The official day book of William Stewart Searls, early Waukegon lawyer, is filled with oddments of finance involved in personal and business deals a century ago.

    On March 3, 1853, he noted the outlay of $1.50 to the coach and livery firm of Gunn and Porter, in return for the services of a horse and buggy which conveyed him across the city on business.

    On March 10, he acknowledged receipt of $40 from the Illinois and Wisconsin Railroad Co., "for services in search of records of lands."

    The following day he dug in his pocket and furnished a $5 loan to Tobias Wynkoop, a client, whose financial ups and downs were remarkable even for those days.

    Wynkoop had several court skirmishes with the brothers Bull of Bull creek on Milwaukee road, his neighbors, one of which involved the sale of timber from a woodlot on which they had loaned him money.

    Tobias Wynkoop was among the very earliest of Libertyville township pioneers. From all accounts he was a carefree and eccentric man. When he built his house he roofed only half of it. His wagon broke a wheel and he walked away and left it there. He refused to plant less than 100 acres of wheat on his land and failed to plant any at all.

    And so on.

Source:

Worth Mentioning by C. H. [Charles H. Hunt]
"Tobias Wynkoop; An Independent Thinker"
Waukegon News-Sun
September 29, 1950