JOHN W. ERB FAMILY

In the year 1847, Joshua Erb walked from Ohio to Naperville, to purchase land for himself and other members of his family. Using the DuPage River for a natural western boundary and starting with the present Cress Creek development, he acquired all the land west of Mill Street, north to Warrenville Road. This comprised about 1200 acres. Not needing all of this for himself, he sold off various plots to friends and relatives. The cost of the land per acre amounted to $1.50.

Keeping 280 acres of this land for himself, he established the Erb farm as it is known today bordering Cress Creek on the north. When he decided to quit farming, his son John Y. Erb took over. This happened in the late 1800’s and continued until around 1907 when John W Erb started farming. Due to the severe depression in the 1930’s, it was a hard struggle to make enough to pay the interest on the debt, so in 1939 he sold off 160 acres which eventually ended up as the Cress Creek Commons as we know it today.

John W. married Estella Mahler and they raised four children: John, Marshall, Gladys and Ellis. Estella was active in the Church of the Brethren and was a charter member of the DuPage County Home Bureau. Joshua Erb had donated land for the Church of the Brethren and a cemetery, along with land for a school site in the 1860’s. The school was known as the Erb School and continued operating until around 1944, when it was sold and moved to Naperville, to be used as a dwelling.

The farm is now in the hands of son Marshall and his wife Alice (Sigmund) and their children, Charles and Delores. It is their desire to keep it as a family farm as long as it is economically feasible. The Naperville Erbs are extremely proud of their heritage. Naperville and the community have been good to them.

Charles M. Erb has called Naperville his home since his birth on December 14, 1942. He attended Naperville schools graduating in June 1962 from N.C.H.S. From 1962-1964 he worked in his fathers construction company and operated a small trucking business.

In 1964 he entered the U.S. Air Force and served in the Vietnam War with the 8th Tactical Fighter Squadron operating out of Thailand and was honorably discharged in June, 1968. He then formed a successful business known as Erb Earthmoving Inc. which is currently celebrating its 15th anniversary. In that same year (1968) he met and married the former Denise Ann Scully of Naperville. They now have three children, Danielle Leigh, born 11-27-69, Andrea Kay born 5-11-71, and Marshall Morgan born 5-25-75. These children are now the 6th generation of Erb’s to live in Naperville on the homestead farm; and are proud their father is still tilling the soil their ancestors once worked many years ago.