Rand family

RAND FAMILY Written by George Wolfram, 1955

One of the earliest settlers of this community was Socrates Rand. A number of geographical landmarks such as Rand Park, Rand Road, and Rand's Bridge bear his name, because he was one of the early leaders in community activities. He was one of the first postmasters and was chairman of the meeting at which the Township of Maine was organized (April 2, 1850). In later years Socrates Rand was referred to as "Squire" Rand.

The following selections are taken from an article written by Mr. Harley A. Schlagel (a grand-nephew of Socrates Rand) for the Des Plaines Historical Quarterly, Volume III, no. 2, May 1941.

Socrates Rand was born in Franklin County, Mass., in the year 1804, the third of eight children of Ebenezer Rand and Dorothy Rice Rand. He went to Buffalo, New York, in 1826 to engage in harbor building and continued in the same work at Black Rock, Niagara Falls, and Port Dalhousie until 1827. He engaged for a year and a half at Kettle Creek in the timber and vessel business and went to Detroit. While there in 1833, he was frequently present at the meetings of the Territorial Council.

As his father, Ebenezer Rand, was a miller according to family tradition, young Socrates Rand assisted in milling as well as delivering flour to the transportation centers, in this case the rivers and lake harbors, hence the spirit of enterprise gripped him. The young man must have been quite persuaded by the tale that Chicago was the coming shipping center, as told by "some men" with whom he "fell in," for he engaged in pier building at Chicago for one year, 1834 to 1835. How he discovered a sudden love for farming at Des Plaines is a matter of speculation. The Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company, originally so it appears, organized by British speculators, created a boom immediately after the Black Hawk War, assisting numerous squatters in a provisional survey. Socrates Rand was one of these, locating in 1835 onaa 380-acre farm which adjoined the corporate limits of Des Plaines at the northeast section of Rand and River Roads and farmed until 1861, the beginning of the Civil War. After being here some time and getting settled, he returned East and brought his mother and father and perhaps his grother and two sisters, namely Ebenezer Rand and Dolly Rice Rand, John, Hannah and Harriet Rand. The early records show him as a squatter on a piece of land which now embraces the land north of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad tracks and running parallel with the Des Plaines River. He came and traded with the Indians and built a log cabin on the ground now known as Park Addition to Des Plaines. Evidently the log cabin was of considerable size, as it was intended as a habitation for six persons and contained a cheese factory which soon after the arrival of the family was transformed into a school. The Conant diary mentions a petition circulated in January 1839, and a visit of Mr. Conant at the school in March of the same year. The "History of Cook County" by A. T. Andreas has this reading: "A cheese room . . . by Socrates Rand who fitted it for a school. Here Miss Rand (Harriet) taught two winters, having from 10 to 15 scholars. The room was 10 by 12 feet in size. In 1840 Socrates Rand and Eben Conant built a school house on the land of the former, in which Miss Rand taught frequently, both summer and winter."

It is entirely plausible that there was the intention of building a school in summer or fall of 1839, but that the squatters were preoccupied, and Mr. Augustus Conant in particular was busy in assisting his parents to return to Vermont. The Eben Conant referred to is not mentioned in the diary; he was perhaps a brother of Augustus who came after the parents arrived in Vermont, and soon in 1842 bought land from the government.

At the time of the death of Socrates Rand's mother and father, and brother John, they were buried in the rear of the family home, close by the fence running parallel to Des Plaines Avenue on the spot now occupied by the Small Animal Hospital. At the time of the beginning of the Town of Maine Cemetary, Socrates Rand had interested himself in the project and took a section of land, on which plot lie buried the remains of the Rand family that lived in Des Plaines.

Socrates must have prospered in Des Plaines for he soon erected a small frame house on the same lands as the original log cabin, the house in later years having been removed to the Dallmeyer farm that adjoins the old Rand acres. I (Harley Schlagel) remember seeing as a child this little home turned into a wood shed. I remember seeing it when my mother took me up to show me where her grandmother lived when they moved to Des Plaines.

Socrates Rand dealt in real estate, was a farmer, road builder, grist mill operator, and spent his declining years as a retired honored and respected citizen of Des Plaines. In the early years Des Plaines was known as the Town of Rand but in later years the State Legislature changed the name to Des Plaines.

Fannie Rand, born Wicker, was a daughter of Joel Wicker of Chicago, a wealthy real estate operator and it was after him that the district known as Wicker Park was named.

Fannie was a school teacher, 27 years of age, at the time of her marriage to Socrates, who was then 45 years.

The old grist mill that Socrates Rand built and operated is still standing near the river bank on the Earle property (Harry A. Dooley property at northeast corner of River and Miner streets).

One of the prized possessions of the Schlagel family is the old black walnut secretary and book case that Socrates Rand used in all his business dealings in his later life.

Socrates Rand died in Des Plaines in 1890, age 87, at the Rand homestead on the site of the present Des Plaines theatre, the home to which he retired later in life. This red brick house was later moved and now stands at Perry Ave. The cottage which was located at the mill site at the Dempster Street Bridge was moved at an early date and now stands at the northwest corner of Graceland and Jefferson Avenues.