# Joseph Naper > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Joseph_Naper > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Joseph_Naper.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Naper > Source revision: 1356561298 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American politician This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Joseph Naper" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Joseph Naper Joseph Naper town founder of Naperville, Illinois, circa 1850s–1860s Born 1798 Bennington, Vermont Died August 23, 1862 (aged 63-64) Naperville, Illinois Resting place Naperville Cemetery, Naperville, Illinois Occupations 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 Relatives John Murray (brother-in-law) **Joseph Naper** (1798–1862) was an early [Illinois](/source/Illinois) pioneer, ship captain, [shipbuilder](/source/Shipbuilder), businessman, surveyor, state militia officer, soldier, politician, and [city planner](/source/City_planner). In 1831, Naper and his brother John were credited with founding Naper's Settlement. Besides [Galena, Illinois](/source/Galena%2C_Illinois) (1827) and [Dixon, Illinois](/source/Dixon%2C_Illinois) (1830), Naper's Settlement was one of the oldest Illinois communities to be established west of [Fort Dearborn](/source/Fort_Dearborn), now Chicago. Naper's Settlement would be renamed [Naperville](/source/Naperville%2C_Illinois), becoming the oldest town and first [county seat](/source/County_seat_war) of [DuPage County, Illinois](/source/DuPage_County%2C_Illinois), later moved by county vote in 1868 and [displaced](/source/County_seat_war) by [Wheaton](/source/Wheaton%2C_Illinois). ## Early life Joseph Naper was born in [Bennington, Vermont](/source/Bennington%2C_Vermont), and traveled west with his parents during his youth to [Ashtabula, Ohio](/source/Ashtabula%2C_Ohio), where he learned to be a ship builder from his father, Robert Naper, of Alwyn, Scotland.[1] In 1809, Joseph Naper's sister Amy Naper married [John Murray](/source/John_Murray_(Naperville_founder)) 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](/source/Great_Lakes), frequently stopping at Fort Dearborn on [Lake Michigan](/source/Lake_Michigan). On an early trip, Naper acquired lots near the fort, as did many of the first settlers to reach the [Chicago River](/source/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](/source/DuPage_County%2C_Illinois). Joseph Naper platted the town of [Naperville](/source/Naperville%2C_Illinois), surveying the property and was elected to the [Illinois House of Representatives](/source/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](/source/Cook_County%2C_Illinois). Joseph Naper also served on the same committee with [Abraham Lincoln](/source/Abraham_Lincoln), then a newly elected legislator from the [Springfield](/source/Springfield%2C_Illinois) area. ## Military service Joseph Naper served as an [Illinois Militia](/source/Illinois_National_Guard) captain in the [Black Hawk War](/source/Black_Hawk_War) of 1832 and was one of the many DuPage County men who served in the [Mexican War](/source/Mexican_American_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](/source/Plank_Road)", now [Ogden Avenue](/source/Ogden_Avenue)/[U.S. Route 34](/source/U.S._Route_34), which improved transportation between [Aurora, Illinois](/source/Aurora%2C_Illinois), and Chicago. Another major plank road stockholder was Colonel Julius M. Warren of nearby [Warrenville](/source/Warrenville%2C_Illinois). Joseph Naper returned to the [Illinois General Assembly](/source/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 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/22418570/family/pedigree?cfpid=340138207681](https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/22418570/family/pedigree?cfpid=340138207681) [*[user-generated source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources#User-generated_content)*] ## 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](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-9792419-0-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/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. - [Naperville, Illinois History Page](http://www.dupagehistory.org/dupage_roots/Naperville_15.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150607112206/http://www.dupagehistory.org/dupage_roots/Naperville_15.htm) June 7, 2015, at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) - [A photograph of Capt. Naper](https://web.archive.org/web/20060326080047/http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/fimage/lincolnimages/stevens156.jpg) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Joseph Naper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Naper) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Naper?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.