WILLIAM BRIGGS GREENE FAMILY

William Briggs Greene came to DuPage County from Rutland, Vermont in 1841. He worked on the farm of his uncle, Daniel Moon Greene, and taught school until he had saved $1,000, with which he purchased 200 acres of rich prairie and woodland along the East Branch of the DuPage River in 1843. He cleared and plowed the land with oxen – and in 1845 returned to the East to marry Harriet Elizabeth Meeker.

Their honeymoon trip was made via the newly opened Erie Canal and the Great Lakes to Chicago, where they met the Bailey Hobsons, and were driven by horse and wagon to the farm. A log cabin stood on the property, and William and Hattie lived in it until the central portion of “Oak Cottage” was built in 1850. Six children were born to them, of whom three died in childhood. Three others, Laura (Morgan), William Spencer, and Grace (Goodrich) lived long and productive lives.

Wheat, oats, hay, and corn were the pioneer crops, all planted and harvested by hand. William’s wooden grain cradle is another family relic. Oxen and horses were kept for work and transportation; pigs, sheep, chickens, and cows were raised to provide food. Bees were kept for honey, and their descendants have bothered us ever since!

Wood chopped by hand heated the stoves, fireplace and smokehouse; ice cut in the winter from ponds and stored in the icehouse, with straw for insulation, provided refrigeration; candles and soap were made at home; and all produce was raised in gardens and orchards.

The Greene family helped to organize St. John’s Episcopal Church in 1850, and William was a member of the Vestry when the “Carpenter Gothic” church structure was built in 1864. Later generations worked with the Heritage Society to save and move the building in 1970, when it became Century Chapel – and a focal point of Naper Settlement. 

William Spencer Greene succeeded to the management of the farm in 1880, married Jessie Hibbard of Chicago, and wings were added to Oak Cottage (five in all) to accommodate their growing family. Six children – Hibbard, Laura, William Bertram, Arthur, Marion, and Grace – Lived to adulthood, and the farm provided college educations for all. Three generations, plus hired help, lived in the house (sixteen at one time!) plus frequent visits of indefinite periods from family and friends.

Spencer added 150 acres to the farm and built the huge barn, hauling stone from Naperville quarries for the foundation. He was the first to build silos in DuPage County – not the modern concrete silo, but a series of low, insulated, airtight rooms that were filled in succession over a period of weeks with green corn – silage. The silage helped support a herd of 100 cows, which of course were milked by hand. The cans of milk were hauled by horse and wagon to Lisle each morning and shipped by train to Chicago for sale. Only once was a deadline missed.
Spencer promoted the graveling of Hobson Road and Greene Road, providing gravel from a pit on the farm. This reduced the time to reach Naperville from two to three hours in spring mud to 45 minutes in any weather.

By 1901, the telephone had arrived, followed later by gas and then electricity, modern plumbing, the tractor, and milking machines.

The third generation of farm management was under Arthur Greene, from 1914 to the time of his death in 1939, resulting in further expansion and improvements. After Arthur’s death, tenant farmers were employed, under the management of William Bertram Greene of Aurora. Grace, with husband Everett Brown and children Nancy and Tom, lived in Oak Cottage, following the family tradition of keeping open house for family and friends.

The farm operation ceased in 1965 with the auction of the dairy herd, and the fields were rented for sod farming until the sale of the farm in 1972. Half was sold to the DuPage County Forest Preserve, and the resulting area south to the Will County line is named the Greene Valley Forest Preserve.

Grace lived at Oak Cottage until her death in 1981, when it reverted to Forest Preserve ownership.

This marked the end of an era for the Greene family and for Oak Cottage, concurrent with the end of farming as a vital force in DuPage County.

Now, family members are scattered across the country, but ties are kept close with a family newsletter, “Now and Then,” with frequent visits and reunions and with shared memories of 150 years of the Greene Farm and Oak Cottage, the magnet that still draws us “home.”

Oak Cottage still stands, thanks in large part to the efforts of Jonnie Mimnaugh, founder and president of the Woodridge Area Historical Society’ and Herb Nadelhoffer, another Society founder, and neighbor and friend of the Greene-Brown family. Along with the DuPage County Forest Preserve, the two have worked together to accomplish some recent renovations to the house and painting the barn.



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