A map of the past: Geneva history buff relishes portraying land surveyor from 1770s

It must be fun to take part in historic re-enactments, especially dressing in uniforms and toting rifles and pistols from yesteryear.

It has to be especially pleasing for history lovers who make such events a part of their lives, many pining for this type of step back in time since they were kids.

John Schubert of Geneva was one of those kids, but he wasn’t enamored with military uniforms, cannons or guns.

His preference was more in line with a specific skill set and occupation, one that took research and attention to detail in providing quite possibly the most important task in a new land.

The fellows playing the roles of surveyors, or map makers, stuck in Schubert’s mind.

After all, the tools and methods of a surveyor caught the attention of Schubert, who would eventually build his own air-pollution control machinery company and spend a lifetime paying attention to the small details.

As a hobby, though, he learned what it took to be a surveyor performing their tasks more than 200 years ago — and he mastered the art of “becoming” one.

“When I was young, my mother took me to a national event, ‘The Faire at New Boston,’ in Springfield, Ohio,” Schubert, 75, said. “We lived near that event, and I told her that one day I would be in it.”

He was right, and his mother lived long enough to visit her son portraying the “Ole Surveyor/Map Maker” at the Faire, which was a re-enactment of the late 1770s.

“It was probably the reason I started portraying a surveyor, because she imprinted me early on,” Schubert said.

Schubert estimates he participated in more than a dozen re-enactments during a busy time between 2005 and 2012 in Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio.

“The Wisconsin ones are best,” he noted. “They are really into them up there.”

Schubert had to have accurate data and surveys to be accepted for the events.

I met Schubert at the Persinger Recreation Center in Geneva when he was conducting some impromptu research on the framed plats of survey of Geneva Township on the center’s walls before he began exercising.

The plats were from 1871 and 1904, a time in which the Peck family of Batavia and Geneva was acquiring land for what eventually would become Peck Farm. He was getting his data straight in hopes of someday portraying a surveyor at a local history event, preferably one at Peck Farm in Geneva.

Still, taking on the role of a surveyor from yesteryear can’t be quite as exciting as engaging others on a battlefield. Yet, Schubert has been fascinated by what these surveyors and map makers did, and what a difficult task it was in their time. He points out that Abraham Lincoln was a surveyor at one point, starting in 1833, and Schubert has a surveyor compass from the Lincoln era.

“In looking at their meticulous work, I wonder if they thought that nearly 200 years later, someone would be looking at that work and wondering how they ever dragged those measuring chains over swamps and through and around the forests and savannas of the virgin Midwest back then,” Schubert pondered.

And, in a testimony to their past work, Schubert feels surveyors from hundreds of years ago were so good at their tasks that it is likely they would be “off only by just an inch or two (in their plats) from what modern equipment would do.”

I told Schubert about one of my “Did you know?” history notes for my columns, which just happened to be about the Peck family and its land acquisitions. He confirmed it matched what he had learned.

“I would say the Peck family spread out and had about 1,500 acres throughout the area,” Schubert estimates.

If, or when, Schubert gets to portray a surveyor at a local re-enactment, he’ll certainly have a good handle on the Peck family’s land acquisitions from nearly 200 years ago.

Did you know?

Those who exercise or play pickleball at the Persinger Recreation Center in Geneva may know that Peck Farm Park is on the other side of Kaneville Road, but may not know how the Peck family spread throughout the area, starting in 1844.

That’s when Eli Peck and his wife, Jerusha, and two children showed up in Kane County after traveling here from Sandgate, Vermont, via steamboat and horse-drawn wagon.

They came because a cousin, Norman Peck, was a successful farmer in Batavia but had to return to the East Coast because of poor health. Norman filled Eli’s ear about how wonderful the farming in this part of Illinois could be.

When Eli showed up and not much was available in Batavia, he acquired 80 acres in Geneva Township for $220. Once he had his family established at the site at what is now Peck and Kaneville roads, he went out and bought another 80 acres nearby.

Unfortunately, many land records related to Eli Peck were lost in a fire that destroyed the Kane County Courthouse in the late 1800s.

Eventually, the Peck family discovered the value of merino wool, establishing a merino sheep-breeding business in 1866. It became one of the largest such businesses in the country.

When Peck died in 1892, his sons kept the sheep-breeding business going, converting profits into more land acquisitions. Ultimately, one son, Albert, perfected a new type of corn cutter and binder, while other members of the family were key in getting the Appleton Manufacturing Company established in Batavia.

The Great Depression forced the family to sell or lease portions of its farm, but George Peck began actively farming on the property in 1954.

Today, the farm, of about 575 acres, including the home, prairie, wetlands and a small lake, operates as a popular Geneva Park District attraction for visitors young and old.

In addition to the home, a variety of walking trails, a butterfly house, a playground area, shelter, and other historic amenities operate on the farm site that Eli Peck found so alluring 181 years ago.

Helping feed families

Two Batavia churches are participating in efforts to offset any potential food shortcomings in the community with increased efforts for the Healing Hunger Weekend Backpack Program.

Fox Valley Christian and Bethany Lutheran Church are seeking monetary or food donations to aid the program, which now serves 36 families.

A donation of $245 can feed a family during the entire school year, the churches noted.

Those preferring to donate food are encouraged to consider canned vegetables, as Fox Valley Christian noted it uses 68 cans of vegetables each week to feed the families.

Food donations can be dropped off at the church, 40W150 Main St., between 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. on Sundays.

A bin outside the door of Bethany Lutheran Church, 8 S. Lincoln St., is available for food donations from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Sundays.

The Chicken Salad Chick restaurant on Randall Road is also a drop-off for food donations.

A tasty ‘Silo’

The bag of cookies was labeled “Silo Cookies,” baked by Johanna Gaines for the recent Geneva Women’s Club Holiday Crafts event at Geneva High School.

Those who know me understand I rarely, if ever, encounter a bake sale without purchasing some treats.

In fact, I have consistently done so at this particular holiday event for the past decade. As such, the Silo Cookies went into my bag along with other treats.

These particular cookies, at first glance, looked like a standard oatmeal cookie. Turns out, I just about did a cartwheel when tasting one. And I’ve never done a cartwheel.

I didn’t realize Silo Cookies included brown sugar, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and pecans.

They were quite good, providing the simple pleasure of trying my first holiday treat of the season and finding it quite satisfying.

That chocolate idea

It was probably about 17 years ago when Chef Alain Roby and his wife, Esther, opened a pop-up chocolate store on Third Street in Geneva near the Dodson Place retail courtyard.

Roby, a pastry chef at the Marriott Hotel in Chicago, was running the impromptu chocolate shop to raise money for Tiny Hearts, an organization aiding children with heart defects. Plus, because his family lived in Geneva, it was convenient for him to devote some time to the fundraising effort.

When chatting with him about the shop, he mentioned all of his incredible chocolate creations. But he also noted what a grind it was for him to drive into Chicago at 4 a.m. daily for his demanding job.

Without thinking about it long, my response was that he and Esther should just open a chocolate shop in downtown Geneva, thus eliminating the drive to the city and offering something unique to the Tri-Cities.

In no way am I taking credit for the launch of the All Chocolate Kitchen at 33 S. Third St. 15 years ago. But it was good to see that Chef Roby was likely thinking the same thing, and maybe he needed to hear another voice saying it would be a good idea.

Either way, it was great to see he and Esther recently retired from the world of pastries, chocolate creations and gelato to sell the business to employee Marissa Kirch.

Kirch plans to keep the business operating much in the same manner, with many of the same employees. It’s just under the name of Coffee, Cones & Cabernet.

• dheun@sbcglobal.net