TEMPERANCE IN AURORA In the fall of 1836, prominent merchant and settler William Tanner constructs the first log cabin in Sugar Grove with the help of four other men. Accompanying them is a fifth man named Job Isbell, who allegedly sits by and refuses to help without a drink of whiskey. “From that moment on”, Tanner recalls, “I have been set against whiskey”. Tanner is not alone in his distaste for alcohol. Over the next few decades, a string of Christian activist groups spring up in the area to extoll the virtue of temperance. The first such group is founded by two men in 1837, though it only lasts a few years and focuses on reforming individual alcoholics. A decade later in 1848, a local chapter of the Sons of Temperance is formed to advocate for temperance on a societal level. Despite their enthusiasm, this group disbands after a few years as well.
Undated photograph of William Tanner, sourced from the website Findagrave