BlockMiller Township
The complete chapter on this township from History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877. 405 words, covering 2 settlements. Source changes inside the text are labelled at the exact paragraph where the next book begins.
Contents
1 sectionThe section headings the book prints inside this chapter. Each one jumps to where it begins.
The modern record here
2 settlementsWhat the federal record holds for each settlement inside this township: wildfires and storm reports since the 1950s, mineral workings, and museum specimens collected nearby. These are counted within a few miles of each settlement, so neighbours share them and the columns are deliberately not added up. Every row links to the settlement's own page, where each figure is broken out.
Settlements in this township
2 placesEvery populated place the Geographic Names Information System records inside this township's Census boundary. None of the 2 is named in the chapter: they were founded later or were never more than a post office.
The chapter
405 wordsReproduced complete and unedited from History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877. The text is machine-read from scans, so expect recognition errors: misspelled names, dropped words, and stray characters. Nothing has been corrected, because correcting a proper name invents one. The headings below are the books' own; source changes are labelled in place.
Miller Township
The town of Miller embraces Township 34, Range 5; itis nearly all prairie, and is settled mostly by emigrants from Norway. The settlements commenced in 1884, It has no railroad, but the town is populons and wealthy.
Cling Pierson, a native of Norway, eameé to the United States in 1822; in 1824 he returned to his native place and gave a glowing account of the Western world, and through his representations and efforts, the first Norwegian colony emigrated and settled in Orleans County, New York, in 1825, Tn 1834, Pierson again led a portion of his countrymen from New York to La Salle County, who settled in what is now the towns of Miller and Mission. Cling seems to have been a restless, roving spirit, and might onder favorable circumstances have achieved fame as an explorer. He led the way in the settle ment of his countrymen on American soil, and thousands of the natives of Norway and their deseendants now occupying happy and Iuxurions homes in this Western valley, owe their present status in part, at least, to the lead and efforts of Cling Pierson.
Oliver Canuteson. one of the first company from Norway to New York, in 1825. Came to Illinois in 1834 - died in 1850, He left two sons and one daughter. One son died in the army in 1843.
John Rostal, brother of above, came at the time from Norway and New York ; here now; married Miss Pierson, and settled on Section 3; has five children.
The first colony of Norwegians, who came in 1824, settled mostly in what is now the northwest part of Miller, and the southwest part of Mission, and was fora long time known as the Norwegian settlement,
Tortal H. Erickson, from Norway to Ottawa in 1837, to Rutland in 1840, then to Californis and Australia, and back to Miller in 1866; married Helen Pierson ; has eight children.
Andrew Anderson, from Norway to New York fin 1836, und came to Mlinois in 1888, with his wife, Olena Nelson; he died of cholera in 1849. His widow died in 1875. The children were two sons and two daughters.
Ener Anderson came with his father; he married Margaret Gunnison, and settled on 8. 16, T. $4, BR. 5; has had eleven children; eight are still living.
Andrew, Jr., aleo came with his father; has several children now living in Ottawa; Susan, married John Hill; Elizabeth, married Henry Doggett.
Provenance
Text from History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877, in the public domain in the United States and digitised by the Internet Archive. The settlements listed against this township are matched by point-in-polygon test of each Geographic Names Information System coordinate against the Census Bureau's county subdivision boundary, not by name.