1841 U.S. federal land patent, Whiting Hull, Kane County, Illinois, signed by President John Tyler
1841 U.S. federal land patent, Whiting Hull, Kane County, Illinois, signed by President John Tyler

People

Whiting Hull

Whiting Hull was an early West Dundee brickmaker, credited with making the first brick in Dundee and operating a brickyard on the river just below his house at the southwest corner of 1st Street and Oregon Avenue. He received a federal land patent for 80 acres in Kane County in 1841, during the presidency of John Tyler, and built his house in 1843.

1841 U.S. federal land patent, Whiting Hull, Kane County, Illinois, signed by President John Tyler
U.S. federal land patent, Certificate No. 5329, granting Whiting Hull of Kane County, Illinois the East half of the Northeast quarter of Section 24, Township 42, Range 7 — 80 acres — dated May 20, 1841, signed by President John Tyler. Collected by a resident, sourced from FRVPL and Ancestry.com.

Known Activities

The 1841 land patent

Whiting Hull deposited a certificate with the General Land Office in Chicago showing full payment for 80 acres — the East half of the Northeast quarter of Section 24, Township 42, Range 7 — under the Act of Congress of April 24, 1820. The patent was issued May 20, 1841, "in the fifty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States," signed by President John Tyler. This predates both East Dundee's 1887 and West Dundee's 1867 incorporation by decades, placing Hull among the area's earliest documented landholders.

Brickmaking and the Whiting Hull House

A local history walking-tour booklet (likely 1970s-era, matching the style of the "Outdoor Illinois" Dundee Township Historic District coverage from the same period) describes the Whiting Hull House at the southwest corner of 1st Street and Oregon Avenue, West Dundee, dated 1843:

"28. Whiting Hull House — S.W. corner of 1st and Oregon, West Dundee — 1843. Note: Beautiful surrounding garden... an example of how trees and shrubs can provide a private and woodsy atmosphere even on a busy corner. The old well standing in the garden once served as the neighborhood water supply. Whiting Hull made the first brick in Dundee. He had a brickyard just below the house on the river."

Caption card,
Collected by a resident, sourced from FRVPL and Ancestry.com. Possibly excerpted from the same 1976 walking-tour source discussed in the companion Bicentennial supplement research — not yet confirmed.
Studio portrait, elderly bearded man, likely Whiting Hull
Studio portrait believed to depict Whiting Hull, though not confirmed — no caption accompanied the original photo. Collected by a resident, sourced from FRVPL and Ancestry.com.

Hull's brickyard predates the Haeger family's better-known brickmaking operation (started 1852, per the Encyclopedia of Chicago) by over a decade, making him a candidate for the area's first brickmaker in a literal sense, not just West Dundee's.

[VERIFY] The portrait above is not independently confirmed to be Whiting Hull himself — it accompanied the other two items in the same submission but carries no caption of its own.

Sources

  • resident-photo-submission-2026-08-18 — Photographs collected by a resident, sourced from FRVPL and Ancestry.com: an 1841 federal land patent, a walking-tour caption card, and a studio portrait. Uploaded to Supabase Storage 2026-08-18.