History

The Hobson family, led by Bailey and Clarissa Hobson, is known foremost as being the first white settlers in DuPage County in 1830. The family, originally from England, fled to Ireland to avoid being persecuted as Quakers. Bailey's grandfather, William Hobson, was born in 1739 in Frederick County, Virginia. Bailey, the son of John Hobson and Lydia Harvey, was born April 30, 1798 in Lost Creek, Tennessee. Bailey Hobson married Clarissa Stewart March 8, 1821 in Indiana and sought a prairie claim in Illinois in 1830. Eventually settling on acreage on both sides of the DuPage River, Bailey Hobson established the first grist mill in northern Illinois in 1834. He served in the Black Hawk War of 1832. The Hobson Tavern served customers waiting for their grain to be ground. Surviving many hardships of the pioneer life, the Hobsons raised twelve children and built an imposing two story colonial frame home in 1835. The children married into other prominent Naperville families such as Royce, Frazier, Page, Kentner, Cody, Haight and Crosman. Bailey Hobson died March 25, 1850 leaving Clarissa to take care of the mill, the farm, and the younger children. Clarissa, a Georgia native, was born December 13, 1804 and died May 27, 1884

     Bailey Hobson                 Clarissa Hobson