is a window to our past,” Chaplin said.

Chaplin does not know how the patent ended up in the hands of Theodore Kauth Sr. of Massachusetts, other than that Kauth found it in items belonging to his father.

Kauth called the DuPage recorder’s office in 2020 to let them know he had it, and wanted to give it to them. He figured it was a piece of DuPage history that belongs here, according to Chaplin.

But after the office received it, it ended up atop a stack of plastic bins. That is until Chaplin — who took office in 2024 — happened upon it.

The document had been damaged by mold, but experts were able to clean and restore it. It is now in a frame, along with a photo of Polk, that will be displayed in the recorder’s office.

Cary’s land was in the northeast corner of Winfield Township, near Williams Road and present-day Warrenville. In 1967, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County bought the land, which now is part of the Blackwell Forest Preserve, said district President Dan Hebreard.

DuPage County History Museum Director Michelle Podkowa was especially excited by the find. Land patent documents are increasingly rare — the museum has just three of them — and often were signed by a lower level federal official, she said.

“During this time (the 1840s), the rules and laws regarding land was ever-changing,” she said. The logistics of communicating with federal authorities in Chicago and Washington, D.C., meant it could take years to straighten out land ownership.

“Land grants are as American as apple pie. They are an integral part of the American dream, of endless possibilities, of limitless opportunities of the West,” Podkowa said.

She did note, however, that the land was first settled by Indigenous people, before the federal government obtained it and started selling it.

“The dreams the paper this held, as it was delivered to the George Cary family. The meaning of history happening right in front of their eyes, embodied the American spirit, and this spirit remains an example of the resilience and courage we all hope to have,” Podkowa said. “Restoring this document honors this legacy.”