Thursday, July 20 1898 Morning Star (Rockford, IL) page 4
Life Sands are Low
D.D Alling, the Pioneer, Near his Journey's End
An Honored Old Resident
Has Been Failing Fast since Yesterday and Family Has Given Up Hope-- Prominent in Rockford's Early Life. David D Ally, one of Rockford's best-known and oldest residents, is very low at his home in N. Main St. Three weeks ago his friends noticed that age was making rapid inroads upon his constitution. Day by day his physical powers weakened and yesterday's situation became very serious. It was noted that the vital powers were declining rapidly and those by the bedside of the pioneer realized the sands of his life were nearly run. He sank steadily through the night and at a late hour this morning it was announced that the end could not be far away.
Hundreds of people in Rockford will be pained by this intelligence. In the bustle and whirl of the latter end of the century Mr. Alling has lived in peaceful old age, in contemplation of the wonderful changes that have been wrought in the years of his residence here. No man and Rockford has appreciated them more than he, for he was one of the village's earliest residents, and as such, and for his useful life, young and old have honored him.
Mr. Alling is, indeed, a pioneer of Rockford. He and his good wife came to the city October 10, 1837, and this city has ever since been their home.
For many years Mr. Alling has been living in retirement. Despite his advanced years-- he was born April 27, 1813-- he has until recent months been very energetic, and bright mentally. Coming here as he did when Rockford consisted of a few huts, when the hazel brush grew luxuriantly where is now the asphalt paving, when the smoke that ascended into the heavens was not from factories but from the teepees of the Indians on the prairies, his mind has been a storehouse of information of the early life of Rockford. Many times have his young friends delighted in his tales of the pioneers and laughed heartily over their trials for Mr. Alling often presented the humorous side. When any information is desired concerning early events of interest he would unerringly recall them and portray them graphically.
Mr. Alling was born in Westfield, Connecticut. At the age of 17 he commenced serving an apprenticeship as a carpenter. He learned his trade and followed it until he amassed a competency and retired to enjoy the fruits of his labors.
On May 29, 1836, Mr. Alling and Miss Rebecca Botsford entered the Third Congregational Church in New Haven, Connecticut and left it man and wife. Soon after their marriage they decided to move to the land of the West.
Mr. Alling and the late G.A. Sanford were boyhood friends. Mr. Sanford came west in 1836 and that same year Mr. Allen went to Georgia. Mr. Sanford was enthusiastic over the western country and particularly Illinois. He wrote his old friend and described the beauties of this section and how rich it was destined to become. Mr. Alling became enthused and determined to follow Mr. Sanford. His bride came with him.
Mr. Alling has often told his friends of the journey from Connecticut and a terrible one it was, particularly for the young wife. They left New Haven on a steamer for New York in the month of September, 1837. From New York they went to Albany by boat and thence to Buffalo by the "raging canal." After many weary delays they reached Chicago, a collection of huts in the mud. They determined to push on. The only route to Rockford from Chicago then was by way of Dixon and Paw Paw. It was called a stage route but the stage was the roughest kind of a wagon. The travelers sat on a box, the driver having the only seat. On the way to Dixon the passengers frequent got out and help pry the vehicle out of the bogs.
From Dixon to Rockford the drive was prettier and more comfortable. They stopped at Oregon, which consisted of a solitary cabin. At Stillman Valley they stopped overnight with a Frenchman. Mrs. Alling said the man's wife told her she was the first white women who had ever called on her.
Mr. Alling never tired of telling how Rockford looked when he and his wife first saw it. John Platt and G.A. Sanford were then living at the foot of Mulberry Street. As Mr. and Mrs. Alling drove up through the hazel brush their hearts sank and Mr. Alling told the driver to go right on into the river and he would go with him. Both were ready to go back to Yankee land.
Mr. Alling got a job that afternoon on a dam that was being built across the river. Germanicus Kent was living near where the Illinois Central depot now stands. In 1838 Mr. Allen built a home for himself. It was the third house in West Rockford and he lived in a 32 years. He erected his carpenter shop just about opposite the Brown building. He made two lots of the property . One lot he sold at an early day for $50. In 1891 he sold the other lot for $16,100. Mr. Allen erected a store in Elm street where Weldon's carriage shop stands and Judge Church clerked in it for a time. He was for a long time the only carpenter in the village who had learned the trade and doubtless many of the structures he erected remain today.
In Mr. Allings home is a chair bearing the date 1838. One day Mrs. Alling and Mrs. Platt we're crossing the ferry when they saw a half-dozen real chairs. The ladies went into ecstacies over them and each wish they were hers. When Mrs. Alling reached home she found the chairs there. Mr. Alling had purchased them for her.
Mr. Alling was one of the first directors of the Rockford Society of Early Settlers, which flourished in the '70s. He has two children. Mrs. Philip Danky of this city, and a son in Tacoma. Mrs. Danky has been with her father for several weeks.

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Note: The son referred to in the last paragraph above is Franklin Samuel Alling, b. Mar 1838 in Illinois, d. 21 Apr 1912 in Tacoma, Washington.