The weather was warm and balmy considering the season. The prairie burnt over by the Indians in the fall was already green with sprouting grass. Accompanying this vehicle were as it might seem a guard of good men, and true; "neighbors" they called themselves, although they must have lived many miles apart, some of them thirty or forty from the scene of their present friendly labors, having come from LaSalle Prairie, from Chillicothe and Peoria. They were neither hunters or warriors, they feared no enemy, and sought not the "spoils of war".

It was a peaceable expedition and its leader was the occupant of the wagon, Isaac B. Essex, then in the strength of his manhood, and with him came his young wife and infant child to found a home in the wilderness. The "neighbors" were Daniel Prince, Stephen French, Simon Reed, Frank Thomas and two Baptist ministers, Elders Silliman and Allen. The former of these two was the father of the much respected Toulon townsman Minott Silliman, the first treasurer of Stark county. And these men had came so far to raise a cabin!

Mr. Essex had been out and made a claim in 1828, and in the fall of that year cut the logs and split the clap-boards for his house, probably all of which were on the northeast quarter of section fifteen. They now proceeded to haul them together and get them in shape on the proposed building site. They all camped in the woods the first night, but towards sundown of the second day, the cabin was raised, the roof on, and as Mr. Essex graphically said "we cut a log out and moved in."

This was emphatically the first pioneer cabin, the first home of non-native American settlers within the present limits of Stark County. It was of course rough and bare of all ornament, we might almost say of all convenience, but still it was a home, the fountain-head of those elevating influences, that are of priceless value to humanity.

They were contented and knew how to make themselves comfortable in their new abode. The rich prairie sod was soon broken and they raised a good crop of corn, potatoes, and beans, the first year, without a fence. Game of all kinds was abumdant. Deer and turkeys supplied them with meat. From the river they got fine fish, sometimes Pike weighing twenty or thirty pounds and fully four feet long.

Occasionally they made a visit to Mr. French's family, their nearest white neighbor, a distance of seven miles. The indians were much nearer and were not bad neighbors.

The second cabin built within our present county limits, was built by John B. Dodge, in the autumn of 1829, on section fourteen, Essex Township. Of this we know no particulars. Dodge left this part of the country many years since, dieing probably in the new state of Texas. The third cabin was built and occupied by Benjamin Smith, in March 1830, on the same section with his son-in-law, Dodge. These three cabins, all in Essex township constituted the only habitations of white men within our present county limits prior to 1831. This year William D. Grant made an improvement where Judge Holgate would later reside and John E. Owings had moved into the settlement, and occupied the cabin built by John B. Dodge. There were in 1831 the following named settlers in what is now Stark county, viz: Isaac B. Essex, Thomas Essex Jr., Thomas Essex Sr., Benjamin Smith, Greenleaf Smith, Sewel Smith, William P. Smith, John B. Dodge, David Cooper, William D. Grant, John C. Owings, Harris W. Miner, David Gregory, and Sylvanus More.

At an election held in August 1834, there were in six townships of what is now Stark county, then included in 'Old Putnam', thirty-three votes polled, and as the election was a very important one, probably every voter was out. Reference to the poll book of that election shows that since 1831 the following additional inhabitants had settled in the territory referred to, viz: Jason Hopkins, Jesse W. Heath, John P. Hays, Pardon B. Dodge, James Holgate, A. Baker, John Megill, James McClennahan Jr., Elias Love, John Love, Hugh Montgomery, T. Leeks, Thomas Winn, Charles Pierce, Hugh White, Peter Miner, Lewis Sturms, James Morrow, and Minott Silliman.

At an election held in August 1836, there were in six townships before referred to, fifty-four votes polled and from the names recorded upon the poll book, the following persons seem to have settled within their limits, General Samuel Thomas, Captain Henry Butler, S.G. Worley, Henry Seeley, Henry Sturms, Mathias Sturms, W.E. Buckingham, William Mahany, Jarville Chaffee, Joseph Newton, Adam Day, Israel Seeley, Simeon Ellis, Peter S. Shaver, Dexter Wall, Ira Ward, Cyril Ward, Samuel Love, Henry Sweet, Asher W. Smith, Lewis Perry, Adam Perry, Luther Townsend, Samuel Butler, Eliphalet Elsworth, Daniel Dobbins, Christopher Sammis, Lemuel Dorrance, Henry Breese, and Hugh Frail.

