The story of the village of Potosi and the community of Fairview finally comes to fruition. Muriel Martens Hoffman started the collection and research process for this book some four decades ago. Much of that material is now presented for the reader. Her efforts were motivated by her own curiosity of historical things, which reaches back to her early years as a youth. More importantly, her own roots course through this time and place. Her great-grandparents, John and Justina (Meiners) Saathoff were in this community — 1870 to 1876. Other relatives lived for many years in the Anchor, Cropsey, Fairbury and Colfax areas — some are buried in Fairview Cemetery and many other relatives in neighboring cemeteries. Muriel, who is in her eighty-eighth year, has often wished that this work had been completed years ago. An older generation of readers, now gone, would have enjoyed it. Now, this work must speak to a younger, inquisitive generation, who might be learning for the first time about a ghost town in the area. On behalf of Muriel, we want to express our gratitude to the countless people who contributed, in part - large and small - to this history of Potosi and the Fairview community.

It was more than fifty years ago that I was a substitute teacher at the Potosi school. Some of those students that I met years ago are now grown, and today remain in the area. By being there at the school and in the area of Cropsey Township, it helped me as I began my search for the story of Potosi. I learned that my grandmother was a small child when her parents located in McLean County near the Fairview Church in 1 870. The family later moved to Ellenswood, Kansas where her father claimed a homestead acreage. She and her older sister didn’t like Kansas, and they returned to Illinois. After their marriages both couples, at separate times, lived on the home place where they had lived when they were young children.

Over the many years of research, I’ve been successful in the collection of much interesting data. By putting together information recorded in the old county “subscription” histories, from records in the Livingston and McLean County Recorder of Deeds offices, news items and obituaries of people in the Potosi and Fairview communities, and the U.S. census, I was able to construct the foundation for an account of those communities.

The microfilmed copies of the Fairbury Independent and the Fairbury Blade, read at the Dominy Library in Fairbury, were the source of information about the people and their activities at Potosi. It was my sister, LaMoyne Tilden, now deceased, who initially typed all the research found there. Those many pages were placed in a booklet to be given to the library.

At a chance meeting, about 1993, at the Lexington Genealogical & Historical Society, Dennis Hieronymus and I discovered we both were doing research about Belle Prairie Township and Potosi. His maternal great-grandmother Lawrence was buried in Fairview Cemetery and his paternal ancestors (Darnall and Hieronymus) settled along Indian Creek in the grove at a very early date, years before the legal townships were given their names.

Dennis has edited and re-typed my manuscript, added more complete census extractions, revamped the Fairview Cemetery pages, and created the index. His efforts made the final copy of our book ready for publication. Without his work the manuscript I had written would have never been completed and ready for publication.

William Helmers shared the copy of the early hand-drawn map of Belle Prairie Township and, as sexton, his Fairview Cemetery records. The cemetery records, those that have been saved by the trustees, and the markers in the cemetery have added information that will be of great interest to the descendants of those buried there. Thank you, Darlene and Bill, for your assistance and hospitality.

Many records pertaining to Fairview Church were lost in a fire that destroyed the home containing the church records. That void was partially filled by Edna (Decker) Miller who, circa 1928, wrote about the church and her ancestors, the Austin and Taylor families.

Originally the plans were to add more stories and biographical information about the residents of the communities. Because of my relocation from central Illinois, that work was not finished. It is my hope that many people who have wondered about Potosi, will discover the answers to their questions. However, there still exist many unanswered questions. In which building did the Grange and the Masonic Lodge hold their meetings? Who besides A. H. Cooper lived east of the village? Theses are a few of the more perplexing questions yet to be found.

Not to be forgotten are my children, Lowell and Janet, and my late husband, Howard. Howard and I spent many hours traveling together in pursuit of my research. Through the many years, they have exercised much patience and tolerance while I endeavored with my research, writing, and publication of this work.