{{short description|American politician}} {{Multiple issues| {{More footnotes needed|date=March 2018}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2021}} }} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person| name = Joseph Naper | image = Joseph Naper Photogragh.jpg | caption = Joseph Naper town founder of [[Naperville, Illinois]], circa 1850s–1860s | other names = | birth_date = 1798 | birth_place = [[Bennington, Vermont]] | death_date = August 23, 1862 (aged 63-64) | death_place = [[Naperville, Illinois]] | resting_place = Naperville Cemetery, [[Naperville, Illinois]] | occupation = {{flatlist| * ship captain * [[shipbuilder]] * surveyor * businessman * state militia officer * soldier * politician * [[city planner]]}} | known_for = being the promoter and co-founder of Naper's Settlement in 1831, the oldest frontier [[Illinois]] town | movement = | children = | parents = | relatives = [[John Murray (Naperville founder)|John Murray]] (brother-in-law) | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Joseph Naper''' (1798–1862) was an early [[Illinois]] pioneer, ship captain, [[shipbuilder]], businessman, surveyor, state militia officer, soldier, politician, and [[city planner]]. In 1831, Naper and his brother John were credited with founding Naper's Settlement. Besides [[Galena, Illinois]] (1827) and [[Dixon, Illinois]] (1830), Naper's Settlement was one of the oldest Illinois communities to be established west of [[Fort Dearborn]], now Chicago. Naper's Settlement would be renamed [[Naperville, Illinois|Naperville]], becoming the oldest town and first [[county seat war|county seat]] of [[DuPage County, Illinois]], later moved by county vote in 1868 and [[county seat war|displaced]] by [[Wheaton, Illinois|Wheaton]].
==Early life== Joseph Naper was born in [[Bennington, Vermont]], and traveled west with his parents during his youth to [[Ashtabula, Ohio]], where he learned to be a ship builder from his father, Robert Naper, of Alwyn, Scotland.<ref>https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/22418570/family/pedigree?cfpid=340138207681 {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=March 2022}}</ref> In 1809, Joseph Naper's sister Amy Naper married [[John Murray (Naperville founder)|John Murray]] of Ashtabula, Ohio, who would later become one of the founding settlers of Naperville, Illinois. The Naper family shipped traded goods on the [[Great Lakes]], frequently stopping at Fort Dearborn on [[Lake Michigan]]. On an early trip, Naper acquired lots near the fort, as did many of the first settlers to reach the [[Chicago River]] port.
==Town builder and politician== On a later trip in 1831, on the ''Telegraph'', a ship built by Joseph Naper, he was joined by his brother John Naper. The Naper families and five other families settled in the area, first known as Naper's Settlement, which later would become a part of [[DuPage County, Illinois|DuPage County]]. Joseph Naper platted the town of [[Naperville, Illinois|Naperville]], surveying the property and was elected to the [[Illinois House of Representatives]] for the first time in 1836. Here, Naper laid the groundwork and supervised passage of the 1839 bill which separated DuPage County from [[Cook County, Illinois|Cook County]]. Joseph Naper also served on the same committee with [[Abraham Lincoln]], then a newly elected legislator from the [[Springfield, Illinois|Springfield]] area.
==Military service== Joseph Naper served as an [[Illinois National Guard|Illinois Militia]] captain in the [[Black Hawk War]] of 1832 and was one of the many DuPage County men who served in the [[Mexican American War|Mexican War]] of 1846.
==Businessman and village president== In the 1850s, Joseph Naper was one of the founding stockholders for the short-lived "Southwest [[Plank Road]]", now [[Ogden Avenue]]/[[U.S. Route 34]], which improved transportation between [[Aurora, Illinois]], and Chicago. Another major plank road stockholder was Colonel Julius M. Warren of nearby [[Warrenville, Illinois|Warrenville]]. Joseph Naper returned to the [[Illinois General Assembly]] in 1852. His aggressive actions again provided a means for establishing new communities within the state of Illinois. In 1857, Naper became the first village president of Naperville. As many early settlers had done, Naper engaged in a number of trades and businesses as he helped to develop Naperville and Dupage County.
==Death== On August 23, 1862, Joseph Naper died in Naperville, Illinois and was buried in Naperville Cemetery.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *Richmond, C.W. and H. F. Valletta. ''A history of the county of DuPage, Illinois''. Chicago: 1857. *Richmond, C.W. ''History of DuPage County, Illinois'', Aurora, IL: Knickerbocker & Hodder, 1877. *Blanchard, Rufus. ''History of DuPage County, Illinois''. Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Company, 1882. *''DuPage Roots''. Wheaton, IL: Du Page County Historical Society, 1985. *Gingold, Katharine Kendzy (2007). Ruth by Lake and Prairie; True Stories of Early Naperville. Gnu Ventures Company. {{ISBN|978-0-9792419-0-1}}. *Williams, William W. (1878). History of Ashtabula Co., Ohio. William Bros. *Anonymous (1894). Portrait and Biographical Record of Cook and DuPage Counties. Lake City Publishing Company. *[http://www.dupagehistory.org/dupage_roots/Naperville_15.htm Naperville, Illinois History Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607112206/http://www.dupagehistory.org/dupage_roots/Naperville_15.htm |date=June 7, 2015 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060326080047/http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/fimage/lincolnimages/stevens156.jpg A photograph of Capt. Naper]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Naper, Joseph}} [[Category:1798 births]] [[Category:1862 deaths]]
[[Category:Sailors from Ohio]] [[Category:American shipbuilders]] [[Category:Founders of populated places in Illinois]] [[Category:Politicians from Ashtabula, Ohio]] [[Category:American people of the Black Hawk War]] [[Category:Members of the Illinois House of Representatives]] [[Category:History of Naperville, Illinois]] [[Category:Politicians from Bennington, Vermont]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly]]