In December 1835, a number of resolute men had pushed their way from Peoria to what has since been called Osceola Grove. Among them were Mr. James Buswell, Isaac Spencer, Thomas Watts, Giles C. Dana, Peter Pratt, and Dr. Pratt. They came out under the auspices of Maj. Robert Moore who had obtained a map of the lands in township fourteen north,range six east, designating the patent and unentered lands; and he now encouraged emigration hither, with a view to building up a town, which he had surveyed and called Osceola. Major Moore was an intelligent, active, business man, ever ready to take advantage of circumstances and fond of adventure. At that time Major Moore owned a ferry that crossed the river at Peoria and to this he gave his personal supervision and as emigrants crossed, which they did frequently, he would take the opportunity to recommend the Osceola country to them. In this way probably originated the company he led there in 1832. When these persons reached the grove there was no one living there except Henry Seeley and Lewis Sturms. A portion of the party camped the first night at Sturms', and were hospitably entertained. It was a dark, dreary, rainy night; they all slept on the floor in the small cabin, and from the days fatigue, having come on foot from Prince's Grove, they soon fell asleep to be disturbed soon after by a loud hallooing outside, occasioned by the arrival of the Sturms family proper, the number of whom our informant was unable to state, further they filled the little cabin 'chuck full'; they were made up of men, women and children, wet, worn, fatigued and hungry.

The next day the balance of the Peoria Party came in from Boyd's Grove, having lost their reckonings and strayed out of their direction. The whole party then moved west for the purpose of surveying and making their claims. For one week they camped out in the severest weather of the month of December, that week being the coldest of any during the whole season. The parties named above moved on their claims in May, 1836.

FIRSTS
Harris W. Miner (usually called Wesley Miner) who stopped for a time at Prince's Grove, as did many of our first settlers, made his first improvement within our present county at a point of timber a little north-east of Wyoming, in 1832 or 1833; it is said that he broke the first acre of land and built the first cabin in Toulon township, this being on the Culbertson homestead, just north of the town; also that his marriage with miss Nancy Gross was the first marriage solemnized between white people in this region; the ceremony was performed by Hiram M. Curry, Esq., then living near Peoria. The first child born in the county was a son of Isaac B. Essex in 1829. the first death was that of a little child of David Gregory's who lived for a time with Sylvanus Moore, near where Joseph Cox now resides.

FORMATION OF STARK COUNTY
It was almost 'Coffee County' with 'Ripley' as a county seat.....
As the people of the Spoon River country had early felt the great inconvenience of attending court and transacting their public business at Hennepin, movemnets for a new county had been inaugurated before Bureau was erected. At the same session of the legislature in 1836-37, when the act creating the latter was passed, an act "for the formation of the county of Coffee" was approved. Now as Colonel William Henderson was from his first settlement here, prominent in local politics, and known to be an enthusiastic admirer of the Tennessee hero General Coffee, with or under whom he had done military service, it is highly probable that this, as well as subsequent acts for the same purpose were secured through his instrumentality. The new county was to be 18 miles square, comprising nine full townships. Six to be taken from Putnam, two from Know, and one from Henry. Benjamin Mitchell, Richard M. Cullom of Tazewell, and Samuel Hackleton of Fulton, were the commissioners to select the site for the county seat, which, if located on ground not already laid out as a town, should be called Ripley. This act however, was not to take effect, unless a majority of the voters in Knox and Henry counties, at an election on the 10th day of April, 1837, should sanction it. Putnam was allowed no voice in these proceedings, and the project failed on the vote; so "Coffee county" was no more, although it had already appeared on several maps of that day.

A more vigorous attempt was made during 1838, continueing through a great part of the year. Much feeling was excited by this contest as is usual in local questions. Both parties in the struggle had weighty arguments to wield. Those wishing to make the Illinois River a boundary on the east, urging the increased taxation that must result to the residents in a small county. The other side urging the convenience of a county seat near at hand. So the question of a new county was made the leading issue in the canvass for another representative from the Spoon River country. As early as February 1838, a meeting was held at the house of James Holgate, near Wyoming, when, it was "Resolved to petition the next legislature for a new county, and to protest against the Illinois river a sa boundary on the east," and "to nominate Colonel William H. Henderson, in order to the success of their plans." After adjournment, a meeting of the disaffected minority, some fifteen or twenty, was held and resolutions passed "to accept the Illinois river as a boundary on the east, and to put Thomas S. Elston, Esq., of Bureau in nomination for the legislature." Mr. Elston however does not appear to have become a candidate. Others were nominated in different parts of Putnam and Bureau; but only the names of Colonel Henderson, Ammon Moon, B.M. Hays of Hennepin, and Andrews Burns of Magnolia, were conspicuous in the canvass. In an adress to the electors of the district, published in the nearest papers, Colonel Henderson stated that "he should lay down as a basis for his action, two lines, to wit: the lines dividing ranges eight and nine, east of the fourth principal meridian, and another which had referenceto the formation of Marshall county."

He was elected by a plurality of nearly a hundred over his competitors, receiving the almost unanimous vote of Spoon River, Lacon, and Lafayette precincts. Notice for a petition for a new county was again advertised according to law, in October, 1838, and on the 16th of January, 1839, Colonel Henderson presented this petition from citizens of Putnam, Henry, and Knox counties, praying the formation of a new county, which was referred to the proper committee.......

PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION !!!