Hildreth, Illinois

Two couples seem to come in for the glory as the first married in this com¬ munity. One informant says that Frank Barnett and Jerusha Walters can justly claim that honor, while another says that John Hildreth, a brother of A. K. Hildreth, and a daughter of Mr. Walters (name not given), were married about three years after the arrival of Mr. W. and his family, and that the honor properly belongs to them. The weight of evidence seems in their favor. In the latter case, we are told the wedding occurred in the log cabin erected for Mr. Walters in 1831, and that the marriage referred to was celebrated in pure pioneer style. A dance was kept up all night.

Passage source: The History of Edgar County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County--its Cities, Towns, &c. : Directory of Its Tax-payers; War Records of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map of Edgar County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest, Illustrated; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c. Illustrated, published 1879.

THOMAS HULL, farmer and stockraiser, Sec. 27; P. O. Newman, Douglas Co.; owns 1 ,040 acres, 780 acres in home farm, the balance at the State line (between Indiana and Illinois) ; was born in New York State (while his parents were en route to the West) Nov. 14, 1829 ; was raised principally in Ohio and Indiana ; at the age of 18, he commenced to learn the cooper's trade, which business he contin¬ ued to follow a number of years (a portion of which time he was in Canada and Mich¬ igan); early in 1857, he purchased his State-line farm, and soon after, on the 27th day of August, he married Margaret Jane Campbell ; she was born in Tennessee Feb. 28, 1840 ; her death occurred Aug. 25, 1865 ; had five children by that union, three of whom are now living - Mary Eu¬ genia, Francis Allen and John Campbell ; the deceased were James Marion and an infant, not named; he left his home and farm the next day after the funeral of his wife, and, taking his children with him, he re¬ sided with his father until his second mar¬ riage ; his second marriage was to Maria B. Robinson (a daughter of Martin P. Robinson, Esq., now living in Chrisman); ' have one child by this union - Louisa Jane. Mr. H. has obtained by his own industry all that he now possesses ; he bought his first farm with money earned by working at his trade ; he has put all the improve¬ ments on his home farm himself ; he hauled . the lumber for present dwelling and the fencing for the 160 acres, where it stands, from Jonestown, Ind. (distant thirty miles); in addition to his own residence, he has four tenant houses on his home farm, all occupied ; about a year ago, he purchased a large ditching machine, which requires twenty yoke of oxen to work it ; last spring he kept it constantly at work, during which time he cut 28,000 rods of ditch, the aver¬ age size of which was five feet wide and two feet deep. Mr. H.'s father 'still lives where he first settled (Helt Tp., Vermilion Co., Ind.); his mother died Jan. 15,1875.

Passage source: The History of Edgar County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County--its Cities, Towns, &c. : Directory of Its Tax-payers; War Records of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map of Edgar County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest, Illustrated; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c. Illustrated, published 1879.

H. 's father was one of the pioneer settlers of Kentucky; he died in that State in May, 1851, aged about 66 years; he was an uncle to the late A. K. Hildreth, of this township; his mother was Margaret Den¬ nison ; she died in July, 1866, aged 76; she was related to Ex-Gov. DennisoD, of Ohio.

Passage source: The History of Edgar County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County--its Cities, Towns, &c. : Directory of Its Tax-payers; War Records of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map of Edgar County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest, Illustrated; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c. Illustrated, published 1879.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Young America Township - it names this place 15 more 15 times.