THE

HISTORY

OF

MCLEAN COUNTY.

ILLINOIS,

CONTAINING

A History of the County-its Cities, Towns, &c.; Portraits of Early
Settlers and Prominent Men; General Statistics; Map of
McLean County; History of Illinois, Illustrated;
History of the Northwest, Illustrated;

Constitution of the United States,

Miscellaneous Matters,
&c., &c.

ILLUSTRATED.

CHICAGO:

WM. LE BARON, JR., & CO., 186 DEARBORN STREET.

PREFACE

IN

N presenting our History of McLean County, we deem a few prefatory words necessary. We have spared neither pains nor expense to fulfill our engagement with our patrons and make the work as complete as possible. We have acted upon the principle that justice to those who have subscribed, be they few or many, requires that the work should be as well done as if it was patronized by every citizen in the county. We do not claim that our work is entirely free from errors; such a result could not be attained by the utmost care and foresight of ordinary mortals. The General History of the County was compiled by Prof. Merriman, of Bloomington, and the Township Histories of Bloomington, Normal and White Oak, by Capt. J. H. Burnham, and the balance of the Townships by our historians, H. H. Hill and A. W. Kellogg. Some of the Township Histories are indeed longer than others, as the townships are older, containing larger cities and towns, and have been the scenes of more important and interesting events. While fully recognizing this important difference, the historians have sought to write up each township with equal fidelity to the facts and information within their reach. We take this occasion to present our thanks to all our numerous subscribers for their patronage and encouragement in the publication of the work. In this confident belief, we submit it to the enlightened judgment of those for whose benefit it has been prepared, believing that it will be received as a most valuable and complete work.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.

When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi River; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the "New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old "Northwestern Territory."

In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles; being greater in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate population, at the present time, of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of the entire population of the United States.

Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and farstretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent on the globe.

For the last twenty years the increase of population in the Northwest has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.